Yay! No more mirroring! that really seemed like a handicap when getting into battle damage details.

Xico, I think you will be interested in some of these links, which will provide you with the much needed box of tissues as well as the much needed advice:
conceptart.org
eatpoo.com
cgsociety.org

Funny, I did look at the vulture, which I think is the oldest ship in the game, and I find it to be a much more interesting model than Xico's brief run at it.

Pyroman, I understand your desire to support your fellow hobbyist artist, but I really can't understand the bizarrely defensive way you do it. Surely it is better to be honest with the guy and yourself than to attack any statement you see as a threat.

Do this for yourself, actually compare the two ships side by side:
The Vulture and The Crabcake.
Now ask yourself which one looks like it was thought out instead of slapped together out of vaguely fin-shaped bit? Which one has an actual texture? Better yet, which one's texture looks like a twelve year old discovered the magic of the smudge tool combined with pictures of a rusted battleship? Which one looks like it's a mess of painted-on 'support beams' that disappear under 'battle scratches'? Which one has the aesthetics of a traffic cone?

Anyway, the point is that the new models have to be on the level of the raptor or so to justify putting in game. As I've said before in this thread this is a very good start, but it is definitely not good enough to be put in production. I'm glad he's working on it though, and I'm glad that Inc is working with him. I think Xico has potential and if he's able to produce some good models that are worthy of going into production that's awesome. New ships are always a good thing, especially if Inc doesn't have to do much work to make it happen

Thank you for the responses.

I'll have another model uploaded within the week. Expect quality to be that of Eve-Online or other realistic designs.

Thank you,
Brad/Xico

Pyroman:

http://vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/21226#262881

Or, to quote (as ladron pointed out):

Sometimes there is a justification of something like "well it's not any worse than <enter crappy looking existing ship here>". That doesn't wash with me, I know some of our assets aren't the best, but I'm not going to replace them with anything less than the best. I'm also not going to add new ships that don't live up to the same standards.

Also, here's the Raptor reference image. Generally, if it isn't on par with that, it doesn't go in.

And, technically speaking, the only reason the Wraith still exists (in any form) was to comply with many player requests. Originally, it was removed when we rolled out the Revenant.

You can pry my Wraith from my cold, dead fingers. Best ship evar.

Okay, usually I ignore the "Can you put this ship ingame threads". Cuz they're basically someone fooling with some 3d software.

but in this case I wanted to respond to Xico's detractors. He's following the Dev's guidelines as far as creation, and if the only flaw he's got is in the aesthetics, then I really don't get the flaming. Just constructively criticize the design, he's not being a jerk about it, and he clearly read the relevant threads.

Designs can be changed, and while I'm not really feeling this one, the fact that he is capable of creating a REAL product, ANY real product, is a step in the right direction. Give the guy a little credit and don't bag on him for the wrongs of a thousand other wannabe designers.

Shapenaji ->

Honestly I understand where each and every person is coming from. I've read your forums, seen all the people claiming to be the next big thing for this game. People grow weary, thing and tired of such people.

I am one of those people at this point in time. However, unlike most I take the comments other have and inspire to do better. I hope within the next week or so, to show you guy a truly good model, one which Inc and the community will fully back and support.

Good things take time, expierence and mistakes. Welcome to life.

Thanks,
Xico/Brad

Hello,

I did a bit more modeling on a new ship, got a rough shape done. Wondering if you can let me know what you think, want changed or like.

http://img14.imageshack.us/i/60515234.jpg/
http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/7254/37923421.jpg
http://img27.imageshack.us/i/48770381.jpg/
http://img42.imageshack.us/i/23537297.jpg/
http://img198.imageshack.us/i/30049847.jpg/
http://img27.imageshack.us/i/75523623.jpg/

Thanks,
Brad/Xico

Well, I have a suggestion, why not take the existing designs for older ships, like the vulture, wraith, etc... and "raptorize" them... try to tweak them to be in line with the raptor model.

I think those could be really nice starting points which would make the models look more consistent.

It would also lesson some of the flaws of the raptor, which, while very pretty, presents too bulky a profile compared to the vulture, and has none of the advantages of the valkyrie (another bulky ship). You could norm the ships to the raptor, which would then allow a much wider range of new designs with larger profiles.

It would speed up fights (gone would be the days of the 10 minute fight between 2 IBG's without a hit, because none of the ships would have that tiny cross-section), which would be a huge plus.

EDIT: though, of course, if all the ships were "raptorized" flares would obviously need to be balanced, you can't have cool-looking fins all over the place if you want to be able to dodge flares.

As a flare user i don't agree about the whole argument about ship size.
With flares if you are close enough to hit a raptor you are close enough to hit an ibg in my experience.
It makes more of a difference with weapons that require direct hit.

On the new model, i like it more then previous one.

I disagree, the raptor is an even worse example in your case, since you should be able to hit a raptor from much further away (its janky thrust + its size make it flarebait)

A better example is the vulture vs. the IBG... the vulture's wingtips leave it eating all the flares you have. the IBG, not so much.

I like this one Xico, nice lines. My first thought is to ditch the cylindrical thrusters and assume an integral unit along the back of the ship. That'll save you some polys to use up front, and simplify the collision scheme overall. Maybe, kinda, sorta? Just a thought.

I agree with what Shapenaji is saying about gauging the proportions relative to the Vult. That makes sense, assuming this is to be a light fighter. I'm guessing our illustrious Board of Know-It-Alls is going to harp on the wingspan and fins, but I wouldn't do away with them, maybe just compact them a bit. Gotta have fins, fins are just plain cool:)

In raptor's case it's much more thrust than it's shape. (in previous post i kinda only compared sizes, without thinking about thrust)
There is some difference between vult and ibg but it's not a big one for me.
And ibg is still 900km lighter then vult, tho it does have lower thrust it's also equipped with lighter weapons.
For me personally it matters much more how heavy the ship is and who's flying it rather then if it's big or small, as far as flaring goes.
Anyway, if flares ever become a problem they can be dealt with then, i think this is off-topic here.

Btw of the model, i don't believe there is any need to make it less detailed, the opposite if anything.

I was thinking about playing Vendetta again. This thread has reminded me why I quit.

1) No moderation. Spammers and asshats abound, and nothing is done about it.

2) Someone works on an improvement to the game, or offers their help to replace/augment the host of dull, ugly ships in this game. It would make the game better, but it isn't Absolute Perfection, so the devs won't use it. As Voltaire said, the best is the enemy of the good.

3) The collision maps are still shackled to what the spaceships look like, meaning that you can have an interesting looking ship (like the raptor), or a game-efficient ship (like the vulture), but not both. Bad game design.

Xico: good work.

collision maps are still shackled to what the spaceships look like

Because this is VO, this is not the most idiotic statement I've ever seen on these boards, but it is easily in the top five.

I'm gonna have to agree with Lecter. Why in the hell would you want collision maps that didn't match the visible mesh? Why would you want to play a game where you can't shoot what you can see?

Something like that can work in a game like eve where they don't even bother with collision detection, and you could easily not even bother showing the models with no impact on gameplay.
But vo is a damn FPS, so that'd be stupid.
And anyhow i for one think it's awesome that ship's shape actually matters.
A total separation between utility of something and how it looks is very immersion breaking.

As for new ships, the point is to improve how vo looks by replacing old/bad looking ships.
Adding more that will soon need to be replaced anyway is kinda pointless.
And point is not to have 'Absolute Perfection' just something on par with current games, which last model honestly was not.

(In Scartaris' defense, I don't think he was implying that we should remove it, but more as a "remember this" kinda thing.)

Xico: I like the new model quite a bit.