Model Conversion

[scifidude79]

I found a website (3D Gladiators) that still has some of my old meshes from my Truespace days. I downloaded some of my old work and decided I was going to set about converting the meshes to Lightwave, since that's what I use now. I looked into using an online 3D converter, but it really made a mess of my meshes. So, I decided to see if I could make use of Truespace. Fortunately, after Microsoft bought Caligari, they released Truespace 7.61 for free, and I was able to find several sites that still have it available for download. So, I downloaded the software and set about opening the models in that and converting to a file format that Lightwave could import. After import, there were a few minor issues to fix. Firstly, I had some nonplanar faces, but those are easily selected and dealt with. Also, some of my ngons were flipped and didn't want to behave when I tried hitting "Unify Normals." So, I selected all 4,000+ ngons and converted them to triangles. Then I hit "Unify Normals" and that all worked out. I applied a simple material for now, I'll have to redo the materials later. However, before I do that, I need to fix the fact that every separate object is now in its own layer, leading to the object having over 400 layers. But, that can be fixed too. However, before I even get into all of that, I decided to take a look at the object itself in Layout, to make sure it renders OK. This is a result I can certainly live with:





This is just a start, but this is one of my favorite ships that I built in Truespace, so I decided to start with it. I built it back in 2009, but I don't think it looks too shabby, and converting it will still take less time than starting over on a new build. After I do this one, I have some others I want to convert.

[scifieric]

This is just a start, but this is one of my favorite ships that I built in Truespace, so I decided to start with it. I built it back in 2009, but I don't think it looks too shabby, and converting it will still take less time than starting over on a new build. After I do this one, I have some others I want to convert.

That is fantastic news!  And excellent work, Chris.  Well done.

I'm glad you could save your work!  It looks terrific.

[scifidude79]

Thanks a lot, Eric.

I got the Intrepid all converted. The textures look OK, so I'm just using them, rather than making new ones. The only texture I made was the impulse engine glow because that was missing. I did build new bussard collector guts, though. I used to fake a lot of stuff with textures, especially in Truespace, but I don't do that anymore. I also added some spot lights to somewhat emulate the lighting from the show. It's pretty much BS, but it does look fairly accurate to the sort of stuff they did.

Anyway, here are some beauty shots:











Overall, I'm really pleased with how this turned out. I've had nightmarish experiences trying to convert models in the past, but this was relatively painless once I figured out a format to export to. That's good, because I have more models to convert. I'm never going to get back all of the models I've lost over the years to backups going kaput, but at least I can get some back.

[scifieric]

That is just beautiful, Chris!

[scifidude79]

Thanks Eric.

[scifidude79]

A couple more quick conversions before I go to work. These are both going to need new textures, the ones in the .zip files are way too low resolution for my taste. The Constellation class also isn't very accurate. It's my 2nd version, made from a mix of references, including some schematics from Star Trek Fact Files. Those schematics use a mix of the ready room model and filming miniature for reference. I may do some rebuilding to make it more accurate to the filming miniature. The other ship isn't canon, so it just needs some new textures.





Note: the blue is just so they show up better against the background.

[scifieric]

Excellent work, Chris!

[Freak]

You really done a great job Chris.

[scifidude79]

Thanks guys.