Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

Hey gang!

I'm building my first original Shipset and wanted to get a few opinions on it.

Here's a picture of the Battleship:

http://www3.sympatico.ca/sergemorris...pPrototype.jpg

I'm going for a "Colossal" feel to the ships, ergo the blocky (sp?) configuration.

All comments (good & bad) are welcome.

Read ya soon,

Katchoo

[ May 06, 2004, 02:17: Message edited by: Katchoo ]

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

Quite colossal and impressive indeed. Made with Doga, I suppose ?

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yeah. I haven't mastered any other programs yet. Probably 'cause I don't have any patience with them http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

Katchoo
Way to go. Love it. Can't wait for the rest.

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

I like it. I imagine this shipset would be the best at ramming other ships. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif
A huge flat surface like that can smash anything. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif Or, if you get two ships together you could "sandwich" a enemy. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

lol @ rags
nice ship there katchoo

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

Hey, DOGA is not to be underestimated. Just look at what I was able to do with it. http://newageshipyards.cjb.net
http://astmod.com/newtrek/index.htm

Nice start for a ship set. You can import textures to your color pallet. These can be custom made, or even from other sources. Textures really set a ship set apart from one another.

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

doga is nice but images made there lack realism even more than non-professional Moray images (all the high-end programs produce some nice stuff though)

ok sorry, didnt want to go OT.

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

Thanks for the feedback guys!

I've got 95% of the ships done. I figure i'll have everything ready (hopefully AI too) for the weekend.

Getting off topic here...

Has anyone ever done a Shipset based on Mars Attacks? They're showing the movie on TBS right now (I guess they wore out their copy of The Mummy already).

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

Re: Mars Attacks

Closest available set is probably the "Little Green Men" set, which isn't really all that close. I did think about doing this once, and even found a website with all the original trading card designs, but there aren't enough ships in there for even a quarter of a set, and I wasn't prepared to create all the images from new.

I'd love to see a MA set though. The speech file would rock!

Send Declare War 1 := AG! AG! AGAG! AG! AGAGAG!

[ March 04, 2003, 10:05: Message edited by: dogscoff ]

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I have started one (about two years ago), mostly taken from the DVD. But since they do not use a large variety of ships, other than the hubcap, it has been very hard. My lacking artist/imagination capabilities have done the rest to it, project is stopped at the moment.

So far there is just: troops (that was really funny), race picture, flag, big explosion (with a green scull in a cloud http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif , and a few ships, but maybe someone of the artist has got ideas to finish it?

EDIT: Forgotten to mention, WP drafts exist also, from the big cannon with a martian sitting on the control chair (grandma's music weapon scene at the end...)

[ March 04, 2003, 12:11: Message edited by: PsychoTechFreak ]

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">We come in peace.

"ALL GREEN OF SKIN...
800 CENTURIES AGO...
THEIR BODILY FLUIDS INCLUDE THE BIRTH OF HALF-BREEDS...
FOR THE FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH IS SELF-DETERMINATION OF THE COSMOS...
FOR DARK IS THE SUEDE...
THAT MOWS LIKE A HARVEST..."

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">katchoo, I love the set. I have a suggestion. The flat purple surfaces could use a 'bump'. It would give the ships more demension. Just a thought!

<font color=purple>mlmbd http://www.shrapnelgames.com//ubb/icons/icon6.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif </font>

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I haven't put too much detail into the ships since not much detail will come out once I shrink the ships down the 128x128 bitmaps. When I get off work tonight though i'll play around with it a bit and see what I can work in.

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

Looks great. Can't wait to see the entire set.

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

AG! AGAG! AG! AGAG! AGAG! AG! AG! AG! AGAGAG! AGAG! AG! AG! AGAG! AG! AG! AGAGAG!

AG!

**Translation:
View all the original Mars Attacks card at this URL: http://www.essex1.com/people/zelda/gallery1.htm

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

Once I thought about completing the shipset with pictures from hubcaps and rims, ships from other movies ("war of worlds", pictures from "marvin the martian" and somesuch).

I envy your artist and imagination capabilities guys. Obviously I am just more the consuming gamer. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Very cool looking ship, and very original. Good use of textures and colors as well, it really has a collosal look to it. All it needs is a good AI and speechfile and it will be one of the best races out there.

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

Katchoo, you would be surprised just how well the 'bump' at 128x128 shows up. Sometimes you need to take it passed 100%. Depending on the colors and textures you are using. It doesn't make alot of difference on the mini's. But, some.

