Create a Spaceship – Part 1 of 2

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Discover how to model a sci-fi spaceship

Length:
62 mins
Software:
Blender 2.62
Difficulty:
Advanced
Rate:
VN:F [1.9.17_1161]
Rating: 4.7/5 (132 votes cast)

In this tutorial you will discover:

  • How to model a concept spaceship
  • How to use your own sketches as reference
  • How a combination of modifiers can aid you in modelling

Since the start of this website, the topic of spaceships has been a hot request, and I’ve begun to understand why. Unlike real world vehicles like cars and planes, spaceships don’t exist. So they don’t hold any preconceived boundaries about “how it should look” and are only limited by your imagination. Game on.

Finished Result

Concept Sketches

At a Glance

Screenshots from the video:

Further Inspiration

Stay Tuned for Part 2!

Create a Spaceship - Part 1 of 2, 4.7 out of 5 based on 132 ratings

About Andrew Price

User of Blender for 9+ years. I've written tutorials for 3d World Magazine and spoken at three Blender conferences. My goal is to help artists get employed in the industry by making training accessible and easy to understand. I'm an Aussie and I live in South Korea ;)
READ MORE

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  • disqus_SXQnFya87I

    if you can’t see it, try pressing 5 before you switch the views. The 5 key switches between ortho and pers views.

  • disqus_SXQnFya87I

    I’m having trouble viewing the sketches after I add them to the .blend
    Nothing is showing up, even if I press the shortcuts for top, side, or front view.

    • disqus_SXQnFya87I

      Nevermind…figured it out.

  • Finesse

    you have to change your view, just go to top view by pressing 7

  • http://www.facebook.com/joseph.cadero Joseph Nicolas Cadero

    How do you straighten the loopcut from front to back for the above portion of the wing? I noticed you pressed s key….

    • Oliver McCarthy

      He’s scaling to 0 on the z axis. Select the loop cut, then press z then 0.

  • Blanco111

    I am having a real hard time recreating the second light midway on the wing. I keep going back over that part to see what Andrew is selecting before he applies S-Z-0. When I go to extrude the light’s face, it veers off to the spaceship’s left, following the contour of the left wing. There’s so much else wrong with my modeling effort, but I accept that because I’m only a beginner. This second light,though, is very vexing….

  • http://srabon.net Srabon

    awesome tutorial man … :)

  • Danny

    Please someone help i created a copy of his ship by scratch and when i go to material i can’t find no settings but if i load his original space ship i can see the settings. Does anyone know how to find the settings then? without using the original file.

  • Jon

    Can anyone explain more about the materials after adding solidify? I try to add but I keep just getting the default materials menu and it is affecting my whole model. Please help.

  • zelozelos

    Just a few steps to finish, I love this tutorial! You are exactly right, Spaceships and air planes were the 1st things i wanted to make :)
    http://www.pasteall.org/pic/34667

  • Mouta

    Hi :D
    I have a small problem at 39’00 min. I have not at all the same menu of texture. I looked, to look, but I always find not why. Anybody can help me ?
    Thanks in advances :)

    (sorry for my english, i’am french ^^ )

    • jmusick

      Without knowing exactly what you’re looking at, I’d say the most likely problem is that you haven’t selected the Cycles rendering option from the main header. This will effect the material options you have available.

  • http://zemoga.com Alejandro

    Andrew,
    How do you straighten the loop cut as shown on minute 18:02 of the video? I am on a mac. Please advise,
    Thanks in advance….

  • José

    Great tutorial…and all this for free.But i work with blender in about four mouths,and i have same projects too what i´m trying to ask is if there a place where i can submit my tutorials(videos;blender files;and extra explanations) to collaborate for the community.

    Greetings…

  • Saimen

    nice tutorial.
    Is this the right reference ;)
    http://www.pcaction.de/screenshots/original/2007/11/alf.jpg
    only a joke.

  • http://deniszholob.99k.org Denis

    So I decided to skip this part and make a high poly version of the spaceship.
    Final result and wires are posted on BlenderArtists:
    http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?256597

  • Sendercorp

    It is indeed so very nice to see Andrew build a spaceship , all respect .

  • Mark

    Andrew – would you be will to share your blend file for the lighting setup of the thumbnail:
    http://www.blenderguru.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/clay2-580×326.jpg
    (funny I was wondering how to describe it – file name is a good hint – clay)
    A default cube would be excellent.

    Also, do you copy the model out to another file/layer and reset all material assignments or is there an easier way?

  • Aaron

    stumbled onto this which was posted today:
    http://saphirenishi.deviantart.com/art/quantum-tunneling-device-301248689
    which reminded me of your spaceship.

    Thanks again so much for the free tutorials.

  • http://andreatarroni.com Andrea T

    Hi Andrew, as usual you are doing great!

    Honestly I think the first design was much more interesting than the plane type one…

    Keep it up!

