Greetings!

Welcome to Scifi-Meshes.com! Click one of these buttons to join in on the fun.

3DSketchup - Transport Container - Class 1 Starliner

TrekmadTrekmad2 Posts: 0Member
edited April 2012 in Work in Progress #1
This one is another Star Trek project, based again on the original series. The first stage (the outer hull) is pretty much complete after about 18 hours work. The interior? Who knows how long that will take. Watch this space...

The starship in the images is thanks to the original modeller at the Google Warehouse (Mostly, with some adaptations... ), It is there to provide the appropriate setting for the Transport Container, the rest is all my own work... Enjoy!
94124.jpg
94125.jpg
94126.jpg
94127.jpg
94128.jpg
94129.jpg
94130.jpg
Post edited by Trekmad on

Posts

  • FalinFalin0 Posts: 0Member
    Hmm..interesting, but not seeing how they stay together in tow of 2 or 3.
  • TrekmadTrekmad2 Posts: 0Member
    Falin wrote: »
    Hmm..interesting, but not seeing how they stay together in tow of 2 or 3.

    Good question that, if anyone knows Franz Joseph, maybe they wouldn't mind asking him.

    But, Seriously... Other renders I have seen in the past have often had two or even more containers joined together.
    Speaking hypothetically, one would assume some sort of intense electro-magnetic coupling, perhaps enhanced with power from the structural integrity field?

    I have tried to work out some kind of coupling system in my model, but it is in the early stages yet. As it is I have gone with the Electro-Magnetic idea for the moment - the Oval grey pads either side of the gangway hatches.

    I don't see this model very often on 3d sites, one of the reasons I had a go at producing it, so other examples in such detail are hard to come by.

    Trekmad
  • uniderthuniderth1 Posts: 0Member
    That's cool seeing this deign built in 3D. It's a bit too greebly for my taste, especially considering what era it's from.

    From what I understand they attach to eachother on those little oblong hatch things in the front and back. it's the thing beteen the four dishes on the front and between the four boxes in the back.
  • TrekmadTrekmad2 Posts: 0Member
    Hi Uniderth,

    I have followed Franz Joseph's design for the Starliner Container pretty closely, but the plans are lacking any real detail (they were published in 1975), so I improvised a bit, especially as far as the texture of the body was concerned, without it the hull just looks like an aluminium tube (uninspiring), however, I have a very limited collection of hull textures to choose from, if you can suggest any good alternatives I'll give them a try.

    The Docking Hatch is based upon the design of the Constitution Class Enterprise hatch detail from 'Mr Scott's Guide to the Enterprise'. The Impulse Engines were borrowed from my model of the Independence Class Freighter and fit quite nicely without too much editing.

    An enlargement of the Docking Hatch is attached to show some of the detail (WiP).

    Trekmad

    Aft Docking Latch.jpg
    94139.jpg
  • FalinFalin0 Posts: 0Member
    the hull can look "smooth" and uninspiring from a distance, but up close it can easily be panels like on the NX-01 when we saw them walking on it, heck the panels would most likely be large enough that when removed opened up a space large enough to load large cargo into or as workbee access points for loading.
  • TrekmadTrekmad2 Posts: 0Member
    Falin wrote: »
    the hull can look "smooth" and uninspiring from a distance, but up close it can easily be panels like on the NX-01 when we saw them walking on it, heck the panels would most likely be large enough that when removed opened up a space large enough to load large cargo into or as workbee access points for loading.

    Hi Falin,

    I'm open to suggestions, what would you do?

