Thanks, somacruz. That's seriously high praise coming from you
Did a little lighting test for the impulse engines, following Vektor's most excellent tutorial on his USS Grandeur thread. Go check it out -- it's simple, but awesome.
To answer you questions, she's slower than the NX, so I'd say she can go about Warp 3.
I imagine that she'd stay out for about a year and a half; it would be a sort of meandering course outwards for a year, dropping comm and nav buoys, doing surveys and marking areas where there's resources for colonies, bases, etc. Then she'd take the rest of the time to head back for Earth in more or less a straight line for resupply. Something like that.
Hmmm. Basically my thought on the standard Exploration/Research ship. To be more exact on my thought, Anexploration/research ship's time is extremely limited. It must look at a list of assigned targets, with a few extras thrown in. So the ship(generaly speaking) would go out on a modified cometary type orbit. The idea is to get out as far as one can, while doing the most you can. This means that captains would have little leeway.
To do the math: I assume that stars are on average five light-years apart, not always of course, but good enough. It takes time to observe a target system, I grant a ship a week for this. One more week if a class m for example.
Science survey ships on the other hand, are following a tight spirial out. They take thirty days to examine the target, and almost always follow ups. Where NX-01 is exploration/reseach, and the Intrepid class (being older, and less advanced, warp 4 is their top speed, warp 3.6 standard cruise) science/survey
Nick R.: Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I suppose I thought of it that this is part of the first wave of Earth exploration ships, so each time they came back in to be resupplied, they wouldn't have to come back in quite so far cause there'd be more of a support infrastructure being built behind them. Or something.
Here's a couple of renders to distract you from my fuzzy logic.
I think it has to do with the lighting, I shifted the main light around when I was doing the front section. If that isn't set right, the sky light blands out all the details. Will re-render when I get back from work. Stupid employment.
Nick R.: Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I suppose I thought of it that this is part of the first wave of Earth exploration ships, so each time they came back in to be resupplied, they wouldn't have to come back in quite so far cause there'd be more of a support infrastructure being built behind them. Or something.
Here's a couple of renders to distract you from my fuzzy logic.
So does this you are going to design a resupply ship?:cool::thumb: Because some time ago Analog mag had an article or series of articles on how long a colony would take to get to the point of being able to send out its own colony ships, the figure was four hundred years.
And if Plymouth colony is a good example then half the colonists may as well be dead, within two years of landing. Make no mistake it is going to be tough.
Even taking into account much better technology. What this means is that the colonists are going have to develope the right tools in order to survive. Or to put it another way, just because you have high tech, doesn't mean that you have the right tech. And the right tech for one colony, might not be the right tech for another.:(
Dammit Jim, I'm a 3d artiste, not a colony director, dammit!
*throws render at Nick to escape difficult questions*
Ahem. I've started work on the innards of the primary sphere. Started by roughing out the inside:
Next step is cutting windows so I can figure out which sections will actually be visible to be detailed, and which bits I can just snip.
391,000 polys so far. Yikes. :eek:
That is okay, there is still time for your teacher(me:eek::eek:) to teach you somthing of directing a colony.:eek::eek::eek::eek::D
The first lesson: You are doing well. At least in the arts:thumb:. math hasn't been tested as of yet, but I have hope.;)
Second lesson: Don't think for one moment that I take myself seriously. I know that this comes as a shock:eek: But it is true.:D
Third lesson: always have an excape plan - for the stuff you create. That is a through back ground on it. That way, you will make me go :eek::thumb::eek::thumb::eek::thumb::cool:
They're both eminently repeatable -- the lower one with the "bumpers" can be stretched to connect with the outer sphere, and the upper one can be any bulkhead with a rectangle window.
I don't think I'll make them too much more detailed than that, and I may even erase bits that aren't visible one the outer shell covers 'em up. The most visible openings around the top and bottom, and around both shuttlebays will most likely be their own specific sections with extra struts and greebles and things.
Next up is a bulkhead with a circular viewport. Oooh, suspense!:p
Now a few questions for you to answer, for your background writing. When was the structual integrity field invented? How many years before? Next up - Deflector shields, same questions.
Just how good is the impulse power? Remeber going by original intent, it was really for emergencies only, a "get home" if you will.
You have stated three years as the typical mission - if they had to push it, just what could they do?
How good are the computers? How much data can they handle? How does this relate to the crew's survival?
In other words if someone were to tell a story based on this design of yours, just how fast would they get into trouble? And why?
I'm not a bit fan of Star Trek as a rule. In fact personally I find it the simplest form of TV sci-fi. But This ship is not. I'm finding the design and level of detail to be something really worth the time to follow.
I guess that's the difference between a fan doing something, and someone who just works for Paramount doing their job to get paid.
I guess that's the difference between a fan doing something, and someone who just works for Paramount doing their job to get paid.
