Offering modelling work

[fusioncore]

I do high quality efficient work, from high poly to low poly.  Strictly offering only raw models, it will be your job to do the rest of the work (texturing, running through unity, configs, etc).  Can work from design ideas, or come up with my own based on the function of the part.  

I'm not here to make complete mods from scratch for people with no 3D experience and just an idea, I don't have the time to do all of that. I am primarily here to help offset some work load to those with the experience and ability to make mods.  Serious requests only.  

[passinglurker]

hmmm....

[fusioncore]

Doesn't seem like a good fit.  As you can see by the guys post, he seems to have no 3D skills whatsoever, so even if I made models for him, I don't think he would be able to do anything with them.  Seems more like he's looking for someone to do every step of the work from beginning to end.  And when it comes to KSP, we all know that there's plenty of idea people looking for someone to do all the work for them.  That however, is not what I'm looking for.  

As I said in my post, I'm not texturing or importing the models into unity, nor creating the config parameters of the part.  I'm trying to offload part of the work of making mods for whoever might need it, with the main benefit being that my modelling skills are pretty advanced.  So the primary people I'm trying to help are people who already have an established team, or who are already experienced at modelling, texturing and unity, but want to offload some of the work.   

While I do have the necessary skills to texture and import models through unity, I don't really have to time to do all of that and only really prefer to model, and since I don't keep up with unity, I'm sure that someone else would be able to accomplish that task quicker with less issues.  So it's all about workflow.  Find someone that focuses on texturing skills, another that focuses on unity, and that kind of focused workflow can allow people to churn out quality things at a fairly fast pace.  

Edited August 18, 2016 by fusioncore

[passinglurker]

I understand what you mean I should have read your post more carefully (though I couldn't resist poking a little since the two titles were right next to each other >.>) it's just that it's rare to see people offer thier talents openly usually people focus on thier own projects and occasionally they conveniently overlap resulting in collaboration and exchanges of assets

Anyway nothing ventured nothing gained so I'll bite. I'm putting together a mod dedicated to expanding on mk1/1.25m parts and unifying them under a common porkjet-alike style in order to blend in with stock as seamlessly as possible. You can see what's been done so far here and here most modeling, texturing, animating, and unity work is no trouble for me I've handled parts as advanced as engines and command pod interiors in the past.

What I could use though is a cockpit and matching interior mesh. (glass canopies, beveled windows, and blended shapes are a bit beyond my present hobbyist level to model) basically something to help people get flying planes from the start of the tech tree without me having to rearrange the tech tree itself (most users aren't keen on that because it disrupts other mods that are balanced for the stock tree) as for the parameters I have 3 ideas (though I only need 1 to actually be made).

1. A nose cockpit no more than 1.25m in length (small and light tend to be important early on so many players have taken to pressing the aged mk1 pod into service as a cockpit in the search for compactness and mass savings early on due to how long, and heavy the earliest mk1 cockpit is)
2. A 1.25m bottom node by 0.625m top node inline cockpit no more than 1.875m in length (a node format not covered by the stock cockpits already. basically think the NCS adapter with a canopy of some sort bulging out the side.)
3. A 1.25m top and bottom inline cockpit with a windowed canopy like the mk2 inline instead of a bubble canopy no more than 1.875m in length (big windows/glass bubbles in space is supposed to be dangerous right? also having a solid roof lets me rig up an airlock and ladder in the top for ease of use with tail sitter configurations though that would be the same with any cockpit)

finally in all three cases the interiors just like in stock need to be designed with interior traversing space in mind (basically assume that where there is a 1.25m node there will be a hatch and there needs to be enough space for a kerbal to get up and at least crawl to it from the pilot's chair)

So what do you think? I'm all over the texturing and unity rigging its just actually modeling a cockpit like shape that eludes me (I'm certainly open to any cockpit ideas you may have beyond the ones I expounded on)

Edited August 19, 2016 by passinglurker

[fusioncore]

While I can understand much of that, there are a few areas that need clarification

 

--Interior traversing space?  As far as I'm aware, the function of having a kerbal leave a craft is just a matter of where you want them to appear when they exit.  

--As for interior creation itself, I think that interiors have to be a completely separate model that are just in the same shape as the cockpit?  

One thing I will note though, is that there are plenty of mods that already exist that are both inline and are 1.25m to 0.625m, so unless there is a specific cross-part theme design in mind, it seems kind of redundant.  

Here's an example of what I threw together quickly, so don't be thrown off if it seems too simplistic:  

 

Here's something a little more advanced though, to kind of give you an idea of my capabilities:

 

[passinglurker]

3 hours ago, fusioncore said:

--Interior traversing space?  As far as I'm aware, the function of having a kerbal leave a craft is just a matter of where you want them to appear when they exit.  

While it's true the part would function without an interior if you look at the stock cockpits you would see they all have aisles, open spaces, and crew tunnels leading between the where the exterior and end node hatches would be and the seats. 

