Gryphin's Tessellate Ship Set

[Gryphin]

Incredible as it may seem,
The Tessellate ship set is down to:
Main, Explosian, and. Shields
Please, Where should I look for the information on the content and how to lay these out ?

I have not updated the website yet.

[ January 05, 2003, 02:55: Message edited by: Gryphin ]

[pathfinder]

Gryphin: Last few pages in the manual for "original" SEIV has the sizes, etc.

or go to Malfador's website:

http://www.malfador.com/se4.html

and click on racestyles.....

scroll down to the portrait, etc...

[ January 05, 2003, 03:30: Message edited by: pathfinder ]

[RiTz21]

Originally posted by Gryphin:
Questions:
Do Ships need
1) visible engines
2) Visible weapons
3) Should ships Portrait Pics assend in size visualy. That is: The pic of an escort might take 80 x 100 Pixles , Frigate 100 x 120 pixles. etc..
Or should they all be made as large as posissblle to show detail?
(for what it is worth, This set will attempt to show weapons and visual size differerances.

4) Should I start a poll about these questions.

Any other design ideas?

1- Engines are usually shown on ships/vessels - The only exception I can recall is the Shadow ships in Babylon 5 where you don't actually see any engines on these spider-like ships. I think it's NICE when you can see the orientation of a ship in space, and the engine usually tip you off toward this.

2- No i don't think that's important. Weapons could be behind doors, or could actually be a very small whole in the ship. For instance, a submarine does'nt show it's weapon... The USS Enterprise does'nt have any 'cannon' sticking out for example. but of course you can do as you wish!!!!

3- As much as possible, but if the difference is too large, the escort will look like a pixel compared to a dreadnaught... I would suggest you try to make them proportionnal, but don't allow a ship to be invisible due to it's small size !

4-- Nah.

RiTz21

[pathfinder]

Gryphin: portrait is not used in sector (ie movememnt/combat) so comparative size not important there. the mini's are what are shown flying around. difficulty is that escort and fighters would not be visible if shown to scale, so my advice is scale as best you can BUT make sure the ship/fighter CAN be seen

BTW all the pics MUST be 128 x 128 pixels for portrait (ship plus background); mini's MUST be 36 x 36 pixels (ship plus background).

[Taera]

Originally posted by Gryphin:
Questions:
Do Ships need
1) visible engines
2) Visible weapons
3) Should ships Portrait Pics assend in size visualy. That is: The pic of an escort might take 80 x 100 Pixles , Frigate 100 x 120 pixles. etc..
Or should they all be made as large as posissblle to show detail?
(for what it is worth, This set will attempt to show weapons and visual size differerances.

4) Should I start a poll about these questions.

Any other design ideas?

1. As Ritz said, its not a must but it is better if you have them

2. You asolutely dont have to and having too many cannons can look wierd in the game (not all battlecruisers are combat ships) but cannons make ships look good, they always do

3. Not all do that but yes, they should be ascending in size, but not in image size - its all 128x128. (but i'd say you draw with bigger proportions for beginning to see it good, then scale the size down when you're done). Scaled ships look good, better than unscalled.

4. Nope

Hey Gryphin i've seen that set before didnt comment as i didnt have much to say (see sig ) but now the bc-dn ships are quite good (i love that BB). its still flat though .
Some might say LEGO. i wont, it looks good.
if you want scaling down them good... then you should make those octagonals increase in size from ship to ship

[Taera]

pathfinder - comparative sizes still look pretty good (pretty and good) if you have done everything that way. at least i think so, i've done my technologic set this way.

[pathfinder]

Taera: Agreed on the comparative sizing

I just don't wet my pants if that isn't perfect

[Gryphin]

http://www.windingstream.com/se/se_gallery.htm
(Thanks, and Thanks a Lot!
I really appreciate the feedback.
I had already started down the "non-proportional" path. This way you get a good idea of what is up. It had a second benefit. Trying to add more and more detail I was forced to learn more about doga. I realize most of the Barrels look like they fire shells like those on Battleships today. Oh well, next time. Most likely my next set will be pro proportional. That will not likely be before June.

Major Thanks to mlmbd for rendering these in Doga L3 and his assistance in getting me started. I could not have done this without him.
Before my next set, I will write a "The Gryphin Way to use Doga L2 to Make SEIV Ship Sets" .

[ January 05, 2003, 18:10: Message edited by: Gryphin ]

[Timstone]

Great set Gryphin!
Why Doga L2 and not L3? Maybe you could write it with Mlmbd.

[Andr�s]

Nice shipset.
About scaling, what needs to have a good scaling are the 36x36 minis, ships portraits are never pust togeather so you can crop and scale the rendered pictures or move and zoom the camera to show more detail.
And BTW that background looks cool, but it will look odd in the SM window or the eyecandy previews in the setup window.