{"data":{"id":14244,"title":"How Ideas Take Flight: The Star Citizen Ship Pipeline","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/comm-link\/transmission\/14244-How-Ideas-Take-Flight-The-Star-Citizen-Ship-Pipeline","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-links\/14244","api_public_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/comm-links\/14244","channel":"Undefined","category":"Undefined","series":"None","images":[{"id":2487,"name":"M50progression.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/media\/3vemp4v0tmulgr\/source\/M50progression.jpg","alt":"","size":1256323,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2014-10-24T18:22:11+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/2487","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/2487\/similar"},{"id":2488,"name":"Ship_Function_Pipelinev4.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/media\/uv8581zqhv2k0r\/source\/Ship_Function_Pipelinev4.jpg","alt":"","size":3838515,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2014-10-24T12:28:05+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/2488","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/2488\/similar"},{"id":2491,"name":"Hobbins_hole.JPG","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/media\/xvfkb62g10uldr\/source\/Hobbins_hole.JPG","alt":"The Hobbins Hole","size":156059,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2014-10-24T15:16:08+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/2491","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/2491\/similar"},{"id":2493,"name":"Cutlass_Damage_State_Breakup.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/media\/jn4zcgjzvf21wr\/source\/Cutlass_Damage_State_Breakup.jpg","alt":"Cutlass damage state breakup","size":842782,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2014-10-23T18:51:18+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/2493","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/2493\/similar"},{"id":2494,"name":"Cutlass_Damage_State_Overview.jpg","rsi_url":"https:\/\/robertsspaceindustries.com\/media\/1rwcab6i6wdg2r\/source\/Cutlass_Damage_State_Overview.jpg","alt":"Cutlass damage state overview","size":4311874,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","last_modified":"2014-10-24T16:22:56+00:00","api_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/2494","similar_url":"https:\/\/api.star-citizen.wiki\/api\/comm-link-images\/2494\/similar"}],"images_count":10,"translations":{"en_EN":"Greetings Citizens,\nAs you may have heard, Star Citizen\u2019s ship development pipeline has recently undergone some updating as it has moved from our Austin studio to our Santa Monica studio to be closer to Chris Roberts. For the last month, we in Santa Monica have been \u201cin the ship\u201d so to speak. We\u2019ve been laying out the plan for the coming year of global ship development. And when we say global, we mean it! Chris Smith and Josh Coons are still building ships in Austin, while the team at Foundry 42 in Manchester will be using this same process to create ships needed for Squadron 42. We thought that this month represents a great opportunity to update the community on the status of all ships currently in various stage of the pipeline and use that as a touch stone to help explain the various stage of ship development, what they mean, and why they are important.\n\nBefore we go too deep into the ship development process and explanation of the pipeline we would like to take a moment to explain some changes that you may have noticed in the recent patches to some of the older Aurora, 300, and Hornet series ships already in your Hangar. If you purchased any of the variants for these ships you may have noticed that in the latest patch they look a bit different. For the last month or so the ship team has been working in close concert with members of the Santa Monica Engineering team to introduce a code driven variant system.\n\nWe are now able to build only the parts of the ship that are different for a variant which not only saves time in making the variants but also saves a tremendous amount of time maintaining the ships and fixing bugs. For example the 300, Aurora, and Hornet series all share the same cockpit with all variants in their series but, under the old system, these were all different models. This means that if we wanted to upgrade the cockpit interior in the Aurora we would have to go make the same geo changes to the Aurora LN, LX, MR, ES, CL so a single change would need to be done 5 times to have it be reflected across all the ships. Under the new system the code manages the ships more like Lego pieces attaching all the bits together. What this allows is for us to change one piece once and have that change be used across all the variants in the lineup as long as they are share that same piece. Not only is this an immense time saver in making the ships, setting up the ships, and upgrading the ships but it also allows us to dramatically decrease the amount of bugs that are created and the time it takes to fix any that crop up.\n\nTo start of this pseudo \u201cState of the Union\u201d on ships it is probably best to talk a bit about the pipeline itself as laid out in the above image, which is our latest process. The process itself breaks down into three primary stages which we\u2019ve also aligned to public facing releases to you, the community. These three primary stages are as follows:\n\nConcept Ready\nThis is where we share a finalized and approved concept to the community. At this stage we\u2019ve internally reviewed and approved the final renders after thorough exploration of functional design. A recent example of this is the Reclaimer.\n\nHangar Ready\nThis is where we have ships ready to go into the hangar of everyone who has purchased a ship. At this stage the model is mostly finalized and associated character animations are complete. If a ship has any variants our goal is to have any variants in of the ship Hangar Ready at the same time as each other. A recent example of this are the Constellations.\n\nDogfight Ready\nAt this stage we\u2019ve prepared the ships to be used in Arena Commander and later the Persistent Universe. The important differences is that we\u2019ve refined their LOD\u2019s, setup all of their damage states, visual effects, audio effects, final lighting, etc. A recent example of this is the M50.\n\n\nNow we are going to take you on a sojourn through the intricacies of each step in the process to reaching each milestone stage. Hold onto your hats, here we go!\n\nConcept Ready\nThe road to a ship being concept ready is arguably one of the loosest and most creatively raw. We start quite simply by identifying a role within the Star Citizen universe that we want to fill with a ship. This is done with collaboration between Design, Writers, Production, and of course Chris. The folks involved at this stage are generally Dan Tracy, Ben Lesnick, David Haddock, Chris Roberts, and Travis Day. Once the ship role is defined we discuss which of our universe\u2019s manufacturers would most likely produce this ship, generally what capabilities it will need to have. From there the design team will put together an initial pass at several stats options based on the earlier discussions for Chris to review. At the same time our writers will generate high level descriptions of the ship from a fictional perspective for Chris to choose from or refine. Coming out of this initial Design process we will have approved stats, approved fiction, and an approved name. Once the base model has been approved by Chris we go through much the same process to define the variant models for the ship.