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[Thule]

Holy Moley, sweet baby jesus

Muuuuuuuuuch better, really really awesome. UMO huuuuuuuuge improvement.

[Ember]

I decided to try and make a bunch of ships myself
compared to the others I've seen i know they could still use some work

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though i would like to know what you think what epoch these ships could come from

So how did I do at my first couple attempts of making ships?

[xenoargh]

@Helmut:  I really like how that last edit worked!  Nice job, if they were in Spiral Arms, I'd snag them for my mod in a heartbeat

@Ember:  If we had to name a period, I'd say early Exploration.  They have that vaguely Star-Trek-ish look.

[Ember]

I'm unfamiliar with the different epochs actually, anyone know where i can get detailed information on them?

[HELMUT]

The lore corner on the forum:

http://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=437.0

And some blog spot:

http://fractalsoftworks.com/category/lore-2/

For the period, i'll say same as xenoargh, early exploration. Even though they seems pretty heavily armed for exploration ships. Make me rather think of some kind of enforcers mercenaries or space cops.

[Thule]

a bit of progress

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[phyrex]

so you chose the big honking engine idea after all ?
not bad either.

what can we expect of this ship in the end ?

[Thule]

I have no idea 

[xenoargh]

Just a random idea, Thule; give it a pair of big vertical fins on the back, giving it a slightly hovercraft-ish feel?  Just random musings, I keep feeling like it needs something

[TheHappyFace]

@Thule
the engine construction looks a bit fragile in my opinion.
you might wanna add some more to it.

By the way have you though about adding an extra colour to your ship like HELMUT? 

@Ember
Indeed they need some more work.
For now I would recommend focusing on complexity and shading.
Complexity in your sprite is a bit odd. Some parts have perfect complexity while others seem fairly plain.
try making them overall the same.
Shading is not yet added to your sprites (except for some parts).
Remember that vanilla light comes from the top-front and that shading has two types.
self and cast shading, self shading is the shading you added to the fifth ship on the medium mounts
and cast shading should be added on the lowest part where two parts meet.

Hope I was clear, friendly and that I didn' t told you stuff you already knew :I.

[Ember]

@Ember
Indeed they need some more work.
For now I would recommend focusing on complexity and shading.
Complexity in your sprite is a bit odd. Some parts have perfect complexity while others seem fairly plain.
try making them overall the same.
Shading is not yet added to your sprites (except for some parts).
Remember that vanilla light comes from the top-front and that shading has two types.
self and cast shading, self shading is the shading you added to the fifth ship on the medium mounts
and cast shading should be added on the lowest part where two parts meet.

Hope I was clear, friendly and that I didn' t told you stuff you already knew :I.

Thanks though shading will be a bit difficult, as i rely on a 3D parts assembler program that i found a while back to build and render the ships, though I just discovered I forgot to check self shadow.
Ill see if i can get it fixed

for the complexity i take it that the places missing them would be the engine nacelles? yea wasnt exactly sure how to put in the plating on angled slopes without making it look flat

[Thule]

tried my hand at custom hull parts, plating to be exact, to have more stock for new kitbashes.

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[Gotcha!]

@Ember: Base is looking good so far, but they can use a lot more detailing. Are you using photoshop?

Anyway, it's faaar better than I could ever make, so good going so far.

[Ember]

@Ember: Base is looking good so far, but they can use a lot more detailing. Are you using photoshop?

Anyway, it's faaar better than I could ever make, so good going so far.

Using gimp which is basically a free Photoshop with a few features missing I know that some areas like the engine nacelles need more details which i sai i cant figure out how to do without it looking flat or odd as in the model its sloped

anyway, it took a bit of fiddling but i managed to get some shadows in, also added a bit of noise so it doesnt look all one color in area

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this is what the model is before i rendered it from top down and then shrank it an added details

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[Gotcha!]

I bet Gimp can work with layers as well. And maybe emboss?
If I were making that ship I'd use a simple embossing on those two bulbous laser thingies so they appear to be round.
And you could pick other parts of the ship, put them in a new layer and add some shadows falling from them.

Wish I could help better. >_> Have you checked one of the several sprite guides?