3DMy Starfleet Museum Thread

Rekkert

So, after reaching a temporary dead end with the Kumari, I decided I wanted to model a starship without the need to design it, and that it should be fairly easy to model so that I could finish it up fast and try to texture it ('cause I've never, NEVER, textured anything yet:D).

But I still wanted to do a Federation starship, not a shuttle or an alien ship, so I'd decided for the TOS era, which, naturally, lead me to the Starfleet Museum.

I've been a fan of the Museum pretty much since it went online (I was 4 back then, I couldn't read english but I loved the designs:p). I chose to begin with the Valley Forge-Class because it's always been my favourite. I've added a few bits here and there and removed some others to make it look "more TOS".

I'll probably continue with the Belleau Wood-Class and then maybe I'll do a refit of both, but I'm getting way ahead of myself here, I have to finish this one first.

So, after two days of work here is what I got, still need to finish the nacelles and model most of the secondary hull. What do you think?

svenis

Like the Design too and your variantion is very good
the Hull and the details you've added until yet looks very authentic

Aresius

Interesting. I must admit that the TOS-era ships are not my favourites, but nice work here.

evil_genius_180

I agree, this is one of Masao's best designs. Great start on it. I'm looking forward to seeing how you do at your first attempt at texturing.

Rekkert

Thanks guys!

@Aresius: I don't particularly like TOS designs either, but I needed something easy.

Done more work on the secondary hull, I've changed some things from the original design, but I thing that now it looks more balanced.

Rekkert

Some more progress, I hope to finish the modeling by tomorrow.

Masao

I'm always happy to see models of my designs! I intended this ship to be the sleek, elegant precusor to the sort of brutish, overpowered Constitution class. Accordingly, one thing that has kind of bothered me about this design is the blocky torpedo housing at the top of the primary hull. I suspect torpedoes were something added after the ship was launched.

Rekkert

Thanks for dropping by Masao!
I was just thinking about the torpedo launcher, given the fact that the original Constitution had torpedoes but not a visible launcher, it's kinda odd for a TOS ship to have a big area just dedicated to them. However, it's one of the features that set this ship apart, without it, it just looks too much like the Constitution in my opinion.

Flanker

Excellent work so far and yes it does look like a constitution this way, albeit a older version perhaps Glad to see you also try your hand at TOS work Rekkert

evil_genius_180

That's looking really good so far.

I think the original Enterprise's torpedo launchers were supposed to be behind doors in the hull or something. (that's always been my assumption)

Masao

I wasn't saying you should take the launcher off completely. I think, though, that you could play around with it to find a less boxy shape. Just a suggestion.

Rekkert

Thanks for the comments guys!

@Masao: I wasn't gonna remove it, I just removed it for that render to justify my words. But I'll see what I can do to make it less blocky, I already have a few ideas.

I've finished the back of the nacelles and added the windows on the secondary hull. I think the nacelles are done, but I'm not sure, I may add some details or maybe even some plasma grills. Also, I have to remember to detail the pylons.:D

Rekkert

I think it's finished! (well, the easy part )

I might be forgetting something, but I think everything is modeled.
Sorry Masao, I've tried some ideas, but I like the torpedo laucher too much to change it. I not only think it fits the design perfectly, but I also think it's a nice change of pace from all the easy lines of TOS ships.

Now... to start reading texturing tutorials, any sugestion?

Rekkert

After doing a lot of research (watching lots of model pictures, TOS-R pictures, and fan made models), I've come to the conclusion that, luckily for me , TOS ships have almost non-existent textures, with only some subtle details and an specular map doing all the work.

With that in mind, I've downloaded a generic metal plating texture (which I plan to replace with one of my own making soon), and started playing around with the specular levels a bit to see what I could come up with.

This is in no way final but I think it's a step in the right direction.
C&C now welcome more than ever! So please, what do you think?

publiusr

Looks nice. Any thoughts to a Lancaster?

Rekkert

Thanks!
I also like the Lancaster, I might do it some day.

Again in no way a final texture, more like a proof of concept done in MS Paint and Photoshop.
Using MadKoiFish's tutorials I'm advancing pretty steady, but I still have the biggest challenge ahead, the actual texture (or diffuse map, whatever:p).

SteveNeill

Looks great very subtle.

Steve

SteveNeill

Great surfaces!

Steve

evil_genius_180

Nice work. Like Steve said, very subtle.

You used Windows Paint? I've been using that to draw panels and Aztec patterns for years.

Rekkert

Thanks guys!
I was going for subtlety 'cause I think is what best fits the era, instead of the more prominent patterns of later ships.

evil_genius_180 wrote: »

You used Windows Paint? I've been using that to draw panels and Aztec patterns for years.

Indeed, I find Paint to be the perfect application for panels.

