And, seeing it without windows on it, I think I like the ship better this way. Add the windows to the rim, of course, and just a few on the secondary hull. I might try to build a version like that.
And, seeing it without windows on it, I think I like the ship better this way. Add the windows to the rim, of course, and just a few on the secondary hull. I might try to build a version like that.
-Ricky
Thanks.
I feel the same way. I really like the look of the older nebula class saucer, with its considerably fewer windows. Every time I see them, I think it makes the saucer look less busy and cluttered. I will definitely save a version of the file pre-window cutting, and maybe someday produce a variant or different class based on this mesh. One could reason that the federation might have produced a Galaxy variant with changes designed to simplify and strengthen the hull, perhaps a more militarized battleship-type variant.
In my opinion that's what they should have done with the modified Enterprise-D in "All Good Things". That was a dreadnought cruiser but had around the same amount of windows as the original Galaxy Class.
Maybe you could have a go at a better designed Galaxy-X Class. Whatever you do, I'm sure it will turn out great.
It's been a busy summer, but with the autumn came some opportunity to try to figure out texturing techniques...
I've never really textured anything as complex as the Stardrive section of this class. But for a first attempt, I would say I'm making some progress:
I'm fairly happy with the way she is looking, but there's a lot of trickery and covering involved. I will probably go back some day and try to do a more perfect job on this class. I would have to go back to before I started cutting the deflector shields, before I did the cuts joining the saucer to the stardrive. Maybe someday.
So now I'm thinking about windows. I know from experience what cutting all the little windows into the hull is likely to do to my render times, as well as how difficult it will make handling and working with this mesh in the future. So I have decided to cheat and use window objects for the littler windows, instead of cutting them.
I have most of the saucer windows in place, and she's really starting to look her part. I'm excited that I should be able to start "finishing" this mesh in a week or so. At this rate, I will likely have her completed before December
I saved all the window stencil objects, so if i ever want to go back and cut some or all of the windows it will be easy to do so.
So many windows....
This is easily the best mesh I have ever produced; it's going to look very good in my fleet.
Looking good, the only thing that looks off is the deflector seems a touch too deep into the secondary hull, other then that, shape looks right, details look right. Have you begun proper texturing yet?
Just remember when you make scenes, if you want it to be mega accurate, the Saucer impulse engines stay dark unless the ship is separated
Very nice. Shuttlebay 3 should be wider than Shuttlebay 2, though.
What the....? I was confused for a minute, because I remembered modeling them the correct way. Then I realized: When I textured the stardrive section I did the port half then copied and mirrored my work over to the other side. I forgot about the asymmetrical shuttle bays. That's exactly why I show my work on these boards. Thanks.
Looking good, the only thing that looks off is the deflector seems a touch too deep into the secondary hull, other then that, shape looks right, details look right. Have you begun proper texturing yet?
Just remember when you make scenes, if you want it to be mega accurate, the Saucer impulse engines stay dark unless the ship is separated
Right. I will remember to "turn off" the saucer impulse drives. I will probably do that when I texture up the window faces.
About the deflector: Do you mean you think the deflector dish is set too far into the cavity? Or that the cavity itself is cut too far into the secondary hull? Either way I will take a look.
Have I started proper texturing yet? If you mean the hull textures... yeah that's about where they are going to be. I may have a few tweaks here and there, but I think the textures on the hull are about placed. They are not entirely accurate everywhere, but they are close enough for my purposes. If I wanted to get them more accurate than this, I would probably have to go back to before I cut the deflector grids and texture the ship at that point. It seems like it was a mistake to physically cut the deflector grids on this ship. All that did was mess up the hull geometry and make the hull difficult to texture. I should have just accomplished the grids as part of the textures. But the nice thing about me saving every significant step of every ship I create, is that I can go back and make a different choice in the future, if it really calls to me.
I still have to texture the windows and impulse grills and stuff like that. I may also layer some subtle weathering onto my hull materials.
That's true too, though they had less "other" Starfleet models on that series because of where it took place. I mostly remember DS9, where they had those big battles with ships that had glows where they shouldn't be, such as the saucer impulse engines on the Galaxy-class.
That's true too, though they had less "other" Starfleet models on that series because of where it took place. I mostly remember DS9, where they had those big battles with ships that had glows where they shouldn't be, such as the saucer impulse engines on the Galaxy-class.
