3DContainer ship

sorceress21

With work on my Sarpeadon Class winding down I've done what I always do and start a new project before finishing the previous one.

This new project is a change up in modeling style for me as I am incorporating heavy influence from a Russian design artist that goes by Karnak. I wanted to make a vessel that was heavily detailed with lots of lines and plates so one could see how the ship was put together. I'll be using far fewer textures and colors on this model in an attempt to add realism and also for ease of render set up. I have decided to incorporate some conservative greebling but not without function.

The ship will be a container vessel from my long going on original universe.

I am building this model from the drive section forward...

WIP so far:

Soran77

Really good work so far!

evil_genius_180

Yes, definitely looking really good so far, nice and detailed. :thumb:

sorceress21

Progress on the drive section...

McC

Looking good! Great detailing work so far.

sorceress21

Update...the engineering section is mostly done..some details left to add. I started to model the SQC Drive generators, the connecting spine and the command section. There will be another connecting spine gong forward to the forward section. The containers will be on bracket dollies between each main section.

spacefighter

great work, i have seen stuff by that russian artist. some of his stuff is here
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=234083

the images on that page are very helpful in showing how he modelled the details

sorceress21

Yep..Karnak's stuff is awesome...I think I've managed to bring my work up to his level of detail. The only issue I ever really had with going that crazy was Sketchup get's really angry when the face count (non-sub D'd face) get's over 500,000. Right now the model is about 190,000 faces which will translate to around 325,000 polys into Kerk. And I don't have the forward section or connector tube done yet let alone the containers themselves or the bracket/dollies. I think this is going to be a million 5 poly model when done. I'll have to export in stages I think for render.

I'm on a long trip for work so no updates for a while...

evil_genius_180

Your level of detail is great. I'm really liking the way this ship is shaping up.

Kilminster

Can't wait to see more. It looks quite impressing so far.

sorceress21

It's interesting the things that have come up in my mental deliberations on this vessel..

A shipping container for space can't just be a metal box...You have to consider solar radiation/cosmic rays, temperature and gravity as factors that might affect the security of the freight.

I am designing the containers in my head as I type. I need to make them relatively low-poly or the model will get to big. But for the sake of discussion I realized that spaceborne shipping containers will need environmental controls systems with an individual back-up power supply. I won't need to model those details as they can be "implied" and internal but I thought it worth talking about.

The containers will be constructed of a fictional material I'll call tri-poly duranium with a micro-syntha-lead sheathe for radiation protection. The containers will be equipped with a 1g grav plating system and insulation with climate control. Some will have optional air scrubbers as certain goods and freight might require good air quality. They will have internal back-up power cells but will have umbilical connects to their dollies to maintain a steady power state on long voyages.

Mikey-B

I could see your shipping containers being intermodal for transport on land, ground, by rail, by ocean/air, and of course in space. Your tech might be advanced enough not to worry about it, but it is easier to pressurize cylindrical shapes rather than boxy ones. Even the Serenity had slightly curved walls.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with. I've always loved the detail you put into your models.

spacefighter

sorceress21 wrote: »

It's interesting the things that have come up in my mental deliberations on this vessel..

A shipping container for space can't just be a metal box...You have to consider solar radiation/cosmic rays, temperature and gravity as factors that might affect the security of the freight.

I am designing the containers in my head as I type. I need to make them relatively low-poly or the model will get to big. But for the sake of discussion I realized that spaceborne shipping containers will need environmental controls systems with an individual back-up power supply. I won't need to model those details as they can be "implied" and internal but I thought it worth talking about.

The containers will be constructed of a fictional material I'll call tri-poly duranium with a micro-syntha-lead sheathe for radiation protection. The containers will be equipped with a 1g grav plating system and insulation with climate control. Some will have optional air scrubbers as certain goods and freight might require good air quality. They will have internal back-up power cells but will have umbilical connects to their dollies to maintain a steady power state on long voyages.

what the container needs depends on what it is carrying, some cargoes will sustain no damage at all due to cosmic rays/etc.

sorceress21

Mikey-B wrote: »

I could see your shipping containers being intermodal for transport on land, ground, by rail, by ocean/air, and of course in space. Your tech might be advanced enough not to worry about it, but it is easier to pressurize cylindrical shapes rather than boxy ones. Even the Serenity had slightly curved walls.

