Black Templar vehicle skin ideas.

[MadMaffMan]

I've been thinking of doing a BT vehicle skin next to go with my Space Marines. But i have a lack of source material ATM, having got rid of my vast collection of WD's.

I have googled up a few good pics of models on the web but was hoping someone else had a few pics to get my creative juices flowing again.











I quite like the rhino and dready but i'm not sure about the white sponsons

Anyone got any thoughts or pics.

*Edit*

Ooops just thought am i allowed to start threads.

[IBBoard]

Yeah, you're allowed to start threads, it'd have given you an error if you weren't I've basically limited it to people who are part of the "skinners" group who can start threads, although anyone can post.

As for the images, I like the Whirlwind - the bit of white on the side doors just breaks it up nicely. The white sponson on the Predator is a bit much, though, especially when it's so clean!

Can't say I can think of any other images though. Sorry :\ There doesn't even seem to be anything hiding in the back of the 3rd Edition 40K cover.

[MadMaffMan]

Yes i think you hit it on the head, the white is a nice effect in small amounts, as you said it breaks up the large block of black colour but too much white i think looks a little strange.

I can't find that many decent pics online, the BT thread at GW is a bit of a let down.

Next plan then is a trip to the GW store in town and take a peek in the BT codex. Surely there must be some good shots in there.

[IBBoard]

You'd hope so They may even have one of the staff who's done something interesting with a conversion or paint scheme or something.

I would save you a trip and give my copy a quick skim, but I don't have the pictures sections, only the text :\

[MadMaffMan]

Just been getting re-acquainted with PS 6 and was just messing about with primary and secondary colour areas, they're a mixture of the ideas in the photos so far.





Thought the top troop area hatches could be white but that may be a bit much.

[IBBoard]

The second picture looks good with the white (secondary) side door. It'd also work well with a lot of chapters who have similar primary/secondary colours and don't want them to look different. Maybe the second one but with a Trim 2 eagle like the first one?

[MadMaffMan]

I quite like this, not too much secondary colour but enough to make it Black Templar'ish and gives some nice clean areas for a few litanies.

I'm not sure about the badge though, it's rather in the way but putting it somewhere else may look a little strange.





I'd better start looking for lots more REAL litanies to add and some decent Black Templar/Imperial Gothic type names for the vehicles.

[IBBoard]

Looks good. I guess it is in the way a little, and you won't be able to fill the side doors with litanies (plus the Predator will need an alternate location) but it fits nicely and it's about equivalent to the fancy doors that Forgeworld do

My only other though for a position would be the roof hatch, but then it wouldn't work with a lot of non-cross shaped badges (e.g. anything that has an obvious up-down orientation rather than being a symbol)

Good luck with the litanies and names. I don't think I'd go to the extent you do on detailed litanies when they can't be read

*wonders whether real litanies work, just like how red wunz go fasta*

[MadMaffMan]

Here's what i've done so far, as you can see the badges have gone and are replaced with litanies and icons, i'm still practicing my purity seals as they normally look like a childs done them with crayon.

I'm hoping that Hanger-8 may one day do a 'How to' guide to purity seals.

After many mugs of coffee and a chat with a few fellow DoW'ers i decided to make the skin BT specific as we thought anyone that does use my skin prolly uses it for Black Templars any way. But it's still not to late to change my mind.





P.S. I used to work with someone who really thought red cars were faster and would only buy the colour red..........strange kid.

[IBBoard]

Yeah, I guess making it a specifically BT skin might be the best way to do it. It'd certainly solve most of the problems you might encounter that are along the lines of "how do I do...in a way that works with most schemes?"

Are you going to mention in the readme what the litanies say?

[MadMaffMan]

Well thats a thought, maybe not all the litanies text but i might include the names of them just as a bit of fun.

Latest pics....





Yes i do have my local.ini file set to high res, it's just the low res scout textures from relic. And no i didn't have your WTP tool when i did the scouts so the badge has the old problem of warping, i thought i might add the 'fixed badge' scout wtp with the rhino to save peeps having to download it again.

[IBBoard]

Looking good The extra details do just give it that bit of style.

As for the scout, you could always just release him on his own as an update to the original pack. I'm slightly confused though - are they the warped-badge or non-warped-badge scouts in those screenies?

[MadMaffMan]

Any idea what causes this effect.



It appears anywhere inside the red circle and matches what ever colour the large Templar symbol on the roof is, the Templar icon is on the default layer but is no where near that part of the skin. Strangely enough if i move the Templar icon to one of the colour layers e.g. secondary, the effect disappears totally.

The only thing i could think of is that it's an effect caused by the way the 3D model is made out of the skin, but why does it only happen when the white Templar icon is on the default layer.

[IBBoard]

Strange that it'd only occur when it's on the _default layer :\ Is it only from certain angles, or does it show up from everywhere?

Which part exactly is the problem? is it just that blob of white, or the strange distortion at the top of the door in the middle?

The closest thing I can think of off the top of my head is that the smoke launchers use a small section in the back door (hence why they look so strange on my Halved/Quartered Marines), but I didn't think it was there, I thought it was further down.

*thinks*

If it's the white bit, then it could be a wrapping issue. That part of the texture would probably be white on a _dirt layer, so it'd show through to the _default, but as soon as you put the badge on a colour layer then it wouldn't show because the _dirt would be making the _default show through instead.

[MadMaffMan]

It's the white blob, actually it's not alone. And it's only visible from the rear of the model.

When the vehicle is animated, you know that engine running thing they do, that white blob moves back and forth but only within the confines of that red circle that i drew. The exact width in fact of the Templar icon.

All i know is that it's driving me nuts trying to get rid of it.

P.S. I deleted the alpha layer just as an experiment whilst trying to fix this and the top and left sides went transparent revealing what looked like a skined interior to the troop section. I wonder if Relic at one point wanted the rear door to open and close.

P.P.S. That ugly blob on the door is what i think Relic calls a door handle.

I like your idea about the dirt layer, gonna have a look at that right now.

*Edit*

Well i've found whats causing it. It seems to be when any sort of colour gets to near that seam that runs down the centre of the roof. And it happens on the colour layers as well just not so badly.



This is as close as i can get without the dreaded colour blob rearing it's ugly head......weird. This means i have several choices, ditch the roof Icon, keep it and ignore the blobs or change the large icon into a smaller one somewhere else on the top away from that damn hatch.