and a bit of the undercarriage. I dont have many good references for the exact detail of the pistons.
This'll be the last update for a couple of days as I'm going to try and get down to see the terracotta army display in London :)

http://www.flash-fx.net/3D/images/pl.../13_wheel1.jpg

http://www.flash-fx.net/3D/images/pl.../13_wheel2.jpg

and in context with the engine mount:
http://www.flash-fx.net/3D/images/pl.../13_wheel3.jpg

Simon

Wow, this has come together very nicely, and in a very short period of time! ;)

I'm really looking forward to seeing this fully textured!

BUT Seeing all this modeling is giving me an itch, but I haven't had time for Maya much recently. Mostly been doing the VSC#, and I just got a copy of Flash..... So I'm hopefully gonna try some Action Scripting..... should be fun!

Anyway (Didn't mean to hijack ;) )

great work!

Mayaniac - cheers :) and no probs, sounds like you're getting into some good coding stuff. Actionscript is quite a nice language as it learns you object oriented techniques and has similarities to javascript and java. I did some protoype work for my flocking tool in flash and it helped me to get a better understanding of things before diving into Maya and learning Python.

Here's another update. Its one of the 9 radial elements of the engine and still has plenty of detail to be added. Didnt know whether I'd get into modelling the complex areas but its really interesting to see how all the elements work together to drive the engine :)

Most of the large lower central piece consists of heat disipation fins (like on a heatsink on your computer CPU) so I dont yet know the best way to tackle that.

http://www.flash-fx.net/3D/images/pl...ne_radial1.jpg

http://www.flash-fx.net/3D/images/pl...ne_radial2.jpg

and a visual to show you how it will fit together once completed
http://www.flash-fx.net/3D/images/pl...ial_layout.jpg

Simon

I managed to get some time on this today and decided to actually model all the detail on the radial cylinder (got some pretty decent photos of the engine).
Here are a couple of angles on the current progress.

back:
http://www.flash-fx.net/3D/images/pl...gine_redo1.jpg

http://www.flash-fx.net/3D/images/pl...gine_redo2.jpg

front:
http://www.flash-fx.net/3D/images/pl...edo_angle1.jpg

http://www.flash-fx.net/3D/images/pl...edo_angle2.jpg

Simon

here's an update on the radial cylinder and the beginnings of the rest of the engine. I'ts going to have some struts in front and between the gaps and then (visually) it will be done.

wires (getting a bit high now but I've got lowres geometry that might be usfeul for normal mapping):
http://www.flash-fx.net/3D/images/pl...18_engine1.jpg

a smoothed version:
http://www.flash-fx.net/3D/images/pl...18_engine2.jpg

and a closer look:
http://www.flash-fx.net/3D/images/pl...18_engine3.jpg

Simon

!!!!

Simon - this is looking mad - i really like the way you are putting this together - all of the details are very cool.

nice job mate! :beer:

You don't care much about the polycounts do you?......LOL
Looks great man:beer:

cheers arran :) I decided to up the detail quite a bit for a portfolio piece. The really crazy bit will be generating all the divots along every panel on the plane - I'm thinking (and hoping) a generic strip could be created and then normal mapped and placed where required

thanks mastone, hehe polycount whats that? ;)
its about 90% instanced geometry at the minute but if this was non instanced and smoothed I think my machine would seriously start crawling

Here's an update on the engine with added struts and a bit of tidying. I've placed it in the engine bay but it might need a little resizing. I'm thinking next might be the external engine exhausts and the cylindrical radiator flaps.

http://www.flash-fx.net/3D/images/pl.../19_engine.jpg

Simon

Well I'm disappointed.... theres simple just not enough detail in there ;)

Looks great! Though, I can imagine that your computer gets slow when you smooth all the parts down for rendering. I would recommend using the Approximation editor to smooth the Geo during Rendering.

Great work! Keep it up!

hehe, cheers mayaniac :) Yeah it'll probably run like a dog but I'm hoping to normal map some of the model to minimise on that

Here's probably the final update to the engine with a few more pipes and wires etc. I'm now moving onto the engine cover and the detail around that (a lot less than the engine!).

http://www.flash-fx.net/3D/images/pl...20_engine1.jpg

http://www.flash-fx.net/3D/images/pl...20_engine2.jpg

Simon

Great going SI, Looking really nice!

cheers steve :)

here's some more progress but got a bit bogged down today. think I should have concentrated with the externals but its really interesting learning how the internals are built ;)

detailing on the underside of the engine cowling: (slightly rough and ready as the second panel from the front would constantly be taken on and off for servicing/repairs etc)
http://www.flash-fx.net/3D/images/pl.../21_engine.jpg

undercarriage framework:
http://www.flash-fx.net/3D/images/pl...iage_frame.jpg

Simon

This is getting better and better! I love the detail in the engine!

No Crits....

Great Work!

more detail to come mayaniac ;)

here's some progress on the central wing support area and wing supports. Some of the struts will disappear/be moved to allow space for the gun pods and whatever else sits in the outer wing areas.

http://www.flash-fx.net/3D/images/pl..._wing_area.jpg

http://www.flash-fx.net/3D/images/pl...g_supports.jpg

Simon

Sweet detailing there mate looking forward to see some more:beer: