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LightWave
~ Rich Maurice
Overview.
The release of the new Starwars
movie, The Phantom Menace,
brings some new craft into the
Starwars universe. The new ships
are of a far more radical design
than their predecessors in the first
three movies. One of these is the
Naboo Fighter of the Royal Naboo
Honor guard, the N-1. This tutorial will show you how to digitally
recreate this classic ship. No space
fighter is complete without its pilot, so we will also create a Naboo
fighter pilot for added realism.
1999 Mastering 3D Graphics
Naboo fighter
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Naboo fighter
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Royal Naboo security Forces train in the N-1s on a regular basis, prepared for the honor of serving the Queen if
necessary, since service to the Queen symbolizes service
to the great free people of Naboo themselves.
The center rat tail finial projecting from the rear of the
N-1 is a vital component, linking the ship to the palace
hanger systems via a plug-in socket found at the rear of
each ships protective revetment area. The primary purpose of this finial is to receive high voltage power charge
energy delivered from the palace generators to activate
the ships systems. The secondary purpose of the center
finial is to receive coded information from the palaces
battle computer. The palace battle computer transfers
complete battle coordinates and strategic plans into each
fighter, allowing the pilots to concentrate on operating
their ships systems while the flight computer automatically directs the ship on a trajectory to the target zone.
The rat tail finials projecting from the engines may look
like design flourishes, but in fact they are part of the customized engine system developed by the Theed Palace
engineers. The finials are actually heat sinks, which circulate coolant and help dissipate the excessive heat of the
Nubian engines. The customized Naboo engine configuration burns hotter than normal so as to burn more cleanly,
since the Naboo people are very careful not to pollute
their planets environment.
Ships data.
Design and manufacture: Space frame by Theed Palace Space Vessel Engineering Corps
Configuration: J-type (twin radial sub light engines)
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Reference Material.
Reference material for the Naboo N-1 was pretty hard to
acquire on the Internet. I managed to find some information and a few small pictures of it however. For a more
accurate model though the best approach would be to
buy a plastic model kit, as you could use it to get the
actual dimensions of the ship.
Creating the
basic body
mesh.
Lets start creating the
N-1. Open your 3D
application and zoom
the side view until you
have an appropriate
grid size. Its best to
create all your models
to scale for both texFigure: 1.
Figure: 2.
1999 Mastering 3D Graphics
Naboo fighter
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front of the model and select points in a clockwise direction. Create Quads wherever possible as these work better with metanurbs. For the completed flat mesh, see figure 3. Give the model a surface name and
make it a bright yellow color.
Time to give your model some depth. Select
the center row of points as shown in figure
4. Pull these points out in the top view and
manipulate them with the drag tool to give
your model the shape as seen in figure 5.
Select the next row of points up as seen in
figure 6 and pull them out so that they are
midway between the top and center rows of
points. Repeat this step for the row just be-
Figure: 3.
Figure: 5.
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low the center row. You should now have an object that
resembles figure 7.
The cockpit area is still
flat, so we will add
some depth to it by
manipulating the
points as we did for
the body of the craft.
To make this task
easier the body that
has already been
formed will be hidden.
Select the flat polygons as shown in figure 8, and hide
unselected. Manipulate the points by
dragging them into
the positions shown in
figure 9.
Figure: 6.
Figure: 7.
Figure: 8.
Figure: 9.
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ure 13. In the side view, pull these points out to length as
shown in figure 14. Weld these selected points together
to create the point at the tail tip, then use the knife tool
Figure: 11
Figure: 13.
Naboo fighter
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Figure: 14.
Figure: 15.
Figure: 16.
Figure: 17.
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the cylinder to the hull. Use the statistics box to select all
of the polygons named temp and delete them to leave
just the original half of the hull. Select the polygons that
make up the left half
of the R-2 compartment, as shown in figure 17 and delete
these as well. Clean
up the join by merging points. You might
also have to manually
drag and weld some of
the points together to
get a clean join as
shown in figure 18.
Lets create the cockpit canopy. Select the
polygons shown in figure 19 and give these
a new surface.
Change the color to
dark gray and name
the surface canopy.
Cut and paste the
canopy into a new
layer and save this object, see figure 20.
