Spaceship Generator

A Blender script to procedurally generate 3D spaceships from a random seed.

Usage

• Install Blender 3.0 or greater: http://blender.org/download/
• Download newest add_mesh_SpaceshipGenerator.zip from the Releases section
• Under File > User Preferences... > Add-ons > Install From File... open the downloaded ZIP file
• Under File > User Preferences... > Add-ons enable this script (search for "spaceship")
• Add a spaceship in the 3D View under Add > Mesh > Spaceship

How it works

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJZyXqJ6nog

• Start with a box.
• Build the hull: Extrude the front/rear faces several times, adding random translation/scaling/rotation along the way.
• Add asymmetry to the hull: Pick random faces and extrude them out in a similar manner, reducing in scale each time.
• Add detail to the hull: Categorize each face by its orientation and generate details on it such as engines, antenna, weapon turrets, lights etc.
• Sometimes apply horizontal symmetry.
• Add a Bevel modifier to angularize the shape a bit.
• Apply materials to the final result.
• Take over the universe with your new infinite fleet of spaceships.

Extreme examples

The following screenshots were created using extreme values for the number of hull segments and asymmetry segments to show how the algorithm works.

Tips and Tricks

• The seeds used for generating random geometry and materials default to random integers, but you can replace these with any string. Different seeds are chosen every time you create a new spaceship, but they do not change when you edit the parameters for regenerating the current spaceship (unless you change them).
• Materials are generated with heavy use of node groups, to allow easy customization. For example, all colours are derived from a common colour-scheme node group, so changes made here can affect all relevant materials for a single spaceship at once. The node groups work across both Eevee and Cycles renderers.
• You can go further, and replace the textures with your own ones. hull_normal.png is a normal map that adds extra surface detail “greebles”. hull_lights_emit.png defines the positions of the windows; it is used as an emissive texture to make them glow.

Credits

Written for fun as part of the /r/proceduralgeneration June 2016 monthly challenge.

Released under the MIT License.

Originally authored by Michael Davies, this version adapted by Lawrence D’Oliveiro.

GitHub @a1studmuffin Twitter @butterparty

Special thanks to @panzi for bugfixes, a proper GUI and build script. Also to @mjrthemes for bugfixing.