Thanks. Me too. I really like to look through the pics of this thread, to see all the progress I have made since I started this mesh.
Well, I think she's finally "state -of-my-art." I have some little tweaks here and there, but more or less she's done. I'm going to clean her up, make some new registries, and release her on the site. That will probably take a week or so.
Ahhh, how I love this class! The Galaxy class' cuter little sister. What she loses in grace and refinement she makes up for with spunk and spirit. Playful and no-nonsense at the same time, she will never keep you waiting downstairs while she tries on different dresses. She'll throw you the keys to her pick up truck right before she climbs out of her bedroom window.
Here's some splash images, showing how she turned out:
This is my Consellation Class model before I added the aztec pattern to the Saucer.
Here I am starting to lay the pattern out in bold colors.
What it looked like when I was done.
You can see, the finished effect is usually quite subtle, and so the viewer is unaware of what it is he is looking at. But it's just a pattern that is added to the surface of the saucer (and other parts of the ship) that give some variation and detail to the eye and help make the ship seem larger. The Important studio models tend to have them, starting with the Connie refit in TMP, and continuing in TNG and Voyager and so on. But other models, like the Enterprise C, never had them, usually because they were produced on a tight schedule or because they were never going to be filmed up close.
It took me a long time and a LOT of tries to figure out how to add an aztec to a member of the galaxy family to give it some detail and scale and "the traditional look." I couldn't figure out how to get a texture map to match up to the modeled details, like the deflector grid, the phasers, the windows and so on. That's why I was going on and on about it in this thread.
Here is one of my many failed attempts. You can see the aztec patterns, but notice how I can't get it to line up with the hard modeled deflector grid. Grrrrrr.
Here I gave up for a while, and just sorta weathered or smudged the the saucer with a texture map, to give the saucer some nondescript detail. It was just the best I could do for a long time.
And here, you can see the finished aztec. See how each one of the little "figures" fits neatly into a deflector square? Anyway, that's what all my yapping was about.
As far as feeling bad for your lack of progress in Blender: What helps me is to look at how far I have come, rather than how much further I have to go. IT has taken me 2 years of constant effort to get this far. I wasn't too happy where I was at the end of year one either. I'll bet in another year you will be much further along and much more satisfied with your progress. And remember, you can always find lots of help and support here...
Say, how'd you do that glow effect on the nacelles? I see dots with a halo texture, but the pattern is so smooth and there are no uneven spots in the light pattern...
Well, once again I am returning to this mesh, bearing the latest advancements in my technique. My new Orleans Class and this Challenger class were in need of all the same upgrades, so I'm working on them both right now. I'm changing the colors in the their materials to the "official" Andy Probert colors. I am rebuilding and replacing all their Lifeboats with more accurate shapes. I am re-cutting most of their windows, and I am remodeling the front of the nacelles, the part where the Bussard collectors inset.
Much better, no?
I still have new windows to cut on the bridge, and on the dome where the Nacelle pylon goes into the secondary hull. I decided I liked windows with rounded edges after all. And on the saucer I think it looks much more realistic to have the windows in two different sizes. Fortunately, I save my progress every few steps, so it was easy to go back into my construction record and pull out the pieces of mesh I needed, right before I cut the old windows in them. :cool:
While I'm at it, does anyone else see anything I can fix up? I get to "not seeing" stuff. For example, someone had to point out that my lifeboats were not very accurately shaped. But I had been using the same beveled cubes since day four of learning how to do any of this, and it had just not occurred to me I could do better... I'm sure there's lots more I'm missing. :rolleyes:
Well, once again, I got this mesh out to work with it some more. I just don't get enough of doting over this girl. This time, I wanted to do an alternate stardrive section. This one is based off of the actual studio model.
(For those of you who don't know: before the actual pictures of the studio model were released, fans went about trying to figure out what the Stardrive section of this ship actually might look like. 95% of the meshes and diagrams of this class are actually based off of the the wild guesses made before we finally got clear pictures of the model used in the brief, blurry background image. The first mesh I did was based off of these early takes on the class. This one is more like the actual model.)
I think this second design is growing on me, though certainly I will continue to use both "variants" in my fleet. Still have some details to add, but she's coming along okay. Actually, I will probably want to re-detail the saucer and nacelles at some point. They are starting to look pretty crude compared to my most recent meshes. (Part of me wants to just start again from scratch, but that's just crazy.)
