3D modelling

[Nerei]

I have mostly been working on the M1128 MGS recently. It is taking some time but it should be fairly easy to rebuild it into a M1126 ICV as a large part of the texture is identical.

Not going to show the other side as it is largely blank still

Also I found an old Pennsylvania class battleship. I have been updating it a bit but it still needs some work. It should in theory provide a good start for making US Navy standard battleships

[Nerei]

Lets build the HMS Astute part 2

Part 1

The final thing we will do to the bow of the Astute is inserting a ring to better get the right curvature of the very front of the submarine.
We will also collapse some vertices to keep the tris count lower.


Now the modelling of the basic pressure hull of the submarine is done. There is still the part of putting a fin, rudders and the ducted propeller on it but the hull itself could be UV mapped right now. We will however wait doing that.


Next up is the ducted propeller. I tend to take a different approach to modelling the propellers of submarines depending on their construction.
Ducted propellers I will just have the propeller be a semi-transparent texture on a couple of surfaces. The duct tends to cover so much that the propeller is rarely even visible and saving tris is always good. For submarines without a ducted propeller I usually build the actual blades. It tends to take a few more tris but I personally prefer that approach. It is however as much a matter of choice as anything.
As an example here is the propeller assembly for USS Virginia SSN-774 and USS Skipjack SSN-585.


Initially we will just create a short cylinder around the longitudinal axis of the submarine. It does not have to have many sides. Something like 12 should be more than enough.

We actually do not need the sides so they can be removed and the center vertex can be moved out and merged with another there.

For the duct itself we will just be using a pipe. I have gone with 16 sides. I find 16 to be a decent compromise between detail and tris count. The part however is not amazingly large so going lower would probably work.

For shape we will simply scale the front and back, inner and outer rings until they are in the same shape as the duct on the Astute.

Finally we will merge the outer and inner ring of the rear end of the duct. there is no need to have it for the shape to be okay and it will save some tris.

That is the propeller done next up will be the rudders.


For the rudders we are dealing with fairly small, simple geometric shapes. We could probably get away with simple rhombi cross sections of the rudders shaped roughly like the real thing.
I will however be going with hexagonal shapes. They are also fairly simple and their tris count is not much higher.

Initially we will simply make a cube roughly the height and thickness of the upper rudder

Initially we will add a division to the rear side of the cube and make the shape roughly right.

Again this might be enough in many cases but being a submarine we can afford putting a few more tris on this rudder.
Initially I will divide the edges along the width of the submarine and move the outer edges inwards a bit to create a more hydrodynamic shape.
I will also divide the upper corners of the middle line in order to get a more rounded shape. Finally we remove the bottom surface. It is inside the hull of the submarine and none will ever see it.

Next up the lower rudder
Again we will just start out with a cube roughly in the right shape

Like the upper rudder we will start out getting roughly in the right shape and like the upper rudder this might actually be enough. However like the upper rudder we will divide the edges down the center of it and pull the outer edges towards the middle to make it more hydrodynamic in shape. Finally we again remove the base that is inside the hull.


Finally we will deal with the dive planes. These are very simple in shape so we will just start out making a 6 sided cylinder like this.

The shape is so simple that simply scaling the height, length and width is going to be enough. That it cuts through the entire width of the submarine is entirely okay. We save tris and the extra space it will take up on the UV map is more than manageable.

For the front diving planes we will again use a 6 sided cylinder and scale it like this.


Now the submarine only needs the fin, a few details and a bit of cleanup of the mesh.

Lets start with the details. On the front deck there is a small extrusion. No idea what it actually is but the good part is I do not need to know to make it.
Simply create a small cylinder and shape it roughly like this structure.


notice the highlighted line in the screenshot above? that line is currently not doing anything so we will delete it.
Finally we will move the vertices at the open end of the line to one of the vertices at the side and connect the central vertex to the one in the other side like this.


