The Challenge
The challenge was to create a spaceship from scratch in a weekend (ie, two days). Nothing else was required other than that there should be some type of texture. Needless to say, it was harder than I thought but more enjoyable than I remembered my first spaceships being (those sad triangular messes).
The Background
While watching Space Pirate Mito, I unintentionally challenged myself to make a 3D model of a spaceship. The show is fantastic in the most unexpected ways. The dub was fantastic, but the 3D has not aged well. So I set about building a “better” spaceship.
“Better” is very questionable when it comes to subjective matters and here is disrespectful. In addition, people did what they could with what they had at the time and that should be commended. I by no means imply the models were bad, just that they fit the period and have not aged well. The moral of the story is to appreciate, build, share, improve, enjoy. Art is supposed to be fun and communicate. The show did what it could and did it well with what they had.
Day 1
References, blocking out, and modeling. Heavy use of the mirror modifier, extrusion, and references of various planes.
Day 2
Finishing touches on the model and basic texturing. A lot of trying to work with the principled BSDF nodes and color schemes. I ended up with a Blue Angels-inspired color scheme.
Post-mortem
The Good
- It got completed
- I challenged myself with creating smooth surfaces (intake on the bottom of the ship under the second cockpit).
- Created a gatlin gun (repeated placement of objects around a circle).
- Textured something for once. 😀
The Improvements
- Textures
- The textures are too basic and show no depth or character. They are simply small modifications on the principled BSDF node.
- Depth
- There is no cockpit, not animation rig; just a model of a spaceship.
Links and Resources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Pirate_Mito
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