  • Cody Industy

    I like vimeo better

  • beta-tester

    strange, if i open “blenderguru.com” i can NOT see that tutorial on the website (the “How to create a City” tutorial is the most actual on that website)???.
    only if i open “www.blenderguru.com” (with “WWW”) that tutorial will appear (part 1 & 2) as most actual one.

    • beta-tester

      ok… fixed.
      i noticed, that it must be an issue of my FireFox installation of one of my computers (other computers didn’t show up that behavior).
      uninstall & reinstall fixed that issue.

  • Stefano Corrado
  • Allan Cobos

    Hello:

    My name is Allan Cobos Zapata and I am making a budget for the implementation of a shortfil of animation, so I ask your help in the most careful and serious manner. I have the script, the storyboard and some sketches finished and ready to evaluate and if possible, tell me if you can make some of the work and the cost of it if you can or if you want to be invloved on it. It may be that – if they agree to a budget – they focus the scenarios or the characters are 7 scenarios and 18 characters and also know the time that would take them the realization. I have to say that the truth at the moment am only excursions to find investors and carry out this project.
    If necessary I can send you the sketches of the work so you can evaluate and give me an answer as soon as possible.

    I am at your orders and waiting for a favourable response.

    Thank you!!!!

    ATTE:
    Allan Cobos Zapata

    allancoboszapata@yahoo.com

    Please help me

  • EPDC

    very nice tutorial! one question: what image viewer are you using? :D

  • BrokenUnicycle

    Here’s my attempt. I tried to texture it myself but was having trouble creating your results. Suggestions would be awesome:

    http://i.imgur.com/wOfrB.jpg

  • The Animator

    Stay with youtube. It buffers much quicker than vimeo. If you have a slow connection vimeo is more likely to have an error and after waiting some time for it to buffer fully you can lose the whole thing. I find Youtube to be much better!

    • jmusick

      Also, youtube doesn’t require you to go to their site to see the HD versions. Also also, youtube has handy frame thumbnails when you hover the timeline.

  • hamish

    Hi
    First of I trully appreciate the time and effort you put in to your excellent and insightfull tutorials just please switch back to vimeo the new youtube assumes everyone in the world can click and stream

  • http://www.mimingape.com Miming Ape

    Really nice as usual. Thank you for showing us how to make the mean crease within the “N” Menu… I’ve beeen using Ctrl + E.

  • ditaly

    Je kiff avec tes tuto tuos cool

  • ChickenClub

    Hi,

    Stars and headlights don’t sparkle in space.

    • gurox

      +1

    • Sephor

      In fact they do. Have a look at the hubble deep space image. The hubble telescope is in space so according to your theory the stars shouldn’t sparkle. But they do.

      I think the sparkle is created by the lens of the camera so there is no differance in space.

    • therealnoz

      Glare isn’t caused by air; it’s caused by the surface of the eye/lense.

  • George Spain

    Nice Andrew!!!, one question, did you use the same earth of your tutorial realistic earth?? Thanks in advance and regards from Spain!!!!

  • Highchiller

    Thanks for this nice tutorial. I’ve got a question at the moment. You use the mean crease option often. I see on other tutorials that most of blender artists prefer a loopcut nearly the sharp edge. Sometimes it worked much better then this crease option.
    Can you tell me the reasons of your decision to use mean crease?
    Maybe there a big advantage :)

    Greetz from Germany and sorry my bad english.
    Highchiller

    • Sephor

      I might be able to explain this:
      If you add a new loopcut near the edge then you also add a a LOT of new vertices. This means your final render will take longer but it also means you might get nicer edges.
      Increasing the mean crease will NOT add new vertices. Instead the existing verices are “pulled” towards the edge (you can see it if you swich to wireframe mode). This means you get better render times. The result however may sometimes not be as expected.
      In general I’d say try to use the mean crease and if that doesn’t get you the results you need you can add another loop.
      Keep in mind though, that adding a new loop can also make it more difficult to edit the modell later on.

      I hope this helps and have fun modelling,
      Sephor.

      • wjbarber

        +1 To that

      • Jaidyn

        Well put, most people prefer to use the loop cuts to give a nice result, by using the crease you will (unless its perfectly circular without subserf) cause the shape to revert to it’s original state, sharp edged and points (like triangles being pushed through). So although adding loopcuts can drastically increase the render time it pays off in the long run because it almost always provides a much nicer, much cleaner result.
        The only time most people use the mean crease is if it will never be visible to the camera

  • http://www.youtube.com/user/CroHack97 Leon

    Thanks For Earth Tutorial :)
    I Made Cod4 Monatage and put on beginnig :)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCWpNnaaeLg

  • http://www.lesabeerstudios.com Ian lesabeer

    Finally! i have been requesting this tutorials like forever,….Ok not forever like a few months now. thanks Andrew…… in the style that i want too….

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