New & Improved NASA logo for model makers...

JackHiggins · Post #1by **JackHiggins** » 17.08.2003, 22:38

Hey all (modellers) :wink:

Many of you will have seen the NASA logo I made, which was actually a mesh, rather than an image. Well, the old logo wasn't very good, and I had always thought about making a better one...

So now I have!

Here are the main improvements:

Single layer of mesh, so no fuzzy lines while viewing
Star background, and that circle around the text, is now included
The red thingy going through the logo is now far more accurate, and goes in front of, and behind the text in the correct places

This model will be almost exclusively the interest of people making new models of US spacecraft (duh..) But you can use it for whatever you want without asking me. (But read the readme)

Get it from the spacecraft page on my site http://homepage.eircom.net/~jackcelestia/ but you'll want to see what it looks like first, so...

Screenshots!

And there you have it.

Enjoy!

(Oh, and yes I did make this for my own use too, and you can expect a good few new models & trajectories coming soon! If everything goes to plan...)

bh · Post #2by bh » 17.08.2003, 23:47

Hello Jack...bloody great! I will add this to the shuttle/Canadarm model when I get back from hols...

Regards...bh.

Darkmiss · Post #3by **Darkmiss** » 18.08.2003, 02:22

Great work

I prefer models to have logos and flags as part of the model.
Rather than external textures.

JackHiggins · Post #4by **JackHiggins** » 18.08.2003, 18:49

bh wrote:Hello Jack...bloody great! I will add this to the shuttle/Canadarm model when I get back from hols...

I had a feeling you'd be one of the first in line to try this one out... :wink:

Darkmiss wrote:I prefer models to have logos and flags as part of the model.
Rather than external textures.

Same here... Anim8or doesn't support png textures, so making a model instead of using a texture is a good workaround. Also, images go blotchy up close, whereas models don't...

Also the fact that NASA have a nice logo was another reason why I wanted to model this! And if you haven't seen the animated flash version on the NASA homepage, you really should check it out...

Darkmiss · Post #5by **Darkmiss** » 18.08.2003, 20:00

Yeah I saw the flash intro the other day
It really is very smart.

Maybe this is the sort of Celestia intro you are talking about.

Also if you made an american and Russian flag in 3ds.
then you could add them to nearly all your models, instead of textures.

But keep the old nassa logo for older models too.

JackHiggins · Post #6by **JackHiggins** » 18.08.2003, 20:10

Darkmiss wrote:Yeah I saw the flash intro the other day
It really is very smart.

Maybe this is the sort of Celestia intro you are talking about.

Whatever! Anything's better than a blank screen like I said- but see that topic yourself for chris' reply.

Also if you made an american and Russian flag in 3ds.
then you could add them to nearly all your models, instead of textures.

I've had an american model flag for ages, i didn't make it though, I think shrox did, for his apollo cm&lm model. It's on a few of my models already, and it's on TERRIER's mariner 10 as well. It'll also be on a few new ones coming up.

But keep the old nassa logo for older models too.

Yeah i'm not going to bother changing the old ones, unless everyone REALLY wants it...

TERRIER · Post #7by **TERRIER** » 19.08.2003, 02:51

Superb stuff!!!! I was going to add a dodgy jpg image to any future models that might have the logo, but now there's no need to!

I know a model where this new realistic NASA logo will look The Business...the Helios prototype. Can you 'stick' them on the model Jack?

I've had an american model flag for ages, i didn't make it though, I think shrox did, for his apollo cm&lm model. It's on a few of my models already, and it's on TERRIER's mariner 10 as well. It'll also be on a few new ones coming up.

I've just about finished Mariner 10, that's why I'm up so late (03:00 BST), but I'm not sure if there's a US flag on this spacecraft, there's definately one on Mariner 9 though :wink:

regards

JackHiggins · Post #8by **JackHiggins** » 19.08.2003, 14:39

TERRIER wrote:I know a model where this new realistic NASA logo will look The Business...the Helios prototype. Can you 'stick' them on the model Jack?

