It reminds me a lot of that fan ship the Aurora. Like a TNG update to the design. Love it.
Thanks a lot. The original idea actually traces back to a ship I first did about 18 years ago. That was when I first decided to do the whole saucer/hull combo thing with the upswept pylons that connect and wrap around the nacelles and the deflector cut into the front of the saucer. Though, suffice to say, that version no doubt looked like crap by comparison.
This is another model I did based on that design about 14 years ago:
After doing a Constitution class based on notoriously incorrect blueprints and doing whatever that thing was that I was doing in that other thread, I'm doing a "proper" Constitution. I'm basing it on Alan Sinclair's blueprints because they're my favorite. Accuracy wise, I'd say they're close enough. There were no less than 7 models used in TOS alone to represent the Constitution class. There was the 33" model, the 11' model, two tiny models (2-3 inches) and two model kits used in the original effects. Then there was the CGI model used for the remastered episodes. Also in canon, there was a CGI model used for Enterprise. The point is, there's no "one" look for the Constitution class.
Anyway, I started yesterday and I almost have the saucer done:
Incidentally, this is designed to go with the one I did based on Franz Joseph's blueprints, not to be a replacement. I dropped the Heracles into the file, and they work well together:
My thought process is that not every ship of the same class is built to the exact same specs. After all, this is true of real world ships.
Also, I was playing some Star Trek Online yesterday, and the Heracles is my character's ship:
Haven't played ST:O in years. Might try and get back into it over winter.
You could consider each deviation in the blueprints as adjustments to different production batches on the in universe ships based on service feedback from already in service ships.
Haven't played ST:O in years. Might try and get back into it over winter.
It's been a while for me. Not years. Though, it's definitely been a hot minute. I have a lifetime subscription, so I have a lot of Zen to use in their store.
You could consider each deviation in the blueprints as adjustments to different production batches on the in universe ships based on service feedback from already in service ships.
That sounds perfect, so we'll definitely go with that as an official explanation.
Hell you can use cruise ships for that too. Even among the different lines, each 'Class' will have slightly different amenities, a slightly different layout, etc. We were on one that was the longest of its class a few years back because it was first built, they realized there was a structure and space issue after, lengthened the others while they were being built, brought that one back in, cut it in half and dropped in another section to make it the longest of the class.
Unless I missed anything, this should do it for the saucer section:
I had fun with the text. Blender does great with text. You can load any font from any folder. Yet, I couldn't find where my fonts that I installed were. It turns out that Windows being Windows was the problem. When you install a font, Windows 10 and 11 don't put them in the C:/Windows/Fonts folder, as would make sense. They put them in a hidden folder under your profile. I even tried copying them to C:/Windows/Fonts with no luck. So, I finally just copied my font folder off of my flash drive into my main Blender directory. That way, I can just load the font from there instead of remembering where that hidden folder is.
I didn't have this issue with other ships that I've built in Blender because I built them in Linux.
Also, I haven't decided if I'm going to do the text on the little signs. It's a tiny detail that won't be seen in most instances.
Hell you can use cruise ships for that too. Even among the different lines, each 'Class' will have slightly different amenities, a slightly different layout, etc. We were on one that was the longest of its class a few years back because it was first built, they realized there was a structure and space issue after, lengthened the others while they were being built, brought that one back in, cut it in half and dropped in another section to make it the longest of the class.
Sister ships never means 'identical'
Yeah, it's all relative. There is a "class ship" for which the whole line is named, but then there are variants. That goes for civilian and military ships. Both of my Constitution class models will be the same size, just the shapes and details will be different. So, they're class variants. This is even covered in the Star Fleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph. He listed different heavy cruiser ships under MK-IX, MK-IXA and MK-IXB. Though, he gave each one a different class ship. I don't feel that's necessary. They can all be Constitution class. Then the TMP refit is yet another class variant.
I created a fairly basic 6 color paneling pattern in Inkscape. From there, I took that to GIMP and copied it a bunch of times, moving them around and rotating them until I had a fairly regular but not totally repeating pattern. Then, for the saucer, I used Polar Coordinates to make it a circular map. It was huge at that point, so I resized it to 4000 pixels wide and saved that as a map. I used UV unwrapping from a top view to create my UV map, then I applied the map to my saucer. I had it fully in the specular channel, but it was too much, so I did a mix shader to cut down the strength of the map. I used another mix shader to apply some very light paneling into the color channel. I'm fairly pleased with the results, but I can always tweak it later.
That is absolutely BEAUTIFUL work! The paneling is subtle enough that it doesn't look out of place on the original ship, but it IS there and helps with scale.
I'm planning on doing a 24th century ship, creating a whole new class and all that. So, I'm going to do a dedication plaque for it because I haven't done one of those in ages and I love doing them. For the plaque, I need the combadge, so I started with that.
I'm planning on doing a 24th century ship, creating a whole new class and all that. So, I'm going to do a dedication plaque for it because I haven't done one of those in ages and I love doing them. For the plaque, I need the combadge, so I started with that.
