using moray

[Captain Kwok]

I mostly use unions and differences depending on the need. Intersections and merges not so often as Taera mentioned.

In re: to textures, I think I spend hours sometimes just playing around with them. If you check out the TNG mod thread - you'll see all those darn little windows on the Galaxy class - ugh!

[ZeroAdunn]

Yes, textures are a pain in the @ss to master too. One thing you might want to study is bump maps, they are similary to textures but instead of being an image they are simply raised and lowered sections on a shape. I find them very usefull when doing hull armor.

[Taera]

I have mastered textures in Moray to their best. I can create virtually any texture in Moray, and i can give any interested a comprehensive description of any of the things you can find there... well, almost. But i must say this - if you want your creations to be _GOOD_ do NOT use textures created in moray. What i suggest is take a day or two and go through search engines, searching for textures. Then take another day and work in some program with these textures (save as non-interlaced .gif, bmp or png) and include them to Moray. Play around with Normals and Finishes, and you've got a good texture. examples:
Organic Ship
Metallic Ship

EDIT: Hate tripod. these images will open in this window, so keep this in mind.
EDIT2: Hate tripod. use "copy link" and paste to address

[ October 28, 2002, 23:40: Message edited by: Taera ]

[ZeroAdunn]

One thing I can say about textures that I wish somebody had told me when I first started using Moray is Material Proxies. It is these that decide the orientation and position of image maps and patterns when you apply them to meshes. These are invaluable. Your definitely going to want a tutorial on how to use these properly.

[Taera]

good point. i dont rightly know what textures have the material proxies but sometimes these can be invaluable, but only sometimes. i only use them once for a while myself.

[Captain Kwok]

If you use a lot of bitmap textures with specific features like lettering and windows - material proxies are super important - and so is using alt-T to select them .

[Taera]

i see. dont use these much, i make all my windows and letters by hand, look better then.

[Atraikius]

A neat way of doing windows in moray (or POV-Ray), at least if you have the patience; is to make a slightly smaller copy of the model inside the original model with an opaque black texture, make holes in both the outer and inner model that are filled with a shape with a tinted glass material, then place a light source in the center of the model.

[Captain Kwok]

I think you misunderstand - When I say bitmaps I'm usually referring to imagemaps...same thing you probably do. All my little windows and details are done by hand in photoshop for the imagemap and then added to the model.

[Taera]

atrakius - exactly. if anyone here has my TechnoLogic racestyle take a look at the bigger ships - dreadnoughts, battleships, bases. Now you see all these small windows? each of them is a differenced square . realy, those models usualy have 500+ cutout objects. i dont use black textures though, they're too standard.