...I think this second design is growing on me, though certainly I will continue to use both "variants" in my fleet.
Well, the canon stardrive and "neck" looks a bit strange. The "neck" appears to be fragile. Since you mentioned variants, I took the liberty and made a quick sketch over your renderings. Just a suggestion for a variant which could looks interesting too and not that fragile (at least, in my oppinion).
Question: the cutout in the underside will have a bigger deflector installed, will carry torpedo launchers, or just remain empty?
You're doing a great job with this, and as many here know, I actually DO quite like the various Wolf 359 ships. I have to admit, IDK exactly how I feel about your rim-deflector. On one hand, I like it, because it's something that nobody has thought of yet, and is fresh. Plus, it IS in a logical place. On the other hand, I don't like it, because while it IS in a logical place, it looks way too thin or small to be of any really great or practical use. I think this class of ship would be something I would have just using the lower saucer deflector, like the Galaxy and Nebula have. Just my two cents. Overall, I love what you've done.
You're doing a great job with this, and as many here know, I actually DO quite like the various Wolf 359 ships. I have to admit, IDK exactly how I feel about your rim-deflector. On one hand, I like it, because it's something that nobody has thought of yet, and is fresh. Plus, it IS in a logical place. On the other hand, I don't like it, because while it IS in a logical place, it looks way too thin or small to be of any really great or practical use. I think this class of ship would be something I would have just using the lower saucer deflector, like the Galaxy and Nebula have. Just my two cents. Overall, I love what you've done.
Thanks. I see what you mean about the deflector. It just LOOKS small to have it there. But on the other hand it's larger than the one on the NX class, and there are classes of ships the the Constellation, Miranda and Oberth that don't even have any visible deflector dishes. So I think I'm good. I tried it once with no deflector, and with a larger housing area on the saucer, but so far I like this way the best.
Well, the canon stardrive and "neck" looks a bit strange. The "neck" appears to be fragile. Since you mentioned variants, I took the liberty and made a quick sketch over your renderings. Just a suggestion for a variant which could looks interesting too and not that fragile (at least, in my oppinion).
Question: the cutout in the underside will have a bigger deflector installed, will carry torpedo launchers, or just remain empty?
Yeah, that thin area between the two sections bothers me too. It just doesn't look right. If I get around to making another variant I will probably run with something very like your sketch. It would look great.
The cut out on the front end of the underside of the stardrive section is NOT visible from the front, because the lower saucer dips down too far. Otherwise, I WOULD use it for a deflector and or torp bays. I may put some small utility doors on the front one, and cut a shuttle bay into the rear one. I'm going to have to try to come up with some good details, or it's all going to look too blank. I'm thinking of trying to re-do the whole mesh on the underside of the engineering hull, using better modeling and no booleans for the underside cut-outs. I think I might be able to get that looking a little cleaner.
Hmm...you could stick a cargo bay door in the front cutout. Or...stretch the lower half of the "secondary hull" down a bit so that a deflector would have a forward line of site. Just a couple of ideas. Other than that I think you're on the right track.
Posts
Thanks. Me too. I really like to look through the pics of this thread, to see all the progress I have made since I started this mesh.
Well, I think she's finally "state -of-my-art." I have some little tweaks here and there, but more or less she's done. I'm going to clean her up, make some new registries, and release her on the site. That will probably take a week or so.
Ahhh, how I love this class! The Galaxy class' cuter little sister. What she loses in grace and refinement she makes up for with spunk and spirit. Playful and no-nonsense at the same time, she will never keep you waiting downstairs while she tries on different dresses. She'll throw you the keys to her pick up truck right before she climbs out of her bedroom window.
Here's some splash images, showing how she turned out:
BTW, this makes me want to cry when I look at what I can do with blender after so long...
@judge death: aztec patterns are the hull plating patterns you see used on star trek designs.
Yeah, what Flanker said. But here are some pics.
This is my Consellation Class model before I added the aztec pattern to the Saucer.
Here I am starting to lay the pattern out in bold colors.
What it looked like when I was done.
