Suggestions for materials textures and colours on a sci fi ship model

[jagdpanther]

I’m currently working on a model, almost reached the, materialling/texturing/rigging stage and have nearly finished modelling the geometry. It’s a model of a realistic (think NTR nerva style engines, large rail gun, huge propellant tanks, 50-100 years in the future) space warship, some 30 metres length but am getting a bit stuck deciding how to do the colouration and make the materials. I want to make sure that the materials and textures do not let the down the effort that has gone into the geometry.

I’ve worked out the following:

1.The main “hull” should be one material, either some kind of lightweight painted metal or some sort of rigid composite like the sort of thing they have on some current capsules and parts of the international space station.

2.Certain details on the hull should be another material, for little structural struts and things, small beams bulging out from the hull and such.

3.The huge exposed fuel tanks (holding either water or liquid hydrogen to be fed through the nerva engine) should be another material again.

4.The area around the crew capsule itself should be yet another material, some sort of thermal blanekt cloth, like you have on the soyuz capsule.

5.And all the little details should be other materials, mostly metals of various sorts.

6.I’d like to have some sort of stripes on it, these need another colour again, crucially different to the colour of the area they are painted onto.

7.I need to avoid having large blank looking areas without much in the way of either dirt stains or subtle bump mapping (as done through the displacement function in the influence tab in the textures options).

8.I probably ought to do the textures procedurally, I’m already generating markings/text/labels by modelling the different areas for different colours.

I can’t be sure what colour each should be, I’m torn between trying to get the look of the ISS, or that of a soyuz capsule, or something else entirely. I suppose I’d also like to take some inspiration from the sort of ships you see being used by earth’s forces at the end of the film iron sky. I can’t be sure how each material and texture should be done to look like the right kind of material for what it is. Can anyone suggest how to go about finding the right sort of colours for my ship, how to work out a combination that looks both realistic and looks good together? A combination that avoids leaving large and boring blank spaces which would ruin the model’s appearance?
Thanks

[klaussualk]

@jagdpanther"

I’m currently working on a model, almost reached the, materialling/texturing/rigging stage and have nearly finished modelling the geometry. It’s a model of a realistic (think NTR nerva style engines, large rail gun, huge propellant tanks, 50-100 years in the future) space warship, some 30 metres length but am getting a bit stuck deciding how to do the colouration and make the materials. I want to make sure that the materials and textures do not let the down the effort that has gone into the geometry.

I’ve worked out the following:

1.The main “hull” should be one material, either some kind of lightweight painted metal or some sort of rigid composite like the sort of thing they have on some current capsules and parts of the international space station.

2.Certain details on the hull should be another material, for little structural struts and things, small beams bulging out from the hull and such.

3.The huge exposed fuel tanks (holding either water or liquid hydrogen to be fed through the nerva engine) should be another material again.

4.The area around the crew capsule itself should be yet another material, some sort of thermal blanekt cloth, like you have on the soyuz capsule.

5.And all the little details should be other materials, mostly metals of various sorts.

6.I’d like to have some sort of stripes on it, these need another colour again, crucially different to the colour of the area they are painted onto.

7.I need to avoid having large blank looking areas without much in the way of either dirt stains or subtle bump mapping (as done through the displacement function in the influence tab in the textures options).

8.I probably ought to do the textures procedurally, I’m already generating markings/text/labels by modelling the different areas for different colours.

I can’t be sure what colour each should be, I’m torn between trying to get the look of the ISS, or that of a soyuz capsule, or something else entirely. I suppose I’d also like to take some inspiration from the sort of ships you see being used by earth’s forces at the end of the film iron sky. I can’t be sure how each material and texture should be done to look like the right kind of material for what it is. Can anyone suggest how to go about finding the right sort of colours for my ship, how to work out a combination that looks both realistic and looks good together? A combination that avoids leaving large and boring blank spaces which would ruin the model’s appearance?
Thanks

1 - I guess it is ceramic/porcelain blocks, as on the Space Shuttle (But could be simulated as a big white porcelain material, since the blocks are so small that can hardly be seen from very close).
2 - Brushed Aluminum / Stainless Steel or… Gun Metal (why not?).
3 - Rusty Iron? The Space Shuttle vector rockets look like orangy/browny rust.
4 - Thermal blanket… Like Chrome or Polished Gold.
5 - Maybe Copper, Brass, Titanium?
6 - Decals. Some flags, some writings (mostly black on a white surface), some logos.
7 - It’s really up to you how to make the blank areas interesting. Grease, Dust, Scratches, Rust, Bumps (or Displacements or Sculpting).
8 - Mostly done procedurally. Except the decals (and the dirt and the scratches).

Hope it helped a bit.