What about a Turkey feather Design. i.e. The exhuast ports on the Gen. 4 Fighter jest.
I considered that as well, but it doesn't fit with what I'm trying to achieve aesthetically. I want the bussards to still be visible, even from the sides, just not glowing like the sun. I also like the idea of something that is more overtly mechanical. Trek ships have never had enough moving parts.
The new baffles are great. The hinge idea is neat and I think it is better being simple compared to a complex mechanical sliding arangment like you said. However.......I wonder how it would look if they opened like a sunroof on a car- just pop open and slide back? My two cents anyway.
What if you take a guided rail system and have the shields slide back wards.
Inquiry: this flap modification is to reduce visual glare? What about "sensor flaps", because most vessels use sensors to find other ships, not simply looking out a porthole or front window. Has this been addressed (sorry if so)?
What if you take a guided rail system and have the shields slide back wards.
This articulation of the baffles has been discussed more extensively over at TrekBBS, but the problem with sliding them back on rails is that the curvature of the baffles does not match the larger diameter of the nacelle body. I actually tried that approach first, before I even thought of simply hinging them, and while the curvature difference doesn't prevent the baffles from sliding back in and of itself, it does make them look weird in the open position, or at least I think so. Some might argue that the hinged version look even weirder but not to my eye.
This keeps getting brought back up so I guess will do a set of renderings showing a slide-back configuration and you can all decide for yourselves.
Inquiry: this flap modification is to reduce visual glare? What about "sensor flaps", because most vessels use sensors to find other ships, not simply looking out a porthole or front window. Has this been addressed (sorry if so)?
I had an email conversation with Aridas about this just yesterday. The short version is that he is sticking with old-school interpretation of the nacelle caps as "space energy matter sinks" as defined in Franz Joseph's original Starfleet Technical Manual. This doesn't rule out the idea that they are also Bussard collectors but their main function is to warp space ahead of the ship. Aridas speculates that this is accomplished by way of a cluster of microsingularities winking in and out of existence within the nacelle dome (the Christmas light effect).
Now, my thinking is that microsingularities might indirectly produce emissions such as Cerenkov and tachyon radiation, the latter being detectable over great distances. The purpose of the baffles is to contain that radiation and thereby make the ship more stealthy; however, reflecting too much radiation back into the dome actually destabilizes the microsingularities, which is why the baffles must be opened at higher warp factors.
So it's not just a matter of containing the visible light emitted by the domes.
I Really like this ship... I think the hinged baffles are great... makes it look much more real... i think thats what i mean, i think the First idea for the Baffles are better... means you could compleatly enclose them and still be able to see them...
And here, by popular demand, are two renderings showing the current baffle design in a sliding retraction configuration as opposed to the hinged flower petal setup:
I have to admit, I like the look of this better than I did the first time I tried it. I might have to give it some further consideration.
I think it looks cool.... but I like the flower petal desigh as well. She's your ship, eh. The petal does look more TOS though I think. Then again since youre going for stealth they could be...purpose built or something. I dont know.
I was playing around with some different rendering effects today and kinda went a little crazy. I started with some depth-of-field...
...and then tried some environment mapping and background compositing...
No real progress on the model itself but I did learn a few new things about photorealistic rendering. I'm also pretty pleased at how well the textures are holding up considering they're just a couple of stock, lo-res texture maps overlaid with mix maps and some specularity tweaking.
Anyway, thought they were cool and wanted to share.
Look out! It's the zombie thread apocalypse! Just when you thought the Kiaga was securely buried in its grave, it comes clawing its way back to life! :devil:
Actually, the work shown here was done months ago, but I was going through some old folders last week and realized I never showed any of it, so consider it a little Monday bonus.
it looks very cool, and it's great to see someone doing some more advanced surfacing on a trek ship
all I can say is the panelling could probably be toned down a bit, a kind of 'less is more' thing, it looks good but if it was not so noticable it would look even better
Vektor, I've got to ask you a question, so don't take it the wrong way, but did you prototype this in Spore? I just get a spore spaceship vibe from it, so pardon me if I've missed the mark there. Either way, it looks real neato.
I wasn't familiar with this vessel (or I forgot about it ) but whoah, it's absolutely gorgeous ! I agree with IRML that the paneling is a bit too contrasty but the material itself is great. Is it reflecting a HDRI image or just getting gloss from environment/lights ?
all I can say is the panelling could probably be toned down a bit, a kind of 'less is more' thing, it looks good but if it was not so noticable it would look even better
Technically, the texturing is still only Aâtemporary.Aâ What I mean by that is that I havenAât reached the stage of creating actual texture maps for this specific project or doing any custom UV mapping or anything like that. What you see currently is just a combination of several diffuse and specularity maps applied with the basic UV mapping options, nothing too fancy. One of the texture maps has a lot of grain in it, which I think is detracting a bit from the overall effect at this scale.