Finally the only part left to model is the fin and the model will be ready to be UV mapped.
Like with pretty much all other round shapes we will start with a cylinder. In this case a 24 sided one. It is a high number everything considered but it is a fairly important object on the submarine.

Initially we will cut the outermost edges away leaving only 22 and a short flat side on the soon to be fin.
First we will move the two ends of the cylinder to the ends of the fin to create a structure roughly the length of the fin greatly stretching the flat side in the process. We will also adjust the width of the cylinder to match that of the top of the fin. Doing this in the front/back view can be much easier than from a top down view.

Now we will adjust the shape of the front and back of the fin. We can get a long way simply scaling each end to roughly match the shape of the sail. Fine adjustments can be done on a vertex by vertex base.
Finally we adjust the shape of the fin to the silhouette as seen in the side view of the submarine.

The front and back of the fin is a bit pointed on my model so I will be adding another edge here and adjusting the shape a bit to make it slightly more round. It does not have to be perfect as pretty rounded shapes tends to take up a lot of tris and for this scale that is a waste.

Except for the masts on top of the fin and some small adjustments the fin is pretty much done. Everything else will be texture.
Notice that the rear part of the top of the fin is curving down and the front is not perfectly strait?
We will be adjusting this now. Normally as small a detail as that curvature would not be worth it but we have all the vertices needed to recreate it.

Then tere is the front of the fin. Here we will insert 4 edges along the first 7 edges making up the curvature of the fin. Now we try and recreate the more complex shape of the fin.
Some of the new edges might not need to extend this far back to get the shape right. That is okay we will just remove them.
Finally the fin should look something like this


Now we just need the masts and the model will be ready for UV mapping.
For the masts I will solely be using 4 sided cylinders.
Simply place them onto the profile of the submarine and try to get the shape roughly right.

I use cylinders over cubes as maya makes these as rhomboids with one vertice front another back one on each side. When put ontop of say a cube this 45 degree rotation makes them stand out more than another cube ontop of the first one.
In the end it should look something like this

We will finally turn to the top view and try to get their placement roughly right along the width of the submarine.
The masts should look a bit like this now


Finally the submarine is modelled

Next up will be UV mapping

[sljn4]

su-34 and tu-16 model not working in sru

[Nerei]

Technically speaking the model work it just appears BG forgot to include the entry that makes the game call the model in default.picnums. The J-10, J-20, SA-2's, Dana and Cougar is not called either. I will have to check if the models that have been updated have had the entries updated properly.


The quick fix is to add these lines to default.picnums found in graphics => meshes.

1760, 2, 0, 1, , -1, -1, -1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, -1, 0, -1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 14, 2, 2, , 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1760, , , , , , 0.048,

1762, 2, 1, 0, , -1, -1, -1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, -1, 0, -1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 14, 2, 2, , 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1762, , , , , , 0.055,
1763, 2, 1, 0, , -1, -1, -1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, -1, 0, -1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 14, 2, 2, , 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1763, , , , , , 0.047,

1768, 2, 1, 0, , -1, -1, -1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, -1, 0, -1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 14, 2, 2, , 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1768, , , , , , 0.045,

1860, 15, , , , -1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2, , , , 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1860, , , , , , 0.05,

1869, 15, , , , -1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2, , , , 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1869, , , , , , 0.08,
1870, 15, , , , -1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2, , , , 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1870, , , , , , 0.078,
1871, 15, , , , -1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2, , , , 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1871, , , , , , 0.09,

[Nerei]

I have made some progress on the Su-27. Still a good deal of work but being an aircraft it should be fairly fast everything considered. Yes it has space for canards on the UV map.
Camouflage is not done either.


Unfortunately my time is a bit limited and might be for some time but I should have a few models ready at the end of the month.

[MK4]

Hooray!

Do you plan to make a Chinese texture for this one too? To represent the J-11 I mean.

[Nerei]

Yes I am currently leaning towards something like this
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... _Su-27.JPG
rather than the lighter colour that say the J-10 has.