\n\nHigh-level concept\nAt this point we select the Concept Artist whether internal or external whom we feel is best positioned based on skillset and availability to tackle the concept of this ship. Once selected we provide all the materials and ideas generated above to the artist and have a meeting with them to discuss the documentation, ideas, fiction, and allow them to ask questions and pitch some initial directions they could see off the cuff. From there the artist will take all the information and begin the process of sketching up some quick roughs to show shape language and general design ideas. The concept artist will deliver back sometimes upward of 16 different roughs for Chris to review and provide feedback and direction on. Once Chris has made some selections and provided feedback on them we will continue through this iterative process until we\u2019ve settled on a final detailed sketch. First 3D renders\nTo continue the process the Concept Artist will then move into 3D using programs such as Modo or Maya. They translate the 2D sketches into 3D models that, while not nearly as detailed or clean as the final game models, bring the ship into 3 dimensions so we can begin tackling the technical and logistical details. As you all know our ships are designed to be quite functional and it is at this stage that the functionality takes center stage. Our Technical Designers, 3D Modelers, and Technical Animators become involved at this stage to work with the Concept Artist to flesh out details like how the landing gear operate, how the ship will land, where the thrusters will be located for optimal flight characteristics, interior cockpit placement, distance to control surfaces, location of the engineering bay, sleeping quarters, weapon placement etc. It is at this where we can make sure that the dimensions, layout, and design coming out of the Concept stage are going to work once we begin to build out the final in-game 3D ship in 3DS Max, animate in Maya, and ultimately import and setup in the CryEngine.\n\n\n\nFunny anecdote from this stage: during this phase of the concept for the Mustang which was done by David Hobbins we discovered that the units of measurement were off from his setup on Maya to the units being used for modelers in 3DS Max. This meant that as the pilot attempted to enter the cockpit the doorway was too small to fit the character so you were stuck in the hole behind the cockpit where the elevator is located. This coined the term around the office of \u201cThe Hobbins Hole\u201d.\n\nOnce everything is finalized and Art, Design, Animation have all signed off it is submitted for final review and approval by Chris. Once any feedback has been addressed we will complete this stage by rendering out several in situation shots from multiple angles which show it landed, flying in space, fighting, along with any special contextual functionality like the claw on the Reclaimer. It is at this point that we would release these renders to the community like we did recently with the Reclaimer and we advance the ship onto the phase of becoming Hangar Ready.\n\nHangar Ready\nThe process of getting a ship hangar ready is where we start to involve a lot more people in ship creation as the complexity increases and we attempt to streamline as much as possible by parallelizing efforts. The first step, coming out of the Concept Ready stage, is generally done in parallel to the final Concept renders is the \u201cSlice and Dice\u201d proposal and \u201cwhite boxing\u201d where our Technical Artists and Technical Designers will import the concept model and begin identifying the primary parts of the ship that we want to damage and destroy independently of each other and fleshing out how it will work. You can see an example of this for the Cutlass.\n\nThe importance of this step is to identify how we will need to go about modeling the ship since the ships, though they look whole, are actually comprised of all their functional pieces attached together by code at runtime. Once the this step is complete we can then parallelize the Art work and the Technical Design and implementation to save time.\n\nUsing the slice and dice and white box the Design team can move forward on setting up the vehicle implementation files where we define for the game code what equipment the ship will have by default and begin setting up the thruster positions and testing its flight mechanics and revising thruster placement in preparation for dogfighting ready. Meanwhile the Art team can then move forward with setting up the 3DS Max scene for the ship with each of the different models that comprise the ship and configuring the hierarchy as prescribed by the white box. Generally for this the Artists will use the early concept model as you would a mold for jewelry making where they build the new final game asset around\/atop the concept model removing concept model as they complete final game asset pieces until all that is left is the final game asset geo.\n\nOnce we have the base geometry laid built and the hierarchy set properly the Animation team then starts in on character and vehicle part animations for the ship while the Artists continue on to add hardpoints and helper positions to match what the technical designers have setup on the white box model so the that the vehicle implementation files will be properly referencing actual locations on the model the Artist has created. From there they will finish off UV Mapping, texturing, and material settings, configuring blend layers for wear and tear, etc. Once this is complete the model will be sent to Chris Roberts for review and feedback. From here on the 3D Modeler will iterate on the feedback from Chris until final approval and also support the Animators and Designers with any needs or changes that may still be required.\n\nLast but not least the model and animations will be turned over simultaneously to a Lighting Artist to setup the interior and exterior lighting of the ship and a Sound Designer who will make sure that all the sound effects for the ship, character animations, etc. are integrated and bring the ship to life. At the point that this is complete and we have a ship that we feel is hangar ready we then submit it to Chris Roberts a final time for his review. Following the integration of his feedback and his final approval we then integrate the ship into the next patch that is outbound to the community and shazaam, a new Hangar Ready ship is released.\n\nDogfight Ready\nThis stage of ship development is arguably the most technically complex but it is definitely the stage that involves the most people and requires the most close communication and collaboration between all development disciplines due to the complexity and interconnectivity of the ships and their systems. If you look at the Ship Pipeline document in this post you can see that this is where the most parallelization has been implemented and we can do that thanks to the changes that we\u2019ve made earlier on in the pipeline which start to pay dividends here. For example, if you remember the \u201cslice and dice\u201d proposal and the white box\u2026 Because we made those and broke the ship up into all its proper pieces for the hangar stage we can now have individual artists work on creating damage states for each of those pieces at the same time since they are each their own separate model and have their own place already laid out in the hierarchy of the ship. Once they\u2019ve completed this they will move on to baking out LODs for each of these pieces.