either way, softimage is still made by autodesk. but i guess it comes down to preference, experience, and what exactly you are trying to do with said program.

zombie at least im not the only one who say some potential in the models oh his

Yes, indeed. I should be ready with a beta release of the Rogue trader race in a few weeks.

Well, a other software used a lot in the CGI industry ( have it but don't use it anymore ) is LightWave 3D... was used for Babylon 5, Stargate, Battlestar Gallactica, Dune, Star Trek ( DS9, Voyager, Enterprise ), Iron man, X-files, Outers Limits... is used for the actual "V" series too...

For people who begin, 3D being a hobby, you have plenty of opensource ( free ) software around... in my case, i use mainly wings3d ( perfect for sins )... ArtOfIllussion is a good alternative too, like very much the procedural texture tree ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArtOfIllusion )... a promising new software is K-3D ( http://www.k-3d.org/ ), perfect for these who crush million of poly models... there is the well know Blender too ( i don't like the interface )...

Anyway, money or not, there is plenty of good software for 3D around...

If you remember that wireframe shot I posted a while ago, this is the textured version ingame:

Model in Softimage, texture in Zbrush with some minor texture adjustment in Photoshop.

Alrighty, back to work. The next episode is largely about the Undead. Expect lots of pointy.

Tier 3 Flagships will largely consist of Supership-class vessels. The Spirestorm is amongst the largest of all Undead warships. It will be amongst the most devastating up-front ships in the entire conversion.

The Spirestorm is one of the first Undead ships I ever modeled. The original model, hacked together in Rhino 3d in Nurbs some 6-7 years ago, saw use in the ITAS starcraft TC I created in 2003.

The nurbs model, when exported to a poly mesh, is some millions of polygons. A little too high for my purposes. In 2007 I had a guy remodel it. His model is inaccurate, a mess and is unusable in its current state. I can, however, recover some pieces of that mesh and use it to rebuild the Spirestorm in the image of 2011 Throne of Armageddon specs.

We can rebuild it. We have the technology.

Bigger, more detailed. More pointy.

So it begins. (Ignore the polycount, that includes duplicate backup objects).

Look familiar Eomega, a redesign of the last research-able vessel for the Human vessels?

Remake of the Overlord class Carrier:

About 8000 polygons.

So quiet in here. I can almost hear the crickets... beneath the orchestra of fire and ash left behind the wake of the newest fourth-generation Undead battleship, aptly-named the Ruin.

Few can speak of the Ruin, for the monstrosity has never left victims alive in its wake. Only that the primitives of its shape resemble this:

The Anahn have not been idle, however, preparing the Sonsora battleship for its debut. Between the Kraken, Leviathan, and Sonsora, the Anahn's mid-range lineup is looking quite formidable. Now they need a carrier, support ship, and superships.

Rumors are that a new Supership class is already under development by the Royal Family...

I like how this undead ship gains more definition than some of the others. Not lacking in blades, but has more heft to itself and really impresses you as a genuine space vessel.

The poly limit is 50k tris and both those ships are under half that.

Well, I think my updated version of the Ruin might be a bit higher than half, but it's still considerably under. As I don't know how to bake anything or uv/texturing, my only option is to model low from the start.

Here's the wireframe for the Sonsora. It could be optimized a bit. Currently listed in quads. 11k quads will equate to around 22k tris. Keep in mind though that I will definitely be bringing that right up to the cap of 50k when it's done. Almost all Anahn ships above destroyer class end up being that big except for the Longbow due to the turrets.