[WIP] ULA Vulcan

[deak]

Hello!

I decided to pick up Blender a few months ago and started work on Vulcan. I didn't really start this project with any sort of release goal in mind, I was mainly inspired by all of the incredible mods I have seen (and use of course!) and wanted to challenge myself to see if I could learn something new. I have a bad habit of starting projects and never finishing them and I don't want this to be one of them, so I am committing to releasing this one way or another.

Interstage ring, lower tank and engine mount are modeled and basically done, I am going to pick up work on Centaur once I am settled into my new place IRL. 

I have zero 3D modeling or digital art experience and am completely lost when it comes to normals, shaders, and texturing - I love learning though and any help or advice would be appreciated - I just wanna see this thing in game!

Updates to follow...

 

[Blufor878]

5 hours ago, deak said:

Hello!

I decided to pick up Blender a few months ago and started work on Vulcan. I didn't really start this project with any sort of release goal in mind, I was mainly inspired by all of the incredible mods I have seen (and use of course!) and wanted to challenge myself to see if I could learn something new. I have a bad habit of starting projects and never finishing them and I don't want this to be one of them, so I am committing to releasing this one way or another.

Interstage ring, lower tank and engine mount are modeled and basically done, I am going to pick up work on Centaur once I am settled into my new place IRL. 

I have zero 3D modeling or digital art experience and am completely lost when it comes to normals, shaders, and texturing - I love learning though and any help or advice would be appreciated - I just wanna see this thing in game!

Updates to follow...

 

"We shall watch your career with great interest."

For real, looking good so far. We need an updated Vulcan mod. All the others haven't been touched in years (still fun to use, and looking forward to this).

[Blufor878]

5 hours ago, deak said:

Hello!

I decided to pick up Blender a few months ago and started work on Vulcan. I didn't really start this project with any sort of release goal in mind, I was mainly inspired by all of the incredible mods I have seen (and use of course!) and wanted to challenge myself to see if I could learn something new. I have a bad habit of starting projects and never finishing them and I don't want this to be one of them, so I am committing to releasing this one way or another.

Interstage ring, lower tank and engine mount are modeled and basically done, I am going to pick up work on Centaur once I am settled into my new place IRL. 

I have zero 3D modeling or digital art experience and am completely lost when it comes to normals, shaders, and texturing - I love learning though and any help or advice would be appreciated - I just wanna see this thing in game!

Updates to follow...

 

Just had another thought. See if you can connect with the BDB guys  (@Zorg, @CobaltWolf, @Invaderchaos) I think they could help you out a lot. Even better is their mod includes parts that may be relevant to this mod. I can't promise they'll respond back as they're busy working on BDB. But it can't hurt to try (I hope).

Other guys I'd try to get in touch with are @Beale, @DylanSemrau, and @EStreetRockets. I hope this helps (and I hope they don't get mad for name dropping them).

[Royalswissarmyknife]

I'm excited for the future of this mod  

[Aussie Toad Stool]

looks good, are you gonna take inspiration from. Would be nice to nice a Vulcan as it currently is designed

 

[deak]

9 hours ago, Aussie Toad Stool said:

looks good, are you gonna take inspiration from. Would be nice to nice a Vulcan as it currently is designed

 

I studied Hephaistos for basic architecture/assembly and some 3D models from the ULA website for current design accuracy. Looking at BDB Delta IV gave me a very, very basic understanding of how texturing works but man.... Those models are something else. My level of confidence stops at UV unwrapping; I can do it neatly, it's just creating original textures and the whole artsy bit that I am lost on

 

15 hours ago, Blufor878 said:

Just had another thought. See if you can connect with the BDB guys  (@Zorg, @CobaltWolf, @Invaderchaos) I think they could help you out a lot. Even better is their mod includes parts that may be relevant to this mod. I can't promise they'll respond back as they're busy working on BDB. But it can't hurt to try (I hope).

Other guys I'd try to get in touch with are @Beale, @DylanSemrau, and @EStreetRockets. I hope this helps (and I hope they don't get mad for name dropping them).

Haha thanks! All of those beautiful people are pretty much the reason I wanted to do this - I certainly wouldn't want to bug them with a bunch of beginner questions. It's insane how much work goes into making just 1 simple part; the dedication to literally hundreds of them is heroic. Up until a few months ago I felt like a wizard writing Waterfall and RSE patches, this is a whole different ballgame

[guest10985]

good luck!

 

[EStreetRockets]

This looks great! Can't wait to see more progress.

[deak]

Making a little progress - Texturing is such a confusing concept to me but it's starting to make a little bit more sense

[Blufor878]

11 hours ago, deak said:

Making a little progress - Texturing is such a confusing concept to me but it's starting to make a little bit more sense

@deak: "I'm not good at texturing"
Also @deak:

 

For real, this looks fantastic. Were you planning on doing a parts switch for different textures by any chance?

[deak]

Just now, Blufor878 said:

@deak: "I'm not good at texturing"
Also @deak:

 

For real, this looks fantastic. Were you planning on doing a parts switch for different textures by any chance?

Thanks! I am really just kind of blundering through - I have gotten a lot of support from some really cool people and if nothing else it is motivating me to continue trying stuff out :-) Most of my issues are just lack of knowledge, once something clicks for me I am usually pretty good about being able to replicate 

Currently the plan is for a Vulcan flame livery, the "hot rod" livery and a fun one (super secret) but that's a bit far out. I think this will probably be easier if I get a really good base texture going and then I can make a few versions for a part switch, at least I think that's how it works

[kspbutitscursed]

lovely work Man good luck on this project 

[DylanSemrau]

Wonderful work, I'm very excited to see more!

[deak]

I'm really sorry about the lack of updates folks, I have been trying to figure out some major workflow issues but I got some help from some great people and have figured out how to link Blender and Gimp so that I can edit images externally - Layers are making a lot more sense now too.

I wanted to add a bit more fidelity to the model that can't really be achieved with texturing so here is what I have been working on - This took probably way longer than it should but I hope it adds some more character to the tank: