Bacon Labs - Stockalike Ariane & More - Dev Thread

[_Augustus_]

What's the deltaV on that?

Over 10 km/s. Ridiculous design, though.

Oh yeah, did another Genoya launch on a FASA Saturn Nova to Eve. Please note that I just used FASA because it has a Nova, I won't include it in this haha:

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Edited April 20, 2015 by _Augustus_

[tygoo7]

Over 10 km/s. Ridiculous design, though.

Oh yeah, did another Genoya launch on a FASA Saturn Nova to Eve:

http://imgur.com/a/QSSNM

Wait, are you including FASA in your pack or something?

[_Augustus_]

Wait, are you including FASA in your pack or something?

No. It's just the only other mod with a C-8/Nova.

[TheShadow1138]

Here are some screenshots of the Vega/Hestia in game. The fourth stage might be a little over-powered, and with the payload strutted it develops a wobble around 5000m with SAS activated. If you deactivate for the rest of the first stage burn you can safely turn SAS back on once staging is complete.

Gallery:

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There is no custom fairing for this one, and there appears to be an issue with the fairing bases for the Ariane 5 and 6. If anyone has experience setting up fairing bases for use with Procedural Fairings I would appreciate any advice you can give.

[Spacepetscompany]

A: Your OP needs pics... Just saying, their absence can turn people away. No pics, no clicks.

B: Your rockets don't exactly match the stock style. Are you planning on changing the textures, because if not I suggest removing the "Stockalike" from the title. It may seem a tad misleading.

[_Augustus_]

A: Your OP needs pics... Just saying, their absence can turn people away. No pics, no clicks.

B: Your rockets don't exactly match the stock style. Are you planning on changing the textures, because if not I suggest removing the "Stockalike" from the title. It may seem a tad misleading.

We'll do pics upon the release of the Hestia, we also need to clean up the Juno quite a bit.

Also we are looking for a better texture artist.

[tygoo7]

We'll do pics upon the release of the Hestia, we also need to clean up the Juno quite a bit.

Also we are looking for a better texture artist.

You could try texturing maybe?

[sumghai]

You could try texturing maybe?

I've always felt that texturing was intrinsically tied to model-making, as a good texture is reliant on having a good UV map, which in turn requires modelling knowledge - for instance, some models can use shared UV vertices to save texture file size / increase fidelity, while other models (especially stockalike ones) require unique mapping in order for the ambient occlusion bake to look good.

[VenomousRequiem]

Being completely honest here: The textures don't seem very stockalike to me. Like in the slightest. Except for the pictures of the Apollo capsule, that looks pretty stockish, but you know. The models are good though. And I understand that it's hard to do textures but if you want it to go along with Tantares then maybe the textures should be in the same art style.

[TheShadow1138]

Here's a first pass over the Vega/Hestia textures to try and make it more stockalike. Let me know what you think.

Here's the first version for comparison:

[_Augustus_]

Here's a first pass over the Vega/Hestia textures to try and make it more stockalike. Let me know what you think.

http://i.imgur.com/cxUJFrS.png

Here's the first version for comparison:

http://i.imgur.com/qY94rFq.png

I like it!

[curtquarquesso]

Being completely honest here: The textures don't seem very stockalike to me. Like in the slightest. Except for the pictures of the Apollo capsule, that looks pretty stockish, but you know. The models are good though. And I understand that it's hard to do textures but if you want it to go along with Tantares then maybe the textures should be in the same art style.

The add-on no longer has any ties to Tantares as far as I know.

[RobotsAndSpaceships]

Still not "stockalike" at all.

[tygoo7]

So quick question, what exactly are you contributing to this mod Augustus?

[TheShadow1138]

Here's another pass on the Vega/Hestia textures. Let me know what you think.

[Kartoffelkuchen]

It looks better, you are making progress, but sitll, stockalike.. ? Not really (in my eyes) . It is really hard to make textures look stockalike, I have already tried that and it is really hard, my results were terrible. But keep it up, you are getting better!

So quick question, what exactly are you contributing to this mod Augustus?

Good question.