\n\n\n\nFor the damage states in particular we have also developed a new system in collaboration between Engineers, Tech Artists, and our Visual Effects team. If you remember from some of the older behind the scenes videos with Forrest, we used to have to have VFX artists create custom effects and go through setting them up on the model and in XML to trigger the effects to play. With our new system the artists that are actually making the damage states can actually place in helpers on the model themselves at the place where they want visual effects to appear. Based on the name that they give to helper the code will automatically play the effect they\u2019ve chosen at that position they specify. This allows the Artists to place the visual effects where they envision them as they are modeling and the VFX artists to focus solely on making a huge library of cutting edge effects for people to use while spending less time on the technical implementation.\n\n\n\nAt the same time our UI team will begin laying in the various HUD and instrumentation elements that they had concepted and created for the ship during the modeling phase and refining them to match with any changes and feedback from Chris Roberts. This is a very iterative process that we are still building some tech to properly support all the creative diegetic displays that our UI Artist Zane Bien is concepting to fit Chris\u2019 vision for the HUD in Star Citizen.\n\nFinally the VFX and Animation team will create any custom effects and animations required for the ship that it hasn\u2019t gotten in a previous stage. Following that the Audio team will go in make sure that every single animation, effect, HUD element, basically everything, has an associated SFX that brings the ship to life. As they do this design will finalize the implementation of all the damage states, vehicle stats, implementation files, weapons and thruster configuration balance until they are satisfied with their results.\n\nAs with every stage in the pipeline Chris is involved at every turn but it is here for the Dogfight Ready stage that Chris then has his final review and feedback for the ship before it is released out to the public. Following the integration of Chris\u2019 feedback the ship is then integrated into the next patch going live to the public and we all watch like eager parents as the patch goes live and our ship is released into the hands of the community.\n\n\nThat about wraps up this dissertation on the pipeline and process that we use to develop ships here at Cloud Imperium Games! I can honestly say that one of my favorite things about working on this project is our freedom. By freedom I certainly mean the creative freedom without a publisher but more to the point it is also the freedom to share our development process with everyone in the community that makes this all possible. Having the opportunity to show everyone the development process in this kind of \u201copen kimono\u201d fashion is very liberating and fun for all of us here at Cloud Imperium and we hope that you all enjoy hearing about it as much as we love sharing it. Thank you to everyone in the community who has backed this project and made this kind of unique creative development relationship possible! See you all in the \u2018verse!\n\nSincerely,\nTravis Day\nProducer \u2013 Star Citizen\n\nThis chart shows what the next stage is for each ship in the pipeline. Note that this is not every ship in development; some which have yet to be revealed are not included! (And others, like the newly selected Wave 4 ships, have not yet entered the pipeline.)\n\nShip Name Current status Next Stage 315p Hangar Ready Flight Ready 325a Complete Complete 890 Jump Concept Ready Hangar Ready Aurora CL Hangar Ready Flight Ready Aurora ES Hangar Ready Flight Ready Aurora LN Hangar Ready Flight Ready Aurora LX Hangar Ready Flight Ready Avenger Hangar Ready Flight Ready Avenger Variant 1 Concept Concept Ready Avenger Variant 2 Concept Concept Ready Avenger Variant 3 Concept Concept Ready Banu Merchantman Concept Concept Ready Carrack Concept Concept Ready Caterpillar Concept Concept Ready Reclaimer Concept Concept Ready Constellation Andromeda Hangar Ready Flight Ready Constellation Aquila Hangar Ready Flight Ready Constellation Taurus Hangar Ready Flight Ready Constellation Phoenix Hangar Ready Flight Ready Cutlass Black Hangar Ready Flight Ready Cutlass Blue Hangar Ready Flight Ready Cutlass Red Hangar Ready Flight Ready Freelancer Hangar Ready Flight Ready Freelancer DUR Hangar Ready Flight Ready Freelancer MAX Hangar Ready Flight Ready Freelancer MIS Hangar Ready Flight Ready Gladiator Concept Ready Hangar Ready Gladius Concept Ready Hangar Ready Herald Concept Concept Ready Hornet F7C-M Hangar Ready Flight Ready Hornet F7C-R Hangar Ready Flight Ready Hornet F7C-S Hangar Ready Flight Ready Idris M Concept Ready Hangar Ready Idris P Concept Ready Hangar Ready Manticore Concept Concept Ready Mustang Concept Ready Hangar Ready Mustang Beta Concept Ready Hangar Ready Mustang Delta Concept Ready Hangar Ready Mustang Gamma Concept Ready Hangar Ready Mustang Omega Hangar Ready Flight Ready New Corvette Concept Concept Ready Hull C Concept Concept Ready P52 Merlin Concept Ready Hangar Ready Redeemer Concept Ready Hangar Ready Retaliator Concept Ready Hangar Ready Starfarer Concept Concept Ready Vanduul Glaive Hangar Ready Flight Ready Vanduul Scythe Hangar Ready Flight Ready Xi\u2019an Scout Concept Ready Hangar Ready Xi\u2019an Volper Concept Concept Ready","de_DE":"Gr\u00fc\u00dfe B\u00fcrger,\nWie Sie vielleicht geh\u00f6rt haben, wurde die Schiffsentwicklungspipeline von Star Citizen k\u00fcrzlich etwas aktualisiert, da sie von unserem Austin-Studio in unser Santa Monica-Studio umgezogen ist, um Chris Roberts n\u00e4her zu sein. In den letzten Monaten waren wir in Santa Monica sozusagen \"auf dem Schiff\". Wir haben den Plan f\u00fcr das kommende Jahr der globalen Schiffsentwicklung ausgearbeitet. Und wenn wir global sagen, meinen wir es ernst! Chris Smith und Josh Coons bauen noch immer Schiffe in Austin, w\u00e4hrend das Team der Gie\u00dferei 42 in Manchester diesen Prozess nutzen wird, um die f\u00fcr die Staffel 42 ben\u00f6tigten Schiffe zu bauen. Wir dachten, dass dieser Monat eine gro\u00dfartige Gelegenheit darstellt, die Gemeinschaft \u00fcber den Status aller Schiffe, die sich derzeit in verschiedenen Phasen der Pipeline befinden, zu informieren und diesen als Ber\u00fchrungspunkt zu nutzen, um die verschiedenen Phasen der Schiffsentwicklung zu erkl\u00e4ren, was sie bedeuten und warum sie wichtig sind.\n\nBevor wir zu tief in den Schiffsentwicklungsprozess und die Erkl\u00e4rung der Pipeline einsteigen, m\u00f6chten wir uns einen Moment Zeit nehmen, um einige \u00c4nderungen zu erl\u00e4utern, die Sie in den letzten Patches an einigen der \u00e4lteren Schiffe der Serien Aurora, 300 und Hornet bemerkt haben, die sich bereits in Ihrem Hangar befinden. Wenn Sie eine der Varianten f\u00fcr diese Schiffe gekauft haben, haben Sie vielleicht bemerkt, dass sie im letzten Patch etwas anders aussehen. Seit etwa einem Monat arbeitet das Schiffsteam eng mit den Mitgliedern des Santa Monica Engineering Teams zusammen, um ein codegetriebenes Variantensystem einzuf\u00fchren.