Star Wars Ships Modelling Begins (Tie-Fighter Interceptor)

Week 4 has arrived and using all the knowledge and techniques gained up to this point i am starting on my first (Of which there will eventually be three) star wars models. Using the images and drawings seen in my research board blog i chose a suitable technical drawing that could be used to set up a virtual studio in 3ds Max. This first step of the process is a crucial time, as the images that are being used will be the main guide when sculpting the model. If the images are not to scale or in proportion to each other the model will be deformed. This actually took me two attempts to get right. When you apply the desired images to the planes in the scene in 3ds Max simply making all the planes the same size (ie, 100 by 100) does not mean that the images are to scale or in proportion. As this assumes that all the images you are importing are all 100 by 100 too, which wont always be the case. I actually started modelling with 100 by 100 planes and thought my studio was fine, however when i went back to the original source images i could clearly see that one of my images had been stretched and deformed leading to my model also following this path. I later discovered that a much more accurate and correct way to keep all your images to scale is to simply make each planes size equal to its images size in pixels. This sometimes requires the original images to be re-scaled too to ensure its height and width match the others you have chosen.

   Virtual Studio

When a suitable studio was created i could start modelling. The Tie-Fighter is clearly made up of three basic shapes, a sphere for the main fuselage and cockpit, and a hexagon for the wing and a cylindrical shape for the wing stem. I say wing and not wings because with any kind of vehicle or ship you will usually find that it is symmetrical, or at least mostly. This means when we model such things we only really have to model half of it, as 3ds Max allows us to apply a 'symmetry modifier' which will mirror the model exactly on a desired axis. This saves time and ensures perfect symmetry throughout the process. 

I figured a sensible place to start was with the wing. Using a gengon extended primitive and moving the vertices i quickly realized the desired base shape for my wing. It was best practice to move opposite (ie Top and bottom) vertices simultaneously to keep uniformity in my model. I found manipulating one at a time will always give less accurate results. 

   

By simply insetting the large outer polygon a few times i was able to produce several internal polygons that matched the wing shape and scale correctly. Using the existing polygons as opposed to adding new ones is the best way to keep the model as efficient as possible and avoid unseen unused polygons. Extruding and beveling these new internal polygons to different levels would later create the outer wing shape.

Connecting vertices to create new edges

I had to move some of the vertices on the internal polygons to shape them better to match the source images. The internal polygons actually have slightly different dimensions. Using the connect tool i created some more edges and vertices that could then be moved using the constrain to edge option to create the stems leading out form the internal part of the wing. Using constrain to edge allows for movement along the edges only, ensuring you only move the vertices in one direction and keep the edges the same dimensions as they started. Here moving opposite vertices simultaneously helped me keep the object uniform. Once happy with their placement and size the edges could then be modified simultaneously to the desired beveled effect. 

Connecting edges to create new edges and vertices 

Moving new vertices with constrain to edge

Extruding new polygons

Once the base detail of the outer wing was done i started working on some of the smaller details. Ideally i wanted to keep the model in as few as parts as possible, and create new edges and vertices on existing polygons where i could to prevent the presence of unnecessary and unseen polygons. However as i had no experience in creating, assigning or editing materials for my model i didn't know what detail i could achieve using just materials and mapping and therefore cutting out the need for excess polygons in my model. Hence i used a series of extra shapes that i manipulated to create some really quite intricate detail on the wings.

Adding wing detail

 

I am aware that this method adds a lot of new and potentially unseen polygons to my model. If i intended this model to be used in a game engine for example this would have to be addressed and most would probably have to be removed and replaced using materials and mapping. However as these are only going to used in a 3ds Max animation scene the rendering of polygons becomes less of an issue. Which is nice as actually having the detail as 3d much more accurately reflects the original images and models i have looked at.

More wing detail being added

     

Small hexagon wing detail

More small hexagon wing detail

Extensive wing detail

All outer wing detail

When the outer wing was satisfactory i applied a symmetry modifier, which allowed me to mirror the outer wing on the inner side. Anything that save a modeler time desirable as the modelling process is very time consuming. The original images and models i was referencing thigh showed a slight variation on the size of the inner details so some modification was required.

When modelling the fuselage and cockpit i tried to remove as many polygons as was possible, to some extent compensate the many extra polygons now present on the wing. A sphere by nature has a higher polygon count that most objects so some, for example at the rear that will be the thruster several edges could be removed. Similarly for the front view port. Once i manipulated and moved the vertices to create the hexagonal front viewing port i could remove any excess edges and polygons. 

Early cockpit and fuselage 

New edges to create the front view-port

For irregular shapes and patterns like on the gun mounts i found using the cut tool the best option. It offers the most free form way of creating desired edges and polygons, without also adding excess polygon that will not be needed. 

Gun Mounts

I originally created two guns and placed them manually on either side. However later i discovered i could use the attach option and that would automatically (Because of the active symmetry modifier) place the other gun to precisely match the coordinates of the original gun. I found this technique useful when perfect symmetry was desired.

To add some new edges for the roof hatch i found using the quick slice tool gave me the cleanest line through the fuselage. It also slices through the entire object in one go which keep the model uniform on all sides. 

Roof Hatch with detail

The last piece of the model was the wing stem. This didn't pose too many problems. I thought best to make it as a separate entity instead of trying to modify and extrude the fuselage i had just created. I didn't want to alter the body once i was happy with it. Also when it comes to unwrapping my models for texturing having several objects as opposed to a larger complex one helps the differentiate between all the polygons present in the model.  

So that's the Tie-Fighter complete. Overall considering this is my third ever use of 3Ds Max i am very happy with the likeness compared to my source images and pleased with the level detail i was able to achieve.

Views of finished Tie-Fighter 

Stylized views 

I have noticed some problems with the wings since it was finished however. The symmetry modifier seems to making some polygons overlap and occupy the same space which is causing some problems with unwrapping. I cant seem to figure out how and why this has happened either. However even with the experience gained in these few weeks i think if i was to do it again i could avoid this problem, as i was really learning as i was working so some anomaly's are inevitable.Whether i am going to have to remake the wing we will find out soon.