Oh, funny, I didn't see you had made this before I posted mine!
It took me a while to come up with a name for the ship. I came up with the class name, Charter class, a few days ago. I did a search and that's never been used on Star Trek in any form, or for anything else to do with ships. By the way, if anyone gets the tongue in cheek joke in that name, give yourself a cookie. I've been watching Battlestar Galactica recently (the original, not the remake) and I settled on Rycon, which is the name of one of the Battlestars. The quote is also from that show, for those who don't recognize it. The names are an in joke too, they're all from the novel Jurassic Park, which I read recently.
So, this is what I'm possibly looking at for the USS Rycon, but I haven't decided if I'm going to continue developing this or go with a different design. That's why I'm showing this now, as I usually don't show ships at this level of progress (or lack thereof.) I've been picking at it for days, and I want to get some feedback on the design before I decide if I'm going to continue developing it or shelve the design for possible use later and go with a completely different design.
The basic concept is simple, it's like the Constitution class (hence, Charter class, as a charter is another word for a constitution) and the Ambassador class had a baby. My idea is that the Constitution class would have been moved into different roles in the fleet after the Excelsior class took over deep space exploration. Then, by the time the Ambassador class launched, the Constitution class ships would all be decades old and, rather than go through the expense of another refit to fix up decades old starships, Starfleet would simply opt to replace the Constitutions with something more modern. Enter the Charter class. It's almost exactly the same size as a Constitution class (refit) but the technology is based on the Ambassador class. This would make the ships faster, more powerful and more durable than the Constitution class. However, the Ambassador class would be the fleet's new heavy cruiser, (established as being a heavy cruiser in the episode "Conspiracy") so this ship would be entered into service as a light cruiser. Incidentally, the Intrepid class, which is also considered a light cruiser, is only slightly longer.
Incidentally, this is not the first time I've had the idea to combine the Constitution and Ambassador classes. I first started on a ship down these lines back in the days of Blender 2.78. I started the build in that version. However, I then updated to 2.8X, when they added the "collections." I didn't know what was going on and I couldn't figure out what they had done to my file. Things were grouped oddly. I gave up in frustration and never finished the build. (I was a good way in, too) At some point after that, I wound up going back to Lightwave. Luckily, I now know how collections work, so no worries there.
And, I also bought a new graphics card for my computer. I've been using Nvidia graphics for years, but I was deeply disappointed by the RTX 3060. So much so in fact, that I went back to the 1660 Super. However, that card is a few years old and it can have issues with newer games. The 3060, on the other hand, has issues with older games, which the 1660 Super runs great. I was on Amazon the other day and they were suggesting and MSI Radeon RX 7600 to me. I was curious, so I did a web search. I looked at a review that thought that chipset was just OK, and they suggested instead to go with the RX 6700 XT instead. So, I bought this card:
I've never used that brand before, but the reviews are good, so I went with it. Install was a bit of a pain. I installed the card, then I installed the drivers (as you do.) I also removed the Nvidia driver. I figured I'd be good to go, but I rebooted into Windows 11 and got a missing .dll file warning. After some searching, I found that it's a problem with a corrupt installation of AMD drivers. So, after I found out that, I found a solution that involved disconnecting from the internet, rebooting into Safe Mode, using a program to uninstall the driver, then rebooting with the internet still off and doing the installation. That worked, so I now have the drivers installed. Now I have to do some game testing on it to see how it does. It renders in Blender pretty well, though.
Looks to be an Ambassador with some more ergonomic lines. I like it. The front of the neck looks too thin for my tastes and I'm not completely sold on the pylons. Looks to be a good starting off point though.
Posts
Thanks a lot. The original idea actually traces back to a ship I first did about 18 years ago. That was when I first decided to do the whole saucer/hull combo thing with the upswept pylons that connect and wrap around the nacelles and the deflector cut into the front of the saucer. Though, suffice to say, that version no doubt looked like crap by comparison.
This is another model I did based on that design about 14 years ago:
Why do you think that?
Thanks a lot.
Just used to dishes
Anyway, I started yesterday and I almost have the saucer done:
Incidentally, this is designed to go with the one I did based on Franz Joseph's blueprints, not to be a replacement. I dropped the Heracles into the file, and they work well together:
My thought process is that not every ship of the same class is built to the exact same specs. After all, this is true of real world ships.
Also, I was playing some Star Trek Online yesterday, and the Heracles is my character's ship:
You could consider each deviation in the blueprints as adjustments to different production batches on the in universe ships based on service feedback from already in service ships.
It's been a while for me. Not years. Though, it's definitely been a hot minute. I have a lifetime subscription, so I have a lot of Zen to use in their store.
That sounds perfect, so we'll definitely go with that as an official explanation.
