im looking for ways to make the time i spend with Infini-D as pleasent as possible- one way i have discovered is to plan what you want to design ahead of time (duh).

i was thinkin that a big-ass whiteboard or a sketchpad would be good for raw ideas, but are there any other suggestions about how to make ideas exist in space-time and on a low budget?

also on my mind- clay/putty models, Legos, toothpicks

------------------
My bus came i got on and sat down next to this beautiful blond chinese girl. I said 'hello' and she said 'hello' and i said 'isn't it an amazing day?' And she said 'yes it is, i guess.' I said what do you mean 'i guess'? She said 'well things haven't been going too well for me lately.' I said 'like what?' She said 'i can't tell you, i don't even know you.' I said 'yeah, but sometimes its good for you to tell your problems to an absolute total stranger on a bus.' She said 'well, i just came back from my anaylist and he's still unable to help me.' I said 'what's the problem?' And she paused and said 'im a nymphomaniac and i only get turned on by jewish cowboys.' and she said 'by the way, my name's Diane.' And i said 'hello, Diane, my name's Bucky Goldstein.'

My method of madness for traditional print and web design is to affix about 5' sheet of newsprint (many craft and art stores sell it on rolls) to the fall and attack it Kurt Vonnegut style.

Legoes would be good, too, because Legoes are implicitly cool. BUT they're very limited relative to what you can do in 3D. Best advice is to sketch, sketch, sketch. Do at least a perspective view and a top and side view.

Quote

Originally posted by Jon Egunner:
**im looking for ways to make the time i spend with Infini-D as pleasent as possible- one way i have discovered is to plan what you want to design ahead of time (duh).

i was thinkin that a big-ass whiteboard or a sketchpad would be good for raw ideas, but are there any other suggestions about how to make ideas exist in space-time and on a low budget?

also on my mind- clay/putty models, Legos, toothpicks

**

------------------
My signature is short and unobtrusive. I don't have a long sig to overcompansate for "ego" problems.

hehe... i just start modeling, and change what i want as i go. it can end up like (url="http://"http://3dartpalace.hypermart.net/misc2.jpg")Pretty Pic(/url), or can be total crap, but its fun anyway

------------------
DeAdBoY-
your freindly drug addict

Quote

Originally posted by DeAdBoY:
**hehe... i just start modeling, and change what i want as i go. it can end up like Pretty Pic, or can be total crap, but its fun anyway:)

**

Cool ship...I like huge guns in comparison to the tiny cockpit.

------------------
Marge: Pointing to Circuit board in Robots opened head
See Homer, that's why your robot didn't work!

(url="http://"http://www.AmbrosiaSW.com/cgi-bin/ubb/newsdisplay.cgi?action=topics&number;=20&forum;=*EV/EVO+chronicles&DaysPrune;=25&article;=000024&startpoint;=")The Tides of War(/url)

AIM: HipHopJack

Nice pic. I like the texture mapping a lot.

In answer to the question, I started out using Lego, but I work mostly direct in 3d now.

The reason is that, although in an idea world your machine should be able to produce anything, it will actually do certain kinds of things better than others. I like to begin with a simple solid, and then pull the vertices this way and that until I have a shape I like. I only add more vertices when I absolutely need them, to keep the rendering time down. Any surface stuff I like to do with textures, for which Painter 3d is an absolute must (free with Poser 4, if you can still get it). Painter 3d allows you to paint directly onto the solids in whatever mapping you prefer. This is very important for UV (implicit) mapping, which is non-intuitive in Photoshop or Painter.

Clayscape (www.jarfish.com) is a great free 3d sculpting program, which gives a lot of scope for coming up with weird and wonderful forms directly.

------------------
M A R T I N • T U R N E R

I use Infini-D 4.5, and I used to sketch my ships (during school, no less). Being on notes, usually, they couldn't be that big, usually about on-screen size or a bit larger (especially for small ships like fighters). I haven't done that recently, though, since I've found such small sketches don't have enough room for detail.

What I've done for most of my recent ships, is think of what I want it to look like. Picture it in detail in my mind, with what aspects I want it to have. Then I go into Infini-D and start to model it. Usually some things turn out different as I see how it's looking or if it's not easy or even possible, but I really like the end results. Examples: (url="http://"http://www.jps.net/btaenzer/resistance.jpg")A fighter(/url) - (url="http://"http://www.jps.net/btaenzer/rfreighter.jpg")Not your standard weak freighter...(/url)

If you have a hard time mentally visualizing your ship I can suggest, if you have some drawing talent, sketching your ship - but large enough to include details. Details are what really make a ship come alive.

If you like the textures DeAdBoY used, go to(url="http://"http://www.integraonline.com/~ckey/3d/")fatalin.tycho (now called onyx)'s guide to texturing(/url). He's got some really good textures there.
------------------

(This message has been edited by Weepul 884 (edited 08-20-2000).)

you can also get tons of textures, and other stuff at (url="http://"http://www.3dcafe.com/")http://www.3dcafe.com/(/url)

------------------
DeAdBoY-
your freindly drug addict

And some more texutres:
(url="http://"http://www.stormvision.net/textures/metal/bluepanels.jpg")http://www.stormvisi.../bluepanels.jpg(/url) (url="http://"http://www.stormvision.net/textures/bumpmaps/panelsbump.jpg")http://www.stormvisi.../panelsbump.jpg(/url)

------------------
My signature is short and unobtrusive. I don't have a long sig to overcompansate for "ego" problems.

We here like to use big long coark-board strips (about 1" high and 6' long - and cheap, too) and then pin up all the story boards, sketches and the like there. As for media, pencil on regular old 8 1/2 by 11 paper, sometimes traced over in pen or felt tip for more final stuff. Oh, and as for 3D modeling NOT on the computer (which is rare for me now), Legos it is!!
-david-

------------------
Graphics. Games. And more...
(url="http://"http://www.meowx.com")Meowx Design Studios(/url)

(This message has been edited by Meowx Design (edited 08-24-2000).)

I go about it a slightly different way. I model parts of ships/space stations at a time. I do it this way cause I seldom have a complete picture of the ship in mind. Instead I usually spot an object/shaoe/item in real life I thought it would look really cool as a part of a ship spar, wing. rear quarter of main body atc... So I have many parts of ships modeled. Sometimes I take these parts and see what I can come up with by trying to but them together. Sometimes it looks good... others.... a disaster.

------------------

What do you actually use to DRAW them with you know? I use heheh claris works (i'm not that into computer art). I'm a pretty good on paper (i'll post some of my pics when my scanner starts to work again) and was wondering what is best for just drawing something.

------------------
"How can I make it go faster?" -Me-