Interior design challenges aside with the new interior overlay one of the other tricky parts of modeling the interiors is lineing the windows up to match. 

3 hours ago, fusioncore said:

--As for interior creation itself, I think that interiors have to be a completely separate model that are just in the same shape as the cockpit

Yes they are a separate mesh that needs to fit in the exteriors dimensions all while having the Windows line up on both meshes and give good visibility(at least forward visibility) with the kerbals funny shaped head with low eyeballs, and giving the kerbals the implied space to move around and perform intra vehicle transfers for believability. It's a bunch of small details basically.

3 hours ago, fusioncore said:

One thing I will note though, is that there are plenty of mods that already exist that are both inline and are 1.25m to 0.625m, so unless there is a specific cross-part theme design in mind, it seems kind of redundant.  

I've searched the existing mods extensively for something I could simply retexture but with the standards set by porkjets parts they are essentially obsolete. they never take into account the space a kerbal needs to move between hatches in their interior and also rarely account for visibility in thier exterior model. If didn't care about these interior details then I probably wouldn't need help as I could reskin an old abandoned mod part.

You're example are really impressive though I envy your mastery of blended shapes

As for the example cockpit I would say from past experience that a kerbal wouldn't be able to see forward in that the bubble is to low and the nose is to high for it's goofy alien eyes. But I understand it's just a quick mock up.

 

3 hours ago, fusioncore said:

 

[fusioncore]

So I'm still not really sure where to start with contributing to you, because lack of direction (just saying to make a cockpit in X dimensions isn't much to go on, and that's compounded by the fact that as far as I can tell, it's a redundant task with the plethora of cockpits available following those parameters).

 

I'm thinking maybe I might just need to go by an "if you build it, they will come" approach.  So I might just create a thread to upload models I create randomly, and let people grab them and do what they want with them.  

 

To showcase a new piece I made, it's a mock up of a rover wheel from a Syd Mead artwork.  A pretty accurate one at that, but with a few details of my own.  

 

 

 

 

Here is an obj copy of this model for anyone that wants it.  Obviously, it's not as high poly as what is displayed here, but adequate for in-game usage.  The parts have been separated into colored sections in an attempt to make UV mapping easier, and to make the wheel itself animated if desired.  

 

 

OBJ file: http://www.filedropper.com/wheel

 

Edited August 21, 2016 by fusioncore

[passinglurker]

Sorry about that but I believed I was already asking for a lot with the interior layout so I didn't want to seem demanding saying things like "and it the outside needs to look like a F14 tomcat" or whatever. So I was hoping to find something cockpit wise that you fancied through brainstorming (its not like I was in a rush)

but I would stand by what I said that from my perspective there is no redundancy. All existing modded mk1 cockpits were made by people wanting to play fighter jet not space ship so there is no accounting for looking like the crew could move through the inside of the ship so they don't fit stock-alike parameters so I can't include them in my mod, but I understand if you don't think interior details are a big deal few people do I just wanted to make a mod that could effectively blend in with stock (and I still intend to I just won't be reprioritizing to work on part of the manned portion of the mod any time soon after all. It'll have to wait till I can crack modeling blended shapes myself)

as for "build it and they will come" a wheel probably isn't the best place to start few modders know how to rig up wheels in unity and fewer want to presently considering that wheels and landing legs are kinda bugged in the current version of ksp and a potential fix that could change everything about how wheels are made is coming in version 1.2 (just over the horizon.) 

also after cracking the file open those comb tooth treads would be killer for a hobbyist to UV map efficiently and are a level of detail a bit beyond typical kerbal.(the same treadlike effect could probably be had with a normal map or cheap specular map and get a pass in kerbal I'll take a crack at texturing it after I finish my next update but I won't be able to rig it (unity wheels are black magic that few know and I'm not one of them))

[linuxgurugamer]

On 8/18/2016 at 7:06 PM, fusioncore said:

Doesn't seem like a good fit.  As you can see by the guys post, he seems to have no 3D skills whatsoever, so even if I made models for him, I don't think he would be able to do anything with them.  Seems more like he's looking for someone to do every step of the work from beginning to end.  And when it comes to KSP, we all know that there's plenty of idea people looking for someone to do all the work for them.  That however, is not what I'm looking for.  

As I said in my post, I'm not texturing or importing the models into unity, nor creating the config parameters of the part.  I'm trying to offload part of the work of making mods for whoever might need it, with the main benefit being that my modelling skills are pretty advanced.  So the primary people I'm trying to help are people who already have an established team, or who are already experienced at modelling, texturing and unity, but want to offload some of the work.   

While I do have the necessary skills to texture and import models through unity, I don't really have to time to do all of that and only really prefer to model, and since I don't keep up with unity, I'm sure that someone else would be able to accomplish that task quicker with less issues.  So it's all about workflow.  Find someone that focuses on texturing skills, another that focuses on unity, and that kind of focused workflow can allow people to churn out quality things at a fairly fast pace.  