\n\nWir sind jetzt in der Lage, nur die Teile des Schiffes zu bauen, die sich von denen einer Variante unterscheiden, was nicht nur Zeit bei der Erstellung der Varianten spart, sondern auch eine enorme Zeitersparnis bei der Wartung der Schiffe und der Behebung von Fehlern. Zum Beispiel teilen sich die Serien 300, Aurora und Hornet alle das gleiche Cockpit mit allen Varianten ihrer Serie, aber nach dem alten System waren dies alles unterschiedliche Modelle. Das bedeutet, dass wir, wenn wir den Cockpitinnenraum in der Aurora aufr\u00fcsten wollten, die gleichen Geo\u00e4nderungen an der Aurora LN, LX, MR, ES, CL vornehmen m\u00fcssten, so dass eine einzige \u00c4nderung f\u00fcnfmal durchgef\u00fchrt werden m\u00fcsste, damit sie auf allen Schiffen ber\u00fccksichtigt wird. Unter dem neuen System verwaltet der Code die Schiffe eher wie Legosteine, die alle Bits miteinander verbinden. Was dies erm\u00f6glicht, ist f\u00fcr uns, ein St\u00fcck einmal zu \u00e4ndern und diese \u00c4nderung f\u00fcr alle Varianten in der Aufstellung zu verwenden, solange sie das gleiche St\u00fcck teilen. Dies ist nicht nur ein immenser Zeitgewinn bei der Herstellung der Schiffe, der Einrichtung der Schiffe und der Modernisierung der Schiffe, sondern erm\u00f6glicht es uns auch, die Anzahl der entstandenen Fehler und die Zeit, die es braucht, um auftretende Fehler zu beheben, drastisch zu reduzieren.\n\nUm dieses Pseudo \"State of the Union\" auf Schiffen zu beginnen, ist es wahrscheinlich am besten, ein wenig \u00fcber die Pipeline selbst zu sprechen, wie im obigen Bild, unserem neuesten Prozess, dargestellt. Der Prozess selbst gliedert sich in drei Hauptschritte, die wir auch auf Ver\u00f6ffentlichungen f\u00fcr Sie, die Community, abgestimmt haben. Diese drei Hauptstufen sind wie folgt:\n\nKonzept bereit\nHier teilen wir ein fertiges und genehmigtes Konzept mit der Community. In dieser Phase haben wir nach eingehender Pr\u00fcfung des funktionalen Designs die endg\u00fcltigen Rendern intern \u00fcberpr\u00fcft und genehmigt. Ein aktuelles Beispiel daf\u00fcr ist der Reclaimer.\nHangar bereit\nHier haben wir Schiffe, die bereit sind, in den Hangar von jedem zu gehen, der ein Schiff gekauft hat. In dieser Phase ist das Modell weitgehend fertig gestellt und die zugeh\u00f6rigen Charakteranimationen sind abgeschlossen. Wenn ein Schiff irgendwelche Varianten hat, ist es unser Ziel, alle Varianten im Hangar des Schiffes gleichzeitig bereit zu haben. Ein aktuelles Beispiel daf\u00fcr sind die Konstellationen.\nLuftkampf bereit\nIn dieser Phase haben wir die Schiffe f\u00fcr den Einsatz im Arena Commander und sp\u00e4ter im Persistent Universe vorbereitet. Die wichtigen Unterschiede bestehen darin, dass wir ihre LOD's verfeinert haben, alle ihre Schadenszust\u00e4nde, visuelle Effekte, Audioeffekte, Endbeleuchtung, etc. einstellen. Ein aktuelles Beispiel daf\u00fcr ist der M50.\n\nJetzt nehmen wir Sie mit auf einen Aufenthalt durch die Feinheiten jedes einzelnen Schrittes im Prozess, um jede Meilensteinphase zu erreichen. Haltet eure H\u00fcte fest, los geht's!\n\nKonzept bereit\nDer Weg zu einem konzeptreifen Schiff ist wohl einer der lockersten und kreativsten. Wir beginnen ganz einfach damit, eine Rolle innerhalb des Star Citizen Universums zu identifizieren, die wir mit einem Schiff besetzen wollen. Dies geschieht in Zusammenarbeit zwischen Design, Autoren, Produktion und nat\u00fcrlich Chris. Die Leute, die in dieser Phase beteiligt sind, sind im Allgemeinen Dan Tracy, Ben Lesnick, David Haddock, Chris Roberts und Travis Day. Sobald die Schiffsrolle definiert ist, besprechen wir, welcher der Hersteller unseres Universums dieses Schiff am ehesten produzieren w\u00fcrde, im Allgemeinen, welche F\u00e4higkeiten es haben muss. Von dort aus wird das Designteam einen ersten Durchgang zu mehreren Statistikoptionen zusammenstellen, die auf den fr\u00fcheren Diskussionen basieren, die Chris \u00fcberpr\u00fcfen soll. Gleichzeitig werden unsere Autoren hochrangige Beschreibungen des Schiffes aus einer fiktiven Perspektive erstellen, aus der Chris w\u00e4hlen oder verfeinern kann. Nach diesem ersten Designprozess werden wir genehmigte Statistiken, freigegebene Fiktion und einen genehmigten Namen haben. Sobald das Basismodell von Chris genehmigt wurde, durchlaufen wir den gleichen Prozess, um die Variantenmodelle f\u00fcr das Schiff zu definieren.\n\nHochwertiges Konzept\nAn dieser Stelle w\u00e4hlen wir den Konzeptk\u00fcnstler aus, ob intern oder extern, von dem wir glauben, dass er aufgrund von F\u00e4higkeiten und Verf\u00fcgbarkeit am besten positioniert ist, um das Konzept dieses Schiffes in Angriff zu nehmen. Nach der Auswahl stellen wir dem K\u00fcnstler alle oben generierten Materialien und Ideen zur Verf\u00fcgung und treffen uns mit ihm, um die Dokumentation, Ideen, Fiktion zu besprechen und ihm zu erlauben, Fragen zu stellen und erste Anweisungen zu geben, die er von der Manschette aus sehen kann. Von dort aus nimmt der K\u00fcnstler alle Informationen und beginnt den Prozess der Skizzierung einiger schneller Roughs, um die Formensprache und allgemeine Designideen zu zeigen. Der Konzeptk\u00fcnstler wird manchmal mehr als 16 verschiedene Roughs liefern, damit Chris sie \u00fcberpr\u00fcfen und Feedback und Anleitung geben kann. Sobald Chris einige Auswahlen getroffen und Feedback gegeben hat, werden wir diesen iterativen Prozess fortsetzen, bis wir uns auf eine endg\u00fcltige detaillierte Skizze geeinigt haben.\n\n\nErste 3D-Renderings\nUm den Prozess fortzusetzen, wird der Konzeptk\u00fcnstler dann mit Programmen wie Modo oder Maya in 3D \u00fcbergehen. Sie \u00fcbersetzen die 2D-Skizzen in 3D-Modelle, die zwar nicht ann\u00e4hernd so detailliert oder sauber sind wie die endg\u00fcltigen Spielmodelle, aber das Schiff in 3 Dimensionen bringen, damit wir mit den technischen und logistischen Details beginnen k\u00f6nnen. Wie Sie alle wissen, sind unsere Schiffe so konzipiert, dass sie sehr funktional sind, und in dieser Phase steht die Funktionalit\u00e4t im Mittelpunkt. Unsere technischen Designer, 3D-Modellierer und technischen Animatoren werden in dieser Phase in die Arbeit mit dem Konzeptk\u00fcnstler einbezogen, um Details wie die Funktionsweise des Fahrwerks, die Landung des Schiffes, die Lage der Triebwerke f\u00fcr optimale Flugeigenschaften, die Platzierung im Cockpit, die Entfernung zu den Steuerfl\u00e4chen, die Lage der Konstruktionshalle, die Schlafr\u00e4ume, die Waffenplatzierung usw. zu verdeutlichen. An dieser Stelle k\u00f6nnen wir sicherstellen, dass die Dimensionen, das Layout und das Design, die aus der Konzeptphase kommen, funktionieren, sobald wir mit dem Bau des endg\u00fcltigen 3D-Schiffs im Spiel in 3DS Max beginnen, in Maya animieren und schlie\u00dflich in der CryEngine importieren und einrichten.\n\n\nLustige Anekdote aus dieser Phase: W\u00e4hrend dieser Phase des Konzeptes f\u00fcr den Mustang, das von David Hobbins durchgef\u00fchrt wurde, entdeckten wir, dass die Ma\u00dfeinheiten von seinem Setup am Maya bis zu den Einheiten, die f\u00fcr Modellbauer in 3DS Max verwendet wurden, nicht mehr g\u00fcltig waren. Dies bedeutete, dass, als der Pilot versuchte, das Cockpit zu betreten, die T\u00fcr\u00f6ffnung zu klein war, um dem Charakter zu entsprechen, so dass man in dem Loch hinter dem Cockpit festsa\u00df, in dem sich der Aufzug befindet. Dies pr\u00e4gte den Begriff um das Amt des \"The Hobbins Hole\" herum.\n\nSobald alles fertig ist und Art, Design, Animation alle unterschrieben haben, wird es zur endg\u00fcltigen \u00dcberpr\u00fcfung und Genehmigung durch Chris eingereicht. Sobald alle R\u00fcckmeldungen eingegangen sind, werden wir diese Phase abschlie\u00dfen, indem wir mehrere Situationsaufnahmen aus verschiedenen Blickwinkeln ausgeben, die zeigen, wie sie gelandet sind, im Weltraum fliegen, k\u00e4mpfen, zusammen mit allen speziellen Kontextfunktionen wie der Klaue am Reclaimer. An diesem Punkt w\u00fcrden wir diese Render an die Community freigeben, wie wir es k\u00fcrzlich mit dem Reclaimer getan haben, und wir bringen das Schiff in die Phase, Hangar Ready zu werden.