<font color=purple>mlmbd http://www.shrapnelgames.com//ubb/icons/icon6.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif </font>

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

Just an update...

I've completed just about everything. All I need to do is create an appropritate Race Portrait. Other than that, the set is done.

My preference is have a webpage setup to showcase the Shipset (and future ones). But i'm the king of procrastinating so if I get too lazy, i'll just upload the Shipset to Shrapnel and leave it as a Zip.

On another note, i've begun toying around with my next (possible) Shipset. Here's the prototype of the Escort below:

http://www3.sympatico.ca/sergemorrison/2ndPrototype.jpg

Although, with the recent talk of Mars Attacks, I may take a stab at doing that Shipset.

More as it develops.

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

Katchoo: Race portraits are my speciality. I hand-draw them in 2D packages rather than use 3D packages. Let me know if you're interested, I can send some samples...

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

Katchoo, what about this new "colossal" shipset ? No new for two weeks ?

Don't forget the race directory, when you've got it finished !

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

The set is pretty much done. I still have to make one Last look through the AI files for anything missed, but mostly i'm waiting on a Race Picture being designed by Dogscoff.

I'm setting up a website now aswell and will try to have it up soon.

Question: What's the easiest way to use Andres' Race Viewer v3 Online? I've got it working fine on my Hard Drive and saved a copy of the HTML file that previewed my new Race, but, aside from going into the saved page and editing all the links, is there another (read: easier) way?

Don't worry all, she's almost ready to fly! And then I can start working on my next set, which _no one_ will be expecting (and it's not the 2nd picture I showed earlier in this thread) http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

Ok, here's a link to my Website:

AstroBurn!

This is just the Intro Page and there aren't any active links yet, but, that'll change soon. At the very least there's a new picture of the new Shipset (Nu'Wam Partnership).

And as you can tell, i'm no web design expert http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif

Trooper, i'll have space available if you need someone to host more Shipsets from your list.

Updates as they come.

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

I know we have entered for some years in the area of the fast Internet. But a bmp picture of 382094 bytes on a web page, that is IMHO, far too much http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif ....

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

Wow! That'll sure chew through your transfer limit quick http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Nice picture though!

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

So I guess you're implying the picture of the Nu'Wam ship is too big? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

I'll cut it down to a more manageable size.

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

Put the same pic in jpg format...
BMPs on a web page you mustn't put.
Never.
Ever.

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

Jpgs lose colors and image quality. Use pngs instead.

Also, have you considered using http://www.spaceports.com instead of Angelfire? They are much much better than Angelfire.

[ March 30, 2003, 19:13: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">jpgs only lose color and image quality if you make them like 500x500 pixels. If they are a normal sized picture they are perfectly fine and are best for the web. PNGs are good, but they are still quite big and I would only recommend them if the jpgs look bad for that particular image or if you don't mind the size.

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

Think I've already seen that debate somewhere on the forum... I also think that .png are a bit too big to be used on the web.

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">All jpgs of every pixel size lose colors. Image size has nothing to do with color loss, except with really, really small pictures (like 20x20 pixels and smaller) because they have few colors in them to be distorted. 128x128 images lose too many colors in jpg form.

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">All jpgs of every pixel size lose colors. Image size has nothing to do with color loss, except with really, really small pictures (like 20x20 pixels and smaller) because they have few colors in them to be distorted. 128x128 images lose too many colors in jpg form.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Let me rephrase what I said. The way I said it was wrong. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif What I meant to say was this: jpgs always lose colors and quality. But it is never enough to worry about. Never enough to make a image look absolutly horrible. Unless of course you resize the image down to 20x20 as you said, or way too big. But generally jpgs never distort bad enough to worry about putting pngs instead, (depends on what image is as well), as pngs take up about 2 to 3x as a jpg does, if not more.

For example: I just made a quick button about 100x20 in size, and put some text and a little drop shadow on it. I then saved it as both .png, as well as .jpg. The difference in quality? You couldn't tell the two apart. The difference in size? The .jpg was only 1.35k, while the .png was 35k. That big of size difference for no quality inhancement is not worth the bandwidth. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Uhh... yeah. Sorry about that ppl, I'll try to get onto it tonight. It just needs to be coloured really...

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Don't worry about it http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif I'm not in any rush http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

Rags, buttons are not high quality images. Of course they are not going to look bad as jpgs. We were talking about much more detailed images like ships. Those often look bad in jpg format.

