EVN - Delphi

Somebody asked what the target pictures were going to look like, so here's a little bit of a sample. I haven't added the diagnostic-style background behind the ship images, but this works for now. It's kind of nice being all clean like this, actually.

I, uh, really can't see much. Maybe because it's a side profile? A top-down version would be better because it's easier to make out.

QUOTE (king_of_manticores @ Aug 20 2010, 07:55 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I, uh, really can't see much. Maybe because it's a side profile? A top-down version would be better because it's easier to make out.

I was considering doing a top-down profile, but when I tried it a lot of the NDC artillery ships just simply looked the same. The Monolith, the Imperator, and the Guardian had almost identical-looking target pictures.

I'm not entirely aiming to give a detailed readout of the ship, just a very clear silhouette that makes vessels clearly distinguishable from one another. The Versatile looks nothing like any of the other transports in the game when viewed from the side like that.

Also, here's something of an updated profile size table for the bigger ships. This also shows what I mean about each vessel having a very distinct side view.

Addendum: Forgot to mention the names of the ships in the table.

Alexander Dominant
Cyphus Dominant
Imperator Heavy Cruiser
Guardian Cruiser
Athena Frigate
Cephecon Frigate
Mars Corvette

Ah, I see. It'd be cooler to see what the ship's side looks like, though, instead of a silhouette.

This is OTT, but I'm wondering--I'm redoing my Inexorable Cruiser, and I'm confused as to how did you make the unique Enclave wing. You know, that massive curved one that's on most of the Enclave ships. How could I replicate that?

Bring up one of the enclave ships as a picture in the background and fiddle with the pieces till you get it.
I don't think it took all that long for me.

I bundled the superstructure and substructure pieces together into this nifty little .zip for your convenience. Sp3cies is right: it's just pieces from the other components collections, but if you're looking for the originals, here they are.

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=1W6UQKE1

Hey that piece on the back is new, or at least not in the components package. Looks sweet though.

QUOTE (Sp3cies @ Aug 21 2010, 01:04 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hey that piece on the back is new, or at least not in the components package. Looks sweet though.

Sorry, I suppose you're right. Well, now you have it, so stop complaining.

I smell a Ship Component Library 2.1 with these new pieces. Thanks, Delph.

I see two new pieces, actually. There's a sort of radiator grill piece and a slanted engine piece. Interesting.

QUOTE (DarthKev @ Aug 21 2010, 05:14 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I see two new pieces, actually. There's a sort of radiator grill piece and a slanted engine piece. Interesting.

If it's the engine piece I'm thinking of, then it was actually made from the original, just by distorting the piece.

By the way, that's something you can do in SketchUp that's not exactly explained anywhere in the program. It IS technically possible to skew pieces, it just takes a little bit of cleverness.

Take the piece you want to skew, and rotate it 45°. Now, draw a line on a 45° angle away from it (following the original axis the piece was aligned to). Select the two - the part and the line - and activate your scaling tool. Simply scale the collection in different directions to squash and skew the larger components along different axes, corner-to-corner. Then, delete the single line, and move your newly-skewed piece to wherever you need it.

I'm gonna hijack this topic a bit and repost my redone Inexorable Strike Cruiser.

Never underestimate a strike cruiser with quad railguns and four massive cannons (and who knows what else). The Inexorable Strike Cruiser covers its lack of fighter support with vectored thrust engines that allow it to switch directions with frightening speed.

Cycling through the old pages, I realized that I have totally jacked the Thunderforge-ish cannon layout from one of Delphi's older models. Ah well. If you are going to stick it in your TC, Delphi, I'd like to preview the color scheme of the Scimitar on it.

EDIT: And while there's been no new posts yet, does anyone know how to make a .skp file into a modifiable component (by that I mean a component that shows up with its actual file name in the components window, and its description can be modified)?

This post has been edited by king_of_manticores : 23 August 2010 - 12:29 AM

For those of you expressing doubt about the newly redesigned Alexander, I hope that the following video clip assuages your unease.

Alexander Class Dominant - Base Spin

This is the actual base spin animation for the Alexander, albeit at a much higher resolution than it will appear in game, and compressed by the image/video hosting service I'm using (hence the minor compression artifacts). I hope that this both shows you the size of the files I work with from the get-go to achieve such high-detail sprites without pixellation, and the sheer might that is the Alexander. The colors look a slight bit cartoony right now, but that leads me into my next point.

