Welcome to this weeks [b]Skywatch[/b] development diary! Today we want to show you some of the progress we've made on ship engines. Engines serve as a form of propulsion in Lost Skies, alongside sails and will come in different tiers. [h1]Early Renders[/h1] The image below is a super early render of a ship engine. We used this blockout model to determine the level of detail we wanted to apply to the engine geometry, as well as for scaling. Below is the same engine model as above, with basic textures applied. The image shows a general overview and result of the modular material layering system, intended for use on the vast majority of props in Lost Skies. Please note that the character model in the image is our old character model and has now been replaced with the model shown in the reveal trailer. The character was shown in this image for scale. Also, the material look and art direction are not representative of the final art target. Consider these as placeholders, purely for the purpose of testing the surfacing system and workflow. [img]https://i.imgur.com/VU71llF.png[/img] Due to project constraints and requirements around certain aspects of art production, the image below shows some preliminary exploration undertaken for solutions / workarounds to overcome these limitations. One key constraint imposed on art for ship components, environment assets and general props as a whole is to avoid (as much as possible) bespoke asset textures. To get around this, modulated vertex colours are used to expose, with a fair amount of artistic control, different generic material layers, that can be combined and blended in interesting ways. Looking at the lower image, the red vertex colour in this example is used to expose a rust layer. [img]https://i.imgur.com/taN2aSM.png[/img] And the image below shows a fully assembled engine, each using a single material, with all components subjected to the same asset pipeline. [img]https://i.imgur.com/EpIeeKK.png[/img] [h1][url=https://lostskiesgame.com/news/skywatch-6-aerodynamics-are-for-people-who-can-t-build-engines]Head on over to the Lost Skies website to read the rest of this weeks [b]Skywatch[/b] development diary![/url][/h1]