Show me your moves! (aka, your decorating tips and tricks)

[Edymnion]

While a lot of people are a little... disillusioned on building anything major right now due to the uncertainty of if/when power is going to change, how about a bit of focus on improving our decorating ability?

Post up pictures of some of your favorite decorating tricks, maybe we'll all learn a thing or two from them!

Force Field Emitters:

Just use Damage Beam Modules with the grate side facing out. Can use Astrotech Modules for red force fields.

Alternating Status Lights:

Use ice blocks for the visible light, then have your different colored lights off to the side. Logic can switch between the two via a flip flop, meaning you can have one light source that appears to provide multiple colors.

Light Fixtures:

Create a recessed ceiling by using 3/4 slabs, then use full sized light cubes with a thruster between them to create a more interesting light fixture for your ceilings.

Ladders:

Hopefully Sen OTS Tier won't mind me showing off his excellent ladder building ability using light bars.

 

[JinM]

This is a great idea. Sadly I can't come up with very unique ideas for decoration like you do, but I try to show the best I got:

Reading area with bookshelf and standing lamp

Spoiler

Entrance Loungue with Welcome-Text (sets mood) and soft chairs, also take note for the flower that is on top of the blue-paint tube

Spoiler

Small Workplace with "coffee" :D and hanging lamp on a ceiling that closes the space up from the of the room

Spoiler

Small Workshop with many shelfes to store tools and materials

Spoiler

 

[Scypio]

Building techniques collection

 

[JinM]

This topic is about posting screens of creative details, that you don't come up with on your own. The title building techniques isn't that catchy, I mean when I read building technique I don't think about posting creative details like asked in this topic at all.

 

[Scypio]

There is good details in there and i don't want to take credit for simply reposting it in this thread while being a bit more into the subject. That's just it.

 

[jayman38]

Spoiler: ams turrets as winglets

Spoiler: 5/1 scale train doors

Spoiler: false engine intakes and false wing control surfaces

Spoiler: false surface detail using textures

Spoiler: rotating engine pods (pre-thrust-sharing)

Spoiler: fake reactor module

 

[jontyfreack]

Spoiler: statues

 

[Ghent96]

Favorite thing ever, that I absolutely must use on every single ship:

Lighting trick for ambient / invisible light sources. Lay down a transparent light block such as a forcefield or charged circuit then cover it with any other transparent block - ice, grills, mesh, circuitboard, glass, crystal armor, water.... your light source disappears but the glow remains. It is freaking awesome, especially when you link forcefields to a logic block for an "on" switch to power up solar panels and reactors and pulsing conduits.

A similar trick is to lay light rods behind a thruster, then cover both with ice. It is most probably a lighting bug, but this particular combination and only this combination renders the light bars invisible, but allows their glow through. Brilliant engines, or multi-color blends possible.

 

[Snowtiger256]

Adding variety to interiors is key. This is a cargo hold from my latest salvager, dark gray hull accented with dark gray armor on the column supports, stripes of sintyr motherboards along the length of the hall, with orange lights and deco fans behind grilles for lighting. On the floor and ceiling a dark gray standard armor runs the length of the hall, adorned with rail mass enhancers (needed for drone use), and the cargo pallet area is clearly marked with yellow hazard striping, orange lights and reinforced armor flooring.

 

[Edymnion]

Logic Pipe Animated Decorations:

Put an activator above and below your room, then slave the top activator to the bottom one. The logic pipe animation will then cause a pulse to travel from top to bottom (from the slave to the master). Looks great as decorations around your transporter pads.

More Interesting Elevators:

Use Activation Gate modules as rails, then recess 3/4 slabs on either side of it. On your elevator platform, add 1/4 slabs to fit into the grooves. Makes it look like the elevator is actually running up/down the rails in an interlocking way.

 

[JinM]

Logic Pipe Animated Decorations:
View attachment 39271
Put an activator above and below your room, then slave the top activator to the bottom one. The logic pipe animation will then cause a pulse to travel from top to bottom (from the slave to the master). Looks great as decorations around your transporter pads.

I have the drawing of the logic lines deactivated, because they fly through my whole or stations. ^^

 

[Edymnion]

I have the drawing of the logic lines deactivated, because they fly through my whole or stations. ^^

I avoid that by using repeaters.

As in, I'll put a couple of extra activators or buttons in between the two far ends to make the logic pipes do a U shape around an internal structure.

Here's an example from the elevator for a new station I'm building:



The logic to drive the elevator is at the top because thats where I started building it.
The call buttons ended up being on the opposite side for this one due to mirroring (there's another elevator across the hall from it).

So the call button on the bottom floor (A) goes up to a repeater on the side (B), then to one on top (C), and finally back down into the primary logic input (D). In the first picture, you can also see the top floor call button next to B that also feeds into C.

Just a couple of extra blocks to wrap the logic pipes around the empty internal structure of the elevator shaft so that they won't be seen.
[doublepost=1488469307,1488468098][/doublepost]Holographic Door Labels:

I've got a tutorial on how to make those over here: Quick and Easy Picture Tutorial: Door Labels