Sister ships never means 'identical'
I had fun with the text. Blender does great with text. You can load any font from any folder. Yet, I couldn't find where my fonts that I installed were. It turns out that Windows being Windows was the problem. When you install a font, Windows 10 and 11 don't put them in the C:/Windows/Fonts folder, as would make sense. They put them in a hidden folder under your profile.
I didn't have this issue with other ships that I've built in Blender because I built them in Linux.
Also, I haven't decided if I'm going to do the text on the little signs. It's a tiny detail that won't be seen in most instances.
Yeah, it's all relative. There is a "class ship" for which the whole line is named, but then there are variants. That goes for civilian and military ships. Both of my Constitution class models will be the same size, just the shapes and details will be different. So, they're class variants. This is even covered in the Star Fleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph. He listed different heavy cruiser ships under MK-IX, MK-IXA and MK-IXB. Though, he gave each one a different class ship. I don't feel that's necessary. They can all be Constitution class. Then the TMP refit is yet another class variant.
Thanks a lot.
I created a fairly basic 6 color paneling pattern in Inkscape. From there, I took that to GIMP and copied it a bunch of times, moving them around and rotating them until I had a fairly regular but not totally repeating pattern. Then, for the saucer, I used Polar Coordinates to make it a circular map. It was huge at that point, so I resized it to 4000 pixels wide and saved that as a map. I used UV unwrapping from a top view to create my UV map, then I applied the map to my saucer. I had it fully in the specular channel, but it was too much, so I did a mix shader to cut down the strength of the map. I used another mix shader to apply some very light paneling into the color channel. I'm fairly pleased with the results, but I can always tweak it later.
Excellent work!
I'm planning on doing a 24th century ship, creating a whole new class and all that. So, I'm going to do a dedication plaque for it because I haven't done one of those in ages and I love doing them. For the plaque, I need the combadge, so I started with that.
Oh, funny, I didn't see you had made this before I posted mine!
Actually, I made it after you posted yours.
It took me a while to come up with a name for the ship. I came up with the class name, Charter class, a few days ago. I did a search and that's never been used on Star Trek in any form, or for anything else to do with ships. By the way, if anyone gets the tongue in cheek joke in that name, give yourself a cookie. I've been watching Battlestar Galactica recently (the original, not the remake) and I settled on Rycon, which is the name of one of the Battlestars. The quote is also from that show, for those who don't recognize it. The names are an in joke too, they're all from the novel Jurassic Park, which I read recently.
Haha, nicely done, then!
The basic concept is simple, it's like the Constitution class (hence, Charter class, as a charter is another word for a constitution) and the Ambassador class had a baby. My idea is that the Constitution class would have been moved into different roles in the fleet after the Excelsior class took over deep space exploration. Then, by the time the Ambassador class launched, the Constitution class ships would all be decades old and, rather than go through the expense of another refit to fix up decades old starships, Starfleet would simply opt to replace the Constitutions with something more modern. Enter the Charter class. It's almost exactly the same size as a Constitution class (refit) but the technology is based on the Ambassador class. This would make the ships faster, more powerful and more durable than the Constitution class. However, the Ambassador class would be the fleet's new heavy cruiser, (established as being a heavy cruiser in the episode "Conspiracy") so this ship would be entered into service as a light cruiser. Incidentally, the Intrepid class, which is also considered a light cruiser, is only slightly longer.
Incidentally, this is not the first time I've had the idea to combine the Constitution and Ambassador classes. I first started on a ship down these lines back in the days of Blender 2.78. I started the build in that version. However, I then updated to 2.8X, when they added the "collections." I didn't know what was going on and I couldn't figure out what they had done to my file. Things were grouped oddly. I gave up in frustration and never finished the build. (I was a good way in, too) At some point after that, I wound up going back to Lightwave. Luckily, I now know how collections work, so no worries there.
And, I also bought a new graphics card for my computer. I've been using Nvidia graphics for years, but I was deeply disappointed by the RTX 3060. So much so in fact, that I went back to the 1660 Super. However, that card is a few years old and it can have issues with newer games. The 3060, on the other hand, has issues with older games, which the 1660 Super runs great. I was on Amazon the other day and they were suggesting and MSI Radeon RX 7600 to me. I was curious, so I did a web search. I looked at a review that thought that chipset was just OK, and they suggested instead to go with the RX 6700 XT instead. So, I bought this card:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08Y91QVG8
I've never used that brand before, but the reviews are good, so I went with it. Install was a bit of a pain. I installed the card, then I installed the drivers (as you do.) I also removed the Nvidia driver. I figured I'd be good to go, but I rebooted into Windows 11 and got a missing .dll file warning. After some searching, I found that it's a problem with a corrupt installation of AMD drivers. So, after I found out that, I found a solution that involved disconnecting from the internet, rebooting into Safe Mode, using a program to uninstall the driver, then rebooting with the internet still off and doing the installation. That worked, so I now have the drivers installed. Now I have to do some game testing on it to see how it does. It renders in Blender pretty well, though.