I would like the end result to be similar in appearance but I probably will be toning it down a little.
Vektor, I've got to ask you a question, so don't take it the wrong way, but did you prototype this in Spore? I just get a spore spaceship vibe from it, so pardon me if I've missed the mark there. Either way, it looks real neato.
Nope. This was originally designed by Aridas Sofia of Federation Reference fame and I have modeled it pretty faithfully to his 2D schematics.
Is it reflecting a HDRI image or just getting gloss from environment/lights ?
IAâm using an HDRI mapped sphere for both lighting and reflections, which has more or less become my standard these days. There is also a small area light in the scene to sharpen up the Aâsunlight.Aâ
Posts
What about a Turkey feather Design. i.e. The exhuast ports on the Gen. 4 Fighter jest.
I considered that as well, but it doesn't fit with what I'm trying to achieve aesthetically. I want the bussards to still be visible, even from the sides, just not glowing like the sun. I also like the idea of something that is more overtly mechanical. Trek ships have never had enough moving parts.
What if you take a guided rail system and have the shields slide back wards.
Inquiry: this flap modification is to reduce visual glare? What about "sensor flaps", because most vessels use sensors to find other ships, not simply looking out a porthole or front window. Has this been addressed (sorry if so)?
Various Work: U.S.S. Constellation - Matt Jefferies Concept Shuttle
This articulation of the baffles has been discussed more extensively over at TrekBBS, but the problem with sliding them back on rails is that the curvature of the baffles does not match the larger diameter of the nacelle body. I actually tried that approach first, before I even thought of simply hinging them, and while the curvature difference doesn't prevent the baffles from sliding back in and of itself, it does make them look weird in the open position, or at least I think so. Some might argue that the hinged version look even weirder but not to my eye.
This keeps getting brought back up so I guess will do a set of renderings showing a slide-back configuration and you can all decide for yourselves.
I had an email conversation with Aridas about this just yesterday. The short version is that he is sticking with old-school interpretation of the nacelle caps as "space energy matter sinks" as defined in Franz Joseph's original Starfleet Technical Manual. This doesn't rule out the idea that they are also Bussard collectors but their main function is to warp space ahead of the ship. Aridas speculates that this is accomplished by way of a cluster of microsingularities winking in and out of existence within the nacelle dome (the Christmas light effect).
Now, my thinking is that microsingularities might indirectly produce emissions such as Cerenkov and tachyon radiation, the latter being detectable over great distances. The purpose of the baffles is to contain that radiation and thereby make the ship more stealthy; however, reflecting too much radiation back into the dome actually destabilizes the microsingularities, which is why the baffles must be opened at higher warp factors.
So it's not just a matter of containing the visible light emitted by the domes.
Matt
I have to admit, I like the look of this better than I did the first time I tried it. I might have to give it some further consideration.
Absolutamente impresionante amigo!!!!!
...and then tried some environment mapping and background compositing...
No real progress on the model itself but I did learn a few new things about photorealistic rendering. I'm also pretty pleased at how well the textures are holding up considering they're just a couple of stock, lo-res texture maps overlaid with mix maps and some specularity tweaking.
Anyway, thought they were cool and wanted to share.
Actually, the work shown here was done months ago, but I was going through some old folders last week and realized I never showed any of it, so consider it a little Monday bonus.
Buried alive... buried alive...
Kiaaaaaggaaaaaa!
Looks cool! Is this a JJ-verse vessel- er, wessel?
all I can say is the panelling could probably be toned down a bit, a kind of 'less is more' thing, it looks good but if it was not so noticable it would look even better
very nice! love the texture work!
Technically, the texturing is still only Aâtemporary.Aâ What I mean by that is that I havenAât reached the stage of creating actual texture maps for this specific project or doing any custom UV mapping or anything like that. What you see currently is just a combination of several diffuse and specularity maps applied with the basic UV mapping options, nothing too fancy. One of the texture maps has a lot of grain in it, which I think is detracting a bit from the overall effect at this scale.
I would like the end result to be similar in appearance but I probably will be toning it down a little.
Nope. This was originally designed by Aridas Sofia of Federation Reference fame and I have modeled it pretty faithfully to his 2D schematics.
IAâm using an HDRI mapped sphere for both lighting and reflections, which has more or less become my standard these days. There is also a small area light in the scene to sharpen up the Aâsunlight.Aâ