I really ate up those large battle scenes. They were really spectacular in a way that Trek had not been before. But one really did need to not look too closely. I disliked the way they bashed a rough Galaxy mesh into a cheap Nebula class that was always in the background. Blech. And I swore violently when they re-used footage from Sacrifice of angels for one of the final battles. That was really annoying. They should have been able to do something to that footage to at least make it seem different at first glance.
I really ate up those large battle scenes. They were really spectacular in a way that Trek had not been before. But one really did need to not look too closely. I disliked the way they bashed a rough Galaxy mesh into a cheap Nebula class that was always in the background. Blech. And I swore violently when they re-used footage from Sacrifice of angels for one of the final battles. That was really annoying. They should have been able to do something to that footage to at least make it seem different at first glance.
Star Trek was never supposed to be about battles and war, but I too enjoyed those. I think a show like DS9 needed something like a big enemy to fight, because a space station that never moves is more boring than a ship flying to new worlds and meeting new species. They needed some excitement to come to them, and the two or three wars they had take place during the series added that excitement. Plus, it was really cool to see huge battle fleets of starships engaging equally huge fleets of enemies.
I never really paid too much attention to the CGI back when I watched the whole series on DVD, but sites like Ex Astris Scientia make it fun to go back and look at these things. One really funny pic on there was posted to show something else, but it shows a Galaxy class that's (presumably) stationary around a Starbase. The main impulse engine is "off," but the saucer ones are still lit up. That's wrong on more than one level. I agree about the Nebula, that was a bad model. But, it was what they could do in the time allotted. I understand that TV schedules are tight, and they had a lot of models to convert to CGI so that they could do those big battles, so I'm sure they cut corners wherever they could. Some of their other models like the K't'inga and the Xhosa lost a lot of detail when they made the CGI models, but that was what they could do in the late '90s.
Star Trek was never supposed to be about battles and war, but I too enjoyed those. I think a show like DS9 needed something like a big enemy to fight, because a space station that never moves is more boring than a ship flying to new worlds and meeting new species. They needed some excitement to come to them, and the two or three wars they had take place during the series added that excitement. Plus, it was really cool to see huge battle fleets of starships engaging equally huge fleets of enemies.
I never really paid too much attention to the CGI back when I watched the whole series on DVD, but sites like Ex Astris Scientia make it fun to go back and look at these things. One really funny pic on there was posted to show something else, but it shows a Galaxy class that's (presumably) stationary around a Starbase. The main impulse engine is "off," but the saucer ones are still lit up. That's wrong on more than one level. I agree about the Nebula, that was a bad model. But, it was what they could do in the time allotted. I understand that TV schedules are tight, and they had a lot of models to convert to CGI so that they could do those big battles, so I'm sure they cut corners wherever they could. Some of their other models like the K't'inga and the Xhosa lost a lot of detail when they made the CGI models, but that was what they could do in the late '90s.
If you look at "The die is cast", the last big battle before the series switched to CGI (excluding Way of the Warrior, of course) all the background romulan and cardassian ships are actual photographs that were superimposed on the equivalent of overhead projector film, that's why they seem to fly by in most shots (so you don't notice it, but you still can if you know where to look). It was the only way Dan Curry could have that many ships in the same scene without having a movie sized budget for 5 minutes of combat
It was actually Ira Behr who insisted on the more combat/battle/action focus of DS9 when he came on board fully, because the battles kept the attention of the viewer by rewarding them for all the constant talking and drama. It also helped draw away from that TNG-era trope of "Here's a major battle on screen, let's just describe it and watch the reaction shots of our crew!"
Polaris, good so far, but the forward of the cobra head should not look that severe, it should be much, much rounder. And there are some old photos of the cobra head for reference around somewhere, i'll try to track them down for you, so you can get some more detail on the top. Prologic's enterprise-D took a fair few voyager-esque liberties to make the cobra head look less bland.
If you look at "The die is cast", the last big battle before the series switched to CGI (excluding Way of the Warrior, of course) all the background romulan and cardassian ships are actual photographs that were superimposed on the equivalent of overhead projector film, that's why they seem to fly by in most shots (so you don't notice it, but you still can if you know where to look). It was the only way Dan Curry could have that many ships in the same scene without having a movie sized budget for 5 minutes of combat
Yeah, you did get the sense that there was some photo-trickery involved. But it looked really good for the time. I mean it looked way better than early TNG effects and we were getting epic scenes so I was not going to complain. I always felt a little guilty about liking these scenes so much, because this really wasn't what Trek was "supposed" to be about. But on the other hand, I have to admit it was this direction that got me interested in DS9 again. While "Emissary" is my favorite Trek Pilot of all time, I have to say my interest in the first couple of seasons of the show was pretty weak. I was really getting away from the show until the Odyssey was destroyed and the Defiant showed up. from that moment on I was hooked again.
