Was flicking through my holiday snaps again tonight and noticed something I hadn’t when I took this photo. Hmm.
Made in Cinema 4D with some post work in Photoshop. Just a spur of the moment thing with my still-yet-to-be-completed Viper model. I don’t think the lighting’s quite right, though I did use a bit of artistic license here and there to make it look snazzier.
This is a quick render I made the other day for my deviantArt page. I originally just planned to have the hangar bay empty to save time, but it looked rather bare, so I composited the Viper in afterwards. Hence, the lighting might be a little off as I rendered the bay using Global Illimunation and the viper without it. Also, I completely forgot to include the cockpit I spent ages making… lol! All in all, though, it’s my best render of the models so far.
You can see the full ID image on my dA page here:
http://snazz84.deviantart.com/art/hangar-bay-large-122963760
A year ago I made a CG model of central London for a university project (above) and recently I was commissioned to expand it in size by about 10 times. Luckily the new area didn’t need to be quite as detailed as the original, so it took a lot less time, but it still came out pretty well.
The model includes a few buildings that are planned for the near future, although thanks to the whole credit thing a few of them are now delayed or on the verge of being canceled. At the time of the original modeling this was reflecting London as it was expected to look in 2011. It’s hard to say how far off this vision is now.
Bit of a shame, but at least the most exciting buildings look like they’ll still be built. We’ll just have to do without the mobile phone and the boomerang, and make do with a slightly smaller cheese grater.
Anyway, the model now stretches from Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace in the west all the way over to the Excel Centre and beyond in the east.
Click images to embiggen and see how many landmarks you can pick out! 
“Uh, we’ll need that to live…” (best Simpsons episode ever)
Haven’t had much time lately to work on my Viper, but I’ve found a few stray hours here and there to put together the cockpit. This is the most exciting bit so far to make, although it can get a bit tedious… so many buttons!
Anyway, I’ve pretty much modeled it all and I’m almost done on the texturing.
The way the window connects with the rest of the ship isn’t quite right, so that’s something to sort out, but over all I’m pretty happy with it so far. Can’t wait to finish it off and add it to the full model.
Speaking of which, I finished the engines a while back:
It’s funny. The engines were the thing that really put me off trying to model this craft for a long time, but when it came to making them it was surprisingly straightforward. Okay, they’re not perfect, but they didn’t take too long to make, a lot of the details are repeated and the rest can be done in textures.
The exhausts will take more work, but they’re off to a good start too:
Landed… but not finished with yet. I’ve made the landing gear, cockpit window and finished modeling the nose section. Still got the gridlines to finish off (the bane of my CGIing existence :p) and the scary complicated engines to build. Oh and a fully detailed cockpit… But once that’s all done I’m looking forward to moving onto the texturing.
Well it’s coming along. I’ve made most of the rear section (those engines will be tricksy, I think). And I’ve made a start on the difficult front section. Lucky me, the grid lines are way easier than I expected. 
I’m not too experienced yet at making more fluid shapes, so I’ve been apprehensive about starting the front section. So far, so good. I’ll probably take a few shortcuts when I get to the cockpit by taking elements from my Mk II cockpit.
Did a little more work on my Viper last night. Still only putting together the tail section, but I’m happy with the results so I thought I’d upload a pic.
So I put in the gridlines… I think some might be a bit too thick, but I’ll go back and change them later so they’re more consistent. I’m just glad they weren’t too fiddly to do. I expected a nightmare.
In this render I’ve also tried out a procedural texture* that I’m really pleased with. It only took about five minutes of experimentation . I’ll add a bit more “dirt” to it later and tinker with that cloud-like channel, but I love the damaged paint look.
*A procedural texture is a computer generated image created using an algorithm intended to create a realistic representation of a natural material. (wikipedia/procedural textures)
This will be useful for me as I’m hopeless at UV mapping. Fingers crossed the texture will look good when it’s used all over the completed model.
John
The beginning of a new model! I already made a Mk II Viper from Battlestar Galactica before Christmas, now I’m moving on to the Mk VII. A more modern, and much more fluidly shaped plane. Frankly, I’m expecting it to be a total bitch to model, which is why I’m doing it (and also why I made the boxier Viper first). Should teach me a thing or two!
Here’s a shot of the tail fin. I’m yet to put in all the grid lines, which should bring it to life a bit more.
And this is what that area should look like when it’s done… (credit, Universal and Zoic)
I’ve added a nifty little feature to my website.
www.moofunk.co.uk/3dscrollphone2.html
Just move your mouse between the arrows at the bottom to turn the model left or right and see it open and close. Rendered in C4D and put together in Flash using this helpful tutorial.
With so much sci fi CG in my portfolio I decided to make a few real life objects in 3D. I put this model together over the space of about three days in Cinema4D. The curvyness of the casing presented a few challenges for me as I’m not too good with more fluid shapes yet, but I had the real thing to hand to use as reference. These are a few renders from a turntable video I made and will be putting on my website.
I think it’s come out pretty well, although there’s one thing still to model, which is the camera on the back. My main aim was to be able to make phtorealistic renders from it and it looks like I should get good results.