The Su-30 will probably not happen this month. Making the canards is not that time consuming but I want it to have different colouration than the Su-27 so there will be some texturing work in it.

[MK4]

Yes I am currently leaning towards something like this
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... _Su-27.JPG

That`s what I would have chosen too. Btw, if it`s not too time consuming, please add that unpainted metal area on the right side, near the canon. It`s there for all Sukhois(including the Su-27) and it`s large enough to be noticed and give them a distinctive feel.

The Su-30 will probably not happen this month.

I would not have expected it to. Great to hear it`s on your list though.

I want it to have different colouration than the Su-27 so there will be some texturing work in it.

If we speak of the Su-30 MKI then its main operator is the Indian air force:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukhoi_Su-30MKI#Operators
and the Indian Sukhois have a reasonably simple gray texture:
http://www.airliners.net/photo/India-Ai ... Os6xdnzDCm
http://www.airliners.net/photo/India-Ai ... J1/QOgsC9U
Personally I`d be happy with just this one and a generic version based on it (no Indian markings), but you could make a Russian texture too (since the Su-30SM is entering service in quantities already), which it`s true would be more complex than the Indian one:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... t_2014.jpg
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Russia-A ... Au8w%3D%3D

Also, I`ve posted this above and it`s only a minor thing really, but just for reference if you do want to go into details here`s how the Sukhoi tail fins differ from one version to the other. Apart form the canards it`s the main visual difference between a Su-30MKI/Su-30SM (India and Russia) and the sans canards version that China (the Su-30MKK) and many others use.
http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/inde ... nt-1131913
The Chinese Su-30MKK texture btw, would also be fairly simple:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PLAA ... r_Base.jpg

[Nerei]

More work done on the Su-27. Still some way to go though. The air intakes amongst others are still completely devoid of details.


The light sources I use to render is what is making the almost glowing effect on the aircraft. It should not be like this in-game as there is not light sources

Also yes I tend to want to make a Russian version of the Su-30 as it will probably have to cover all variants together with the SU-27 as I am unlikely to that many different versions of it. I might just ignore that the PRC variant technically does not have canards and just make a PRC version of the canard Su-30.

[MK4]

More work done on the Su-27.

It`s looking great and it should be a very important addition to the game.

Also yes I tend to want to make a Russian version of the Su-30 as it will probably have to cover all variants together with the SU-27 as I am unlikely to that many different versions of it.

What does that mean exactly?

I might just ignore that the PRC variant technically does not have canards and just make a PRC version of the canard Su-30.

But how much effort is involved in knocking those canards off if you already have the Su-30MKI model and a Chinese texture made for it? Btw, I haven`t looked at it enough, but the camo of the J-11 seems about the same with the one of the Su-30MKK.

[Nerei]

What I mean is simply that I am not going to be making a huge number of different variants of the su-27 family. Chances that I will make say a Su-35 and Su-37 are not that great.
Also my plan with the PRC version of the Su-30 is to just accept the base model has canards. It is not entirely accurate but I got a feeling the J-11 and Su-30MKK is going to be too similar to each other for people to casually notice the difference without those canards. Also with canards it might be able to pretend it is a Shenyang J-15

[MK4]

Actually by "exactly" I meant I`m curious what you do intend to make in terms of meshes and textures.

Chances that I will make say a Su-35 and Su-37 are not that great.

I see no point whatsoever in making a Su-37. Making a distinctive looking Su-35s might have some merit because it is currently Russia`s most capable fighter, probably by quite a length. Here`s an interesting read:
https://hushkit.net/2016/03/17/su-35-ve ... tin-bronk/
But I agree that since we have the Su-27 a Su-35s would be quite a luxury.

That said, I still think there should be a proper Su-30MKK without canards for China since it doesn`t seem to take as much effort as making a new aircraft or a new camo-style. It`s just a small length to go to have another visually distinctive aircraft in game. If the visual distinction between it and the J-11 is the concern then I personally would rather have the generic version of the Su-27 be used for the Chinese J-11 and the distinctively grey Chinese camo be used for the Su-30 alone.