\n\nHangar bereit\nDer Prozess der Vorbereitung eines Schiffshangars beginnt damit, dass wir mit zunehmender Komplexit\u00e4t viel mehr Menschen in die Schiffsentwicklung einbeziehen und versuchen, durch Parallelisierung der Bem\u00fchungen so viel wie m\u00f6glich zu rationalisieren. Der erste Schritt, der aus der Concept Ready-Phase kommt, wird in der Regel parallel zu den endg\u00fcltigen Concept-Renderings durchgef\u00fchrt, ist der \"Slice and Dice\"-Vorschlag und das \"White Boxing\", bei dem unsere Technischen K\u00fcnstler und Technischen Designer das Konzeptmodell importieren und beginnen, die prim\u00e4ren Teile des Schiffes zu identifizieren, die wir unabh\u00e4ngig voneinander besch\u00e4digen und zerst\u00f6ren wollen, und herauszufinden, wie es funktionieren wird. Sie k\u00f6nnen ein Beispiel daf\u00fcr f\u00fcr das Entermesser sehen.\n\nDie Bedeutung dieses Schrittes besteht darin, herauszufinden, wie wir mit der Modellierung des Schiffes umgehen m\u00fcssen, da die Schiffe, obwohl sie ganz aussehen, eigentlich aus allen ihren Funktionsteilen bestehen, die zur Laufzeit per Code miteinander verbunden sind. Sobald dieser Schritt abgeschlossen ist, k\u00f6nnen wir das Kunstwerk und das technische Design und die Implementierung parallelisieren, um Zeit zu sparen.\n\nMit Hilfe der Slice and Dice and White Box kann das Designteam die Einrichtung der Fahrzeug-Implementierungsdateien vorantreiben, in denen wir f\u00fcr den Spiel-Code definieren, welche Ausr\u00fcstung das Schiff standardm\u00e4\u00dfig haben wird, und mit der Einrichtung der Thrusterpositionen und dem Testen seiner Flugmechanik und der \u00dcberarbeitung der Thrusterplatzierung zur Vorbereitung auf den Luftkampf beginnen. In der Zwischenzeit kann das Art-Team dann mit der Einrichtung der 3DS Max-Szene f\u00fcr das Schiff mit jedem der verschiedenen Modelle, aus denen das Schiff besteht, fortfahren und die Hierarchie gem\u00e4\u00df der wei\u00dfen Box konfigurieren. Im Allgemeinen f\u00fcr dieses verwenden die K\u00fcnstler das fr\u00fche Konzeptmodell, wie Sie eine Form f\u00fcr die Schmuckherstellung w\u00fcrden, in der sie das neue abschlie\u00dfende Spielanlagegut um\/auf dem Konzeptmodell aufbauen, das Konzeptmodell entfernt, w\u00e4hrend sie abschlie\u00dfende Spielanlagegutst\u00fccke abschlie\u00dfen, bis alle, die gelassen wird, das abschlie\u00dfende Spielanlagegut Geo ist.\n\nSobald wir die Basisgeometrie erstellt und die Hierarchie richtig eingestellt haben, beginnt das Animationsteam mit den Charakter- und Fahrzeugteilanimationen f\u00fcr das Schiff, w\u00e4hrend die K\u00fcnstler weiterhin Hardpoints und Hilfspositionen hinzuf\u00fcgen, um dem zu entsprechen, was die Konstrukteure am White Box Modell eingerichtet haben, so dass die Fahrzeugimplementierungsdateien die tats\u00e4chlichen Positionen auf dem Modell, das der K\u00fcnstler erstellt hat, korrekt referenzieren werden. Von dort aus werden sie die UV-Mapping, Texturierung und Materialeinstellungen abschlie\u00dfen, Mischschichten f\u00fcr Verschlei\u00df konfigurieren, etc. Sobald dies abgeschlossen ist, wird das Modell an Chris Roberts zur \u00dcberpr\u00fcfung und R\u00fcckmeldung geschickt. Von hier aus wird der 3D-Modellierer auf dem Feedback von Chris bis zur endg\u00fcltigen Freigabe iterieren und auch die Animatoren und Designer bei allen Bed\u00fcrfnissen oder \u00c4nderungen unterst\u00fctzen, die noch erforderlich sind.\n\nLast but not least werden das Modell und die Animationen gleichzeitig an einen Lichtk\u00fcnstler \u00fcbergeben, der die Innen- und Au\u00dfenbeleuchtung des Schiffes einrichtet, und einen Sound Designer, der daf\u00fcr sorgt, dass alle Soundeffekte f\u00fcr das Schiff, Charakteranimationen usw. integriert werden und das Schiff zum Leben erwecken. An dem Punkt, an dem dies abgeschlossen ist und wir ein Schiff haben, von dem wir glauben, dass es einen Hangar bereit ist, legen wir es Chris Roberts ein letztes Mal zur \u00dcberpr\u00fcfung vor. Nach der Integration seines Feedbacks und seiner endg\u00fcltigen Genehmigung integrieren wir das Schiff in den n\u00e4chsten Patch, der an die Community geht, und Shazaam, ein neues Hangar Ready Schiff wird freigegeben.\n\nLuftkampf bereit\nDiese Phase der Schiffsentwicklung ist wohl die technisch komplexeste, aber es ist definitiv die Phase, in der die meisten Menschen beteiligt sind und die aufgrund der Komplexit\u00e4t und Vernetzung der Schiffe und ihrer Systeme die engste Kommunikation und Zusammenarbeit zwischen allen Entwicklungsdisziplinen erfordert. Wenn Sie sich das Dokument Ship Pipeline in diesem Beitrag ansehen, k\u00f6nnen Sie sehen, dass hier die gr\u00f6\u00dfte Parallelisierung durchgef\u00fchrt wurde, und das k\u00f6nnen wir dank der \u00c4nderungen, die wir bereits fr\u00fcher in der Pipeline vorgenommen haben und die sich hier auszuzahlen beginnen. Wenn Sie sich zum Beispiel an den Vorschlag \"Slice and Dice\" und die wei\u00dfe Box erinnern.... Weil wir diese gemacht und das Schiff in alle seine richtigen St\u00fccke f\u00fcr die Hangarb\u00fchne zerlegt haben, k\u00f6nnen wir jetzt einzelne K\u00fcnstler gleichzeitig daran arbeiten lassen, Schadenszust\u00e4nde f\u00fcr jedes dieser St\u00fccke zu erzeugen, da sie jeweils ihr eigenes Modell sind und ihren eigenen Platz bereits in der Hierarchie des Schiffes festgelegt haben. Sobald sie dies abgeschlossen haben, werden sie mit dem Ausbacken der LODs f\u00fcr jedes dieser St\u00fccke fortfahren.\n\n\nInsbesondere f\u00fcr die Schadenszust\u00e4nde haben wir in Zusammenarbeit zwischen Ingenieuren, Technikern und unserem Visual Effects-Team ein neues System entwickelt. Wenn Sie sich an einige der \u00e4lteren Videos hinter den Kulissen mit Forrest erinnern, mussten wir fr\u00fcher VFX-K\u00fcnstler benutzerdefinierte Effekte erstellen lassen und diese auf dem Modell und in XML einrichten, um die Effekte zum Abspielen zu aktivieren. Mit unserem neuen System k\u00f6nnen die K\u00fcnstler, die die Schadenszust\u00e4nde tats\u00e4chlich machen, in Helfern auf dem Modell selbst an der Stelle, an der sie visuelle Effekte haben wollen, platzieren. Basierend auf dem Namen, den sie dem Helfer geben, spielt der Code automatisch den Effekt ab, den er an der von ihm angegebenen Position gew\u00e4hlt hat. Dies erm\u00f6glicht es den K\u00fcnstlern, die visuellen Effekte dort zu platzieren, wo sie sie sich vorstellen, w\u00e4hrend sie modellieren, und die VFX-K\u00fcnstler konzentrieren sich ausschlie\u00dflich darauf, eine riesige Bibliothek von innovativen Effekten f\u00fcr die Benutzer zu erstellen, w\u00e4hrend sie weniger Zeit mit der technischen Umsetzung verbringen.\n\n\nGleichzeitig wird unser UI-Team damit beginnen, die verschiedenen HUD- und Instrumentierungselemente, die sie w\u00e4hrend der Modellierungsphase f\u00fcr das Schiff konzipiert und erstellt hatten, einzubauen und an die \u00c4nderungen und das Feedback von Chris Roberts anzupassen. Dies ist ein sehr iterativer Prozess, bei dem wir immer noch etwas Technologie aufbauen, um all die kreativen diegetischen Displays, die unser UI-K\u00fcnstler Zane Bien konzipiert, richtig zu unterst\u00fctzen, um Chris' Vision f\u00fcr das HUD in Star Citizen zu verwirklichen.