    The exterior on the original plans are featureless, but for the banner stripe and 3 non-descript squares (which I omitted because they didn't seem to tie to the deck plans). I was attempting to give the eye a little more 'candy' though I only have one starship hull texture to play with. Check out the following link to see what I mean... http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/blueprints/sftm/01-04-20.jpg

    Trekmad
  • FalinFalin0 Posts: 0Member
    Ah, i just realized that's the Starliner pod, all passengers, so you'll need windows and such to break up the sides. yea the early hand drawns were void of details.

    this guy did some work on the pods before, might give you some insights to improve upon: http://www.starbase400.org/avalon/tos_era_specs/starship-ptolemy.htm

    a variation of the base pod on this page: http://evilgenius180.wordpress.com/2009/08/18/tos-starfleet-2007-pt-2/

    and here's a good view with the panel's easily visible http://tykensrift.blogspot.com/2010/06/fresh-out-of-drydock-uss-ptolemey.html

    and if you're really bored, here's a JJVerse version: http://madshipyard.com/images/Ships/Sheet_Ptolemy.jpg

    I Have images for the various other Pod types on my old HD, just take a little liberty and remember back when TOS was on they didn't think about paneling the objects for TV, smooth came out better back then, so have some fun and take a couple of liberties with it.

    EDIT: look at this site, especially the assault colony or Star-liner ones, as that's what you're effectively doing (refit= Movie era, upgrade past that). http://www.shipschematics.net/startrek/federation_data.php?filter=Other
  • TrekmadTrekmad2 Posts: 0Member
    Hi Falin,

    Thanks for the links, hints and tips. I'd seen most of those links in the past and hoovered up the appropriate images onto my HD, but none of the containers really struck me as complete, more as an accessory for the Ptolomy Class ship. I have collected pictures of the containers for a while, long meaning to make a start on modelling, but none of the 68 varieties I have in my collection really look how I imagined the containers would look. I'm gonna think about it a while and as you say, take a little liberty with it and see what I come up with. I guess I'm looking for a nice texture that's appropriate or some good greebles for strategic locations on the hull.

    I thought about more windows myself, because what kind of starliner doesn't have windows for the passengers to gaze out of eh? The romance of travelling the stars - ain't worth the price of a ticket if you don't have a window, right?

    I intend to start modelling the interiors of each deck from those same plans, but at what level of detail, I haven't decided yet. Big Job!

    Trekmad
  • TrekmadTrekmad2 Posts: 0Member
    Hi Guys,

    Have taken the next step on the path to construction (Stage 6), slicing of the model into it's component decks.

    This was a long-winded and fiddly process but it is now complete and I can move on to laying out the contents of the individual decks.

    Here's the latest render after completion of slicing.

    Trekmad.

    Deck Slicing - 001.jpg
    94200.jpg
  • FlankerFlanker0 Posts: 0Member
    Excellent work and it is fun to see you put a lot of effort into the containers themselves. I have the technical manual as well and will be interesting to see how far you are planning to go with them since like you said there is quite some room for you to fill in yourself since the drawings are limited on heavy details
  • TrekmadTrekmad2 Posts: 0Member
    Now the big bit begins...

    I began the task of kitting out the individual decks today, starting at the top of the tube with Deck 1.
    I wanted to get an impression of the scale of the empty space I was to fill and so did a couple of quick renders of the empty, blank canvas. The street lights are just temporary, a quick set of ready made lights I have in another model. I sat back and looked at the renders when they had finished and thought, "Is it me, or is it a bit echo-ey in here?"

    To give an idea of the processes involved thus far, the third picture illustrates the first six broad stages that I went through to get to the point I'm at now... The tiny house on the right, my house, is to scale and gives an idea of the sheer scale of the Starliner container, the pod itself is still less than a third of the length of the Enterprise D. Boggles the mind, don't it!

    Now the real work begins...
    94276.jpg94277.jpg94289.jpg
  • tondemonaitondemonai173 Posts: 26Member
    How are you able to get spheres, domes, and concave dishes out of Sketchup? I can't make it do it.
    Thanks!
  • CaptainjerkyCaptainjerky62 Posts: 0Member
    There are probably easier ways to do it, but I start with a flat surface and draw 1/4 of the object, or sometimes the profile. Then, I add another plane perpendicular to it that will serve as the bottom, outline the shape I want it to have, and use the follow me command to drag that shape all the way around into a bowl, dome, etc. I've seen a couple ways to do it, but this works best for me. I've attached a link below to a brief tutorial someone else made that describes this. He does it in a different order than I've described, but the effect is the same.
    http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=bc66f25efe3d641894626c62e3c68b5a

    ps- After you've made that dome/sphere, it makes your life easier if you make it a group so you can drag it around and copy it later...
  • TrekmadTrekmad2 Posts: 0Member
    tondemonai wrote: »
    How are you able to get spheres, domes, and concave dishes out of Sketchup? I can't make it do it.
    Thanks!