I'm not an apologist for Paramount or anything, but the fan wouldn't have to contend with many of the things that the Paramount CGI artists would, like deadlines. A fan can also afford to actually pursue projects that interest them, as opposed to being assigned to work on something he may or may not be interested in. And fans may not have the technical skills that the pros do, either.
I agree ghoyle1. I'm sure that working for a TV or Movie studio is hard work, and long hours at times. In fact I know it is it.
But you have to see that something like this ship can only really be produced by someone who is truly putting their best foot forward. That's what tends to come from fan designers.
Also, if they worked at the pace I'm going at right now, they'd be fired in like a week.
Glad to see I've piqued your interest, Pagrin, in spite of it being Trek. Though I'd hesitate to dismiss the entire genre out of hand. Any show that brings you gorgeous tearjerkers like "The Inner Light" has to have something going for it.
I should maybe clear up my view of the show. I've seen a lot of trek over the years, even the TOS when it wasn't a rerun (Yes, I'm old). While any given story within trek may or may not be good or bad (like any other show) After all there is a "Measure of a man" for every "Spocks brain". Also many of the characters within the shows have been good. the acting has been at the very least far quality, and often very good indeed. And since TNG the effects have been state of the art, more or less.
So with all of this going for it, why don't I like it much anymore I hear you ask?
Simple it doesn't evolve.
No matter how bad people are hurt, physically or mentally in any given story, next week they are all fine again. Maybe from time to time something might crop up from a few seasons ago, but generally speaking, people recover completely. At the very least enough to go back to work, even be in command of hundred of people lives.
If a season of TNG is around 26 episodes long and it spans about a year of the lives of the crew. That means the Effluent hits the spinning propeller roughly every fortnight. You can't tell me working on a ship where this is likely wouldn't freak you out just a lot.
I like my shows to be more story arc orientated. That's not to say it's a better option, just the one I like. Trek never seemed the be able to get that element. Which for me meant it stopped being realistic as well.
Part of the reason I like this ship, is because I can see this a a thing which someone has built. It seems real to me. So Carig despite you taking time, it's well worth the wait on my part.
I come bearing... bulkheads. With windows in them!
And here is the guts of the sphere so far. Most of it won't be visible, so it will probably end up being deleted before the thing's finished. It's a good guie to have, though.
Not sure about the overall thickness, may make it thinner.
And some wireframes, so you can witness my heinous 3d crimes. Bad N-gon! No biscuit!:D
Please excuse the arsey scanline lighting; I had to reinstall Max and everything got set to default.
By the way, how do you work the Mental ray glass material? I tried playing around with it (when I had the renderer set to MR) and all I got was black surface that took an hour to render.
^ I agree with Cavebear, they're pretty high up. I'm actually not sure how to solve this while looking at the model. Perhaps move them down a bit and enlarge them too?
Hey, I have a couple question about your modeling method. First how do you get such clean lines in with the hull plating, whats the general method? Second with the new plating you've got going (last pic) are you duplicating and pasting it in or is each new plate done from scratch? Some tutorials were mentioned I'm not sure where to find them, I'll go hunt around a bit but links would be awesome (couldn't see them in the thread). Anyway great work, so clean (sides the n-gons lol j/k) and thanks.
What I did was select each surface where I wanted a window panel, and I detatched it as a cloned separate object.
Then I selected one and created a window-and-bulkhead panel (I'll do another post on that later, when I have more time. )
When I was happy with the panel, I selected all the detached panels and used the Substitute modifier to replace all the blank panels wth window-and-bulkhead objects.
Then I just reattached the new windows to the main object and welded 'em back together.
Posts
Did a little lighting test for the impulse engines, following Vektor's most excellent tutorial on his USS Grandeur thread. Go check it out -- it's simple, but awesome.
Wire frames, showing the spotlight and falloff:
Good Work!
To answer you questions, she's slower than the NX, so I'd say she can go about Warp 3.
I imagine that she'd stay out for about a year and a half; it would be a sort of meandering course outwards for a year, dropping comm and nav buoys, doing surveys and marking areas where there's resources for colonies, bases, etc. Then she'd take the rest of the time to head back for Earth in more or less a straight line for resupply. Something like that.
To do the math: I assume that stars are on average five light-years apart, not always of course, but good enough. It takes time to observe a target system, I grant a ship a week for this. One more week if a class m for example.
Science survey ships on the other hand, are following a tight spirial out. They take thirty days to examine the target, and almost always follow ups. Where NX-01 is exploration/reseach, and the Intrepid class (being older, and less advanced, warp 4 is their top speed, warp 3.6 standard cruise) science/survey
Here's a couple of renders to distract you from my fuzzy logic.
So, finished etching panel lines into the various reactor segments, as well as adding the connector between the pylon and the main body of the ship.
I think this section's about ready for greebling.
And, here's everything I've got so far:
The count so far is about 250,000 ploys. tobian, wherever you are, I feel your pain. And so does my PC.
