I just wanted to know how many of you prefer 3d spaceships over something drawn in, say, paint. Of course each style has its benefits: bitmaps are more classic feeling and much less time consuming to make (I created the one posted below in just under two hours), however something made in a 3d modeling program looks much nicer and is much more flexible animation-wise.

I'm asking this question because I couldn't use a 3d modeler to save my life (except for anim8or, but everything I made looked terrible ), but I can make half-decent bitmap spaceships (rotating them is simple enough too).

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Half-decent? Your bitmap ships are much more than full-decent. Really, I wish I had your talent with 2D design.

As for preference, it really depends on the game the graphics are for. If you're going for realism, you're gonna want 3D high-texture stuff. If you're going for more arcade-style gameplay, then bitmaps work great. However, when it comes to your bitmaps, I would even play something akin to EVN with bitmap versions of the graphics.

On the other hand, Gratuitous Space Battles uses some pretty sophisticated bitmap graphics. I suspect they used 3D models and then took shots from above and spun those, but it could be possible, with enough patience, to make bitmaps in Paint with just as much detail.

@darthkev, on 30 June 2012 - 03:22 AM, said in Simple Question:

On the other hand, Gratuitous Space Battles uses some pretty sophisticated bitmap graphics. I suspect they used 3D models and then took shots from above and spun those, but it could be possible, with enough patience, to make bitmaps in Paint with just as much detail.

GSB actually rotates the graphics in real-time, preventing 3/4 2D graphics.

It’s definitely a valid style, if little-used in the context of Escape Velocity. I would suggest drawing your ships in at least twice the resolution you intend to ultimately use, so that you can hide the rotation artefacts by scaling down.

Sounds good, I should try that

Edit:

I think it looks a tad scratchy. Needs refining...

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This post has been edited by ReclusiveOne : 30 June 2012 - 06:25 PM

Yeah, your bitmaps are fine. For my money, I'd rather have consistency in graphics and design than "high-quality." Part of the reason I think we didn't see the great explosion in plugs in NOVA that there was in EV/O is that no one could make graphics that really looked the same as the stuff in-game. Kinda too bad; I remember many of my favorite ships in EV plugs that looked straight out of the universe because the graphic style was (is) so easy to replicate.

If you need help learning 3d, pick up Sketchup. It's really not too hard - just start drawing rectangles, circles, and extruding them - you've got the artful eye to make nice looking stuff already and that's 3/4's of what you need to be good at it.