Does anyone have any suggestions or resources on how to build more pleasant looking vehicles? Specifically rounding and reducing the blockiness or angles of designs? Any suggestions would be appreciated
Only tip I can offer is: Look at other's works on the workshop for something that resembles what you are considering "nice looking" (thats a subjective term). Then spawn it into Creative, and dissect it to see how that creator put that together. For example, I hate to admit.... but I dissect jrandall's stuff all the time because he pulls off some really interesting groupings that defy the game's basic style.
This video helped me back than when i was new to E:GS building. A bit old now but nontheless accurate:
Biggest thing for me is to just build. It doesn't matter if you think it looks terrible. The more ships you build, the more you'll learn how to make things that you like. I'm not a huge ship builder but even my blueprints folder is full of half finished projects or abandoned designs. And don't be afraid to change up what you're building. Most of my stuff looks nothing like what I had originally planned, yet they look better!
Important ^ Many people get into this mindset that if they placed some blocks here, or made this wing section there, that it should never be deleted or moved or changed. Don't be afraid to rip stuff apart
I do not build much "good looking" since I like the "survival" and exploring aspect more, and some conquering of galaxies ... Mine ends up very functional, but try not let them end up as boxes when adding armor hull/blocks. I try make them easy to repair with a multitool and spare parts. Can repeat the most important things: Examine others builds, try out stuff, be prepared to use a lot of time. Look at each block/device along with texturing and coloring, where preferable remember it. Then keep puzzling those together to make creations. Find inspirations from (sci-fi) movies and books and so on, if want to. Maybe think of why you are to build something, people have different taste, so to please others or yourself?
I found that I am learning a LOT by putting a core into wrecked ships I found in space (found 3 or 4 at the 'Minefield' POI) and then trying to rebuild/repair them...by comparing damaged sections on one side with intact sections on the other side I get to see how the parts fit together, and I'm learning how blocks of various sizes and shapes can be rotated/turned to create different looks. Even if you don't particularly like every aspect of one of the ships, you will learn a lot by rebuilding it...and after doing a few of them you can take ideas from each and combine them into your own design that is not a copy of something else, but created the way you want it. Other than time you don't lose anything by rebuilding/practising on the abandoned wrecks, because after it's all done you can salvage all the stuff with your multi-tool. For me it has been much, much easier to see how curves and slopes are made when I have the actual ship in front of me, and I can take blocks off and see how they were fitted with the one under/behind it.
I like to colorize full blocks, or rotate them, to figure which form of the block has been used, or how it has been aligned. A pleasing looking ship is quiet vague, as everyone's preferences differ. 1. Browse the Workshop, not only the most liked ones, but also 10 pages (or more) of the recent ones, older ones, many different ones. 2. Pick some of which you like the interior, pick some of which you like the outside, pick some of which you like the 'algiment' of Rooms (less/more 'long' walking?), pick some of which you like the Performance (thrusters/turn rate (yaw))... 3. Rebuild those parts 4. Rebuild a ship using those parts 5. Play around 6. Repeat (with new ships/ideas)
'How I stopped worrying and learned to love Corner Large A' J/k. I do have a love affair with this block though. Most everyone seems to ignore it but some of the angles and insets that you can make with it are just super jazzy. For tips I'd just say experiment with the block shapes as much as possible and don't be afraid to go modular, stamping and rotating different things together to create a portmanteau of sorts. You never quite know what could work. Also, for pretty much every thing I end up releasing (which isn't much), it almost always starts on graph paper. Specifically, I setup gridview on photoshop and use snap angles and the pen tool to illustrate a hull shape from the top down. I then use this view as a reference to create the basic hull shape, filling in details and layers. Lastly, take a look at what's popular on the workshop. There are some very good builders in the community that sometimes use blocks in unexpected ways.
