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Really in Kilrathi mode this weekend. Cat engineers really seem to excel in sinister design concepts. I wonder how it extends to their everyday items.

"This is the GUT-TEARER class bottle opener. This is the EVISCERATED CORPSE OF THYNE ENEMIES step ladder.

YOU WILL BEAR STARK WITNESS TO THE UNRELENTING HOLOCAUST WROUGHT BY THE KILLING POWER OF FELIX BRAND KITCHEN DISINFECTANT!!!!!"
 
Klavs81 said:
"This is the GUT-TEARER class bottle opener. This is the EVISCERATED CORPSE OF THYNE ENEMIES step ladder.

YOU WILL BEAR STARK WITNESS TO THE UNRELENTING HOLOCAUST WROUGHT BY THE KILLING POWER OF FELIX BRAND KITCHEN DISINFECTANT!!!!!"
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Are you asking ME FOR A CHALLENGE!!!!!!!!!!! <channel_stinkoman />:):mad::):mad::):mad::confused::confused::confused:
Ma'ha noldyakma'ga KULDALHARthi
Ma'ha da'ama'ga RI'SHA'I CHOKUTGU R'DALHARK!!
RI'H'ASDYA IKAIYRG RA JIKUTVAGU KOK RAS ARGU RAS KUTALGA'LANDUK DAKUTGATHI!!

Gesundheit. Gave me eight new words...
 
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Much Kilrathi awesome-ness!! Well all around all your stuff is awesome, but its fan-freaking-tastic to see more Kilrathi designs!! :D
 
One more really nasty, somewhat unconventional Kilrathi ship to add.

Tried to add just a hint of Steltek design cues. Could provide some insight as to why they never built another one... :)
 

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Well I primarily use milkshape 3d but I also have ultimate unwrap 3d, 3d max studio (versions 5 and 6), google sketch up pro and 3d exploration. The reason for using Ms3d is due to the need for low poly modelling for game mods. Although I do use high poly models for reference material and rendering (for texture materials) thats all I use them for.
 
Major, I had to think about it for a while. Here's what I think. Yell, you're certainly most welcome to model models based on my models, but honestly I'd be more interested to see your own take on things. The only way to build a universe is consistent art direction. The easiest way to do that, short of hiring an art director, is to do it your self! :)

Develop your own! Use it as a way to grow, build your skills, EJNOY yourself! I have NEVER enjoyed the instant gratification of having somebody elses' model as much as designing, building and texturing my own. It's an exhausting process that never fails to frustrate, annoy and humble, but everything you model and texture helps you grow and develop your own style and technique, it teaches patience, humility and observation. The WC universe is not one of absolutes, it is, like all fiction, what YOU make it!

Art is like anything else. Most people are good at it because they PRACTICE and have the capacity for self analysis that helps them to recognize shortcomings, accept or ignore criticism, and grow.

That being said, I really enjoy sharing my stuff here, I'm glad people enjoy it and I really appreciates all the compliments and criticism.

Ok, off my applebox now.
 
Whilst I agree with you Klavs, concerning your comment about going your own way, I do suffer from a severe creative block when getting started. As for textures. Well thats another matter. I've been doing amateur modelling for around 12 years and tried many, many times to learn to create my own textures, and while some have been okay I've never been personally happy with the results. Call me what you will concerning that aspect, but I always feel it necessary to build until I'm 100% happy about it. I've restarted models on many occasions due to not being completely satisfied with the results. Also because of the low poly nature of the models I've done in the past I tend to have to include some changes and adapt whats needed. As a prime example. For the WCI mod I helped with I had to rebuild almost every Confederation model there was from the original set so had to give the models higher detail.

That being said I also fully understand a modellers need to protect their work. Theres been far to much mesh and model theft in the various game communities I've been part of. Besides. If you don't ask, you'll never know if the answers yes or no :)


Oh and I don't really think that models with the details your adding would be viably practical as we're talking poly counts far lower than the likes of say, Saga.
 
If it helps, here's a video that kind of shows the first steps I take in Modo when texturing. Most of the Wing Commander ships are textured with simple procedural panels and occlusion (Howard Day does this much better and more professionally than I do. I have a more comprehensive UV unwrapping technique for my professional stuff.) Then I bake those into a texture map and paint in modo, rotating thse ship as if the model was an actual model ship. This works pretty well with the more cartoony look I'm going for with the WC ships, versus the more detailed stuff I do in my other work.

I basically just think about how the maintenance and air crews would see the ship, add placards, warning labels, markings, etc with contemporary warplanes in mind. Finally, I try and add extra splashes of color here and there where I can, to avoid 'grey ship syndrome' :)
 

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Klavs81 said:
One more really nasty, somewhat unconventional Kilrathi ship to add.

Tried to add just a hint of Steltek design cues. Could provide some insight as to why they never built another one... :)
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Pretty neat! Is that the first time we've seen this model? What Sivar is it supposed to be? From the context, I'm guessing SM1, but it kind of looks like an original design. Both the SM1 and SWC Sivars have weird bulbous sections, which is why I ask. It's almost more in sync with a Movie Sivar.

Also, this might just be my preference, but do the Kilrathi ship screenshots appear a bit on the dark side? That might be mood lighting, but I love to see them lit up so you can appreciate the models! :)
 
ChrisReid said:
Pretty neat! Is that the first time we've seen this model? What Sivar is it supposed to be? From the context, I'm guessing SM1, but it kind of looks like an original design. Both the SM1 and SWC Sivars have weird bulbous sections, which is why I ask. It's almost more in sync with a Movie Sivar.