Pixel and color saturation. It's the sort of thing you might not think about when you're rendering sprites, but I've found that a mastery of these two elements can make or break a potentially great sprite. As I'm sure most of you know by now, it's far cleaner to start with a larger image and compress it downward than it is to take a smaller image and blow it up. Interpolation can only do so much for missing pixels, so you'll always get better, smoother results by rendering giant sprites and then shrinking them down with a proper smoothing algorithm, such as Photoshop's bicubic resample filter. While this is fairly simple to understand, another facet that I've employed is the use of high color saturation to achieve great-looking contrasted sprites. By rendering ships with more color than they'll actually have in the game, it allows me to adjust the overall levels for the entire vessel without losing further color data or accidentally bringing up muted tones that were meant to be left alone. By creating higher color density/contrast, the areas of the ship that are meant to be even slightly colored still stand out against the dull grey metal regions once I've applied the proper amount of desaturation. The same way that it's easier to compress large pixels into small ones for the best smoothness, it's easiest to compress vibrant colors into dull ones without damaging the surrounding levels.

Huh. Turns out that TinyPic not only compressed the video quality, but also the size. Were you viewing the Alexander spin at its original render output resolution, it would measure 500 x 500 per frame. Though the final version is only half that size, I'm sure you can imagine how impressive a 250 x 250 ship will be on screen, especially when it's bristling with an arsenal of your choosing and delivering hellish death to your enemies.

The only pain is fitting the ship into the plug. 72 frames at 250 x 250 per frame makes a sheet 1500 x 3000 pixels, and that's not even taking into account running lights and engine glows.

This post has been edited by Delphi : 23 August 2010 - 06:11 AM

Now this is a ship I'd expect worthy of defending the Coalition from any and all contenders. I promised you a flying city loaded to the teeth with nuclear weaponry, and here it is.

That's the ship's actual size on-screen. DarthKev, I hope that sates your desire for large ships.

In regards to the way that the Alexander will stand up to other ships in the game, the ship is meant to be an absolute behemoth of firepower. If you are fighting for the NDC and decide to turn your guns on one of your own Alexanders, I would highly recommend being in one yourself, if you wish to come out with anything more than a smouldering ruin emblazoned with weaponry pock-marks in the shape of the words, "ha ha". If you decide to join the Enclave, you'll have many more missions with fleet support, so your best bet is to use standoff attacks or quick hit-and-run tactics with very high level weapons. In either situation, the Alexander is one of those few ships that actually fits the cliché of "holding its own against any would-be assailants." It's suicide to go alone against one of these titans, which is also the reason you have to fight so very hard to become worthy of owning one. The Alexander is only released to you through a series of side missions. Otherwise, the largest ship you can pilot is the Cyphus, a slightly smaller vehicle, albeit in the same hull class.

Basically, the Alexander is akin to the Kestrel, the Aurora Carrier, or the Polaris Raven of EVN; that end-game ship with which you can almost conquer the entire galaxy.

Qaanol will beat it in a shuttle.

QUOTE (DarthKev @ Aug 18 2010, 02:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, kind of, but the Wraith has three wings, Delphi's above fighter only has two. Here is a larger, albeit unpainted, image of Delphi's fighter. If you download the parts collection in the link in that post (assuming Delphi hasn't changed the link) you'll find a full model for Delphi's fighter that you won't find in the 2.0 Library found in Delphi's signature. That will show you another difference; the Wraith's upper two wings start off traveling up and away from the fuselage but then turn down mid-way to attach to the weapon pods. Delphi's fighter's wings are straight.

So I see. Well, it looked more like a Wraith from the screenshot's angle.

QUOTE (Delphi @ Aug 23 2010, 06:37 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's the ship's actual size on-screen. DarthKev, I hope that sates your desire for large ships.

:wacko: <goofy giggle> Hehehe... hehe... heh. :wacko:

That is truly the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. And your statement regarding its power only further encourages me to find a way to beat it, single-handed, with an Athena or the Enclave equivalent. Or just capture a Cyphus (or two), buy a Journeyman, and then kill an Alexander. <devious grin>

** Edit:** StarSword, you're right, though. That in-game sprite does closely resemble the Wraith in SC1. They've changed it in SC2, though, so it looks nothing like that. Personally, I prefer the version from SC1.

This post has been edited by DarthKev : 23 August 2010 - 12:33 PM

The Alexander looks like it could eat that planet for breakfast. Seriously. Delphi, that is of epic win, though I wouldn't mind seeing it bigger.

I'm kidding--I'm pretty sure you'll leave it as is.

This post has been edited by king_of_manticores : 23 August 2010 - 01:32 PM