6
Softening the look of smaller ships
I made these little transport ships by building very
simple shapes for the wings, and then applying a
MeshSmooth modifier to them, which melts them in the
same way as before. The hard edges of the surface become
smooth, which gives the craft a more organic look.
5
Extruding your polygons
This stage pushes the small tiles we created with the
Inset Tool outwards, producing raised tiles surrounded by
channels. It’s reduced the number of faces produced using
the ProOptimizer tool by 54 per cent. I discovered this
quasi-periodic tiling of the surface by trial and error,
sliding the ProOptimizer’s dial up and down to different
values and observing the results. I could never have
designed this pattern, but it’s just what I’m looking for.
7
Generating a fleet of military spaceships
For the navy ships positioned around the forecourt of the Heighliner, I make
some simple objects and apply a hull metal texture to them. I figure that because
they’ll be small in the final image, these dark, simple, brutal-looking chisel shapes
would inform the viewer that they’re military warships and transports.In depth Quick concepts