\n\nSchlie\u00dflich wird das VFX- und Animationsteam alle benutzerdefinierten Effekte und Animationen erstellen, die f\u00fcr das Schiff erforderlich sind, das es in einem fr\u00fcheren Stadium nicht erhalten hat. Danach wird das Audio-Team sicherstellen, dass jedes einzelne Animations-, Effekt- und HUD-Element, also praktisch alles, einen zugeh\u00f6rigen SFX hat, der das Schiff zum Leben erweckt. W\u00e4hrend sie dies tun, wird dieses Design die Implementierung aller Schadenszust\u00e4nde, Fahrzeugstatistiken, Implementierungsdateien, Waffen und Triebwerkskonfigurationsbalance abschlie\u00dfen, bis sie mit ihren Ergebnissen zufrieden sind.\n\nWie bei jeder Phase in der Pipeline ist Chris an jeder Ecke beteiligt, aber es ist hier f\u00fcr die Dogfight Ready Phase, dass Chris dann seine letzte \u00dcberpr\u00fcfung und sein Feedback f\u00fcr das Schiff hat, bevor es an die \u00d6ffentlichkeit freigegeben wird. Nach der Integration von Chris' Feedback wird das Schiff dann in den n\u00e4chsten Patch integriert, der live an die \u00d6ffentlichkeit geht, und wir alle beobachten wie eifrige Eltern, wie der Patch live geht und unser Schiff in die H\u00e4nde der Community freigegeben wird.\n\n\nDas schlie\u00dft diese Dissertation \u00fcber die Pipeline und den Prozess ab, mit dem wir hier bei Cloud Imperium Games Schiffe entwickeln! Ich kann ehrlich sagen, dass eine meiner Lieblingsbesch\u00e4ftigungen bei der Arbeit an diesem Projekt unsere Freiheit ist. Mit Freiheit meine ich sicherlich die kreative Freiheit ohne Verleger, aber vor allem ist es auch die Freiheit, unseren Entwicklungsprozess mit allen in der Gemeinschaft zu teilen, die dies alles erm\u00f6glicht. Die M\u00f6glichkeit, jedem den Entwicklungsprozess in dieser Art von \"offenem Kimono\" zu zeigen, ist f\u00fcr uns alle hier bei Cloud Imperium sehr befreiend und macht Spa\u00df, und wir hoffen, dass es euch allen genauso viel Spa\u00df macht, davon zu h\u00f6ren, wie wir es lieben, es zu teilen. Vielen Dank an alle in der Community, die dieses Projekt unterst\u00fctzt und diese Art von einzigartiger kreativer Entwicklungsbeziehung erm\u00f6glicht haben! Ich sehe euch alle im Vers!\n\nMit freundlichen Gr\u00fc\u00dfen,\nTravis Day\nProduzent - Star Citizen\n\nDieses Diagramm zeigt, was die n\u00e4chste Stufe f\u00fcr jedes Schiff in der Pipeline ist. Beachten Sie, dass dies nicht jedes Schiff in der Entwicklung ist; einige, die noch nicht bekannt sind, sind nicht enthalten! (Und andere, wie die neu ausgew\u00e4hlten Wave-4-Schiffe, sind noch nicht in die Pipeline eingetreten.)\n\nSchiffsname Aktueller Status N\u00e4chste Stufe 315p Hangar Ready Flight Ready 325a Complete Complete Complete 890 Jump Concept Ready Hangar Ready Aurora CL Hangar Ready Flight Ready Aurora ES Hangar Ready Flight Ready Aurora LN Hangar Ready Flight Ready Flight Ready Aurora LX Hangar Ready Flight Ready Aurora Aurora LX Hangar Ready Flight Ready Avenger Hangar Ready Flight Ready Avenger Variante 1 Konzept Konzept Konzept Ready Avenger Variante 2 Konzept Konzept Ready Avenger Variante 3 Konzept Konzept Ready Banu Merchantman Konzept Konzept Ready Carrack Konzept Konzept Konzept Ready Caterpillar Konzept Konzept Ready Reclaimer Konzept Konzept Ready Constellation Andromeda Hangar Ready Flight Ready Constellation Aquila Hangar Ready Flight Ready Constellation Taurus Hangar Ready Flight Ready Constellation Phoenix Hangar Ready Flight Ready Cutlass Black Hangar Ready Flight Ready Cutlass Blue Hangar Ready Flight Ready Flight Ready Cutlass Red Hangar Ready Flight Ready Freelancer Hangar Ready Flight Ready Freelancer DUR Hangar Ready Flight Ready Freelancer MAX Hangar Ready Flight Ready Freelancer MIS Hangar Ready Flight Ready Gladiator Konzept Ready Hangar Ready Gladius Konzept Ready Hangar Ready Hangar Ready Herald Konzept Konzept Ready Hornet F7C-M Hangar Ready Flight Ready Hornet F7C-R Hangar Ready Flight Ready Hornet F7C-S Hangar Ready Flight Ready Idris M Konzept Ready Hangar Ready Idris P Konzept Ready Hangar Ready Manticore Konzept Konzept Ready Mustang Konzept Ready Hangar Ready Mustang Beta Konzept Ready Hangar Ready Mustang Delta Konzept Ready Hangar Ready Hangar Ready Mustang Gamma Konzept Ready Hangar Ready Mustang Omega Hangar Ready Flight Ready New Corvette Concept Konzept Ready Hull C Konzept Konzept Ready P52 Merlin Konzept Ready Hangar Ready Redeemer Konzept Ready Hangar Ready Retaliator Konzept Ready Hangar Ready Hangar Ready Starfarer Konzept Konzept Ready Vanduul Glaive Hangar Ready Flight Ready Vanduul Scythe Hangar Ready Flight Ready Xi'an Scout Konzept Ready Hangar Ready Xi'an Volper Konzept Ready Concept Ready","zh_CN":"Greetings Citizens,\nAs you may have heard, Star Citizen\u2019s ship development pipeline has recently undergone some updating as it has moved from our Austin studio to our Santa Monica studio to be closer to Chris Roberts. For the last month, we in Santa Monica have been \u201cin the ship\u201d so to speak. We\u2019ve been laying out the plan for the coming year of global ship development. And when we say global, we mean it! Chris Smith and Josh Coons are still building ships in Austin, while the team at Foundry 42 in Manchester will be using this same process to create ships needed for Squadron 42. We thought that this month represents a great opportunity to update the community on the status of all ships currently in various stage of the pipeline and use that as a touch stone to help explain the various stage of ship development, what they mean, and why they are important.\n\nBefore we go too deep into the ship development process and explanation of the pipeline we would like to take a moment to explain some changes that you may have noticed in the recent patches to some of the older Aurora, 300, and Hornet series ships already in your Hangar. If you purchased any of the variants for these ships you may have noticed that in the latest patch they look a bit different. For the last month or so the ship team has been working in close concert with members of the Santa Monica Engineering team to introduce a code driven variant system.\n\nWe are now able to build only the parts of the ship that are different for a variant which not only saves time in making the variants but also saves a tremendous amount of time maintaining the ships and fixing bugs. For example the 300, Aurora, and Hornet series all share the same cockpit with all variants in their series but, under the old system, these were all different models. This means that if we wanted to upgrade the cockpit interior in the Aurora we would have to go make the same geo changes to the Aurora LN, LX, MR, ES, CL so a single change would need to be done 5 times to have it be reflected across all the ships. Under the new system the code manages the ships more like Lego pieces attaching all the bits together. What this allows is for us to change one piece once and have that change be used across all the variants in the lineup as long as they are share that same piece. Not only is this an immense time saver in making the ships, setting up the ships, and upgrading the ships but it also allows us to dramatically decrease the amount of bugs that are created and the time it takes to fix any that crop up.\n\nTo start of this pseudo \u201cState of the Union\u201d on ships it is probably best to talk a bit about the pipeline itself as laid out in the above image, which is our latest process. The process itself breaks down into three primary stages which we\u2019ve also aligned to public facing releases to you, the community. These three primary stages are as follows:\n\nConcept Ready\nThis is where we share a finalized and approved concept to the community. At this stage we\u2019ve internally reviewed and approved the final renders after thorough exploration of functional design. A recent example of this is the Reclaimer.