Updated: June 21, 2014
Remember my awesome flying aircraft carrier? Well, how about we make it even more awesome? To wit, we go back to our familiar tools of the trade, the splendid Kerkythea, a fantastic 3D rendering software that lets you infuse magic into your 3D models. Indeed, this is what we're going to do today. If you like art, then stick around please. If not, wait for another update.
Kerkythea is no stranger to Dedoimedo, and I've used it to great success, reviving older renders that look simple and cartoonish, and making them realistic. Probably the best examples are my recent attempts with the large assault hovercraft and the urban warfare scene. Now, we will attempt to make the somewhat sci-fi concept of a flying aircraft carrier look the part. Follow me please.
To make the model more presentable, I spent a lot of time tweaking the textures, the single most important piece of any render. I deliberately made the model from scratched metal, with the kind of wear you would expect from a heavy duty flying fortress, serving aircraft and lugging its own artillery through the sky. Then, I also added decals and numbering, much like the submarine concept, to give it even more real-life association.
Basically, the body panels consist of two different scratched-metal textures, and there's more shine on the engine nacelles, then the rest of the structure. You also get all kinds of air vents, side thrusters and such like, giving it more color and flesh.
On top of that, I did some serious processing in GIMP, adding brightness and contrast, extra filtering, overlay layers with noise and video-like distortion effects, trying to make the footage more presentable, somewhat similar to my ArmA realism screenshot gallery.
Front, good, weapons, yeah.
Landing approach and whatnot:
Side view, right on!
More bottom view, with exhaust and stuff; notice the twinkling of evening stars.
But this crazy models really gets interesting when you add realistic sky and ground, seen from some 25,000 ft, plus navigation strobe lights and other cool effects you would expect from a flying monstrosity that can launch its own planes.
And one at dawn:
I also grabbed a bunch of background pictures from www.af.mil, and used them to enhance some of the images, especially the aggressive swoops at low altitude. I removed the original planes from the pictures and used my flying carrier instead. Some examples are available yonder, take a look please. Now, this is still work in progress, and the landing strips still need some rework. There's the somewhat repetitive pattern of the tarmac thingie, but we will fix that. After all, what are sequels meant for?
An old-school style image:
And we're done. Hopefully, you will like this a bunch. If not, I failed.
Cheers.
