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Return of the YF-19 Saber
About Truespace Archives
These pages are a copy of the official truespace forums prior to their removal somewhere around 2011.
They are retained here for archive purposes only.
Return of the YF-19 Saber // Work in Progress
Post by kena // Jul 6, 2008, 8:01pm
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kena
Total Posts: 2321
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Tank girl is there, I think, to give him a perspective so he does not make something too big or too small.
I could be wrong. |
Post by Michael Billard // Jul 7, 2008, 4:58am
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Michael Billard
Total Posts: 125
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Kena nailed it, TankGirl is just there for perspective. My plan is to first complete the textures in a pristine state and then weather the model. Weathering is the last step as far as building the model goes, then I'll get the proper lighting done. |
Post by Dragneye // Jul 8, 2008, 7:56pm
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Dragneye
Total Posts: 602
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Pretty good Michael, and now, pretty deadly :-) |
Post by Weevil // Jul 8, 2008, 11:14pm
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Weevil
Total Posts: 534
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That's looking very nice, loving the duck dodgers decal you've got |
Post by Breech Block // Jul 10, 2008, 10:02am
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Breech Block
Total Posts: 844
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Very nice work Michael. Will watch with keen interest to see how you grunge this up. |
Post by Michael Billard // Dec 28, 2008, 10:18am
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Michael Billard
Total Posts: 125
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Working on the payload cradle now...
The missiles do fit into the cradle... barely. :)
http://www.spellflight.com/images/YF-19Wip43.jpg
http://www.spellflight.com/images/YF-19Wip44.jpg
http://www.spellflight.com/images/YF-19Wip45.jpg |
Post by rjeff // Dec 28, 2008, 10:51am
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rjeff
Total Posts: 1260
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Looks nice..one mean machine. Thought.. The green thing that has "no step" on it.. is it supposed to have no step on it that much? On every side? Or is this just a place holder? |
Post by Michael Billard // Dec 28, 2008, 12:45pm
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Michael Billard
Total Posts: 125
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The "NO STEP" on the missile support electronics boxes looks a bit numerous but the idea is that other boxes could be fitted in place of them and allow the fighter to carry a mixture of weapons. I can see about moving the signage around so you only need one set though, thanks. :) |
Post by Michael Billard // Jan 9, 2009, 5:54pm
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Michael Billard
Total Posts: 125
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Payload cradle is coming along. It should be strong but light. Not sure how to texture it, and I still have to install the electronics boxes and payload bay latch pins.
http://www.spellflight.com/images/YF-19Wip46.jpg |
Post by Michael Billard // Jan 9, 2009, 6:45pm
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Michael Billard
Total Posts: 125
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Closeup of the payload cradle. I've added in the spherical helium pressurization tank and the nitrogen tetroxide (NTO) fuel tank, both made from composite materials and wrapped in thermal blankets (or will be once I've textured them). I still need to add mounting brackets and fuel hoses. The missiles have plenty of clearance so they won't hit the tanks. They're about a foot in diameter. Think of them as an internal FAST pack like what you'd find on the F-15 Strike Eagle.
The fighter's orbital maneuvering engine (OMS) and reaction control thrusters (RCS) use monomethyl hydrazine (MMH) for the fuel and nitrogen tetroxide (NTO) for the oxidizer. That's the same type of rocket fuel used in the Space Shuttle RCS thrusters and OMS engines. It's great because fuel and oxidizer burn when in contact with each other, but bad for the same reason. Plus they can be pretty toxic.
The helium pressure tanks provide the pressure to squeeze internal bladders in the payload bay tanks and force fuel and oxidizer into the fighter's internal tanks. The payload bay tanks provide extra rocket fuel to give the fighter greater maneuverability and delta-v (greater range, essentially).
http://www.spellflight.com/images/YF-19Wip47.jpg |
Post by Dragneye // Jan 9, 2009, 8:37pm
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Dragneye
Total Posts: 602
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I love to see the technical details and reality-based 'this could be real' thought you have put into this project.
