can you make 3D SPACESHIPS

[DefJam101]

They were for a Nexus conversion I was planning.

Wow. I missed that one (though not really surprising). Having just watched a gameplay vid on Youtube, I'm getting it now.

Odd. I remember you insulting Nexus not too long ago, must have been someone else.

Nexus lacks the replayability of, say, Homeworld, but must be played at least once by any fan of the genre. Although, back in the days of QuakeNet Nexus PUGs, the game packed some serious multiplayer energy as well.

 

[Burning Bridges]

I like the style of NiM82s ships.
Two years ago I made this engine to render believable space scenes (Ogre3d).
Ogre3d is really good for making impressive looking space, and my demo ran at several hundred fps.
I also made tons of hires planet textures, as well as a dozen planetoids.
But I lost interest cause I have no talent in the 3d modelling stuff.
If someone has nice looking space ships, and knows how to export them to Ogre (.mesh) format, both could be combined into a simple but good looking space game.

 

[Khor1255]

Yeah, that stuff looks really cool. Was it taken from actual Nasa shots or rendered free hand?

One looks like the Earth through a photo editor.

The next looks like Mars but with considerably more blue.

The next are moons with the exception of a gas giant looking (green one) planet.

The last really looks like one of Mars' moons (Demos maybe?) which are actually asteroids captured by the planet's gravity.

They all look really good for a sci fi game.

I remember in the late 80s trying to map out star systems for a pen and paper rpg we were playing. I got hung up on some pretty basic planetary physics stuff like how to determine approximate surface area of a spheroid by using it's diameter and other easily calculable factors. As such the maps were never done but images like these bring back old memories of very fun projects.

Thanks for that.

 

[Burning Bridges]

OK I've uploaded a small version of the demo so you can try it.

This is just a simple tech demo, not the full application. It is reduced for download size to only two planets, and two small moons. Currently the full set includes about 50 planets and 12 planetoids.

OgreSpaceDemo.zip (18MB)

Feel free to contact me if you want to know more.

Instructions:

1. Extract
2. Run OgreSDK/bin/release/OgreSpaceDemo.exe

IF you get an error message about missing application configuration, run the Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime: vcredist_x86-sp1.exe

You can press the mouse button to go from planet to planet and use WASD to move around. If the application runs and you see only the sun, you must press the mouse once and you will see what I mean.

All Keys:

W,A,S,D = fly
Mouse = look around
Left Mouse Button = goto next planet
Right Mouse Button = goto previous planet
F = hide UI
R = Toggle Render Mode
Esc = Quit

 

[Burning Bridges]

To answer your questions, yes that's Deimos.

The green one however is not a Gas Giant, but a variant of Titan. I wanted it to look similar to this (real image taken from Cassini):

and this is what I could achieve:

 

[NiM82]

Nice little demo there.

I just had a go at exporting a textured model I did (for a B5 mod), but the Ogre plug-in for Lightwave is full of fail and died whenever I tried to load it.

Is there a standalone converter (opens generic OBJ files), or what package do most Ogre users use? Blender?

 

[Burning Bridges]

Almost all you need to know about about Ogre exporters can be found here.

I used Blender. You need to install Blender, Python and of course the exporter: link

I also used Wings 3d which makes it very easy to convert 3DStudio objects to Ogre format.

Unfortunately I am a programming guy, and not good at 3D modelling. I almost went nuts trying to learn Blender, although I eventually managed to to do the things I wanted to do.

So I stopped working in Ogre mostly because of this. I knew I'd have to do spaceships one day, and I knew I would never be able to do it myself. I managed to get a Discovery (the one from 2001) and also most ships from from Elite, but got tired to run around looking for other peoples models and get their consent to use them.

There are two ways we can experiment with your models. Send me a model in .mesh format and I put it in. But my program is flexible and can be setup to display models without my help, too. One only needs to edit text files.

Finally, I now think that the demo is not fully representative of the capabilites, and I will try to make a better one.

 

[spectre]

I almost went nuts trying to learn Blender

You're not the only one. Whoever designed the interface needs to be shot in the groin. In the end I only use it for final rendering. If I get my head around skeletal animations I'll do that too. Modelling I just leave to wings3d.

 

[Burning Bridges]

I think you must be a little crazy to work with these programs. That's why I like to call 3d guys "Rendernazis".

I have now begun what I wanted to do for a long time, starting to combine my planetary objects into some meaningful solar systems. If someone has good ideas for fictional systems, these are welcome. I usually run out of ideas when I have to do technical stuff.

Here are screenshots of three systems I am working on, and which I hope to release with a better tech demo in the not too far future.

fictional system 1

A giant in somewhat larger solar distance (very cold).

fictional system 2

A gas giant with currently 4 large and planned to have a dozen or so smaller moons.

fictional system 3

A twin planet close to its sun

 

[spectre]

Looks sexy. I'd put some stars in the background for even more sexiness.

 

[Burning Bridges]

That comes from the jpg compression. The engine currently generates 16000 stars, which might be more than many systems can handle already.

Compare: uncompressed image

I'm currently somewhat running out of ideas. Here is the last system I started:

fictional system 4

A gas giant similar to Jupiter.

 

[spectre]

Feck, need to clean up my monitor, thought these were specs of dust. Anyways, looks nice in high res.
How about some nebulas then?

 

[NiM82]

I'll have another go at converting stuff with blender when I get a chance, but honestly Blender makes my head spin too. Technically it ticks a lot of boxes, but ergonomically it's beyond terrible and makes me cry.

 

[Burning Bridges]

How about some nebulas then?

You know, I am still not convinced that you can see nebulas with the naked eye. The exception is of course the Milkyway, but even that is something that should not be too pronounced.

My solar system is now almost complete.

fictional system 5

A group of dwarf planets very far away from its sun (similar to Pluto/Charon).

Some more moons for the big planets:

 

[Talby]

Those are great, GlobalExplorer. You guys should totally make a Privateer/Elite type space game.

 

[Ladonna]

Very nice. Just throw in some Flash Gordon-y rocketships now

 

[Burning Bridges]

You guys should totally make a Privateer/Elite type space game.

I make this more as a Elite 4 LARP'ing simulator, and to learn programming graphics engines. With the demo you will be able to fly around in 3d and take inspiration.

The building of my solar system is almost finished now, and I am quite happy with the results. My idea is that this will be a science fiction version of Tau Ceti solar system, or some other star similar to our sun.

The playable demo should be ready in a week or so. I am aiming for a download size of <100Mb. When it's ready I could use people to help me name the objects, especially for most moons I have not found good names. For some of the more important objects I currently use names like Entropia, Medusa, Pandora, Prometheus ..

fictional system 6

A world on the border of the habitable zone, rather dry and cold like Mars. Ok I made it from Mars actually, but unlike Mars it has a large moon.

 

[Burning Bridges]

I felt I had to spend more time to arrange the planets into a believeable solar system, as well as work more on the gas giants which looked somewhat strange.

Distance from sun grows:

system 1

system 2

system 3

system 4

system 5

system 6

system 7

 

[Burning Bridges]

I finished the new demo. Download Demo.OrionArm.v20.20090818.zip (82Mb)

As this thread was about spaceships, I have moved it to an own:
http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=35548

There you also find all information you need to run it.