Figure: 18.
Figure: 19.
Figure: 20.
Figure: 21.
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the Z-axis. Use the set value of Z=0 for these two points
and hit the P key to create a polygon, figure 26. Then
Lathe around the Z-axis; just 12 segments will be fine for
Figure: 22.
Figure: 23.
Figure: 24.
Figure: 25.
Adding Detail.
We will start adding
detail by creating the
engines. Select a new
layer and add seven
points, as shown in
figure 25, making
sure that both end
points sit exactly on
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Figure: 26.
Figure: 27.
Figure: 28.
Figure: 29.
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Figure: 30.
Figure: 31.
Figure: 32.
Figure: 33.
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should now look like figure 35. Save the canopy and load
the Naboo hull object into the same layer, figure 36.
Select the front polygons of the engines,
merge the polygons
then bevel them using
an inset of about
20mm and shift of
zero. Bevel again with
an inset = 0 and shift
= 20mm. Bevel two
more times using an
inset of about 100mm
and a shift of 200mm.
These values are just
guidelines and will
vary depending on the
size of your object. Select all the polygons of
the newly created engine
cone
and
metafor m
them.
Deselect these polygons except for the
last two rows where
the cone meets the
Figure: 34.
Figure: 35.
Figure: 36.
Figure: 37.
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Select the rear polygons of the engines, merge the polygons then bevel them using an inset of 20mm and shift of
zero. Bevel again with an inset = 0 and shift = -50mm.
Copy and paste the
selected polygons to
an empty layer, then
bevel once more with
an inset = 0 and shift
= -50mm. Give the
selected polygons a
new surface called engine inner, figure 38.
Now change to the
layer where you
pasted the selected
Figure: 38.
polygons earlier. Bevel
with an inset = 40mm
and shift = 0. Select
every other polygon
around the edge of the
disk and delete them
to form a gear shape.
Extrude this gear
shape by 30mm. Now
select the inner disk
and bevel twice as we
did for the engine
Figure: 39.
cone, but make the last edge slightly bigger. Smooth shift
with a value of zero and pull out a few meters to form the
engine finial. Select the end points and weld them together. Metaform the polygons as shown in
figure 39 to complete the rear of the engines. Make these polygons the same color
yellow as the rest of the fighter, but name
the surface engine rear. Cut and paste the
rear of the engines back on to the fighter. It
should now look like figure 40.
No space fighter is complete without its
weapons, so lets create these now. Select
an area of polygons around the upper
chrome front of the hull and hide unselected.
Figure: 40.
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Using stencil, cut out an oblong section, select this section and then smooth shift with the value set at zero. Pull
the selected polygons to scale and rotate slightly to form
a channel for the guns, figure 41. Create a small tube
that will fit into this
channel, figure 42.
Boolean union the
gun into the gun channel as shown in figure
43. Un-hide the polygons and you should
have something that
resembles figure 44.
Working on the underside of the hull now,
create a channel for
Figure: 41.
the torpedo tube. Select about 15 of the
center polygons,
smooth shift and pull
in as we did for the
gun channel. Delete
the polygons that
form on the centerline
along the X-axis, figure 45.
Figure: 43.
Now its time to mirror the hull and merge the points as
we did before. Before you do this however, make sure all
of the points along the centerline sit exactly on the Xaxis. This is easily achieved by selecting these points and
Figure: 42.
Figure: 44.
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Figure: 45.
Figure: 46.
Figure: 47.
Figure: 48.
Naboo fighter
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Figure: 50.
Figure: 52.
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Figure: 53.
Figure: 54.
Figure: 55.
Figure: 56.
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figure 58. Copy and paste the lens into the tube as shown
in figure 59. Save this object as R2 lens. Move the lens
into position and load a new lens. Repeat two more times
until the lenses are positioned as shown in
figure 60. Triple all
polygons
then
boolean join the
lenses to the R-2
head. Load the Naboo
fighter into a new
layer and move the R2 into position, as
shown in figure 61.
You may need to scale
Figure: 57.
the R-2 a little to get
it to fit. Use the rest
on ground tool with all
axes set to zero, and
save your completed
R-2 unit.
Figure: 59.
Figure: 58.
Figure: 60.