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with. I've always loved the detail you put into your models.

Yes, the container system will be intermodel. Shipper by truck to spaceport, spaceport to orbit by container shuttle, then loaded onto a intra-system barges or an interstellar freighter.

spacefighter wrote: »

what the container needs depends on what it is carrying, some cargoes will sustain no damage at all due to cosmic rays/etc.

Very true..but you might be surprised at how many different types of products and goods would be rendered useless if exposed to the kind of radiation levels present in deep space. Radiation protection will be a standard with these containers.

sorceress21

I've made some progress..

I may completely change the navigation section as I'm not too happy with the overall aesthetics. But the container carriers, the command and engineering sections are done less some additional details such as hatches and greebles. I also will be adding the bridge superstructure to the top of the command section as well.

Full Size Image

evil_genius_180

It looks great.

sorceress21

Thanks, it's gonna look sweet once I add the remaining details and then finally the containers with their various shipping company liveries.

evil_genius_180

Yeah, I was trying to imagine what it will look like with the containers in the slots. I'm looking forward to seeing that.

wibble

It surely will be much better with the containers and additional details but one can't say anything else instead that it looks amazing already.
What is your facecount at the moment? I know sketchup isn't that highpoly friendly but with all that details it looks like it have to be highpoly.

sorceress21

Right now it's 136964 faces and exports to around 400,000 poly to Kerk..But that's a dirty count. I have some cleaning up yet to do.

spacefighter

ooh, i never realised it had that long neck structure on the front. this is turning out even more interesting than the awesome design of the original.

alonzo11208

Damn Sorc...I've always loved your designs, but this one takes the cake.

Im guessing those pods in the x formation are attached to a centrifuge and are the hab modules?

sorceress21

alonzo11208 wrote: »

Damn Sorc...I've always loved your designs, but this one takes the cake.

Im guessing those pods in the x formation are attached to a centrifuge and are the hab modules?

Thanks! But actually nope...those pods are the Compression Drive. This is a "super-science" vessel. Artificial gravity, inertia compensators, navigational deflectors the whole bit...

alonzo11208

sorceress21 wrote: »

Thanks! But actually nope...those pods are the Compression Drive. This is a "super-science" vessel. Artificial gravity, inertia compensators, navigational deflectors the whole bit...

Ahhh so the compression drive is basically how the ships get to FTL speeds? And if so, its its function somewhat similar to the Albecurrie Drive or different principles, etc entirely?

sorceress21

Not exactly but the Alcubierre warp drive gave me a foundation for creating a fictional drive system unique to the sci-fi universe I'm designing and writing about.

The Sub-Quantum Compression Drive compresses the mass signature a vessel impresses on space/time. It nullifies the gravitational exponent of acceleration and compresses mass down to the sub-atomic level but leaves the vessel with full engine thrust authority as the ship still exists at normal mass within the compression field. What this does is allows a ship's sub-light drive to apply that thrust capacity to a mass at a ratio of a trillionth to one. Simplified, 1 pound is reduced to 1 trillionth of a pound thus allowing FTL velocities in real space. The greater the compression, the greater velocity.

Mikey-B

I think it's a neat idea and similar to the mass effect field. As I understand it, as you approach the speed of light, your relative mass goes up. More mass makes it harder to accelerate. With sub-quantum compression, your ship's mass relative to the universe drops, which makes it easier to approach light speed and beyond.

McC

sorceress21 wrote: »

Not exactly but the Alcubierre warp drive gave me a foundation for creating a fictional drive system unique to the sci-fi universe I'm designing and writing about.

The Sub-Quantum Compression Drive compresses the mass signature a vessel impresses on space/time. It nullifies the gravitational exponent of acceleration and compresses mass down to the sub-atomic level but leaves the vessel with full engine thrust authority as the ship still exists at normal mass within the compression field. What this does is allows a ship's sub-light drive to apply that thrust capacity to a mass at a ratio of a trillionth to one. Simplified, 1 pound is reduced to 1 trillionth of a pound thus allowing FTL velocities in real space. The greater the compression, the greater velocity.