You can see, the finished effect is usually quite subtle, and so the viewer is unaware of what it is he is looking at. But it's just a pattern that is added to the surface of the saucer (and other parts of the ship) that give some variation and detail to the eye and help make the ship seem larger. The Important studio models tend to have them, starting with the Connie refit in TMP, and continuing in TNG and Voyager and so on. But other models, like the Enterprise C, never had them, usually because they were produced on a tight schedule or because they were never going to be filmed up close.
It took me a long time and a LOT of tries to figure out how to add an aztec to a member of the galaxy family to give it some detail and scale and "the traditional look." I couldn't figure out how to get a texture map to match up to the modeled details, like the deflector grid, the phasers, the windows and so on. That's why I was going on and on about it in this thread.
Here is one of my many failed attempts. You can see the aztec patterns, but notice how I can't get it to line up with the hard modeled deflector grid. Grrrrrr.
Here I gave up for a while, and just sorta weathered or smudged the the saucer with a texture map, to give the saucer some nondescript detail. It was just the best I could do for a long time.
And here, you can see the finished aztec. See how each one of the little "figures" fits neatly into a deflector square? Anyway, that's what all my yapping was about.
As far as feeling bad for your lack of progress in Blender: What helps me is to look at how far I have come, rather than how much further I have to go. IT has taken me 2 years of constant effort to get this far. I wasn't too happy where I was at the end of year one either. I'll bet in another year you will be much further along and much more satisfied with your progress. And remember, you can always find lots of help and support here...
Much better, no?
I still have new windows to cut on the bridge, and on the dome where the Nacelle pylon goes into the secondary hull. I decided I liked windows with rounded edges after all. And on the saucer I think it looks much more realistic to have the windows in two different sizes. Fortunately, I save my progress every few steps, so it was easy to go back into my construction record and pull out the pieces of mesh I needed, right before I cut the old windows in them. :cool:
While I'm at it, does anyone else see anything I can fix up? I get to "not seeing" stuff. For example, someone had to point out that my lifeboats were not very accurately shaped. But I had been using the same beveled cubes since day four of learning how to do any of this, and it had just not occurred to me I could do better... I'm sure there's lots more I'm missing. :rolleyes:
(For those of you who don't know: before the actual pictures of the studio model were released, fans went about trying to figure out what the Stardrive section of this ship actually might look like. 95% of the meshes and diagrams of this class are actually based off of the the wild guesses made before we finally got clear pictures of the model used in the brief, blurry background image. The first mesh I did was based off of these early takes on the class. This one is more like the actual model.)
I think this second design is growing on me, though certainly I will continue to use both "variants" in my fleet. Still have some details to add, but she's coming along okay. Actually, I will probably want to re-detail the saucer and nacelles at some point. They are starting to look pretty crude compared to my most recent meshes. (Part of me wants to just start again from scratch, but that's just crazy.)
Well, the canon stardrive and "neck" looks a bit strange. The "neck" appears to be fragile. Since you mentioned variants, I took the liberty and made a quick sketch over your renderings. Just a suggestion for a variant which could looks interesting too and not that fragile (at least, in my oppinion).
Question: the cutout in the underside will have a bigger deflector installed, will carry torpedo launchers, or just remain empty?
Thanks. I see what you mean about the deflector. It just LOOKS small to have it there. But on the other hand it's larger than the one on the NX class, and there are classes of ships the the Constellation, Miranda and Oberth that don't even have any visible deflector dishes. So I think I'm good. I tried it once with no deflector, and with a larger housing area on the saucer, but so far I like this way the best.
Yeah, that thin area between the two sections bothers me too. It just doesn't look right. If I get around to making another variant I will probably run with something very like your sketch. It would look great.
The cut out on the front end of the underside of the stardrive section is NOT visible from the front, because the lower saucer dips down too far. Otherwise, I WOULD use it for a deflector and or torp bays. I may put some small utility doors on the front one, and cut a shuttle bay into the rear one. I'm going to have to try to come up with some good details, or it's all going to look too blank. I'm thinking of trying to re-do the whole mesh on the underside of the engineering hull, using better modeling and no booleans for the underside cut-outs. I think I might be able to get that looking a little cleaner.
Thanks, as always Juvat. See above about the engineering section and a deflector. Can you think of something else I could use that surface for?
http://youtu.be/FxYr6fJJdrQ
(I finally have a half-decent TNG phaser effect figured out. And my planets are looking much better.)