Vandron Shipset

[chewy027]

After the Vandron counterattack had completely wiped out one of the enemies planets. The Vandron pull the bulk of their "purging" forces back into their own space leaving only a few cloaked ships behind for reconaissance. Meanwhile, they begin to lay a dense minefield in front of the worm hole where they were first ambushed by the enemy.

So goes the story with the latest pic. Not much action here but it moves the story along...

[zircher]

Pardon my nitpicking, bad habit...

The default sphere is too blocky, try loading ball3.suf from the L3 sample directory, It's twenty times smoother than the basic sphere. I can see one planet in view, but not two. Space is too big for that to happen. Perhaps a planet and a moon... Similarly, I love the coloration of the suns, but they are too large. Figure one should be thumbnail sized and the other one a bit smaller. It's interesting that the warp point blocks part of the sun. Perhaps using a transparency mask would make for a more warp-like effect where the two overlap.

This is just more of a random thought thing. Would mines 'tumble' out or would they be launched more like depth charges in a V pattern? The idea of tumbling autonomous anti-matter bombs out the hatch sounds a little frightning. :-)
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TAZ

[chewy027]

ok i'll try to use the smoother sphere next time. And the ransparant wormhole is a good idea. As for the size and spacing i was just trying to spruce up a somewhat bland pic. And the mines are being "placed" outside the ships with a wide arc tractor beam. At least thats what i thought that beam was anyway

[zircher]

Fair enough. :-) As to sprucing up scenes, try using NASA stock photos of nebuli and other such space 'terrain'. You can also download programs like Universe and Starbits to make your own space back drops.
Both are shareware: Universe ( http://www.diardsoftware.com/ ) has more features, but is more expensive. I happen to like Starbits because it's cheaper (only $10) and the demo is fully functional. I used Starbits to make the vortex in this image...
http://zircher.iwarp.com/fots_3d/images/emergence.htm
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TAZ

I got problems connecting to EMM's home page so try this link for Starbits... http://www.softpile.com/Multimedia/I...867_index.html

[chewy027]

ok so how do i import backgrounds that i make with these programs?

[Suicide Junkie]

If there isn't an explicit background feature, use a gigantic box with the NASA image as a texture.

[Alpha Kodiak]

AI Update:

I hope to be able to post an improved set of AI files tonight or tomorrow morning. They're not finished yet, but I think that they are much improved.