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Ok, bad example on my part. So I'll provide you with another one. I took the Cardassian heavy carrier image and saved it as a .jpg and .png.
And just so you can't say, "Oh, it's a 128x128 image, so that doesn't count." I took the liberty of incresing the size up to 350x350. This of course made the image pixelated, but it will prove my point just the same.
The size of the .jpg image of the carrier at 350x350 pixels, was only 16kb. Not big at all.
The .png of the same image at 350x350 pixels was 95.4kb. Huge for that image.
And you know what? There is no difference in quality. If there is, which I can barely see a difference, it is not enough to make that big of a difference to use .pngs over the net instead of .jpgs. You still get the same image, same quality, at 5x less the size. This effectively reduces bandwidth usage and also the Users load time.

I highly doubt you can argue this point unless it is extreamly unbased or some other wackiness. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

Increasing the image size doesn't matter once you get passed really small images (128x128 is not really small).

I never said that every single jpeg image turns out crappy. It depends on what is in the image file. A lot of ship images I have seen converted to jpegs lost a lot of image quality. It depends on how detailed the image is. The more detail, the more loss there is.

[ April 01, 2003, 01:13: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

Lol sorry katchoo but i guess your ship design thread has degraded into an argument of whats superior. png's or jpg's.

Well to get back on topic have you got any new images to show us, i'm really curious to see what you've done! Pleeeeeaaaaassssse

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">No worries http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

I'm updating the website now and will make the Shipset visible. Downloadable? Not yet, but you'll be able to see how it looks so far.

Updates as they come!

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

Hey, Katchoo, you really should link to that webpage in your sig! Took me a while of digging through this thread to find it again http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

BTW, I have a suggestion for that future shipset you posted about on page 2 (the one with the big glowing energy sphere in the hull)
If you line up the minis, such that the spheres are in the exact center, then they will be in the exact same location even when the ship turns in combat.
You could then have the shield animation based around that energy sphere. Have it pulse and swirl while projecting the shield!

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

Ok everyone! I've updated the site and included a preview of the Nu'Wam Shipset. Let me know what you think or what changes you'd recommend (if any).

Couple points: (1) If some of the Shipset pictures don't appear, don't worry. It's just Anglefire. Refresh the page and it should appear fine. As per Fyron's suggestion, i'm checking out Spaceport for an alternative Host.

(2) I plan on making the set Neo-Standard compatible <sp?>. Eventually http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

(3) I've added some links to most of the websites posted around here. Let me know of any I should add.

...And yes, i've noticed I left out a link for SE4 by Committee http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon8.gif DOH DOH DOH DOH DOH DOH DOH! I'll fix that when i'm more alert. Conan O'Brien is about to come on the TV, so I can't fix it now http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I've added a link to my site. Hopefully it works http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

Interesting suggestion for the EnergySphere Ship (i'll call it that for lack of a better name...). I know the shield file is animated, but can we make the Ship Mini's animated too? I don't know when that Set may get done as i've got something more sinister brewing in the forefront. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

BMPs on a web page you mustn't put.
Never.
Ever.

Anyway, it's a very fine shipset, good work, Katchoo. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

It's looking beautiful but the preview images don't have a proper black background, it's almost black so it won't show up transparent in the game e.g. in the race setup screen Just thought i'd point it out before you render anymore http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hmmm... What kind of background should I be using? Setting the background to transparent usually turns it white...doesn't it?

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

The renderings you have done arn't on a total black background. On my computer they are slightly lighter than black which means they will not become transparent in game. Is this just my computer or does anyone else see it? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Nope, I notice it too. It's like an extreamly dark grey.

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Nope, I notice it too. It's like an extreamly dark grey.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hmmm... It could be the background changed when I brightened the image.

Actually, that makes alot of sense http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif

Oh well, back to the drawing board http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

Yeah sorry to tell you the bad news! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

If i have any suggestions it is don't cut the edges off images like the fleet and fighter Groups. (That doesn't sound clear) What i mean is try and get all the ships in group images into the image and don't cut any in half etc. In my opinion it ruins the shipset slightly (is that an oxymoron? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif )

As for Praise i really like the ship lighting detail e.g the window thingys lol. It makes it look really alien, i only just noticed it on the large Version and i have to say nice addition. good luck http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Katchoo\'s Shipset Thread (aka the ungodly slow DoGa guy).
 

Seems it's impossible to download the shipset from your page, Katchoo ?

Trooper
(The race keeper)