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Sooo... Microspace

Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2011 2:46 pm
by enders_shadow
I was just wondering (mainly at Olothontor) if any of youse could give me some tips/pointers on how to make microships? I have one so far I kinda like (It'll be in the armory soon), but any help would be appreciated

Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2011 4:56 pm
by Ham
What I do with micro space is I mess around with some small parts with no intention of what I'm going to do, and go from there. I'd recommend starting with a larger ship so you can have a set style for the rest of your fleet. Unless, of course, you want to go with a "put anything that still works into battle" ideology.

Posted: Sun Apr 24, 2011 7:12 pm
by enders_shadow
see, thats the problem. I don't really know

6. what a good ship size is
7. how to make a frame for said ship
8. what class of ship I've ended up building

any help on any of these matters would be appreciated

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 9:43 pm
by Olothontor
Ham701 wrote:What I do with micro space is I mess around with some small parts with no intention of what I'm going to do, and go from there. I'd recommend starting with a larger ship so you can have a set style for the rest of your fleet. Unless, of course, you want to go with a "put anything that still works into battle" ideology.
This is actually basically what I do.

6. For micro scale, the largest I'd go is maybe 120-130 studs? I'm making that number up sortof, but honestly microscale is mostly in the eye of the beholder; whatever size ship pops out of your work, roll with it.
A couple of people have tried to set specific scales for microspace, but that just meant more people became confused, since a large majority of people never settled on a single one, and it makes just letting your hands go with a pile of legos a lot harder to do. I usually try to represent fighters as 1x1x1 studs, but my proportions are usually exaggerated in the smaller scale (meaning the studs for fighters are actually far larger than the fighters themselves... I've even been known, with some scales, to count a single stud as a whole squadron of fighters). So, it's all up to you, really.

7. Frame? Naw, son. Not necessary, unless that's really the way you visualize things. If you decide you really need a frame to work from, start with a basic shape, I guess, and then replace parts you used in the basic shape with pieces that have either 6). more visual appeal or 7). places to tack on extra parts. Otherwise, if you think you can pull it off just by improvising with a pile of LEGOs, go for it. I do suggest my challenge from a while ago: pull a handful of LEGOs from a "theme box" and give yourself anywhere from 10-20 minutes to build something using just that handful. After that, you can expand it or detract from it, but it's an easy way to sort of trick yourself into getting a starting point. You don't even have to do it for each ship in a fleet; usually once you get one ship finished that you're relatively happy with, the rest sort of just happen, usually based on the style of your original ship.

8. Again, unless you're attempting to follow a ruleset (like the gimpy and unfinished BrikSpace), you really don't need to assign it a class unless it makes you happy. It becomes a bit easier to define the class of a ship when it's placed in context with a bunch of other ships (even of different styles). So try to make a variety of ship sizes, same style or not, and then from there you can sortof eyeball what kind of ship it is, based on how it looks and how it's sized.

This is mostly all what I do when I've got an idea for a ship. If you don't think any of these tips work, feel free to ignore me and move on. Also, sorry for the delayed response, I didn't see this.

P.S. 2001th post

Posted: Tue Apr 26, 2011 9:51 pm
by enders_shadow
ok, great. that helps <a href='http://tinyurl.com/y42zurt'>alot</a>, thanks :D . also,
120-130 studs
typo? or.... :?: anyway, thanks for the advice, I'll start doin some more with microspace right after I finish up my latest project: VTOL dropship

Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2011 9:08 am
by Olothontor
enders_shadow wrote:Also,
120-130 studs
typo?
... Typo? I see nothing wrong with that statement. That's the maximum size I would build anything in microscale, and that'd be like... Super Star Destroyer size, in comparison with most stuff. Still, if it makes you happy, you could do it.

Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2011 4:46 pm
by enders_shadow
did you mean the SHIP you are trying to replicate would be 120-130 studs? b/c 120 studs would be a bit big for micro scale :?