Back in 2020, after having spent a good amount of time learning Blender The App and Blender The Techniques, I did what I usually do and skipped the training wheels, going straight for the throat.

The Viper Mk II from the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica seemed like a pretty straightforward modeling task, but ultimately turned out “just OK”. From my perspective in 2020, I was pleased with the results because it was the first model I had actually completed that looked like what it was supposed to. It was not without it’s own levels of difficulty, though. I remember having a hell of a time with the wings, and also the lateral engine housings which are not perfectly circular in the original design. I couldn’t figure out how to get them in their tilted, oblong shape.

I did the best I could, and again, at the time, I was pleased, even with the texturing I did when I first encountered Substance Painter.

I suppose this would be serviceable for a mid-1990’s PlayStation game, but now that it’s 2024 and I have spent a lot more time with Blender and Substance Painter, I feel that I know more now than I did back then. I know for a fact that I’m over some of the hang-ups I used to have about “modeling in parts” and now have experience with several techniques and tools such as boolean operations and retopology strategies.

I think — or maybe just want to feel — that I could do better now, so I’m considering revisiting the Viper Mk II for another go. Looking at the model above, the reference images I still have for the ship, and remembering the pain-points, I’m still not 100% certain that I can “solve” some of the issues I had before, but I do feel that I understand a “good workflow” better now, with blocking, incremental detail, and not trying to “get it right the first time” I throw down a cube, plane, or cylinder.