Lestat

Shadow, don't take this as a sign of emergence from inactivity, but a few tips...

* Layers are your friend

* Darken, Lighten and Smudge tools are your friend

* Only shade textures around the edges or on surfaces that do not use rendered lighting. Make pointed areas lighter, and the bases where the polys join darker.

* Textures using the multiply setting are your friend

Hope they are good tips. Had a PM from someone who was interested in helping on the modelling/texturing front who had XP in HW1 so should be pretty decent at HW2.

I am currently studying at University in 3d Animation. Only just started, and we will be using Maya. We'll see where that will leave me in the future, but right now, I'm full up.

Oh, and if we got DropBox or something cranking, I'd probably be more likely to contribute small stuff.

Not necessarily, there is a lot of testing and balancing that needs to be done before the first beta is released.

Shadow, don't take this as a sign of emergence from inactivity, but a few tips...

* Layers are your friend

* Darken, Lighten and Smudge tools are your friend

* Only shade textures around the edges or on surfaces that do not use rendered lighting. Make pointed areas lighter, and the bases where the polys join darker.

* Textures using the multiply setting are your friend

Hope they are good tips. Had a PM from someone who was interested in helping on the modelling/texturing front who had XP in HW1 so should be pretty decent at HW2.

I am currently studying at University in 3d Animation. Only just started, and we will be using Maya. We'll see where that will leave me in the future, but right now, I'm full up.

Added drives , but had to redo body

Very nice, as usual. Keep em coming!

I think that's a better solution.

Why so heavy? I'd be worried that it's not heavy enough!

A rocket of that size pushes with tremendous force.

I'm still working as well, albiet it is slow progress. There is some hardcore inconsistancy between the various views of the Megaroad, even though I've got the best possible resources to build this model...

Still, progress:

I'm not sure about it. The modifications look pretty good, but from a practical point of view, are not as protective against the explosive forces of the rocket.

Also, that thing must weigh a lot!

This last one is looking much better, but it still has that toy look to it. Perhaps making the lights even smaller, at least insofar as the bridge lighting is concerned.

Hey Digital,

If you can get in touch with Chthonic, we need some game balance stuff done. We played our first test game of the new mod last weekend. It was very sexy, although of course, not everything works.

Transforming macross though!

Forgot , did some render test with a dirt shader on a Cannon fodder ...

Both are looking fantastic. Keep it up. People are watching, even if it seems quiet!

Combo of rail and Booster .....

Freak'n awesome.

Thanks Lestat and chillyche

Been redoing Booster body , it's taken till last night to get somemthing that looks right and will fit correctly on the legs and have some space in between boosters. I will redo little "saddles" on top they look to thick

I really love your stuff man. Good skills, obvious love for the series.

What happened to your scout ship? Ever think of doing something more daunting, like the nupetiet vergnitzs??

I just will quickly say that... NO! We are not dead! I know, it's amazing, it's incredible, but a very talented work-a-holic macross maniac, Shadow, has begun working on Macross Generations for HW2, using our models. If they're in game in that mod, they're in game in ours! Check out the thread here on the Fan Works board for lots of details...

Things are progressing really quickly.

Nearly all Zentradi units are in game. Macross is in game, textured, animated, transforms, and still has turrets!!! It's fixing the valks now that is the main objective, and hopefully some sort of alpha release is just around the corner.

Show your support by posting on the other thread or here while we modders once again have momentum. Your support and encouragement helps a whole heap, you have no idea - so does the awesomeness of seeing something in game and animated that you worked on on and off over the last nine years (from HW1 and onwards)...

Any chance the Aria team can use those Zent and UN Spacy cap ships? Looking at that Zentraedi fleet video had me imagining big things.

Well, it would be possible, but they would look crap. They are low polygon, so nothing of the well curved hulls of high-poly Zent ships...

In Macross DYRL mod, it will not be used; we're looking to emphasise UNS superiority over Zent with barriers, tactics, etc. For the generations mod... well, there are far more UN units to fill in the gaps.. but that's entirely up to Shadow.

The model would have to be about 2500-3000 polys (guessing).

Macross II was not done at all through Studio Nue, Big West had it made, to make more money.

The VF-2SS is a nice looking design, but there's no way that it's been used in an officially recognised Macross series. I can't remember reading it exactly, but I know if I was Kawamori, I'd get pretty steamed off about someone taking MY art and ideas and making a knockoff sequel. It may well have already been said. Macross II, as cool as it was in some respects, is a dead end.

I would like to see the QFi9E Ghost II Phantom and VF-X3 Star Crusader from the Macross: Remember Me, Macross: Skull Leader, etc PCE games on the mecha manual. You already have the SDP-1S Stampede, why not complete it?

It's the More Detailed version

Excellent. Could you maybe send me the file next time you're live on MSN? I've lost it in a format it seems... Along with the melt LST higher poly version?

There's a sight I hadn't seen for years.

Where does the Stampede fit in the Valk development? (Era?)

Space War I... It was in a DYRL game, along with the Ghost II Phantom and the VF-3.

SDP-1 Stampede Valkyrie

Speaking of which, Chtonic and Shadow, is this the version with the detailed vernier thruster towers or just the flat version? I am pretty sure there was a later version which used a 3d version, rather than a flat maped rectangle.

Saturday progress on the Megaroad...

Replaced the side domes, started working on the lower underbelly, and touched up a few elements of the bridge.

Whilst there are a few vajra models, I doubt you'll be seeing an entire faction anytime soon. There's tons more to model there. More likely, it will be UN/Zentradi, possibly Meltrans, since those are almost entirely modelled. However, vajra will be one of the factions as far as I know. There is a limit to the number of sides you can have in hw2, but I suppose if necessary, one could always make the zentran/meltran faction one happy family, a la Macross TV.

I have a few updates of my own.

Looking good.

I just want to say, that's a very sexy model with the launch arm. Thre are plenty of valk models around, but it's this more complicated stuff that gets my blood pumping. Keep up the good work.

This is a mod that uses elements from that one, and totally new material. Due to the nature of HW2, it's completion means that the DYRL mod may now be completed...

I thought we were dead, but no... No, this work is too inspiring... and it made our old team realise just how much work that we have already done. I suspect that we will use elements of this new mod to present the old one as intended.

So, yes, it's a new mod.

And we are still here on the old mod, working together with Shadow on the new one (providing models and textures). God damn, it's still amazing to see my beautiful baby in game, with textures, and animated! So now I'm back to working on the Megaroad...

Update

I figured out a way to get animated turrets working with transformations, my theory works, just need to fine tune the joints to line up with the firing effects.

Keep it up Shadow, you are actually inspiring me to continue with my modelling, most notably of the Megaroad....