Whats your opinion?

[JagannathSA]

Hey guys! So Im relatively new to the ship making process, but I wanted to get a few opinions to see if Im at least on the right track...



The Dragon Long Range Attack Cruiser



The Sepharoth Medium Battle Cruiser (long range assault variant shown)



The Mjillonir Heavy Assault Battleship







Detail of the Mjillonir


let me know what you think and feel free to post whatever (constructive criticism goes further than 'it sucks')

Thanks for your opinions!

[Wicky_42]

Lets just say that it's a bit too early to tell, use less aegis, and the /img tag goes at the end of the link, not the beginning...

[Dragontear]

Ah... the colour usage is a bit off-putting, and what ^ said. X3

Well, more specifically, the first one has colours that are far too bold, I think you're using SW styled components, but not SW styled weapons, which doesn't mesh together very well. The front of the craft is reminiscent of a insectoid form, I think it would be better to properly colour the pieces and do so to indicate depthing.

I think it's the same for the second and third, for the last one isn't SW-Styled. Epic size for a relatively new builder, but I think you should start small and build up, it's a pain doing larger ships then messing about, the resaults will show.

Edit: Very rude of me, welcome and salutations new-comer! ^^' Sorry.

[Kaelis]

Greetings, and welcome.

Here are a few hints from me:
- Your colors, at least the main color, are far too saturated and contrasting. On the last ship theyre also rather random. Try using something more neutral or start with shades of gray and go from there.
- On the second ship, white aegis and the yellow parts stick out too much, as well as the weapons. Aegis is not something to be used lightly as it is a very strong effect.
- Your images are a bit too small, its hard to judge section usage, and due to the resizing you loose the effect of crispiness. I suggest you use different image host that doesn't resize and compress images, like photobucket.

[Droid]

:: Default Zoom.
:: Use F9 to take Screenshots, not print screen.
:: [IMG] tags. Use them.

Maybe then I'll actually be able to see the ships properly so I can comment on the section usage etc.

Though from what I can see..

::Saturation of colors. Turn them down.
::Weapon scaling. Don't do it.
::Red + Yellow + Green + Teal + Grey. No.
::Use different shades for depth.
::White aegis. It's usually ugly. Avoid aegis if possible, and if you use it, color it appropriately if you can.

[JagannathSA]

Thanks for the advice guys!

in regards to the colors, I am slightly color blind so I can't really tell the difference between teal/grey or yellow/green when they are certain shades, I edited the original post so hopefully that should be a little easier to see...

Also, instead of aegis effects, whats a good effect that gives similar results? Or maybe just go without them?

[JagannathSA]

The front of the craft is reminiscent of a insectoid form

I was originally going for a group of ships that had insect-like features like this one... the 'jaws' on the front even open up to fire the beams underneath...



But sorta got side-tracked and started messing around with that other stuff...

[Droid]

:: Default Zoom.

Let me emphasize that this time.
Bigger pictures are nice and all, but we all prefer default zoom so we have a better sense of scale, etc.

[Kiltric]

I would stay away from the aegis for the time being until you can improve some of your basic skills.

That said, if you at least want to practice, then this link may be helpful.
http://www.wyrdysm.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4089

In any case, plain white aegis looks bad every time I've seen it used. Don't, unless you can actually make it look good.

[JagannathSA]

I would stay away from the aegis for the time being until you can improve some of your basic skills.

Good advice, thanks

:: Default Zoom.

Let me emphasize that this time.
Bigger pictures are nice and all, but we all prefer default zoom so we have a better sense of scale, etc.

Gotcha...

[JagannathSA]

Okay heres a different one, the Aegis is mainly there to give the effect of engine glow when the thrusters aren't engaged... whacha think?

[Kiltric]

It's a step in the right direction for sure. The main issue I see is the blue being way too strong. Dull it down a bit so it doesn't hurt your eyes to look at it. It also makes the weapons stand out horribly.
As is, it's still chunky. It looks like a blue frame, with an engine shoved in the back (though that notion isn't terrible alone), half a dozen pieces of aqua metal tacked on, and 8 weapons bolted to it.
Try to make it look like a single ship rather than several pieces of hardware.

[unsunghero10]

Maybe you should just gray scale them for the time being, so they don't look like Japanese superbots. Though, I have to say, that insect example one has a good contrast...
You can gray scale them by matching the red/green/blue numbers when defining a custom color.
Weapons need to be colored to.

Lots o' potential.

[jwa8402]

Most of the stuff I would say to set you in the right direction has been said, but I noticed your using a few of the weapons I put out awhile ago. I made and released those before I understood the concept of turrets, so they really don't function well because their one piece rather than a base, barrels, and cover. It appears you made and used proper turrets in other ships so thats good, but just wanted to let you know.

Oh yes, on the aegis as engine exhast... A fine technique used for a long time, but now there are many other options. One is fake aegis which won't make the engines invincible. The other is one of the animated flare type pieces which overall look cleaner than aegis imo. I actually like some of your shapes, though the colors are attrocious on many of the earlier ships. I will keep an eye out for your next designs.

[JagannathSA]

Oh yes, on the aegis as engine exhast... A fine technique used for a long time, but now there are many other options. One is fake aegis which won't make the engines invincible. The other is one of the animated flare type pieces which overall look cleaner than aegis imo.

The sections that glow yellow have the fake aegis effect with bosters hidden underneath that activate when the ship moves, just put the effect on so it has the Millennium Falcon-type engine glow (thats the idea anyways)

All these comments inspired me a little so I thought I would update this with a new design I started on. Hopefully its not quite as painful to the eyes heheh...



For lack of a better name Im calling it the Battleaxe.... Im using the turret idea from EriErin's post with link delays on the ammo canister and shell ejector so the gun fires...the shell ejects...then the next one loads and so on, looks really cool ...lemme hear some opinions...