How to Build With Ease - Tips from Our Graphic Designer

Let's face it, it's not that easy to build something good looking. We know many of you have have incredible building skills that I personally envy you. For the rest of us, we wanted to share a few pro tips from our very own graphic designer.

Vasek has got a couple of creations under his belt, for example this twin-gatling-cannon tank. He is also the one who created more than half of the buildings blocks, so it's safe to assume he knows a thing or two about building in Planet Nomads.

Still not convinced? Maybe his take on a sand crawler will convince you.

It took Vasek around 16 hours to get it to this stage, and it's by far still a work in progress. At this point it consists of 15,452 blocks.

Vašek, how do you begin your vehicles?

I start from the wheels (or tracks) up to the chassis, with suspension and all to be realistic. This way I know the size and the basic shape of the thing right from the beginning.

OK, that's a start, how it grows from there?

I build the general frame, drag a line of blocks here and there, it's a very useful feature. I break the whole building into sections, for instance with this sand crawler I wanted a sloped nose so it doesn't get stuck in sand. Again, with just one line, I tried different angles and sizes until it felt right and built the rest of it. I try to imagine how the machine will work and let its function direct the design.

That's a long way to what we are seeing here...

It grew organically. Once I had the outer hull I wanted to break the symmetry and disrupt the huge flat planes. I started piling up slopes against each other, experimenting with different patterns. I would break the straight lines into nicely curved shapes and then back to edges again. I drew some inspiration from nature, the armadillo came to mind instantly. Later on the thing came alive for me, hehe, I saw spiders and giant squids on its top. I did not have a precise plan, the thing just grew and grew.

Later on, you start thinking about how to enter the vehicle, where to put ledges and entrances and how to strategically defend them with turrets, so they are hard to get exploited by raiders. The nose and back of it could turn into big hangar doors or maybe it will use a huge lift, since there's enough space inside to store a mining machine, assault vehicle, a trike... I plan to build a personal garage inside.

Neat. What are your other plans for the interior?

It will have an engine room located deep inside, well protected from outside attacks by enough layers of hull and armor. At the back I'll have containers for material that can be filled from the outside, there's already mock piping on the back of the crawler. One day when we have functional blocks, hinges and rotors, I will redo the hangar doors. And then anything else needed to make it a cosy home. I will definitely need to repaint it too.

Is there anything special about your sand crawler?

Like I said I was driven by its function. I thought OK, what happens if there's a big sand storm and my crawler ends up covered by sand half-way up? I made it this curved and built little tunnels all the way from the top through to the tracks. So when you fire up the engine, the vibrations will let the sand fall through to the tracks to increase traction and basically my crawler shakes the sand off.

On the top I have built two helipads. The idea being that when you reach a new place, you park your motor home, switch on the automatic turrets and set up a defense perimeter and take either a copter or a remotely controlled drone to scout the area.

I also have an independent turret powered by solar panels and batteries, so if due to malfunction my crawler loses power, it still retains at least some of its defense capability. That way I don't become a sitting duck while I do the repairs and get the systems back online.

Oh wow, good thinking. Thanks for sharing your building process with other Nomads. Let's sum it up below.

5 TIPS TO HAVE A GOOD TIME BUILDING:
1) Start from the main piece - wheels or tracks for vehicles, cockpit for flying machines
2) Use the block-dragging feature to get the basic chassis of your vehicle or structure
3) Save your energy by building a single line and imagining the rest and deciding what to use
4) Grow it organically - experiment with different patterns, see what works, and leave out the details until the end
5) Build in sections - don't try to build everything at once, start with one section and let it influence the rest of your creation

Check out more pictures of the sand crawler in our Imgur gallery.

Or build your own in our Editor!

1. Life is good when you crawl the desert in the safety of your home.
2. All prepared for redecorating.
3. You know you are filthy rich when you have a helipad or two on the roof.
 

Save