Mass compression won't ever "allow" FTL velocities in real space. As any mass approaches c, it increases asymptotically. At (or "above") c, an object has infinite mass, regardless of what mass it started with. Photons, light quanta, are massless (but they also don't "experience" time, which is rather interesting to consider).

Alcubierre's metric "gets around" this by manipulating space-time itself rather than a physical object, which is permitted by general relativity (though it violates a few other things, chief among which are some of the Energy Conditions). At no point is any object moving as fast or faster than a photon in any observable reference frame.

If you're interested in the topic, I highly recommend Atomic Rocket's article on FTL as a great starting point to understanding the problems with achieving FTL in a real sense, and some fictional means of circumvention.

spacefighter

sorceress21 wrote: »

Not exactly but the Alcubierre warp drive gave me a foundation for creating a fictional drive system unique to the sci-fi universe I'm designing and writing about.

The Sub-Quantum Compression Drive compresses the mass signature a vessel impresses on space/time. It nullifies the gravitational exponent of acceleration and compresses mass down to the sub-atomic level but leaves the vessel with full engine thrust authority as the ship still exists at normal mass within the compression field. What this does is allows a ship's sub-light drive to apply that thrust capacity to a mass at a ratio of a trillionth to one. Simplified, 1 pound is reduced to 1 trillionth of a pound thus allowing FTL velocities in real space. The greater the compression, the greater velocity.

sorry but that just cannot work. you see wonderful as a mass reduction drive is and great as it is for reaching 99.99999999999(insert as many 9 s as desired here)9 % of light speed it can never get you across the barrier. at light speed itself though the mass goes to infinity however small it was(or appears to be) due to the mechanics of the following equation.
Y=1/sqrt(1-v^2/c^2) this is a key point in special relativity and derives from considering the effect had by a fixed universal speed of light in a double mirror arrangement. put simply as your velocity approaches v your Y factor becomes larger until at v=c you are trying to divide by zero(ouch). this Y factor is multiplied by the rest mass(i assume here that your cool drive effectvely just drops the rest mass down to 10^-30 kg(??) ) so this drive makes sub light acceleration far easier but still prevents FTL.

my advice
a. wormholes
b. alcubiere warp style system
c. jump system
d. hyperspace
e. relativistic speeds(for the crew it only takes a day to travel a light year but for the rest of the universe it still takes a year, time dilation also stems from the Y factor.)
f. stasis

in a sci fi the key points of your ftl drive are what type of ftl it allows(project rho/atomic rockets has a great list regarding that), chances are one of the above can do what you need without breaking the c barrier.

sorry to rant but had to say that, hope it helps.


p.s. derivation for the Y factor equation shown extraordinarily well in brian cox's book "why does E=mc^2"

sorceress21

While I appreciate your enthusiasm for realism I do not need a physics lesson. I fully understand causality and general relativity. I accounted for that by nullifying gravity within the field. Without gravity your point is not valid....I swear I'm gonna go postal on the next person that tells me to read atomic rocketsto help me design my fictional universe as if that site is required by law or something..

Mikey-B

I swear I'm gonna go postal on the next person that tells me to read atomic rocketsto help me design my fictional universe as if that site is required by law or something..

It was one of the fifteen commandments that Mel Brooks dropped long ago...

McC

sorceress21 wrote: »

While I appreciate your enthusiasm for realism I do not need a physics lesson. I fully understand causality and general relativity.

Nobody fully understands causality and general relativity.

I accounted for that by nullifying gravity within the field. Without gravity your point is not valid....

Gravity is a space-time consequence of mass concentration. I am not aware of any way in which the nullification of gravity would have any impact on the Lorentz contraction resulting from the invariance of c across all reference frames.

I swear I'm gonna go postal on the next person that tells me to read atomic rocketsto help me design my fictional universe as if that site is required by law or something..

Atomic Rockets isn't required reading in and of itself, but it's probably the best aggregation of "stuff anyone writing science fiction should know." Acquiring that information elsewhere is fine, but if someone wants to talk about the science part of in science fiction, it's a great quick reference to point at. Read it or not as you please; ignore the points contained therein (collected from the giant pre-existing body of science and science fiction that precedes you) at your own peril.