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Author Topic: Creating new ship designs.  (Read 9642 times)

ValkyriaL

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Creating new ship designs.
« on: August 06, 2012, 01:49:11 PM »

for example, if i want to make an Onslaught that is twice as long and a bit wider with an extra set of large/medium/small turret mounts. how do i do this? i have seen people make ships from scratch that actually looks really good with the same graphics as the original ships have.
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Erick Doe

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Re: Creating new ship designs.
« Reply #1 on: August 06, 2012, 01:50:48 PM »

for example, if i want to make an Onslaught that is twice as long and a bit wider with an extra set of large/medium/small turret mounts. how do i do this? i have seen people make ships from scratch that actually looks really good with the same graphics as the original ships have.

It is usually refered to as "kitbashing". People use an existing ship or parts of an existing ship. Then cut away other ship parts from other ships and merge them with the ship they're working on. And others use an existing ship, cut away a part, and draw a whole new part on it (or in between parts to, for example, extend an existing ship).

Here's an example of a ship pieced together using cut away parts of the original game art:
« Last Edit: August 06, 2012, 01:53:19 PM by Erick Doe »
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ValkyriaL

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Re: Creating new ship designs.
« Reply #2 on: August 06, 2012, 01:52:23 PM »

OK, and how do i do this? do i need a program of some sorts?
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Erick Doe

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Re: Creating new ship designs.
« Reply #3 on: August 06, 2012, 01:56:47 PM »

The above was achieved with nothing but the actual game, and MS paint.

You can find the sprites (images) of the game's ships under:

Fractal Softworks/Starfarer/starfarer-core/graphics/ships

You can then open up a ship with a program like MS Paint. Then you can cut away parts that you want to use, and build your own "template" as it were. Then use those pieces to cut and paste until you have a ship.

WARNING! Be sure to copy the image first, or create some sort of backup.


Now for a quality result, you'll probably want graphics software with a few more features than MS Paint. The result can differ quite a bit:



A good (free) choice would be Gimp.
« Last Edit: August 06, 2012, 01:59:37 PM by Erick Doe »
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silentstormpt

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Re: Creating new ship designs.
« Reply #4 on: August 06, 2012, 01:57:52 PM »

Photoshop is also a good choice.
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K-64

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Re: Creating new ship designs.
« Reply #5 on: August 06, 2012, 02:00:14 PM »

I find that Paint.NET is a great editor for kitbashing. So long as you have the patience to work pixel-by-pixel at the detailed bits, you should be able to come up with some really nice looking things, especially once you get the hang of using layers too. Plus changing the hue/saturation does wonders for creating kitbashes from multiple factioned ships into your own one

Warning - while you were typing a new reply has been posted. You may wish to review your post.

Photoshop is also a good choice.

That's also another good choice most likely. I just use Paint.NET because it's free and I don't need super-fancy stuff
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ValkyriaL

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Re: Creating new ship designs.
« Reply #6 on: August 06, 2012, 02:13:50 PM »

Somehow i think this will be to hard for me =( i don't have the patience for these kinds of things, yet another thing i cant learn..
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Erick Doe

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Re: Creating new ship designs.
« Reply #7 on: August 06, 2012, 02:15:47 PM »

Somehow i think this will be to hard for me =( i don't have the patience for these kinds of things, yet another thing i cant learn..

A whole new project (in this case creating a ship) can seem overwhelming. You could give it a try and see how it goes.  :) But that is, of course, up to you.
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K-64

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Re: Creating new ship designs.
« Reply #8 on: August 06, 2012, 02:19:26 PM »

Somehow i think this will be to hard for me =( i don't have the patience for these kinds of things, yet another thing i cant learn..

You'd be surprised. I'm far from the most patient of people, but once I sit myself down, put on some music and have a look through the vanilla ships, it becomes quite an enjoyable task, rather than annoying. Also, just start with one or two ships maybe, if you start to develop along a particular style then that opens up a whole new avenue for making a faction for yourself. Which means a rather nice mod, with campaign potential
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medikohl

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Re: Creating new ship designs.
« Reply #9 on: August 06, 2012, 02:24:19 PM »

heck I started out with this game, you can check my signature for examples, but in about 2 weeks I'd already cranked out about 90 sprites.
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medikohl

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Re: Creating new ship designs.
« Reply #10 on: August 06, 2012, 02:25:47 PM »

I use paint.net
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arcibalde

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Re: Creating new ship designs.
« Reply #11 on: August 06, 2012, 02:28:55 PM »

^^ But you don't count. Extraterrestrial's don't count  ;D
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ValkyriaL

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Re: Creating new ship designs.
« Reply #12 on: August 06, 2012, 02:29:38 PM »

That purple super carrier must have taken huge amounts of effort. i see 3 ships in one there.
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medikohl

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Re: Creating new ship designs.
« Reply #13 on: August 06, 2012, 03:02:00 PM »

the hard part was setting up all the weapon mounts.
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ValkyriaL

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Re: Creating new ship designs.
« Reply #14 on: August 07, 2012, 04:33:02 AM »

i just went into the ship editor and changed the onslaught a bit and renamed it and saved it (i think) . how do i get this ship to appear in a fleet? let alone in the game at all?
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