I'm trying to build a ship

[Capt. Kirk]

I'm currently trying to build a fleet of luxury ships in Starmade. I know what I want each ship to have, I just don't know how to go about building the interiors and exteriors, especially when I want my ships to have moving parts like hangar doors and landing gear and boarding ramps. I just don't know if I should start my ships by building the interior or exterior first, or a frame.

 

[jontyfreack]

build a frame and parts of the interior and exterior at the same time. as is, build the basic shape and constantly refine the shape when you work on the exterior, and work on the interior while doing so.

also with all the moving parts, mark out where you want them to be while making a frame, and build those parts before you build the rest of the ship. This is how I do it, but then again everyone builds slightly different, so experiment and see what method of building suits you best.

 

[jayman38]

You should probably start with "part studies". Don't build the ships just yet. First build floating door frames and practice different rail doors. Then Landing gear should basically be a two-part vertical version of doors. Then ramps. Even the great, classic artists needed to paint "studies" (individual ears and noses) before painting a whole portrait. If you go straight into building the ships without fully understanding the parts, you won't be able to fit proper parts into the ships, and will have to rebuild them anyway.

Watch Bench's Logic Tutorials to get started.

 

[Brokengauge]

I'll suggest building a frame first. jontyfreack and jayman38 both give good advice, so I'm not saying this is better by any means.

Start with your frame. then do a rough block-in of your interior, specifically worry about your moving parts such as your doors, landing gear, and ramps. Don't bother furnishing it, hell don't even get attached to your internal dimensions.

It's also a good idea to see how other ppl have built ships like this. I'm sure this isn't the best example, but Knuckle Head class Longship has the features you've specifically listed. Lots of other ppl have done these things before, and bench's tutorials on YouTube are always easy to follow.

Good luck!

 

[Capt. Kirk]

Thanks! I find building a space station for practice works better so other ships can't send me flying through space as well as building the smallest entities first so I know how large to make the hagars.