GREAT work! |
Post by Michael Billard // Feb 15, 2009, 11:31am
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Michael Billard
Total Posts: 125
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Finally got around to finishing up the fuel tanks and propellant transfer pipes today. The payload cradle is now done. The Saber uses the same rocket fuel as the space shuttle and like the shuttle, the Saber uses liquid helium pressurization to essentially squeeze rocket fuel into the right location. Here's the latest picture:
http://www.spellflight.com/images/YF-19Wip49.jpg
http://www.spellflight.com/images/YF-19Wip50.jpg
I based the coloration off of the Centaur Upper Stage. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Centaur_rocket_stage.jpg) |
Post by jamesmc // Feb 15, 2009, 11:34am
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jamesmc
Total Posts: 2566
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Looking quite spiff and almost ready for some procedural animation to make those bay doors open and close. :) |
Post by Michael Billard // Feb 17, 2009, 3:05pm
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Michael Billard
Total Posts: 125
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At long last I'm working on the wings! First up is the spacecraft's nose. It is made from Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/technology/sts-newsref/sts_sys.html#sts-rcc), the same gray stuff found on the space shuttle's nose and the leading edges of the wings.
I decided to chop the nose off and unwrap it as a separate object from the wings. I also found some problems with the mesh and ended up chopping the nose down the middle in order to get everything to look right. trueSpace didn't do a good job mirror-modeling the nose into one piece but it's working out ok anyway.
The texture map is obviously not done yet. I haven't figured out how to "feather" the texture to give it heat streaks yet but the tip of the nose looks charred from re-entry.
http://www.spellflight.com/images/YF-19Wip51.jpg |
Post by Michael Billard // Feb 18, 2009, 7:47pm
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Michael Billard
Total Posts: 125
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Major texturing today, I got on a roll. Here are the wings. They're not done yet but I made significant progress!
The YF-19's tail codes are based on real-world aircraft. HV is the base code for Vandenberg Air Force Base. 30 SW is for the 30th Space Wing. In reality, the 30th Space Wing launches satellites, not fighters. This YF-19 flies into polar orbit. In reality, no US astronauts have ever flown into polar orbit. The AF 90 125 is part of the bird's serial number. The YF-19 is owned by the Air Force (AF), was built in 1990 (90) and is the 125th military vehicle built in 1990.
http://www.spellflight.com/images/YF-19Wip52.jpg
In this render, the YF-19 is all buttoned up except for it's payload doors. They're set so that the SIM-1A Python missile can eject from the rotary launcher.
http://www.spellflight.com/images/YF-19Wip53.jpg |
Post by Breech Block // Feb 18, 2009, 11:37pm
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Breech Block
Total Posts: 844
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Hi Michael. Wow, this has come a long way since I last looked. You seem to be getting nice, clear results from your texture map. What resolution are you using? With regards to trying to get heat streaks, in Paint Shop Pro there is a tool called ReTouch. Through the tools option menu, you can select a range of different effects. Setting it to "Smudge" should help give you the heat streaks your after. Experiment with the tools opacity and hardness settings to get some variance and ensure you set the brush's step factor to 1. If you don't use PSP, I'm sure most programs will have a similar feature. HTH. |
Post by Michael Billard // Feb 19, 2009, 7:52am
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Michael Billard
Total Posts: 125
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Oh, the texture maps are huge. Most of the payload doors, payload, docking system et al are 512x512. The body itself is 2048x2048, and the wings are 1024x1024. There are both texture maps and bump maps. That's probably way too big for a game model but when I started working on the fighter a couple years ago (I seem to work in spurts on it), I really didn't know much about texturing or game model design. There are lots of mistakes on the model but then again, the whole point of doing the thing in the first place is to get the experience of making 3D models. |
Post by Michael Billard // Feb 20, 2009, 1:46pm
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Michael Billard
Total Posts: 125
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I think the wings are pretty much done. I created a right-side version of the wing texture with tail lettering mirrored and the USAF in place of the roundel. Now the hard part: I have to weather the textures to make it look like the Saber's gone through a few re-entries.
http://www.spellflight.com/images/Views1.png
http://www.spellflight.com/images/Views2.png
This is the look I want:
http://www.spellflight.com/images/ShuttleUnderside.jpg |
Post by marcel // Feb 20, 2009, 2:02pm
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marcel
Total Posts: 569
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It is an old real project (1991). Maybe that help you. ;) |
Post by Michael Billard // Feb 26, 2009, 3:38pm
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Michael Billard
Total Posts: 125
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OOO nice picture! I might have to 3D model that...
