Re: Recreating Star Wars ships

MichaelTwoWolves · December 2013

This is my first posting, and I'm not entirely sure this is the right location for it (Attention, Mods--if it isn't, please move it to the appropriate forum)...

I am attempting to create the symmetrical hulls of Corellian Engineering Corporation's ships, but want to show the round, tubular corridors over the top of the hull of the ship, as in the Saga Edition Star Wars RPG books, but I want to make them with more detail, a la the Millenium Falcon Owner's Workshop Manual. Is there a way to imitate this style of schemata? I ran into problems making corridors perfectly symmetrical and round. Keep in mind, I know NOTHING about AutoCAD, so I am completely lost, and the tutorials don't really cover what I am after...

I am including an example of something I drew by hand, based on the designs of the aforementioned book above, a new ship design I dubbed the YT-1500 FP. This is what I am attempting to recreate in the Cosmographer program. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

jigsawman · January 2014

Are you talking about the curved corridors that run through 12, 12 , 12 and 5? if so, you can create shapes and area any way you want. Once they are made, you simply apply the appropriate texture to them and put them on the correct sheet. I hope that sort of answers your question. I apologize if I misunderstood.
JSM

By the way, Awesome ship!

MichaelTwoWolves · January 2014

Thanks for the compliment, JSM! Yes, those are a part of it. I was wondering if there was simply a way to make a ring shape corridor like that, then clip off what I don't need. But I keep getting the feeling that I'm going to have to do everything in layers, including masking layers to "trim out" the sections I don't want to show with non-outlined squares to go over the layer with the corridor outlines. When it comes to this program, I am as raw and green as they come. I have tried playing with the hulls and bulkhead buttons, but a lot of it is Greek to me...or in this case, Old Corellian.

Dogtag · January 2014

I recommend watching Joe Sweeney's excellent Starship Design (for beginners) video tutorial. He does a great job of showing how to make a starship hull. Plus, his stuff is always fun and worth watching anyway.

Cheers,
~Dogtag

MichaelTwoWolves · January 2014

Does Joe Sweeney have a website of his own? And if we had more specific questions for him, does he have an email address for such things?

Edit: Still can't figure out how to draw a circular hull with a clipped aft like my design above, short of attempting to draw a perfect circular arc by using the symmetrical battered hull option rather than the sleek one...

KenG · January 2014

First off your drawing is amazing!!! Great job.

For drawing those types of items I would refer to JdR's amazing series of tutorials for his chapel
His website is:

http://jdr68.jimdo.com/tutoriels-tutorials/cartographie-mapping/chapelle-chapel/

Using the CA46 line work method you can quickly make connections and edits using the CA46 line work method.
I am not familiar with the specific Cosmographer tools

MichaelTwoWolves · January 2014

Thanks for the compliment, KenG! I really wish there was a program that was as easy (for me, anyways) as drawing by hand. I am a huge ship junkie, and love designing ships for Star Wars. I have another one that I designed, but it is a fighter called the SX-1A (though -1C) which is only an external view as it's a one-seater...too bad Creative Suite 6 (is that what it is up to?) is soooo expensive! I'll be happy to post my progress for you guys to see if you're interested. Inkscape wasn't much help, either...Photoshop just can't be beat for user-friendliness and range of options. I just downloaded the .pdf tutorials from the website link, and will be poring over them tonight.

Joachim de Ravenbel · January 2014

Your drawing is a masterpiece in itself, Michael.
Everything you did with a compass, a ruler, a square or a protractor can be done as well with CC3 tools.
My approach, as indeed suggested by KenG above, would be to retrace the lines and apply fill styles later as in the mentionned tutorial.
It is a long process, agreed, but your drawing is so full of details that would be difficult to keep with a quicker method and loosing them would be a shame.

I made some CC3 files based on you drawing (attached below). The drawing was inserted in the map (Draw->Insert File) to trace over. To avoid the red-cross effect (when CC3 doesn't find a picture file) you need to convert your JPG to PNG and place the result in the CC3 root folder before opening the files.
As no scale was provided, I made the radius of the hull 1 unit, so you just have to scale anything to the real radius.

Hope it helps...

MichaelTwoWolves · January 2014

Thank you so much Joachim! I tried following the tutorials KenG mentioned, but I get started, and low and behold, I need DD3! D'oh! It is on the list to buy, believe me. Apparently, there's a file to copy a macro into that only comes with DD3, so I can't get the buttons for the blank template in the tutorial to work. You, however, made things quite a bit easier now that I can see what commands I need to use, so thank you! Yeah, there is a lot of detail. The original drawings (and there's a second deck level that is just the cockpit) were done with a 6H pencil, a ballpoint pen, and a compass,protractor and ruler... I'm including the second deck to show you guys what I have in store in terms of detail...this could take months! lol

Joachim de Ravenbel · January 2014

Posted By: MichaelTwoWolvesApparently, there's a file to copy a macro into that only comes with DD3, so I can't get the buttons for the blank template in the tutorial to work.

If you refer to the block of codes from page 3, you can add them to the FCW32.mnu file instead of the Dungeon.mnu file. They should work the same.
These icons only make quick color and sheet change, so you don't need them at all.
The "C" icon makes the CONSTRUCTION sheet current and sets the color to orange.
The "W" icon makes the WALL sheet current and sets the color to black.

You don't need DD3 to do the line work because you use CC3 basic commands : Line, circle, arcs etc...

And as you probably don't have CA46, please check Part 3 without CA46 and Part 4 without CA46 to learn how to use the commands.

MichaelTwoWolves · January 2014

Thank you again, Joachim! This weekend, my project is to tackle those tutorials. Yes, that was the code I was referring to. I would still like to pick up DD3, but now I can wait a little longer until I get some money together (I just bought the CA offer with the free CC3+ upgrade in April). Do you have a website or place where some of your work is posted? Would love to see it. I draw full color maps by hand, and while I don't have one at hand (I gave my last one away as a gift), I think I can say that I'm fairly good, but would love to learn to do it digitally because I LOVE excruciating detail in everything (I'm a perfectionist).

EDIT: Wow. Just realized who you are--the tutorial designer! Sorry! Your maps are incredible, sir! I will definitely be attempting to emulate your level of detail! Thank you again!

Joachim de Ravenbel · January 2014

Posted By: MichaelTwoWolvesI would still like to pick up DD3

Of course! DD3 is a great add-on. Couldn't do without it!

Thanks for the nice comment.

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Re: Recreating Star Wars ships

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