Off topic, but wouldn`t the modelling guide (which I very much like and support - to be clear) be better off in its own thread? Here it is broken into pieces by the text, this thread is not a place where one would look for a tutorial and what`s more it takes a long time to load all the pictures each time we check for new posts on the mod.

[Nerei]

I am actually considering doing the Su-30 as a distinct new model as the cockpit area in particular is different from the Su-27. Doing a version with and without the canards is very much possible and I might be able to basically tear the Su-27 apart and reuse parts which definitely will save a lot of time.

It is mainly that I have noticed some differences and if I am to do the Su-30 I might as well do it right and I will be annoyed whenever I look at the model if I do not.
This is one of the reason models sometimes take time to make. I am fixing things it is unlikely anyone else will ever notice. It is a waste of time in many ways yes but ultimately I at least want the model to be acceptable to me.

So yes proper Su-30MKI and Su-30MKK but proper as in no rushed rebuilds. A canard version of the Su-27 might find a life as a Shenyang J-15 though and given how much it resembles the Su-33 that a Russian version might be based on that.
How exactly I want to handle things like regional variants of the Su-30 though I am not sure of yet. I will have to look a bit at it.
None of it will happen this month and except for the J-15 I might push it back beyond September also but we will have to see.

No promises with a Su-35 but if I do one it will just be a repainted Su-27 for Russia and the PRC.

Anyway the Su-27 is more or less how I want it except it needs a generic texture. I might pick some other national version for that role like on the Tu-16 (without markings though).




For now I my plan with the building of the Astute is just to post something here when I have it written. Once I am done with it I could post it in another topic sure. I also want to do an early post war battleship like HMS Vanguard at some point and it should probably go into a topic of its own as that is going to be long and complex compared to the Astute

[MK4]

I am actually considering doing the Su-30 as a distinct new model as the cockpit area in particular is different from the Su-27.

Well, that`s inherent considering that the Su-30 is a double seater by default.

So yes proper Su-30MKI and Su-30MKK but proper as in no rushed rebuilds.

Great!

No promises with a Su-35 but if I do one it will just be a repainted Su-27 for Russia and the PRC.

That would be entirely doable. I actually looked into it at some point and the visual differences between the two are indeed minor:
http://www.flankers-site.co.uk/modl_su-35.html
For example the Su-35s has no pitot tube, but in game we don`t have that for the Su-27 either. Basically, the only possibly noticeable difference at this scale would be the slightly different shape of the tailboom and that`s a very small thing.

Anyway the Su-27 is more or less how I want it except it needs a generic texture. I might pick some other national version for that role like on the Tu-16 (without markings though).

Yeah, but what? The only major foreign operator apart from PRC is Ukraine and it has that beautiful, but equally complicated digital camo:
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Ukraine- ... %2Bw%3D%3D
Good luck in finding photos for some of the smaller operators, apart from Vietnam which has a Russian scheme:
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Vietnam- ... 0xLQ%3D%3D
http://sukhoi.mariwoj.pl/su-30-vn.htm

In the end, the current Russian texture without markings might be more worthwhile for your busy schedule.

[Nerei]

I was actually considering using the Indonesian variant for the generic version. Sure they only operate like 5 of them but that is not so important. The main thing is making the Russian version unique and having them be not just plain grey.
It is fairly simple to do yet distinct enough to be noticeable. It resembles the Russian pattern but not close enough to it that it is complete indistinguishable.
http://media.defenceindustrydaily.com/i ... 012_lg.jpg
That image should be good enough to build something from. It might not be entirely like it in the end but close enough to effectively be an Indonesian aircraft without markings.

For the Su-35 given that it would be using the same base model (even if very slightly modified) as the Su-27 it should probably have a rather distinct texture. I was thinking something like this
https://cdn4.img.sputniknews.com/images ... 322170.jpg