    If you get desperate, there are plenty of 3d shapes already created, free and available from the Google Warehouse. :)
  • TugarTugar171 Posts: 0Member
    Couple of nitpicks on otherwise very nice work. The light poles need to go. Unless those poles are holding the structure together, they will be a nightmare to move cargo around, plus it really limits the size of stuff it can take. A few simple light tubes or recessed lighting would work better.

    Same with all the elevators. Lose most of them. I'd have one personnel elevator, and one carrier style platform elevator to move cargo around.
  • TrekmadTrekmad2 Posts: 0Member
    Hi Tugar,

    Thanks for your comments, but you have left me a little puzzled. I copy in quotes from my own post, 5 posts back...
    Trekmad wrote: »
    ...I wanted to get an impression of the scale of the empty space I was to fill and so did a couple of quick renders of the empty, blank canvas. The street lights are just temporary, a quick set of ready made lights I have in another model....

    Franz Joseph designed a number of variations on the tubular transport container including different types of cargo. So you may be familiar with some of those designs. This version is however, the Passenger Starliner with 13 decks, the design has 5 turbo-lifts, 2 forward with connections to the parent craft (usually the Ptolomy Class, but there are other vessels capable of coupling with this design). The other 3 turbo lifts are for passenger access throughout the vessel, between accommodation decks and passenger amenities. The amenity you have commented on is Deck 1, the Arboretum or parkland, a roughly double-height deck to accommodate trees and shrubs, somewhere the passengers can get a bit of real oxygen and commune with a limited amount of nature on their long space journey.

    The images you commented on were literally the bare bones of the deck. I was a little awed by the size of the space I was to fill, but the design has moved on a little from there and the following images might give you a better idea of how it will eventually look. For comparison, I've also posted the original Franz Joseph plan of the deck, published in 1976. Plenty of room for creativity, I'm sure you will agree. :)
    94318.jpg94319.jpg94320.jpg
  • FalinFalin0 Posts: 0Member
    nice drawings of the deck, but wouldn't the rear lift open into the refreshment lounge?
  • TrekmadTrekmad2 Posts: 0Member
    Falin wrote: »
    nice drawings of the deck, but wouldn't the rear lift open into the refreshment lounge?

    Hi Falin,

    In this case, 'No'. I might have done that myself, if it were my own design, but in this case the orientation of egress from the turbolift is defined by the other 12 decks below this one. As you will see when I begin Deck 2 (B) the turbolift would empty out into some passenger quarters on Decks 2 and 3...

    Hang on... I've just taken a look at the aft turbolift in Joseph's plans and his egress direction is inconsistent or impossible to determine...Decks 1-5 egress forward, deck 6 egresses to starboard, maybe aft... Hell, looks like I'm gonna have to exercise that creative licence again and 'wing-it'!

    Back to the refreshment lounge, I had envisaged a two story, split level affair with observation windows for the passengers to gaze back at where they've just been, over a romantic glass of champagne by starlight. After all, what good is a starliner ticket if you canna' see the stars Keptin! That bit is artistic licence creeping in again, there is nothing of the sort on Joseph's plans...