\n\nHangar Ready\nThis is where we have ships ready to go into the hangar of everyone who has purchased a ship. At this stage the model is mostly finalized and associated character animations are complete. If a ship has any variants our goal is to have any variants in of the ship Hangar Ready at the same time as each other. A recent example of this are the Constellations.\n\nDogfight Ready\nAt this stage we\u2019ve prepared the ships to be used in Arena Commander and later the Persistent Universe. The important differences is that we\u2019ve refined their LOD\u2019s, setup all of their damage states, visual effects, audio effects, final lighting, etc. A recent example of this is the M50.\n\n\nNow we are going to take you on a sojourn through the intricacies of each step in the process to reaching each milestone stage. Hold onto your hats, here we go!\n\nConcept Ready\nThe road to a ship being concept ready is arguably one of the loosest and most creatively raw. We start quite simply by identifying a role within the Star Citizen universe that we want to fill with a ship. This is done with collaboration between Design, Writers, Production, and of course Chris. The folks involved at this stage are generally Dan Tracy, Ben Lesnick, David Haddock, Chris Roberts, and Travis Day. Once the ship role is defined we discuss which of our universe\u2019s manufacturers would most likely produce this ship, generally what capabilities it will need to have. From there the design team will put together an initial pass at several stats options based on the earlier discussions for Chris to review. At the same time our writers will generate high level descriptions of the ship from a fictional perspective for Chris to choose from or refine. Coming out of this initial Design process we will have approved stats, approved fiction, and an approved name. Once the base model has been approved by Chris we go through much the same process to define the variant models for the ship.\n\nHigh-level concept\nAt this point we select the Concept Artist whether internal or external whom we feel is best positioned based on skillset and availability to tackle the concept of this ship. Once selected we provide all the materials and ideas generated above to the artist and have a meeting with them to discuss the documentation, ideas, fiction, and allow them to ask questions and pitch some initial directions they could see off the cuff. From there the artist will take all the information and begin the process of sketching up some quick roughs to show shape language and general design ideas. The concept artist will deliver back sometimes upward of 16 different roughs for Chris to review and provide feedback and direction on. Once Chris has made some selections and provided feedback on them we will continue through this iterative process until we\u2019ve settled on a final detailed sketch. First 3D renders\nTo continue the process the Concept Artist will then move into 3D using programs such as Modo or Maya. They translate the 2D sketches into 3D models that, while not nearly as detailed or clean as the final game models, bring the ship into 3 dimensions so we can begin tackling the technical and logistical details. As you all know our ships are designed to be quite functional and it is at this stage that the functionality takes center stage. Our Technical Designers, 3D Modelers, and Technical Animators become involved at this stage to work with the Concept Artist to flesh out details like how the landing gear operate, how the ship will land, where the thrusters will be located for optimal flight characteristics, interior cockpit placement, distance to control surfaces, location of the engineering bay, sleeping quarters, weapon placement etc. It is at this where we can make sure that the dimensions, layout, and design coming out of the Concept stage are going to work once we begin to build out the final in-game 3D ship in 3DS Max, animate in Maya, and ultimately import and setup in the CryEngine.\n\n\n\nFunny anecdote from this stage: during this phase of the concept for the Mustang which was done by David Hobbins we discovered that the units of measurement were off from his setup on Maya to the units being used for modelers in 3DS Max. This meant that as the pilot attempted to enter the cockpit the doorway was too small to fit the character so you were stuck in the hole behind the cockpit where the elevator is located. This coined the term around the office of \u201cThe Hobbins Hole\u201d.\n\nOnce everything is finalized and Art, Design, Animation have all signed off it is submitted for final review and approval by Chris. Once any feedback has been addressed we will complete this stage by rendering out several in situation shots from multiple angles which show it landed, flying in space, fighting, along with any special contextual functionality like the claw on the Reclaimer. It is at this point that we would release these renders to the community like we did recently with the Reclaimer and we advance the ship onto the phase of becoming Hangar Ready.\n\nHangar Ready\nThe process of getting a ship hangar ready is where we start to involve a lot more people in ship creation as the complexity increases and we attempt to streamline as much as possible by parallelizing efforts. The first step, coming out of the Concept Ready stage, is generally done in parallel to the final Concept renders is the \u201cSlice and Dice\u201d proposal and \u201cwhite boxing\u201d where our Technical Artists and Technical Designers will import the concept model and begin identifying the primary parts of the ship that we want to damage and destroy independently of each other and fleshing out how it will work. You can see an example of this for the Cutlass.\n\nThe importance of this step is to identify how we will need to go about modeling the ship since the ships, though they look whole, are actually comprised of all their functional pieces attached together by code at runtime. Once the this step is complete we can then parallelize the Art work and the Technical Design and implementation to save time.\n\nUsing the slice and dice and white box the Design team can move forward on setting up the vehicle implementation files where we define for the game code what equipment the ship will have by default and begin setting up the thruster positions and testing its flight mechanics and revising thruster placement in preparation for dogfighting ready. Meanwhile the Art team can then move forward with setting up the 3DS Max scene for the ship with each of the different models that comprise the ship and configuring the hierarchy as prescribed by the white box. Generally for this the Artists will use the early concept model as you would a mold for jewelry making where they build the new final game asset around\/atop the concept model removing concept model as they complete final game asset pieces until all that is left is the final game asset geo.\n\nOnce we have the base geometry laid built and the hierarchy set properly the Animation team then starts in on character and vehicle part animations for the ship while the Artists continue on to add hardpoints and helper positions to match what the technical designers have setup on the white box model so the that the vehicle implementation files will be properly referencing actual locations on the model the Artist has created. From there they will finish off UV Mapping, texturing, and material settings, configuring blend layers for wear and tear, etc. Once this is complete the model will be sent to Chris Roberts for review and feedback. From here on the 3D Modeler will iterate on the feedback from Chris until final approval and also support the Animators and Designers with any needs or changes that may still be required.