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from the cockpit front. Select the rear polygon and smooth
shift, pull the polygon down by about 1 meter, then smooth
shift and pull down once more. Form the seat by moving
Figure: 61.
Figure: 62.
Figure: 63.
Figure: 64.
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Figure: 65.
Figure: 66.
Figure: 67.
Figure: 68.
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Just one more Item to add to finish the N-1; the pilots
seat. This object is very easy to create. Just add a box
and smooth shift or bevel the details out of it. Use
metaform to create the headrest. See figure 70 for the
finished seat. Add the
seat to the fighter and
we are done, figure
71. Paste the canopy
back onto the fighter
and save the completed object.
The Pilot.
For added realism, a
pilot is essential for
the N-1. For average
camera angles the
pilot wont require
a lot of detail, so an
adapted
Poser
model makes an
ideal pilot, and
saves a lot of time
and modeling work.
Open Poser and select a low detail
ideal human. I
chose a male, but
Figure: 69.
Figure: 71.
Figure: 70.
Figure: 72.
1999 Mastering 3D Graphics
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Figure: 73.
Figure: 74.
Figure: 75.
Figure: 76.
1999 Mastering 3D Graphics
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Figure: 79.
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screen, see figure 80. Use the Print Screen key on your
keyboard and paste into your paint program. Go back to
your model and repeat for the side view, figure 81. Now,
copy and paste the upper hull polygons to a new layer,
and select this as a
background layer.
Back in the main
layer, un-hide the
polygons and select
the lower hull chrome
surface. Hide un-selected and fit the
shown polygons into
the top view as before, see figure 82.
Adding small
details.
Figure: 80.
Figure: 81.
Figure: 82.
Figure: 83.
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grab of the upper body into your paint program and crop
it so that it fits exactly into the image area, figure 87. Add
a new layer using a medium shade of gray for the back-
Figure: 85.
Creating the
brush maps.
Load your previously saved screen
Figure: 86.
Figure: 87.
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ground color and make this layer approximately 60% visible, figure 88. Use the line tool to create the flaps as
shown in figure 89. Now make this top layer 100% visible and save your image as top bump. Load in your
chrome surface
screen grab and
create a new layer
as before, figure
90. Now, using
the line tool again,
create a hatch under the R2 compartment
as
shown in figure
91; save as R2
hatch bump. FiFigure: 88.
nally load in the
side view and create the seam as
shown in figure
92; save the image as side
bump. All of the
above images
need only be 256color grayscale.
Figure: 90.
Figure: 89.
Figure: 91.
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object. Lets start with the chrome; select the chrome surface and use the settings for this as shown in figure 96.
For the reflection options, use your fractal map as a spherical reflection map. Open the bump panel and apply the
Figure: 92.
Figure: 93.
Applying the
textures.
Open Layout and load
your Naboo fighter
Figure: 94.
Figure: 95.
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Z = 30cm. Set the texture value to 100 and use 20cm for
texture falloff. Copy and paste this texture to the specular
channel and set its value to zero.
For the cockpit canopy, use the settings shown in figure 98.
Use the fractal map for the reflection options once more.
Figure: 98.
Figure: 97.
Figure: 99.
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Thrusters.
Go back to Modeler and
load the fighter as a background layer. Using an
engine as a template, create a disk with 6 sides and
1 section. Remove both
end caps, select the rear
polygons and scale up by
about 30%. Metanurb
and freeze them, then sub
divide using metaform
twice. Now triple the
thruster polygons to eliminate any non-planar polygons, see figure 101. Give
the object a thruster surface,
then center the object and
save as thruster.
Figure: 100.
Figure: 101.
Figure: 103.
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glow. Click the advanced options tab and set the glow
effect to 100%. Use figure 103 for the thruster surface
settings and for the luminosity map use the thruster luminosity map applied to the x-axis as a planar image map.
For advanced options, set edge transparency to transparent and use 50% for
the glow effect. To animate the thrusters, use
fractal bumps as a displacement map in the
objects panel. Check
the world coordinates
box and use 5cm for
the texture size in all
three axes and use
0.02 for the texture
amplitude.
Biography
Rich Maurice started
working with 3D in the
early nineties using Imagine on the Amiga.