    I've made a start already on an observation lounge at the forward end of the deck, so that passengers can see where they are going, over a romant.... well you know the rest. Pics below... :)
    94329.jpg94330.jpg94331.jpg94332.jpg
  • FalinFalin0 Posts: 0Member
    cool, if it's a conflict with the lower deck not a problem. just thought it'd make more sense for one to go to the lounge directly, and i don't think there's anything documented that a turbocar couldn't rotate 180 degrees in the shaft.

    love the detail you're putting into that lounge too, looks really good so far. )
  • TrekmadTrekmad2 Posts: 0Member
    Falin wrote: »
    ...just thought it'd make more sense for one to go to the lounge directly, and i don't think there's anything documented that a turbocar couldn't rotate 180 degrees in the shaft.

    love the detail you're putting into that lounge too, looks really good so far. )

    Thanks Falin,

    You know... I've been watching Star trek for over 40 years... and it's never occurred to me that the Turbo-lifts might rotate around the horizontal axis. I've even been writing a story based around my Independence Class freighter model and in that, the turbo-tube system is a simple 'H' configuration. I had secondary doors at the back of the lift which opened for egress when you went to the aft end of the ship. If you really scrutinise the deck plans of the Enterprise-D (thinking about it) the turbolift doors come out at all angles, especially around the saucer section.

    This is where your 'Guru' status is earned isn't it, you've really thought about things like this to solve modelling problems, my lateral thinking skills need a bit of a work-out. :thumb:
  • TrekmadTrekmad2 Posts: 0Member
    Missed a few days thanks to rendering problems.

    I've made big strides on the parkland interior of Deck 1, it can still stand some tweaking, could do with a sweep for detail and a trim down in the filesize stakes.

    Anyhow, thought you guys might be interested to see what I've been able to render so far... more to come.
    94379.jpg94380.jpg94381.jpg94382.jpg94383.jpg
  • IRMLIRML253 Posts: 1,993Member
    cool project
  • TrekmadTrekmad2 Posts: 0Member
    Hi Guys,

    The two images presented below represent nearly five hours of rendering time. That is the longest I have ever had to wait to generate two images.

    The results are nice, but 5 hours will certainly make sure you check out the pre-render's ok before hitting the big button.

    More to come when they're cooked!

    5 - Deck 01 - Scene 02.jpg 5 - Deck 01 - Scene 03.jpg
    94434.jpg94435.jpg
  • TrekmadTrekmad2 Posts: 0Member
    Hi Guys,

    Only one update pic today. This picture from the park's lawn, looking towards the aft refreshment lounge was a long time coming, over 7 hours to render! Consequently, I've not been in too much of a rush to render the next scene, it's a long time to wait for 1 picture...:argh:

    The effect is nice though...

    5 - Deck 01 - Scene 04.jpg
    94502.jpg
  • StarshipStarship464 São Paulo - BrasilPosts: 1,976Member
    Looks magnific!
  • bernard guignardbernard guignard334 Posts: 48Member
    That is very nice work looking forward to the other decks. Keep up the great work
  • TrekmadTrekmad2 Posts: 0Member
    Hi Guys,

    One little update today... Following on from my idea to decorate the interior hull, otherwise known as the ceiling of the parkland of Deck 1.

    I took a couple of scenic views, combined them into one large scenic view, orientated to lay out on a 180 degree canvas, imported it into Sketchup and projected it onto the interior hull of the model, et voila!

    Passengers can now walk the paths of the parkland deck looking out at the distant mountain and coastal scenery, with a blue sky and misty clouds above their heads...
    Of course, this being holographic scenery it would be animated, birds flying across the hull, speedboats and aircraft buzzing around. It would be constantly changing with the time of day and even the moon rising and falling at night. Oh how I wish I could animate these things in real time, instead of waiting hours to generate a single image! Imagination is the only limiting factor... that and the price and availability of the hardware to do it...

    More to come when my overworked processors have cooked them...

    5 - Deck 01 - Scene 14.jpg 5 - Deck 01 - Scene 12.jpg
    94582.jpg94622.jpg
  • FalinFalin0 Posts: 0Member
    Looking good, love the Easter Island statues.
  • TrekmadTrekmad2 Posts: 0Member
    The latest addition to the Parkland of Deck 1...

    5 - Deck 01 - Scene 13.jpg
    94627.jpg
Sign In or Register to comment.