[TheShadow1138]

I am kind of struggling to figure out just what makes the texture "stockalike". At the moment I'm getting the impression that it boils down to using a lot of gray and make it look dirty/weathered. The other thing, to me at least, is that the NASA parts are stock and they look pretty clean and white so that compared to those parts maybe my first textures aren't as far from those parts. But, of course, next to the bulk of the stock tanks the bright white textures are in stark contrast. I'll try using more grays and try to make them look well worn.

EDIT: Here's a render of the first stage with a third pass trying for a "stockalike" look.

Edited April 23, 2015 by TheShadow1138
added render

[passinglurker]

One problem I see is the texture looks really flat it looks like the bumps and ridges are just painted on

[TheShadow1138]

One problem I see is the texture looks really flat it looks like the bumps and ridges are just painted on

In the render above, or the in-game screenshots. The bumps and ridges are applied through a normal map in-game, which is a grayscale bump map in the above render. I wanted to use a normal map to add detail to avoid increasing the polygon count. I'll grant that using actual geometry probably wouldn't increase the polygon count too greatly, but the fewer faces the better for lower end machines like mine.

[passinglurker]

In the render above, or the in-game screenshots. The bumps and ridges are applied through a normal map in-game, which is a grayscale bump map in the above render. I wanted to use a normal map to add detail to avoid increasing the polygon count. I'll grant that using actual geometry probably wouldn't increase the polygon count too greatly, but the fewer faces the better for lower end machines like mine.

unfortunately the normal map looks insufficient the sort of bumps you are trying to mask are too pronounced so the illusion fails and as a result it looks more like cheap cgi than the toy like parts you find in stock.

[_Augustus_]

So quick question, what exactly are you contributing to this mod Augustus?

I am hoping to start working on the Morpheus Lander within a month or so as the school year winds down.

I am kind of struggling to figure out just what makes the texture "stockalike". At the moment I'm getting the impression that it boils down to using a lot of gray and make it look dirty/weathered. The other thing, to me at least, is that the NASA parts are stock and they look pretty clean and white so that compared to those parts maybe my first textures aren't as far from those parts. But, of course, next to the bulk of the stock tanks the bright white textures are in stark contrast. I'll try using more grays and try to make them look well worn.

EDIT: Here's a render of the first stage with a third pass trying for a "stockalike" look.

http://i.imgur.com/AKckXEV.png

The nozzle could use some work but other than that it looks really good. Edited April 23, 2015 by sumghai
Consecutive posts

[TheShadow1138]

The nozzle could use some work but other than that it looks really good.

I assume you would like the nozzle darker?

unfortunately the normal map looks insufficient the sort of bumps you are trying to mask are too pronounced so the illusion fails and as a result it looks more like cheap cgi than the toy like parts you find in stock.

Do you have any suggestions for me on how to make it look better?

Edited April 24, 2015 by TheShadow1138

[passinglurker]

A seem in the form of a small dip is easier to hide than a big bump, but the ideal would be to just break down and add geometry and save the low poly ideals for a tron themed pack

[sumghai]

The best way to make stockalike textures is to extract the textures from the stock parts, and experiment in Photoshop what brushes/tools are needed to replicate that effect in your own textures. Copy/pasting and subsequently adapting portions of the stock textures and manipulating them works fairly well, too.

Remember that texturing is an iterative process - you'll never be able to get it right only after a couple of attempts, so rinse and repeat constantly until people are satisfied that the result is sufficiently stockalike.

[TheShadow1138]

A seem in the form of a small dip is easier to hide than a big bump, but the ideal would be to just break down and add geometry and save the low poly ideals for a tron themed pack

I may go ahead and add the extra geometry. It shouldn't add too much, and should be fairly easy to fit into the current UV maps.

I would like to make sure I'm fully understanding everything you've said, and I find myself puzzling (perhaps unnecessarily) over a couple of statements:

...normal map looks insufficient the sort of bumps you are trying to mask...

and

A seem in the form of a small dip is easier to hide than a big bump...

These statements indicate, to me at least, that you believe I am trying to conceal a flaw of some kind with the normal map. Or, are you speaking to the believability that these bumps are physical details rather than added through the use of normal maps. So as to avoid any possible confusion about the render above, there is nothing in the diffuse map that would indicate the presence of the bumps and ridges. Also, they do not fall on any seams in the texture. As I said, I may be completely misunderstanding you on these points. I just wanted to make sure that I fully understand what you mean.