Kitbashing Basics questions

[RedRom]

Hello Everyone, I see a lot of great kitbashed ships on different threads and lots of tool kits but no instruction. Is there a post somewhere here that explains how to use the kits and parts to make the ships? I have a rough idea how this might be done but looking for some definitive instruction. Thanks for your input.

[zookman]

i would say .. basicaly ya have an idea of what ya want and get whatever perts would look cool on it and just mix and match and make things fit together so ya end up with what ya had in mind or something close ... on another site ive got a shuttle underconstruction that started life out as a 1/25 scale custom futuristic car ... pair of 1/1000 refit engines ... couple 1/48 helo parts and some scavenged parts from a cutaway ballistic submarine model .. and lots of sheet stock lol

[Ziz - Modular Models]

It depends more on how good you are with your graphics program of choice. Copy the parts you want from the sheets/kits and paste them into your new canvas. The one thing that will help is if you use a program with layers so you can keep things organized as you move and adjust the parts.

[Anthony Scott]

Jul 17, 2013 1:21:42 GMT -7 Ziz - Modular Models said:

It depends more on how good you are with your graphics program of choice. Copy the parts you want from the sheets/kits and paste them into your new canvas. The one thing that will help is if you use a program with layers so you can keep things organized as you move and adjust the parts.

For example, I use lots of parts from PDF files and then go work on Photoshop. Say i want to use nacelles from the Ambassador kit and the hulls from the Trebuche Excelsior parts kits in PDF.

You would copy the parts from each PDF file, then paste them into Photoshop. Photoshop conveniently pastes each new part automatically in it's own new later.

This also works with the color kits. I was just discussing how to work with PDF and Photoshop.

[RedRom]

Thanks everyone for your tips. I have to work with Gimp (The poor mans Photoshop) and just wondered if there was some type of specialized software people on the board were using for their ships.

[Anthony Scott]

Jul 17, 2013 18:56:37 GMT -7 RedRom said:

Thanks everyone for your tips. I have to work with Gimp (The poor mans Photoshop) and just wondered if there was some type of specialized software people on the board were using for their ships.

My understanding is that Gimp behaves much like Photoshop in that any new material is imported in a new layer.

[RedRom]

Gimp does work very much like Photoshop including opening .psd files. You just need to figure out how to translate the subtle and not so subtle differences but the price can't be beat for Gimp.

[IanKeldon]

Jul 17, 2013 20:03:00 GMT -7 Anthony Scott said:

Jul 17, 2013 18:56:37 GMT -7 RedRom said:

Thanks everyone for your tips. I have to work with Gimp (The poor mans Photoshop) and just wondered if there was some type of specialized software people on the board were using for their ships.

My understanding is that Gimp behaves much like Photoshop in that any new material is imported in a new layer.

You're partly right. It isn't a true layer, just layered on top of the existing image until the layer is anchored. To get a true, independent layer for later adjustment, you have to Add a Layer using the control panel.

GIMP's line drawing sucks compared to Paint or Paint.Net. Lower quality line renders (esp on the diagonal) and no Shapes drawing tool (circles, ovals, squares, etc).

A couple of suggestions:

Use a transparent "grid" or "guide" layer on the top layer to help align parts in the top and bow view. ALL other layers should be below this guide layer so that it can be easily deleted when you're done.

Do the profile first, because that will set where your guide lines need to be for the top and bow views. Once that's done and "locked" (no more changes), set up the transparent layer on top. Use a contrasting color (I use red) and draw 1 pixel wide lines down from the profile (for the dorsal view), and out to the right (for the bow view). Then go down and out from the profile view far enough that the other views won't overlap. On the dorsal view lines, put a left-right line long enough for all parts as a "centerline". Do the same with a vertical line on the bow view.

You will need at least one line for every significant visible substructure in both dorsal and bow views (saucer, 2ndary hull, pylons, nacelles, plus any structures you add like pods, "rollbars", etc).

Once you have your guide lines established, do the dorsal view next (make sure that all part layers are BENEATH the guide layer. You will want to do this because you need to establish how far off centerline you want your nacelles to be and it's easier to do on the dorsal than the bow view.

By the way, a good time saver is to only do one side of the ship completely in terms of positioning the nacelle, support pylon, etc. Once you have it finished on that side, you can merge all layers below the guide into one layer, copy that side, flip it, and voila, there's your other side!

Once you have everything on all three views "locked", go back up to the guide layer and delete it. You are left with one finished starship in the traditional FASA 3-view. Add any descriptive text you wish.

And ALWAYS remember to cite EVERYone whose parts you use ON the image (a small block of credits text in one corner is generally acceptable so long as it's readable).

[brickwall]

Good advice for all.

My major complaint on this is I don't see enough parts pages for Klingon or Romulan or Orion shipbuilding. Heck, not even for making new Gorn ships if one wished. If there are, I will stand corrected, but perhaps that's just me.

Many thanks for allowing my input on this.

[rarcher]

I'd love it if we had a single post compiling all of the known major toolkit parts of each major power sure would make this easier i think could we do that?

[IanKeldon]

I've seen ONE parts page for Orions (nacelles only). I've seen maybe one attempt at "harvesting" parts from old FASA images for the Romulans, and one small parts page with some Klingon stuff. That's about it.