I figured out how to get the heat streaks to look right. I used a bunch of layers. To simulate tiles that have been replaced, there are cutouts on the various layers. Some of the tiles are newer than others so their cutouts appear on more than one layer. The Wacom tablet in conjunction with the burn tool really helped!
http://www.spellflight.com/images/YF-19Wip60.jpg
http://www.spellflight.com/images/YF-19Wip62.jpg |
Post by Michael Billard // Mar 3, 2009, 12:57pm
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Michael Billard
Total Posts: 125
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I tried just using the shuttle tiles from a photo but that just didn't look right. So, here's the latest attempt. I haven't worked in the burn marks around the landing gear doors yet.
http://www.spellflight.com/images/YF-19Wip63.jpg |
Post by kena // Mar 4, 2009, 7:17pm
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kena
Total Posts: 2321
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looking good! keep up the good work! |
Post by Breech Block // Mar 5, 2009, 2:05am
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Breech Block
Total Posts: 844
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Hey, Michael, your doing a darn good job on those tiles. The whole thing is starting to look pretty awesome. |
Post by Michael Billard // Mar 6, 2009, 6:33pm
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Michael Billard
Total Posts: 125
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Underside with lighting variations in the tiles...
http://www.spellflight.com/images/YF-19Wip65.jpg
I did some research into specular maps and normal maps. Now I know how to make a normal map from a bump map, and a specular map from a normal map. Here's what the Saber looks like with specular maps added. The geometry issues with the windows are noticable but I'm not sure how to fix that. For now I'll just leave it. I particularly like how the radiator pores look now. It looks like they can "sweat" coolant for emergency cooldowns!
http://www.spellflight.com/images/YF-19Wip67.jpg
http://www.spellflight.com/images/YF-19Wip68.jpg
http://www.spellflight.com/images/YF-19Wip69.jpg |
Post by kena // Mar 11, 2009, 9:13pm
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kena
Total Posts: 2321
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looking good. See if you can figure out how to darken and smear the marks left my re-entry. But I really like how you are going so far. |
Post by Michael Billard // Mar 20, 2009, 11:06am
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Michael Billard
Total Posts: 125
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It took some doing, but after finding a book called Digital Lighting & Rendering by Jeremy Birn, I read the chapter on 3-point lighting and came up with the following render of the YF-19:
http://www.spellflight.com/images/YF-19Wip72.jpg
http://www.spellflight.com/images/YF-19Wip73.jpg |
Post by Michael Billard // Mar 21, 2009, 7:43am
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Michael Billard
Total Posts: 125
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I forgot to turn on shadows for all the lights. And to simulate the sun, the key and fill lights don't have a falloff distance for the light. After a couple years of modeling the Saber (off and on, I took breaks), it's almost done!
http://www.spellflight.com/images/YF-19Wip75.jpg |
Post by Michael Billard // Mar 23, 2009, 7:17pm
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Michael Billard
Total Posts: 125
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I cleaned up the panel lines where the wing meet the body, added some gunk around the RCS thruster ports in the back, rendered the image, and then brought it into Photoshop. I've added noise, scratches and dust, blurred the image, auto color balance/level/etc. and painted in an exhaust plume for the missile. Finally, I took a photo of the ISS in orbit, got rid of the station, and used the result as a background image. I'm rather pleased with the results!
http://www.spellflight.com/3DArt/YF19Saber800.jpg |
Post by jamesmc // Mar 23, 2009, 7:26pm
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jamesmc
Total Posts: 2566
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Like it!
I want to put a string on it and hang it from my ceiling. :) |
Post by mrbones // Mar 23, 2009, 7:46pm
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mrbones
Total Posts: 1280
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I Like it too, but cant you make the dark parts deeper on the texture a little bit like bump mapping or normal maps? Its still quite good nevertheless.:) |
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