Yup! I'll fix it and upload the new one in a few hours time.

I've just about finished Mariner 10, that's why I'm up so late (03:00 BST), but I'm not sure if there's a US flag on this spacecraft, there's definately one on Mariner 9 though

Oh yeah sorry I meant Mariner 9... I think NASA put a US flag on nearly every craft, except you can't see it in some of the pictures- (I think they stick it on last maybe...?)

There's one on Mariner 2 anyway... (highly suggestive hint of a future model...) :wink:

On a related topic...
Anyone know when NASA changed their logo to the one which had the "A" like an upturned V, and when they went back to the "classic" logo?

OrbiterFan · Post #9by **OrbiterFan** » 19.08.2003, 17:58

Jack, I believe that NASA switched to the classical NASA logo in 1998 to celebrate NASA's 40th anniversary. I read this somewhere on the KSC site a couple of months back. The other logo you refer to was called the NASA "wormlogo".

JackHiggins · Post #10by **JackHiggins** » 19.08.2003, 18:57

OrbiterFan wrote:Jack, I believe that NASA switched to the classical NASA logo in 1998 to celebrate NASA's 40th anniversary. I read this somewhere on the KSC site a couple of months back. The other logo you refer to was called the NASA "wormlogo".

Thanks- I never liked that "wormlogo"... I actually heard somewhere once that Dan Goldin had some mad obsession with it- he'd go ape if he saw it anywhere...!? Dunno where I heard that, but it must have come from somewhere...

TERRIER; i've updated my site with the improved Helios model. Heres a screenshot:

WARNING: Big file size, very jerky on my system...

Darkmiss · Post #11by **Darkmiss** » 19.08.2003, 19:33

Very impressive, Very nice work Jack.

TERRIER · Post #12by **TERRIER** » 19.08.2003, 22:34

Cheers Jack

Just one thing missing from your screenshot...... an FPS rate!

I'd be iteresting to see what you're getting!

Regards

JackHiggins · Post #13by **JackHiggins** » 19.08.2003, 22:42

1.529

JackHiggins · Post #14by **JackHiggins** » 22.08.2003, 00:42

Hey all

I'm having problems FTP'ing to my celestia, and other sites. When I update files, it's not having any apparent effect, even though I can see they've changed. Something is seriously up with that... Anyway one of the things this is affecting is the HELIOS zip file... If you try to download it now, you won't see any change on the logo.

I'll post an update on this when something happens... If you don't hear any more in a few weeks though, you can presume it's fixed.

JackHiggins · Post #15by **JackHiggins** » 23.08.2003, 23:26

Problem SOLVED-

So now you can download Helios with the new logo. Turns out I was linking to "helios.zip" when the file was actually "Helios.zip" with a capital H... :roll:

Now its "helios_uav.zip", to avoid any possible confusion with the Helios solar probes.

So don't forget to always use lowercase (small) letters folks!

TERRIER · Post #16by **TERRIER** » 24.08.2003, 12:16

I see by adding the 10 new NASA logo's to Helios, it's put another 560 kb onto the model size.

1.529

My frame rate is down to just under 6 fps now.
Heck! the model needs to come with some sort of Celestia 'health warning'. So much for my attempts to show something flying smoothly within the Earths atmosphere :roll:

regards

JackHiggins · Post #17by **JackHiggins** » 24.08.2003, 18:43

TERRIER wrote:Heck! the model needs to come with some sort of Celestia 'health warning'.

Ask and ye shall recieve:

On my spacecraft page I wrote:HEALTH WARNING: The Helios UAV model has a HUGE file size, and will probably appear very jerky while viewing. You should expect around 5-10 FPS, even with a very fast PC and graphics card.

I'll do that any other time I put something else massive on to my site too...

// added later

Hey just noticed- this is my 500th post!!