Hello ! I am asking, what would be the best way to create 2D or 3D spaceship objects/models. I used 3D Studio Max a bit and tried some others but I think they are all very difficult to learn and have a long lurning curve until you can create something really good! So do you know any easier tools, methods etc. (maybe drawing them on paper...) on how you could create spaceships (2D or 3D)? Are there any resources, free models, tutorials or even people willing to help out there? Any help would be much appreciated, LD [edited by - Lord Devil on July 25, 2003 11:24:41 AM]

There is no shortcut to creativity. If you want to learn how to create 3D objects and you have no experience its, going to take time, regardless of what 3d application you use.

I would suggest that you use whatever 3d app you have and try to recreate existing starship models. Recreate some of the ships from Star Trek, Star Wars or any of the other popular franchises. This should give a feel for this type of modeling and hopefully give you some inspiration.

There are tons of free easy to follow tutorials for Max out there. My personal favorites are hosted by www.3dtotal.com. After that, if you still can''t handle Max, then then try Wings (www.wings3d.com). Its pretty simple and easy to use. Be sure to visit the forums and dowload the manual.

After you become familiar with Wings and are ready for some animation, try out www.blender.org.

If you have a model spaceship (like a plastic toy) and photograph it with a digital camera, it saves lots of time!
Or place the model on a scanner.

When I was just starting to learn modeling I found that it was easier to work with reference images. A great place to find images is the image search at Google.

Thanks for your replies!

Well I just tried wings3d but I guess I will use 3dsMax instead. Maybe I buy a book and take the time to learn the whole basics of this application.

I just dreamed that there were maybe easier methods out there to create models thant those large programs like 3dsmax or lightwave...

The idea to draw them on paper seems also a way but doesnt save you from the knowledge needed in photoshop to make them look good!

Let''s see, maybe I take the time and efforts for 3dsmax

Thanks for your help and the links,
LD

Max comes with some very nice tutorials in the tutorial guide and in the help files.

Good luck.

Yeah I know... but I also see how "large" they are... you need a lot of time that was my main problem

Thanks,
LD

In the Max help there is a tutorial thats exactly what you are looking for. Its tutorial 16 under the Game Productions section: "animating a space ship" It teaches you how to build a low ploy model using box modeling techniques and then map and animate it.

[edited by - wolfbane on August 3, 2003 4:45:50 PM]

quote: Original post by Lord Devil
Yeah I know... but I also see how "large" they are... you need a lot of time that was my main problem

Thanks,
LD

Creating believable low poly models with textures and animations is not a SMALL subject. I don''t mean to sound crass, but I think you should understand that what you want to do is not something you can learn in a day or two.

Well wolfbane I guess I will try that tutorial... !
However like you say yspotua I know that creating a low poly model with textures is not a thing you can learn in 2 mintues! However I dont need any animations I just need many low poly models with some textures and I was in the misbelieve that there are easier tools out there with which you could produce such things in a shorter time or at least with less efforts. But I guess 3dsmax is a great tool and if you know the right things you can make pretty nice things with it in a short time!

[edited by - Lord Devil on August 5, 2003 3:39:19 PM]