\n\nLast but not least the model and animations will be turned over simultaneously to a Lighting Artist to setup the interior and exterior lighting of the ship and a Sound Designer who will make sure that all the sound effects for the ship, character animations, etc. are integrated and bring the ship to life. At the point that this is complete and we have a ship that we feel is hangar ready we then submit it to Chris Roberts a final time for his review. Following the integration of his feedback and his final approval we then integrate the ship into the next patch that is outbound to the community and shazaam, a new Hangar Ready ship is released.\n\nDogfight Ready\nThis stage of ship development is arguably the most technically complex but it is definitely the stage that involves the most people and requires the most close communication and collaboration between all development disciplines due to the complexity and interconnectivity of the ships and their systems. If you look at the Ship Pipeline document in this post you can see that this is where the most parallelization has been implemented and we can do that thanks to the changes that we\u2019ve made earlier on in the pipeline which start to pay dividends here. For example, if you remember the \u201cslice and dice\u201d proposal and the white box\u2026 Because we made those and broke the ship up into all its proper pieces for the hangar stage we can now have individual artists work on creating damage states for each of those pieces at the same time since they are each their own separate model and have their own place already laid out in the hierarchy of the ship. Once they\u2019ve completed this they will move on to baking out LODs for each of these pieces.\n\n\n\nFor the damage states in particular we have also developed a new system in collaboration between Engineers, Tech Artists, and our Visual Effects team. If you remember from some of the older behind the scenes videos with Forrest, we used to have to have VFX artists create custom effects and go through setting them up on the model and in XML to trigger the effects to play. With our new system the artists that are actually making the damage states can actually place in helpers on the model themselves at the place where they want visual effects to appear. Based on the name that they give to helper the code will automatically play the effect they\u2019ve chosen at that position they specify. This allows the Artists to place the visual effects where they envision them as they are modeling and the VFX artists to focus solely on making a huge library of cutting edge effects for people to use while spending less time on the technical implementation.\n\n\n\nAt the same time our UI team will begin laying in the various HUD and instrumentation elements that they had concepted and created for the ship during the modeling phase and refining them to match with any changes and feedback from Chris Roberts. This is a very iterative process that we are still building some tech to properly support all the creative diegetic displays that our UI Artist Zane Bien is concepting to fit Chris\u2019 vision for the HUD in Star Citizen.\n\nFinally the VFX and Animation team will create any custom effects and animations required for the ship that it hasn\u2019t gotten in a previous stage. Following that the Audio team will go in make sure that every single animation, effect, HUD element, basically everything, has an associated SFX that brings the ship to life. As they do this design will finalize the implementation of all the damage states, vehicle stats, implementation files, weapons and thruster configuration balance until they are satisfied with their results.\n\nAs with every stage in the pipeline Chris is involved at every turn but it is here for the Dogfight Ready stage that Chris then has his final review and feedback for the ship before it is released out to the public. Following the integration of Chris\u2019 feedback the ship is then integrated into the next patch going live to the public and we all watch like eager parents as the patch goes live and our ship is released into the hands of the community.\n\n\nThat about wraps up this dissertation on the pipeline and process that we use to develop ships here at Cloud Imperium Games! I can honestly say that one of my favorite things about working on this project is our freedom. By freedom I certainly mean the creative freedom without a publisher but more to the point it is also the freedom to share our development process with everyone in the community that makes this all possible. Having the opportunity to show everyone the development process in this kind of \u201copen kimono\u201d fashion is very liberating and fun for all of us here at Cloud Imperium and we hope that you all enjoy hearing about it as much as we love sharing it. Thank you to everyone in the community who has backed this project and made this kind of unique creative development relationship possible! See you all in the \u2018verse!\n\nSincerely,\nTravis Day\nProducer \u2013 Star Citizen\n\nThis chart shows what the next stage is for each ship in the pipeline. Note that this is not every ship in development; some which have yet to be revealed are not included! (And others, like the newly selected Wave 4 ships, have not yet entered the pipeline.)\n\nShip Name Current status Next Stage 315p Hangar Ready Flight Ready 325a Complete Complete 890 Jump Concept Ready Hangar Ready Aurora CL Hangar Ready Flight Ready Aurora ES Hangar Ready Flight Ready Aurora LN Hangar Ready Flight Ready Aurora LX Hangar Ready Flight Ready Avenger Hangar Ready Flight Ready Avenger Variant 1 Concept Concept Ready Avenger Variant 2 Concept Concept Ready Avenger Variant 3 Concept Concept Ready Banu Merchantman Concept Concept Ready Carrack Concept Concept Ready Caterpillar Concept Concept Ready Reclaimer Concept Concept Ready Constellation Andromeda Hangar Ready Flight Ready Constellation Aquila Hangar Ready Flight Ready Constellation Taurus Hangar Ready Flight Ready Constellation Phoenix Hangar Ready Flight Ready Cutlass Black Hangar Ready Flight Ready Cutlass Blue Hangar Ready Flight Ready Cutlass Red Hangar Ready Flight Ready Freelancer Hangar Ready Flight Ready Freelancer DUR Hangar Ready Flight Ready Freelancer MAX Hangar Ready Flight Ready Freelancer MIS Hangar Ready Flight Ready Gladiator Concept Ready Hangar Ready Gladius Concept Ready Hangar Ready Herald Concept Concept Ready Hornet F7C-M Hangar Ready Flight Ready Hornet F7C-R Hangar Ready Flight Ready Hornet F7C-S Hangar Ready Flight Ready Idris M Concept Ready Hangar Ready Idris P Concept Ready Hangar Ready Manticore Concept Concept Ready Mustang Concept Ready Hangar Ready Mustang Beta Concept Ready Hangar Ready Mustang Delta Concept Ready Hangar Ready Mustang Gamma Concept Ready Hangar Ready Mustang Omega Hangar Ready Flight Ready New Corvette Concept Concept Ready Hull C Concept Concept Ready P52 Merlin Concept Ready Hangar Ready Redeemer Concept Ready Hangar Ready Retaliator Concept Ready Hangar Ready Starfarer Concept Concept Ready Vanduul Glaive Hangar Ready Flight Ready Vanduul Scythe Hangar Ready Flight Ready Xi\u2019an Scout Concept Ready Hangar Ready Xi\u2019an Volper Concept Concept Ready"},"links_count":0,"comment_count":313,"created_at":"2014-10-24T00:00:00+00:00","created_at_human":"11 years ago"},"meta":{"processed_at":"2026-05-14 06:33:19","valid_relations":["images","links"],"prev_id":14243,"next_id":14245}}