So beautiful, and I see you followed johnl2112's suggestion to use metal material for specific items. Good choice.
It still has a certain amount of metallicity that's not that obvious in the previous image (more obvious when the ship is more backlit,) but yeah it has been dialled back.
Taking a quick break from texturing to finally make a start on the saucer separation feature I've been flip-flopping on for ages. Ultimately it made no sense to go through the effort to model a clear separation line in the exterior hull, but not go to the bother of making the full separation plane:
I could say something cheesy and politically incorrect, like how great this lady looks topless, but no, that would be bad and wrong, and I just won't do it. I will say that the Venus De Milo pales by comparison - see, that's art, that's cultural.
Beautiful work as usual. Really raising the bar here, with no double entendre intended.
What I love is how you've made this ship look almost starwars like in its deatil.... yet it remains 100% TNG era Trek.. Just goes to show that it is possible to modernise the aesthetic but still keep the style..
I'd love to see more classic ships done like this.
This is one of those in a league all its own. Agree with @markmassey. When you try to detail the heck out of a classic Star Trek design it starts looking really bad. Somehow you are pulling it off. This one will be studied.
This is one of those in a league all its own. Agree with @markmassey. When you try to detail the heck out of a classic Star Trek design it starts looking really bad. Somehow you are pulling it off. This one will be studied.
That's awfully kind of you to say, but I definitely think I've got a ways to go yet before matching the most accomplished artists seen on this forum, the discord, Art Station etc.
There is a subjective element though. I've seen stuff (CGI) done for some of the various new series on paramount that I feel were/are misfires. That's ok. Different artists have different styles or aesthetics and I appreciate their work and their interpretation for what it is. I think there is room for all of it. I just personally like what you are doing better than many of them. One thing I hate to see done is, no matter what someone writes (for episodes) or no matter what direction they take a series, there are always critics who tear it apart and in at least one instance I can think of, a promising show lost favor and was cancelled. Everyone is so serious and critical of everything and of people's best efforts. I want to say, "hey America, lighten up." Stop tearing each other apart.
And yes, there are plenty of amazing artists on this forum and others. To be sure. I will still find myself studying what you're doing to understand why it works for me.
I definitely think I've got a ways to go yet before matching the most accomplished artists seen on this forum, the discord, Art Station etc.
Nah.... You're already there amongst the best.
As stated by those in the previous few posts, your work is uniquely successful in combining elements of hard-sci detail and the more fanciful design aesthetics of Star Trek ships.
Making some headway on the underside saucer textures now. I'm trying to evoke something of the highly striated appearance of the original Ambassador saucer, especially in the normal mapping.
The Cargo Deck is a kitbash of parts from previous projects and isn't really intended to be viewed this close up, but there might be shots of the ship from directly aft, and I thought it would be a good idea to give the area some lighting, and some variation in the shaders between the different components:
The upper saucer texture map is very nearly done. Just the superstructure textures left to go now and then I can start thinking of putting this ship into some scenes:
Even if you don't intent to show it, the cargo bay totally holds up in a close shot. If it is supposed to have a forcefield to keep it pressurized in space a lowpoly crewman would be a nice addition too.
Even if you don't intent to show it, the cargo bay totally holds up in a close shot. If it is supposed to have a forcefield to keep it pressurized in space a lowpoly crewman would be a nice addition too.
A sort of forcefield haze at the opening of the bay could be an interesting idea, not sure where is best to get low poly figures from though, maybe sketchfab has some free ones.
Don't take this as a demand (either on you, or your hardware...), but this ship deserves a ST:TMP style 12 minute fly around.
I've never animated a starship flyby before, so I'd be very happy with 12 seconds haha
The saucer has been annoying me over the past day and a half, so I've been making some changes to certain features. Not sure whether I'm happy with it in its current state yet, so I'm going to sleep on it.
A sort of forcefield haze at the opening of the bay could be an interesting idea, not sure where is best to get low poly figures from though, maybe sketchfab has some free ones.
@xiaorobear did contribute some lowpoly crewman to this project. You could ask him. But than again he doesn't have commissions open in his profile, so don't know either.
Posts
It still has a certain amount of metallicity that's not that obvious in the previous image (more obvious when the ship is more backlit,) but yeah it has been dialled back.
One ship:
Two ships:
Beautiful work as usual. Really raising the bar here, with no double entendre intended.
I'd love to see more classic ships done like this.
That's awfully kind of you to say, but I definitely think I've got a ways to go yet before matching the most accomplished artists seen on this forum, the discord, Art Station etc.
And yes, there are plenty of amazing artists on this forum and others. To be sure. I will still find myself studying what you're doing to understand why it works for me.
Nah.... You're already there amongst the best.
As stated by those in the previous few posts, your work is uniquely successful in combining elements of hard-sci detail and the more fanciful design aesthetics of Star Trek ships.
The upper saucer texture map is very nearly done. Just the superstructure textures left to go now and then I can start thinking of putting this ship into some scenes:
A sort of forcefield haze at the opening of the bay could be an interesting idea, not sure where is best to get low poly figures from though, maybe sketchfab has some free ones.
I've never animated a starship flyby before, so I'd be very happy with 12 seconds haha
The saucer has been annoying me over the past day and a half, so I've been making some changes to certain features. Not sure whether I'm happy with it in its current state yet, so I'm going to sleep on it.
@xiaorobear did contribute some lowpoly crewman to this project. You could ask him. But than again he doesn't have commissions open in his profile, so don't know either.
https://forums.scifi-meshes.com/discussion/10001368/uss-albacore-finished-ship/p1?new=1