Looks great though
So does this you are going to design a resupply ship?:cool::thumb: Because some time ago Analog mag had an article or series of articles on how long a colony would take to get to the point of being able to send out its own colony ships, the figure was four hundred years.
And if Plymouth colony is a good example then half the colonists may as well be dead, within two years of landing. Make no mistake it is going to be tough.
Even taking into account much better technology. What this means is that the colonists are going have to develope the right tools in order to survive. Or to put it another way, just because you have high tech, doesn't mean that you have the right tech. And the right tech for one colony, might not be the right tech for another.:(
Also known as a steep learning curve.
...
Dammit Jim, I'm a 3d artiste, not a colony director, dammit!
*throws render at Nick to escape difficult questions*
Ahem. I've started work on the innards of the primary sphere. Started by roughing out the inside:
Next step is cutting windows so I can figure out which sections will actually be visible to be detailed, and which bits I can just snip.
391,000 polys so far. Yikes. :eek:
That is okay, there is still time for your teacher(me:eek::eek:) to teach you somthing of directing a colony.:eek::eek::eek::eek:
The first lesson: You are doing well. At least in the arts:thumb:. math hasn't been tested as of yet, but I have hope.;)
Second lesson: Don't think for one moment that I take myself seriously. I know that this comes as a shock:eek: But it is true.:D
Third lesson: always have an excape plan - for the stuff you create. That is a through back ground on it. That way, you will make me go :eek::thumb::eek::thumb::eek::thumb::cool:
Here's what I've got so far for the inner sphere:
They're both eminently repeatable -- the lower one with the "bumpers" can be stretched to connect with the outer sphere, and the upper one can be any bulkhead with a rectangle window.
I don't think I'll make them too much more detailed than that, and I may even erase bits that aren't visible one the outer shell covers 'em up. The most visible openings around the top and bottom, and around both shuttlebays will most likely be their own specific sections with extra struts and greebles and things.
Next up is a bulkhead with a circular viewport. Oooh, suspense!:p
Just how good is the impulse power? Remeber going by original intent, it was really for emergencies only, a "get home" if you will.
You have stated three years as the typical mission - if they had to push it, just what could they do?
How good are the computers? How much data can they handle? How does this relate to the crew's survival?
In other words if someone were to tell a story based on this design of yours, just how fast would they get into trouble? And why?
I guess that's the difference between a fan doing something, and someone who just works for Paramount doing their job to get paid.
Keep up the excellent work.
I'm not an apologist for Paramount or anything, but the fan wouldn't have to contend with many of the things that the Paramount CGI artists would, like deadlines. A fan can also afford to actually pursue projects that interest them, as opposed to being assigned to work on something he may or may not be interested in. And fans may not have the technical skills that the pros do, either.
But you have to see that something like this ship can only really be produced by someone who is truly putting their best foot forward. That's what tends to come from fan designers.
Glad to see I've piqued your interest, Pagrin, in spite of it being Trek. Though I'd hesitate to dismiss the entire genre out of hand. Any show that brings you gorgeous tearjerkers like "The Inner Light" has to have something going for it.
So with all of this going for it, why don't I like it much anymore I hear you ask?
Simple it doesn't evolve.
No matter how bad people are hurt, physically or mentally in any given story, next week they are all fine again. Maybe from time to time something might crop up from a few seasons ago, but generally speaking, people recover completely. At the very least enough to go back to work, even be in command of hundred of people lives.
If a season of TNG is around 26 episodes long and it spans about a year of the lives of the crew. That means the Effluent hits the spinning propeller roughly every fortnight. You can't tell me working on a ship where this is likely wouldn't freak you out just a lot.
I like my shows to be more story arc orientated. That's not to say it's a better option, just the one I like. Trek never seemed the be able to get that element. Which for me meant it stopped being realistic as well.
Part of the reason I like this ship, is because I can see this a a thing which someone has built. It seems real to me. So Carig despite you taking time, it's well worth the wait on my part.
And here is the guts of the sphere so far. Most of it won't be visible, so it will probably end up being deleted before the thing's finished. It's a good guie to have, though.
Not sure about the overall thickness, may make it thinner.
And some wireframes, so you can witness my heinous 3d crimes. Bad N-gon! No biscuit!:D
Please excuse the arsey scanline lighting; I had to reinstall Max and everything got set to default.
By the way, how do you work the Mental ray glass material? I tried playing around with it (when I had the renderer set to MR) and all I got was black surface that took an hour to render.
That should also leave extra space on the ceiling for machinery and stuff.
What I did was select each surface where I wanted a window panel, and I detatched it as a cloned separate object.
Then I selected one and created a window-and-bulkhead panel (I'll do another post on that later, when I have more time.
When I was happy with the panel, I selected all the detached panels and used the Substitute modifier to replace all the blank panels wth window-and-bulkhead objects.
Then I just reattached the new windows to the main object and welded 'em back together.