The creations I'm seeing in the workshop are beyond belief. Are people just naturally gifted at rotating 3d-shaped blocks a certain way and squirting them with a paint gun in just the right way? I'd like to think there was a time when these master builders never even heard of EGS but I'm beginning to wonder if they've passed through some kind of creative membrane into our world. Obviously everyone had to start out at square one. Do they just pick a block at random and spend hours in creative just to see what other blocks fit next to it? Do they just have a general design (like spanj) in mind and kinda wing it? Do they see other people's creations and build on those? If so, how did they keep their creations from looking like other people's stuff? And how did the FIRST person make that neat thing? Or are there just gifted people out there that make miracles from two blocks while I'm destined to struggle with gluing potatoes together?
As any other thing in life: practice Spend some time in the workshop and in creative and within time you'll make things work too. I tared apart and modified many builds from other creators before I started to like mine own. It's a tedious process but very enjoyable ^^ To be is to do, do be do be dooo
The struggle to find the right block and the texture required to do a seamless repair to that other guys ship, repeated a few dozen times goes a long way to getting familiar with finding what you're looking for. The great thing is that some of the folks who do some of the best builds also take the time to utube record their warts 'n all frustration of bringing something together.
I think it's like lot of other things in life: practice *and* talent Talent helps and can compensate for some practice and make you learn those things quicker. However, without practice talent alone won't take you very far. Practice can be done by everyone and enough of it will carry you surprisingly far, even if you don't have that much initial "natural talent". If you're willing to invest the work practice can compensate for a *lot* of missing talent. However, we also must bow to realism and accept that while sheer practice and stubbornness can certainly make you a *good* violin player, it won't make you a Hilary Hahn. So, yes, the *very best* ones are those who have both the talent and are willing to practice that talent for a lot. They are also the ones that give me consistently a -75 damage to self-confidence plus being stunned for 1d6 turns when I look at their creations in the workshop. But, and let's not forget that but, you can definitely build *decent* ships with *enough* work. They key is to build your ship and take a good look at it. Then you redo it from start after you learned how it didn't work. And then you redo it again. And again. And again. After several iterations of this you finally get a design that looks decent enough to you. After that you also usually realize that the weekend is over and you need to wait for the next one to actually use the ship in your game...
Other than spanj, can you recommend anyone? I've only watched a lot of his stuff because I'm dimly aware that he is a great builder and would like to see others.
Just build what comes to mind and build what you need, start to explore different shaping and over time you'll see yourself improve. No one starts off by making stuff like the kriel overseer as their first ever build
jrandall comes to mind; he is an excellent builder and routinely posts videos on youtube of his work in progress. He most recently published Merc-Infiltrator-RCT on the workshop, and had a series on youtube as he worked through issues, even redesigning parts of the ship and giving his thought process on texturing. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2606577543&searchtext=
I'd echo jrandall as someone who consistently does builds that are well though out and merge form/function with really nice smooth transition of surfaces. My go to starter CV for exploration has always been the CV_Equinox_L by @Neurosol which I've refitted extensively inside after removing the turrets. I mostly play the game with my wife and this CV make a really nice portable base for co-op when combined with the poverty build two cockpit Lv5 SV I cobbled together. In a reforged game there is room inside for everything that's already there as well as a compact shield generator- using the replaceblocks command can change every block to the carbon composite plastic and shields give you the ability to run>warp away from most anything with little or no damage. Using the multitool lets you work and rework something any time you have an idea and, as @Pembroke points out, that loop is where you build up learned talent with the tools.
I mostly agree but can't help thinking the talent thing is a scam, at least in my experience it's a horribly big one. It's true that not all of us start learning something from the same spot, of course. I'd say we use talent as an abréviation of a much more complex topic. Learning to learn has a huge impact too.
Here's a link to one of jrandall's block tutorials. He has a few of these if you poke around. I find watching others build helps familiarize you with block selection.
Pretty much. Also, growing up with a huge bin of Legos has been a great benefit to many. If you're looking to practice and grow accustomed to how to select, rotate and fit various block pieces, Creative Mode is a great place to start, as no resources are required and you have access to an unlimited supply of absolutely everything. Once you've constructed something you actually like, you can then blueprint it*, and spawn it in regular games. * There are some limitations, both server-based and block based on Blueprints. You can, for example, including Grow blocks in a design, but if you add even a single sprout, that block is "Invalid" and will prevent normal blueprint spawning until removed.
If you're making flying turds, then that is some progress. EVERYTHING I make ends up looking like a square (base) or a square with wings (SV/CV). All my HVs look like a shoe. I admire those with talent, because building good ships and bases are not skills I possess!
Actually, starting with a "brick" isn't bad. It gives you a general shape and size of your ship that you can then modify. Try applying these any number of times: - Pick a section and shift it upwards or downwards - Pick a section and stretch it sideways - Pick a section and remove it - Pick a section and add a module of appropriate size and shape to it (brick, wing, platform, etc.) - Pick a section and pull it outwards keeping it attached with a connecting "string" of hull of appropriate size - Any of the above with mirroring it against some axis Once you have an interesting shape start smoothing it with angles. Also: It really is easier to build big than small. Also: Have enough symmetry to make it look nice but not so much symmetry that it looks boring.
Take your time guys ^^ Being an expert in any field usually takes 20K hours, or 10 years of hard work. That's to be able to be creative and contribute with stuff which implies novelty and value... Being said this is a game and the objective should be to have fun not to become a creative genius. Sure it's fun too to know your blocks and learning the use of colors, it's challenging and a learning process on its own. When I started building I got pretty frustrated as the results didn't match my vision so I started rippin other creators builds, modifying them to suit my needs. Soon I became aware of some groups of blocks matching in cool ways with others and started thinking of chunks more than in single blocks. Building with the available blocks has its limitations and there are certain ways to put them together that are more pleasing to the eye than others... There are ways to go around... Big flat surfaces are usually boring so breaking them is a good strategy: adding ribs, scaffolding or layering can work pretty nicely. Color can turn basic builds into something much more interesting. Try using a bunch of different gradients of the same one (f.e. A bunch of different grays) in the same build. Textures, although we don't have very many, are your friends too. I tend to use the same ones for certain shapes/parts to make em look they serve a purpose (f. e. Vents, pipes, supposedly flexible parts, etc.) OH yeah... Piping. Piping is cool. I've just been thinking a little about this topic and wanted to share some ideas... Cause yes... It's frustrating at first until your brain gets around it. There are great builds and creators out there so get advantage of them sharing. Don't be shy and steal whatever they did and looks cool to incorporate it to your builds ^^
This is all good stuff. Transitions are what really kills me though. I 've come up with like 1 or 2 types of 10 brick "modules" that look kinda neat - when they are sitting there by themselves not part of anything. Or if I have a x axis sweep, and z axis sweep, when they "merge" in the middle, my brain just turns into a pile of coat hangers.
Honestly, I just blindfold myself, spin three times while trying to run in a circle, and then randomly throw things at the keyboard. Seems to work.
