More Clawcraft Updates

Eclipse

Member since: 2013
Location
Oklahoma City

So, I've added my newest clawcraft work. You can see that Jeff completely reworked the tail, and I've done a lot of work to reflect what he wanted it to look like. The wings now sweep into the tail. There are a few small areas that still need a little detailing, but I chose to hold off on the textures again for a little longer until all the basic mesh can be agreed upon. At this point I think we're done with that sort of work for the most part. Engines got a total overhaul as well, and I am VERY pleased with how that came out.

So, I'm going to give myself some time off from this for a little bit, another week or two probably, and then back to texturing it. Since the wings and tail are all one part now, texturing that is going to be... well... interesting to say the least. The UV map for it should be quite interesting.

Crits & Comments always welcome! Let me know what you think.

Update 6-22-08:

So, I've been... neglectful of my art lately, both volunteer and otherwise. Wolverine has been very good about pushing me gently to finish his work, and so that blog will get updated shortly as well. However, I had some updates to add to this, so I thought I'd put them up here.

At this point the modeling should be 98% complete. The interior behind the cockpit glass will get some more work yet, but with that one exception, I know of nothing else to be done on it. The last bit that needed work were some minor trench work in the wing, and that's basically finished now. These renders show that off mostly.

With this basically complete, I found some great details of the front paneling in the cockpit just... 2 days ago, best reference material I've found. I hadn't even intended on updating it, but since I have the material, might as well. The details were on a great studio quality TIE ln, so since I have some really great references now, I may finish model off to the quality I'd like to see. We'll see though, I'm growing tired of TIE shape ships, and I know I have one more request here for a TIE like vessel. I'm going to branch out and go for something completely different with the next one I think. :-)

Again C&C always welcome, desired. I have lots of texture work still ahead of me, and I'm hoping, as always, to get things taken care of before Gencon. We'll see.

Update 1-1-11:

Yeah, so... yeah. Getting around to some real textures. We'll see how this goes.

Eclipse

Comments

CorranFett

I like the overhaul for the tail, looks a good deal sleeker now. I didn't see no problem with the old engines, but the new ones do look a bit more fitting.

Pretty neat job, I'd so love to pull off such amazing 3D work.... :D

CocoaBean

The images look amazing! Too bad you can't see more of the details, I know there are a ton of details that are really really good, that we can't see there. Incredible job!

TNJadeonar

Now thats a sculpted work of art!

Very sleek and curvy, giving that interceptor aerodynamic look to it, even though it has a ball shaped cockpit in the center. Make the cockpit ball completely Glass or crystal textured and it'd look right at home at the end of a Grand Wizard's staff ;)

The fine detailing is incredibly intricate.

The revised wing becoming the tail make it literally look like a curved talon / claw from some huge beast, gently grasping some prized pearl. I certainly don't envy you texture mapping this at all. At least the Bump Mapping can come for free. But hey, its a labor of love. And the countless hours of craftsmanship you have put into it definitely shows it. It's sure come a long way since I first seen your Claw craft work a few years ago.
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Core to the Quad baby!!!

Eclipse

TNJadeonar,

Yeah, well I never would have made it this far without Jeff Carlisle. He's been there every step of the way revising the old work to get the perfect "clawcraft". At this point we both recognize this is basically a different ship from what was in Gamer so long ago, but it's close enough that a given viewer may have just "not seen" the details we've added.

As you say this is a labor of love, and after 5 years I think there's very little that could keep 2 people working on the same ship for so long other than a real desire to see it come to life as perfectly as possible. I'm not sure what you mean about the "bump mapping" being free... I did model all the stuff most people would just bump map, but that just means I'll have plenty of room to add "weathering" and scratches to the ship. I've got a couple of friends in the industry, and I'm going to try to garner as much knowledge from them about how this SHOULD look.

Thanks for the feedback, I always appreciate it. I actually have most of the ship UV mapped at this point, however... the wings/tail components haven't happened at ALL yet, sooo... I'm frankly scared. :-) Going to be a lot of hiding my texture seams in all that detail I think.

Eclipse

Hisham

I can't wait for the model to be painted, positioned on the virtual camera in a space environment, render with a bit of film grain... and I think we'll have the most realistic SWAG piece ever. Fantastic textures, Kris.

TNJadeonar

Bump Mapping... What is it?

In short, its a digital way in 3d modeling creation to replicate and reproduce actual surface texture. Take a close look at an orange skin, or even your bath towel in the washroom. What do you see on the surface?

The long version:
Lets say when you get all your hull plating painted. There being tiny rivits, and weathering and even drawn in sub-access panels and the like on the texture map. Bump mapping is when you take that finished painted texture and then copy it and convert it to greyscale, and use both on the model.

Now, what i'm getting at is, Bump-mapping is an extra layer of detail you add to a model in addition to the physical body mesh. Bumpmapping is a greyscale height based mapping system that goes by the 256 levels / shades of grey that adds depth and height to surfaces. Black would be the lowest depth and white being the highest peak.

Lets say you modeled a dead weathered tree log laying on the ground. Your done the mesh work. Then you hand paint the worn & weathered bark thats cracked with pits, groves and miniature valleys. Since pits, grooves and valleys within the bark are deeper in, they'd be dark or darker in color. You'd do it this way since modeling every groove of bark would not only be tedious but drive the mesh's polygon count through the ceiling. Now, take that texture map and convert it to greyscale and apply the 'bumpmap' texture in the appropriate area specifically called Bump / Bumpmap. Then you add your scene lighting and render it. You'll be darned suprised how fraking realistic that tree log looks.

Here's a Wiki: Bump Mapping article, that illustrates how a simple orange sphere is made to look like the bumpy skin of orange fruit just by the application of using a Bump Map.

All my 3d renders feature bump-mapping on the models. Its not very visible in say for instance My SWAG Togorian Pilot , however I just re-rendered her at uber high resolution for you @ 2048x1536 resolution over at My Togorian Pilot @ DeviantArt

Here's one more specific example I just whipped up. Its a part of a YT-1300 crew lounge scene i'm working on. The model was made by another talented model, but was plain without textures. I'm in the process of adding and making my own custom textures to use in it. One such item is the luxurious corner couch. A rather expensive reptilian hide material.

-= Bump Mapping Comparison Test =-

I did 2 separate renders, then spliced them side by side in photoshop for this example; and nothing else was changed, even the lighting setup is exactly the same. Aside from the erroneous misspelling in Mapping, look closely, tell me what you notice between the 2... Look carefully...

Well???

- Here's a clue... If you were to paint hull plating panels on that claw craft, think about the difference it would look like in actual real life. What would you feel if you glided your hand along the surface?
________________________
Core to the Quad baby!!!

Eclipse

HAHA, I wasn't asking what bump mapping is, I was asking what specifically you were saying I wouldn't need to bump map. perhaps I misunderstood what you were saying. I intend on doing scratches and all sorts of other goodies on it in the end, so... :-) Should be fun.

Eclipse

TNJadeonar

scratches and the like would be part of the bump mapping ;) So would the seams between the hull plating panels.

________________________
Core to the Quad baby!!!

Eclipse

No, see that's what I'm saying, those aren't bump mapped, I modeled the seams into the ship. Gives me greater latitude with stuff like grunge maps and the like.

Eclipse

Nesta2008

Those pictures are so cool, I love the detail in these, it emphasizes the elegance of these ships, and the thought that went into building them. The different views make it look almost like plans for one I guess... Again, very awesome work Eclipse