Suggestions please <Ship Design>

[Sakusare]

Hi guys, any suggestions on how I could make the back of my ship look less like a box?

I added the two side compartments earlier and it seems to have helped, but I'm struggling to find any other ways to break up the outline.

 

[SkylordLuke]

add shapes...that are..not a box? :p
really,just extend the dimensions of the box in the middle and tighten them front/back,add some long sloped trenches along the hull,chamfer the edges more,add some dome shapes,add struts that connect stuff,etc... its not rocket science

some smaller tricks that make flat surfaces interesting,add ribbings along the hull in some places,add details with 1/4 slabs,add antenas here and there,carrier like bridges and towers,and blend all in

if you never played until you joined the forums,ok..we all started from the bottom,perfect for practicing how systems/rails/logic/other work. to see the potential,but other than that,I am sure you can think of any shape that is not a box

 

[Sakusare]

add shapes...that are..not a box? :p
really,just extend the dimensions of the box in the middle and tighten them front/back,add some long sloped trenches along the hull,chamfer the edges more,add some dome shapes,add struts that connect stuff,etc... its not rocket science

some smaller tricks that make flat surfaces interesting,add ribbings along the hull in some places,add details with 1/4 slabs,add antenas here and there,carrier like bridges and towers,and blend all in

if you never played until you joined the forums,ok..we all started from the bottom,perfect for practicing how systems/rails/logic/other work. to see the potential,but other than that,I am sure you can think of any shape that is not a box

Thanks for the advice I'll keep trying and I think I'll get better with time and trying out new stuff.

 

[Lukwan]

I think boxes are fine for systems because they are easy to troubleshoot, repair or tune. Try not to have just one big box...many smaller boxes that are off-set to one another will not look so...'boxy'. I don't try to fix my ugly ships. I just make my next ship better. Ships are difficult to make pretty and efficient...if you can do both you are doing well.

My advice is do the skin last. Have a basic shape sketched out (thumbnail) on paper. Make the systems and do a bit of flight testing. With no skin the ship can be blocked-out and changed as you get ideas or have to add things for practical reasons. Once the ship performs well you will have the overall shape defined (and remember that you will be adding a lot of mass when you add hull/armour). Now you can skin the various hull-sections and thruster-nacelles for looks and add features for visual interest. like those nacelles you added to your ship. You've got the idea already...just have fun with it. Also, don't be afraid of a little empty space between your hull and the systems here and there.

 

[terra mining corp.]

you can also look through the community content section and ship yard forum for design inspiration ,lot of incredible builders here(and they all started out just like you)

 

[jayman38]

Put upward angle edges on the sides of the blue bay. Presto. It's no longer a box. It's a smiley-face.

 

[Edymnion]

Practice makes perfect, and always remember that people around here show off the best stuff they've made, and quietly delete the crappy ones before anyone ever sees them. Don't fall into the mistake of comparing their highlight reel to your blooper reel and feeling down.

One thing I try to always do to keep designs from looking boxy is wedging. Wedging is when you make curves and slanted angles by using wedges, heptas, and tetras. Instead of making a rectangle, try making an octagon (stop sign shape) by cutting the corners off your square and replacing them with a diagonal line.

And try to combine different shapes. A box can be boring. A box with a cylinder coming out the front with a pyramid on the end for a nose is still just basic shapes, but its a lot more visually interesting.

 

[Nickizzy]

Hi guys, any suggestions on how I could make the back of my ship look less like a box?

I added the two side compartments earlier and it seems to have helped, but I'm struggling to find any other ways to break up the outline.

Just off the top of my head I thought it wouldn't look bad if you made the back slant into a trapizoid, but considering the scale, I think that would interfere with the rest of the ship. Try making the two big white areas into main engines(The side ones sorta look like boosters combined with fuel tanks for a nice effect). You could add turrets to it, maybe slope it up on a ledge to place them.

 

[StarWars1981]

At this point, it seems a lot like a block and I can't, with my limited artistic ability, see a way to fix it. Idk, if it's full of systems, what I'd suggest is toss the hull and throw in something odd, something new. Yes, that's a lot of work, but with my artistic abilities, it's awesome if I get a full ship out of an idea. Otherwise, it's like ... what to put here, what to put here ... I KNOW! *turret mount* (in other words, bang a flat face in now and fix it later with something cool).
Oh, there you go .... reshape the hull to bow it out into some big turret mounts. Like insanely big ball turret mounts hanging off the back. Just raise it like a pair of mountains on the back ... it won't look great, but visually interesting is the first step. Once you've got a SHAPE, you can fix it. Or say, screw it, I pwned your Titan, game on! Noobcube WINS!

 

[Bladeriker]

Have you considered creating docked modules that are beneficial to the ship and give it the look you are going for?
One of my Ships at the start:

And after Modules.

mind you this ship does not look this way anymore, as a designer I like to improve my designs as I get better.

here is one of my first ships...

You'll get there, and never forget your vision for how a ship turns out is yours and yours alone .