Video games!

I gave some thought to the question of whether or not to use non-fan models in the project… and in general, for that matter. Games are an excellent source, since it’s often possible to recover models and textures out of them. It may require some extra work to get them to look their best, but it’s often possible to get something acceptable without a lot of trial and error, assuming I’m able to extract them at all (which can be tricky, especially since a lot of modding tools are Windows-only and all are very, very homespun.).

I’ve decided, what the hell. No one can fault me for using the models that companies themselves gave out. I’d mostly planned to use them for reference for building animation-quality versions, but as I’ve pointed out, I don’t like modeling and I want to do less of it. If you’d like to make a kick-ass Reach-style Covenant Cruiser or Pillar of Autumn for Lightwave, let me know and I’ll pass over what I have.

Though when it comes to the Halo ring itself, I actually do have a partially-finished model of it. I was putting it off until I upgraded Lightwave, since I thought all the repeating details in the 49 segments of it meant that everything would be easier if I could use the instancing tools, so I wouldn’t have to worry so much about level-of-detail stuff. Now I’m going to continue putting it off after seeing how this shot turned out (especially compared to the skyboxes in the more modern Halo games), since I think it’ll really need some clouds with actual depth, and that “nested transparent layers” trick overwhelms my poor old computer.

The foreground photo is from a rest stop in Arizona, which I took during a cross-country road trip a few years ago. I didn’t notice until I typed up the credits you can actually see a chain-link fence and building in the corner. Let’s all just ignore those.