More progress, still not final but getting there. I've removed the "Specular Color" 'cause it was giving it too much contrast, I think it looks better this way, though it makes the pattern harder to see, maybe too hard.
Work could be faster, but I've re-activated my Star Trek Online account, so that's taking most of my free time.:D

publiusr

Good work.

Rekkert

Thanks publiusr!

I decided to modify the textures on the saucer to reach something like this, as I couldn't get to like my current version.
Anyway, that'll have to wait, 'cause I've decided that there's still more modeling to do.:D Even though Masao's plans didn't include them, I modeled some details into the nacelles to make them more similar to those of the Constitution. In my opinion, whithout anything there, the nacelles looked too much like rockets; and given that the Valley Forge directly predates the Constitution, the leap on nacelle design would be, in my opinion, too big.

It isn't finished yet, I still have to change some things and do the plasma grill, but other than that, now the modeling is really finished.

evil_genius_180

I got a 403 (Forbidden) message on that link. One probably has to be signed in to see it.

Yeah, Masao's designs are great, but I also feel some of them need more detail. I like what you're doing with it.

Rekkert

I don't know why you can't see it evil, I never had any trouble with links from TrekCore, anyway, I've attached the image here.
I'm planing on making the patter similar to that, but much more subtle (in that image the ship is supposedly overexposed because it's inside the atmosphere).

I've finished modeling the plasma grill and made some very subtle changes to the saucer, now the modeling is really finished. Tomorrow I'll start with the new textures.

evil_genius_180

I don't know, I just know I'm still getting that 403 error. But, it's no biggie, I see what you mean because you attached the image.

Nice work on the warp bits.

Rekkert

Thanks evil!

Back to texture work today, and I think that the diffuse map is finished as far as the top saucer goes. It's based on MadKoiFish tutorials and basically it just adds a little bit of dirt around the hull lines.
I'm worried that the text there is too pixelated but if I make the whole thing bigger it would be too heavy on the hard drive (currently it's a 4000x4000 image), which leads me to believe that I'm doing something wrong here.
From other ships I've downloaded from here I can tell that the text and the rest of the texture should be two different files, but I can't get it to work that way. Could any Max user give me a hand please?

PD Yes, I've changed the name again.

evil_genius_180

You can always just model the text. Then you won't have to worry about it being blurry or pixelated. Though, there should be a setting somewhere in Max to make it look better, because I've seen peoples' meshes where they had textured text that was on a smaller map than that and it didn't look pixelated or blurry. (though, I have no idea how to do it because I don't use Max)

Rekkert

Well, the holidays and my new job (the first one!:argh:) have been keeping me busy, but I've managed to get some more work done.

I originally didn't want to model the text because I really wanted to start doing all the texture work without "cheating", but after a lot of trial and error I've come to a point were I just want to be done with this ship, so I'll be modeling the text and the rest of the insignias throughout the ship.

But that's still on the to-do list, 'cause first I wanted to finish with the "real" textures: some random metal panels that are hardly visible.:p And, as you can see, I've returned to my previous version of the saucer paneling, but making it far less visible.

Now all I have to do is to finish with the insignias, add all the lights, and see what can be done with the Bussard Collectors.

evil_genius_180

"Cheating?" Funny, I've always thought of textured markings as cheating. Modeling them is more difficult, IMO.

Nice work, it's looking great.

BC

How could using textures to simulate painted on things like numbers and insignia be considered cheating? Whether they are textures or modeled pieces with their own materials makes no difference really, it is all about what it looks like in the end.

The torpedo tubes look like they are somewhere between 6 and eight feet across, a torpedo could pushed out one of those sideways which does not make sense if it is just a simple tube. It could have originally been something different though, a heavy cruiser phaser like the one shown dismounted in "The Cage" would fit in it and have enough room to slew slightly for example, or a better explanation for the size could be that it uses removable multi-tube launching modules somewhat similar to the swing-out launchers on the USS Kelvin (shown here: http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/File:USS_Kelvin_photon_torpedo_launchers.jpg ) and they are inset slightly in the tubes or something like that.

I think the 'in-universe' reason the ships hulls are so uniformly flat colored in TOS and distinctly paneled in later films is that the hulls were painted after assembly and then repainted or touched up after damage repairs in the TOS era but hull panels in later times came with their own surface treatment and were simply put in place as is so slight variations show up.

Rekkert

Thanks for the different opinionS guys.:) Indeed I've come to learn that if you ask 5 different persons how to do something, you'll end up having 5 totally different but equally viable approaches, that's the great thing about 3D design in my opinion.

@BC: About the torpedo tubes, I was worried that they were too big, but I've compared my model with Dennis Bailey's refit Enterprise, and the Valley Forge torpedo tubes are actually smaller (their diameter is a little bit smaller than the height of the Enterprise rectangular tubes).