Actually, I needed someone to.modify an existing model.  And if you've been around, you would know that I have quite a number of mods out, and also maintain a number of other mods.  I needed help with the 3d, but can donly all the c# code myself.

Anyway, someone offered and I was able to release the mod update.

 

[fusioncore]

Details are good, especially if you're going to be texturing it. Otherwise, you get very smooth detail-less surfaces like pictured above.  I could infer a lot of details and just come up with something, but honestly, due to the nature of cockpits and the sheer number of them out there, one really does have to have a planned design scheme to know what they want out of it.  It's also important to keep from doing things that might sound good on paper, but be completely useless in practical use.  For example.....traversing space.   Will the kerbals actually be traversing around inside of the cockpit area, or will it just be a cosmetic feature that makes it seem like they could if they wanted, but don't actually do it? 

Another aspect is limited space....we're talking a 1.25m to 0.6m node.  That doesn't give a lot of room to even give the illusion of traversing space, like getting out of a seat and heading to the back of the cockpit.  I do get what you're saying though, you want something more like a bomber cockpit rather than a fighter cockpit....

 

i.e. something like this:

or this:

or this:

 

rather than something like this:

 

And from what it sounds like, the third image example is most like what you were describing.  

 

I am interested in knowing more about what is broken with wheels or what might be changing about them, wheels have pretty much been the same for years in KSP.  

 

While I agree that certain details can be made with textures, one doesn't necessarily have to kerbalize everything or give every single edge of a model an 'edge wear' effect.  

Here is an example of just minimal textures slapped on it, with a little uneveness to give more than just a solid color.  While the hubcap area could probably use a little bit of some edge wear, the teeth of the wheel don't really need all of that, it has a dark texture slapped on to it (not hand painted)....but it's not solid black, there are some random lighter areas.  One doesn't have to texture everything right down to every edge and pixel.  Funny thing too, it would actually take longer to texture these teeth and apply them to the surface, than it does to make them out of geometry and slap a randomized uneven texture on them.  While they do add quite a bit of geometry to the model, I'd say there would only be 4-6 instances of a wheel at a time anyways for the most part, meaning they may be a little more demanding, but lower instances of them keep it from being an issue while adding a lot visually.  This model can actually be reduced quite a bit since the inner faces between parts of the wheel are all still there, but those can also be removed.  Still, even with them, the model poly's are still well within reason.   I've seen a lot of people use several thousand polys or more as a base line for making even relatively simple purpose and static models.  

 

Sometimes efficiency itself is one of the biggest time takers.  Some models I've spent more time trying to model them for low polys while looking good or achieving what I want, when instead I could of saved hours by not giving a care about the extra poly's, made even more futile by the fact that saving those polys might not make a lick of difference in the long run.    I've also definitely seen worse fully textured wheels.

 

Edited August 22, 2016 by fusioncore

[passinglurker]

1 hour ago, fusioncore said:

It's also important to keep from doing things that might sound good on paper, but be completely useless in practical use.  For example.....traversing space.   Will the kerbals actually be traversing around inside of the cockpit area, or will it just be a cosmetic feature that makes it seem like they could if they wanted, but don't actually do it? 

squads the one to talk to about implementing things that sound good on paper but is useless in practice they're the ones that designed the existing cockpit interiors.

fact of the matter is when in a cabin that could potentially be sent into the vacuum of space you want to avoid haveing to go outside to reach another part of the ship and so the design of a stock-alike cockpit needs to reflect that even if there is no actual mechanic that lets a kerbal stand up and walk around inside

as for design details (any one of these would do for me)...

For idea number 1 lets go with something similar to the existing mk1 nose cockpit with the recessed windows but shorter and blunter. like boeing x37b sort of blunt, and drop the docking window and replace it with a provision for the hatch to be in the ceiling like an x20 dyna-soar rather than on the side like a business jet. functionally it would be stated to be lighter than its stock counterpart because it is smaller but at the cost of aerodynamic efficiency, less resource storage and control wheels, and no convenient docking window.

Idea number 2 I'd like to keep the .625m node centered but you don't need to make it look traversable. probably the best way to describe it would be a tapered conical shape with a bubble canopy on top like a tapered version of the stock inline or the x24a (or b) just without the flat lifting body belly. on my end I'd rig the ladder on the side just like the other cockpits and assuming it comes out 1.875m in length its stats would be roughly the same as the stock cockpits the only functional difference is the end cap size governing what looks good attached to it.

idea number 3 is stat wise essentially the same as the stock inline bubble cockpit but swap out the bubble canopy with a windowed cockpit in the style of the mk2 inline and have a hatch in the roof. functionally the only difference is how I rig the kerbal to be oriented on the air lock ladder when they go out on eva. (and maybe some users would prefer it over the bubble because of how real windows work in space)