Also, this might just be my preference, but do the Kilrathi ship screenshots appear a bit on the dark side? That might be mood lighting, but I love to see them lit up so you can appreciate the models! :)
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Whelllll... :) As much as it ticks people off around here to redesign things, he's meant to be a take on THE 'Sivar' of Goddard Colony Infamy. Hopefully it'll all make sense when you see it in motion :)
 
Aginor said:
I like your Kilrathi ships, Klavs!

Although I admit I'd prefer other markings than the movie ones on them. IMO the movie Kilrathi glyphs doesn't fit too well to the assets from the games. I'd suggest you try using the Kilrathi TTF font I made from the Prophecy glyphs a while ago and see how it looks. You can get the font here: https://www.wcnews.com/chatzone/attachments/kilrathi_wcp_aginor001-zip.5729/
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Kilrathi fonts from one game (such as the vertical lines from SM2) also don't fit too well with Kilrathi fonts from another game (such as the Tome of Sivar 'glyphs' from Prophecy). :) They're all valid though, so I'd think every artist should just pick what fits best for their project. Extra kudos to anyone who can find a way to seamlessly blend multiple Kilrathi writing styles! (say for example, a caution sign that has a warning in more than one Kilrathi font much like you'd see multilingual caution signs today)
 
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ChrisReid said:
Kilrathi fonts from one game (such as the vertical lines from SM2) also don't fit too well with Kilrathi fonts from another game (such as the Tome of Sivar 'glyphs' from Prophecy). :) They're all valid though, so I'd think every artist should just pick what fits best for their project. Extra kudos to anyone who can find a way to seamlessly blend multiple Kilrathi writing styles! (say for example, a caution sign that has a warning in more than one Kilrathi font much like you'd see multilingual caution signs today)
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While it is correct that they don't fit too well to each other they fit quite nicely to the game. The reasons why I always recommend the WCP glyphs is that they are a fully usable set which the programmers even told us how to use, and they fit to all of the games style-wise.
The movie font fits to none of the games, and not even that well to the movie Kilrathi IMO.
Also the WCP glyphs exist as vector graphics, the older ones don't. So less work for Klavs.

Mixing them is not a good idea IMO, they look awful next to each other. Except perhaps the WC1 (Dralthi) and WCP
ones. Not sure though. Actually I thought about using something like the WC1 Dralthi things as numbers for my TTF version of the WCP font, but I decided against it because I couldn't come up with an easily readable and good-looking solution.

Whether it is likely that the Kilrathi use different sorts of Glyphs.... well, you could find some in-universe explanations, like that Kilrathi could have different styles of writings like Japanese, but all explanations have their problems, so I prefer just saying that the guys at Origin just didn't give a fu** about Kilrathi writing until WCP, which is just as fine. :D
 
Aginor said:
Whether it is likely that the Kilrathi use different sorts of Glyphs.... well, you could find some in-universe explanations, like that Kilrathi could have different styles of writings like Japanese, but all explanations have their problems, so I prefer just saying that the guys at Origin just didn't give a fu** about Kilrathi writing until WCP, which is just as fine. :D
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I don't think explanations like that have any problems at all. Obviously, the real source of the inconsistency is the fact that nobody ever had any definite vision of Kilrathi writing, and they'd come up with it again each time. But the idea of multiple scripts makes perfect sense. Heck, you could even easily explain away many inconsistencies in the Kilrathi vocabulary by arguing they have multiple languages. Why not? Remember, this is not one nation we are talking about, it's an entire race. So the point of comparison is not one culture, like the Japanese, but all of humanity. How many languages do people have at the moment? How many different forms of writing are used on Earth at the moment? You could easily find at least ten, and of those, there are at least five *really* important ones used internationally. This doesn't mean, of course, that the Kilrathi must be just as diverse. They may actually be relatively homogenous in this regard, because of the way the Empire functions. But I can certainly imagine each of the clans (and what is the human equivalent of a clan? Is it really just a noble family and their servants, or is it more like a royal family along with the entire kingdom that they rule, a separate nation with its own history and culture?) doggedly holding on to some traditional form of writing or language.
 
Hey Quarto, it's been a while since we talked here, nice to see you!
Well, I agree with most what you said, obviously, since you are mostly just stating facts.
But the problems are there. Just as they are in the real world, and IMO it is safe to assume that the Kilrathi did handle them in some way, like we did (and try to do) in the real world. Look at the NATO. They use the same units in all their military airplanes, and have a common language to speak with each other. Of course Turkish pilots peak Turkish if there aren't any other airplanes in the operation, and they know it. Or elsewhere:
Even the Russians taught lessons about their Migs in English and the Instructor Pilots spoke English when they sold Mig-21s to Iraq. Because that was the common language they had. And of course the Migs had English labels in the cockpits.
The Roman Empire forced Latin for all official documents, even though most people in the Roman Empire didn't even speak or write Latin. But all officials did.
I think everything we know about the Kilrathi suggests that the Kilrathi Empire did the same thing. Maybe some of their clans had their dialects, maybe even their own writing. But the Empire forced the common language and writing on them. So actually even China may be a better example than Japan. Mandarin above all (and the symbols were the same even before they decided to make it the official language, and ask Chinese guys and gals, some of them like that, some don't), even though other people speak Cantonese or something. I just mentioned Japanese because it is one of the few languages that has several alphabets at the same time, which is most unusual, but it could be an example how multiple alphabets in one language may work, if they exist in Kilrathi.
Also our intel sources from the books and the games' manuals as well as everything someone mentions in the games itself point to (although not prove, I admit that) ONE Kilrathi language. IIRC there is no indication in any of the dialogues that something like different styles of writing, or even dialects exist.
Also all of those fonts or languages that may exist are so obscure that nobody knows anything about them except a few pixels in one single artwork in the game.
You can't use them without inventing basically everything about them. So I prefer sticking to the single good one we have (which is also the reason you used them in Standoff I guess).
 
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