As always, we will be building just one
half of this section, and creating the
completed section by mirroring the mesh
across the X-Axis.
To begin with, we need to make sure that
we are building the section in the right
place, and to the right scale. To do this,
load up the spline cages for the lower
nose, and the upper hull, then zoom in
so that the nose section fills the viewports.
The image below shows the splines loaded
up, and the red indicates where our new
section is to built.
Additionally, load up the polygon versions
of the nose weaponry (WS Nose Weaponry.lwo)
and the bridge (ws_bridge_assembly.lwo)
into a separate layer. (The reason for
this will become apparent a little later.)
Using the two splines that define the bottom
of the upper hull and the top of the lower
nose as a guide, create the following
boxes.
All these boxes should be created right
on the X-Axis, and are two dimensional
(they have to depth).
Next, switch to the top view and use the
extrude tool on each of the boxes individually
so that you end up with an array of boxes
like this:
After you have extruded the boxes, make
sure that all the polygons are facing
outwards as they should be. If they aren't
(as is often the case with extruding)
then deselect everything and flip the
lot by pressing f.
If you check the perspective view, your
boxes should look like these.
Press Q to access the Surfaces panel, and
choose the surface called 'WS Nurnies'
from the list. This surface was loaded
in with the nose weaponry. Select the
name of the surface and type a new name
called 'WS Nav Array', then un-tick
the Smooth option and apply the
new surface to your newly-created boxes.
You should have this...
There are a few tweaks that we need to
make to our boxes to add the necessary
detail.
The first of these tweaks will transform
the rather boring array of six tall, thin
boxes towards the front of the assembly
into the characteristic tooth-like array
seen on the Whitestar.
In the top view, zoom in to the boxes in
question.
We must now move one polygon on each of
the boxes either towards or away from
the X-Axis in order to form more of a
wedge-shape.
The image below shows the desired shape.
(Note, the original shape is shown in
the background for reference.)
Next, your life will be made easier if
you select just these boxes and hide the
others. Do this by selecting some polygons
from each of the six boxes in question,
then pressing ] (close square brackets)
to select all connected polygons, then
pressing + to hide all non-selected
polygons.
Switch to the front view and select the
following points.
 |
| front view - select
these points... |
Move these points out in the X-Axis until
they look like this:
 |
| ... and move them
until you have this |
Finally, switch back to the side view and
select all the points at the top of the
boxes.
Move these points forward in the Z-Axis
until you have this.
When this is done, press \ to un-hide all
the other boxes.
{Point of insanity: Ever wondered why you
say 'boxes' and not 'boxen'? Makes sense
doesn't it: One OX, two OXEN, one BOX,
two BOXEN? Answers on a postcard to kier@ap3d.com}
We now need to perform some bevels. These
will be done using the polygons selected
below.
I dealt with the ins and outs of using
the bevel tool in modelling back in lesson
four, so I'm not going to give much
detail here. Basically, you need to bevel
each of these two polygons in a little,
without shifting them in or out, then
stretch the resulting polygons into the
correct shape, then bevel these polgons
out using no inset. The steps below show
this. Note that these images show both
the operations on both polygons simultaneously,
whereas you will need to do each polygon
separately.
If your bevelling went to plan, you've
got this:
Two more polygons need the bevelling treatment.
One of them requires exactly the same
operations as the previous ones, and the
second is slightly different.
This image shows the polygons to be bevelled.
Once again, I will just put up a few images
to show you what to do.
And you're left with...
A few little bits of geometry to add now.
I'm not going to give you any instructions
on how to build these bits... because
if you need instructions for how to build
these, what are you doing trying to model
a Whitestar?
Another little detail to add now. Create
a disc as shown below. (Note, this is
the front-most of the boxes from step
4 of this lesson).
|
Bevel this new disc three times
until you have something approximating
this:
More detail is shown in the
images below.
|
 |
Got this? Good.
We will now create the blue ball-type structure
that sits on the navigational array. (Sorry,
I don't know what function it's supposed
to perform... I just like the ship.)
Create a slightly squashed ball with 12
sides and 5 segments as shown below.
Now select half of the ball and zap it.
We won't be needing that bit.
Now, select the points around the edge
of the hemisphere as shown below, and
make a polygon out of them by pressing
P. Be sure to select the points
in anti-clockwise order to make
the resulting polygon face the right way.
Switch to the top view and bevel this polygon
out (no inset) so that you have something
like this:
Finally, delete the selected polygon. It
won't ever be seen, so we might as well
kill it.
Last bit of modelling for this lesson now.
The final piece is the small array of
objects at the rear of the section.
Begin by creating a polygon like this:
(Don't worry if you can't see the detail
exactly in this image, this really only
shows you where to place the polygon,
see the image after this one for more
detail.)
Now extrude the polygon back slightly to
give it some depth. This image shows the
extrusion, and gives more detail on what
the polygon should look like.
Make sure that your extruded object's faces
are all oriented correctly, and if they
aren't, flip them.
Next, create a new box as shown below.
Note that this box intersects the large
box behind it.
We now need to duplicate the T-shaped extrusion
and have a copy of it at the bottom of
the new box. Using the mirror tool as
shown, create a mirror image of the T-shaped
piece.
Select all the polygons that make up this
assembly and bring up the tool (Ctrl+c).
You need to make three clones of the assembly,
with an offset in the Z-Axis. As you can
see, my version requires an offset of
2.3m, but your version will doubtless
require a different number to achieve
the effect, depending on the scale that
you are working to.
You should be left with something that
looks like this:
If your clone doesn't go to plan, just
undo the last action (u) and adjust the
offset slightly until you get it working
the way you want it to.
Finally, create one more box as shown below.
So, you've got this, right?
All that remains is to apply the blue texture
to the ball-thingy that we made a while
ago.
Select the polygons making up the ball-thingy
and press Q to access the surfaces panel.
Once in the surfaces panel, find the surface
called WS Underside and apply it
to the ball-thingy's polygons. This texture
was loaded into Modeler when we loaded
the bridge section, right at the beginning
of the lesson.
Finally, mirror the entire structure across
the X-Axis, so that you complete the assembly.
Don't forget to merge the points!
It may look finished now, but you also
have to get rid of the excess polygons
that are lingering in the middle of the
assembly. Carefully select the polygons
shown below and kill them. If you don't
do this, your model will produce some
delightful rendering errors later on...
So now it's all done, you should be looking
at an assembly like this.
Save your work as WS Nav Array.lwo.
Okay, now comes a tricky bit.
This assembly has to fit very snugly between
the upper and lower nose without leaving
big holes but also without poking through
the skin of the hull.
Select a new layer and load up the polygon
meshes for the lower nose and upper hull
(WS Lower Nose.lwo and WS Upper
Hull.lwo)
Now select both the layer that contains
the Navigational Array, and the layer
that holds the hull pieces and view them
together in the OpenGL preview. Hopefully,
you'll have a nice snug fit, but more
likely there'll be big holes between the
hull and the array, and bits of the array
will be sticking through the hull's skin.
I'm afraid that I can't help you here,
and you're going to have to fiddle with
the array yourself until you get a good
fit like this:
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