#29 - Assignment Models - Venator Star Destroyer 3

In this post I will focus on the details I added on the main body of the Venator destroyer. I used the multi-cut tool to trace the outline of the inner surfaces of the ship as depicted on the schematics, and turned symmetry on so that it would add the new edges on both sides of the model, ensuring perfect symmetry. This worked for most of the model, however at some points it would not allow me to place a new vertex, so I had to turn symmetry off and finish both sides individually. I think this might be because the schematic I am using is not quite symmetrical itself, as I cannot seem to align them all properly at all. I can easily overcome this by moving the schematic slightly each time I swap sides. Not an ideal work around, but it is sufficient for achieving symmetry. I also use the method of dragging opposite vertices next to each other to make sure they are perfectly in line, before I move on to modifying the shape. Once I had the outline cut out, I extruded the middle bit down slightly, then repeated the process on one half of each side where the ridge is, before extruding the slightly thinner faces down again. Choosing to shape the middle area first was sensible because it also left the raised central platform in the perfect shape, without having to add additional edges.

At this point I was left with three clear areas to work on to complete the main body; the outer rim, the inner, lowered section with the cannons, and the central raised area. Once these three sections are complete I will be left with only the engines and the tower to do. The first of these three areas I decided to complete is was the outer rim bit, as it only had the bumpers to add on around it. To create the bumpers, I shaped a cube primitive into the flat, long rectangle matching the smallest bumper on the ship schematic. I chose to do the smallest one first so that I can duplicate it later and extend it using certain techniques which will be shown later. Once the shape was right, I used the add divisions tool to add 14 new faces to the top face, then moved the new edges around until I had three longer faces which would become to bumps on the bumper. To get the shape of the bumps, I used the extrude tool to pull the whole face up, then pulled the back edge back down, to create a shallow incline on each bump. Then, on the new faces at the top of the incline from the extrusions, I used the extrude tool again to pull them at an angle down onto the main body of the ship to connect them. As for the hollow sides, instead of adding division which would have overlapped each other, I used the bevel tool to create a rim, then pushed the inner bit and the edges inside the object to make it appear hollowed. I then duplicated this object three times and moved the new ones below the original one and opposite the original one.

For the rest of the bumpers along the ship, I simply duplicated the original bumper, then added another one, deleted everything except for one of the bumps, and used the combine tool to add it to the other bumper object, after extending that to make room. I repeated this process for all of the other bumpers, except for these ones I used the mirror tool to reflect them onto the opposite sides of the ship. I didn't use this for the first ones because I thought it would be very difficult to find the right inputs to get it to reflect at the right angle, but I found out that you can manually drag the mirror once it is applied, so it was easy enough to reflect them all. I did have a problem where the mirror would not reflect them in the right place, or they were slightly offset, so I used the separate tool to make the reflected objects independent, then adjusted them into the right position manually. The mirror was still useful because the rotation was correct. Now they are all the right size and in the right position on the ship. I grouped them all together as well, as they are essentially the same object in different places, so I can keep track of them by size.

For the small turrets on either side of the ship, I simply created a sphere, moved it half way into the side of the ship in line with the schematic, then added three cylinders shaped to look like tubes. I positioned these so that two of them were sticking out of the sphere, for the barrels, and then the last one went between them to connect them. This was one of the quicker and easier parts of this model to make. The rest of the details across the extruded section of the ship running through the middle around the edge will be done with textures, as none of it has enough depth to require any geometry changes, especially as the model will always be seen from a long shot.

I did have a few issues with rotating some of the bumpers because the rotation tool was never in line with the object I was trying to rotate, probably due to the mixture of rotating and mirroring. Mainly for the ones at the back, I struggled to find a perfect position for them, so some of them may be a little bit out, but on my storyboard this model will always be very far away, so these slight offsets will not be noticeable. It might have been easier to continue duplicating rather than mirroring, so that I could use the rotation tool properly, but it would have taken much longer. Ultimately, they are the right size and shape, and are close enough to the right position.