Polaris, good so far, but the forward of the cobra head should not look that severe, it should be much, much rounder. And there are some old photos of the cobra head for reference around somewhere, i'll try to track them down for you, so you can get some more detail on the top. Prologic's enterprise-D took a fair few voyager-esque liberties to make the cobra head look less bland.
References would definitely be appreciated. I know my basic shape is off. I was using Prologic's work as a reference, as well as my old Ertl model. I couldn't find really good shots of the Studio model BB, and actually I don't really care for that shape as much as some of the fan versions. This is sort of my take on the basic design, I guess. I Don't like that point at the very front, but it's too late to fix that now. I have to re-do the phaser strip and add more piping, greebles and detail to the top.
Sorry for all the multiple posts to my own thread (classy, I know) but I have one more thing I need help with. Blender users this question is for you:
Last year I learned a neat trick, and now I can't remember where I saw it or how to do it. It was a tutorial on this site, I think, but I just have not been able to find it. Basically, It let you select a path of vertices, and then select a curve or a circle, and it would stretch that shape over the trail of vertices. It was a great way to make pipes or tubes over the surface of a hull. It was easy and gave great results, but I can't remember exactly how it was done. I need this trick to finish the detail on my Stardrive Battle bridge area. Can anyone help?
Sorry for all the multiple posts to my own thread (classy, I know)
This may come as a shock, but there's an "Edit" button on each post so if you forget something, you can just add it to the existing post. Doesn't really matter, of course, but that's generally what I do.
Posts
Books: [ Ashes of Alour-Tan | Embers of Alour-Tan ] | Blender Tutorials | Blog
And, seeing it without windows on it, I think I like the ship better this way. Add the windows to the rim, of course, and just a few on the secondary hull. I might try to build a version like that.
-Ricky
Thanks.
I feel the same way. I really like the look of the older nebula class saucer, with its considerably fewer windows. Every time I see them, I think it makes the saucer look less busy and cluttered. I will definitely save a version of the file pre-window cutting, and maybe someday produce a variant or different class based on this mesh. One could reason that the federation might have produced a Galaxy variant with changes designed to simplify and strengthen the hull, perhaps a more militarized battleship-type variant.
In my opinion that's what they should have done with the modified Enterprise-D in "All Good Things". That was a dreadnought cruiser but had around the same amount of windows as the original Galaxy Class.
Maybe you could have a go at a better designed Galaxy-X Class. Whatever you do, I'm sure it will turn out great.
I've never really textured anything as complex as the Stardrive section of this class. But for a first attempt, I would say I'm making some progress:
I'm fairly happy with the way she is looking, but there's a lot of trickery and covering involved. I will probably go back some day and try to do a more perfect job on this class. I would have to go back to before I started cutting the deflector shields, before I did the cuts joining the saucer to the stardrive. Maybe someday.
So now I'm thinking about windows. I know from experience what cutting all the little windows into the hull is likely to do to my render times, as well as how difficult it will make handling and working with this mesh in the future. So I have decided to cheat and use window objects for the littler windows, instead of cutting them.
Comments and suggestions are welcome as always.
Great job anyway.
Cheers, S.
I saved all the window stencil objects, so if i ever want to go back and cut some or all of the windows it will be easy to do so.
So many windows....
This is easily the best mesh I have ever produced; it's going to look very good in my fleet.
Having seen quite a bit of your previous work, which I like, I concur. That's a good thing, it means your skills are increasing.
Just remember when you make scenes, if you want it to be mega accurate, the Saucer impulse engines stay dark unless the ship is separated
Current Projects:
Ambassador Class
Now, go back in time and remind the people who did the CGI on Deep Space Nine of this.
Voyager wasn't innocent either :P But to be true to the almighty Probert, the engines should be off :P
Current Projects:
Ambassador Class
What the....? I was confused for a minute, because I remembered modeling them the correct way. Then I realized: When I textured the stardrive section I did the port half then copied and mirrored my work over to the other side. I forgot about the asymmetrical shuttle bays. That's exactly why I show my work on these boards. Thanks.
Right. I will remember to "turn off" the saucer impulse drives. I will probably do that when I texture up the window faces.
About the deflector: Do you mean you think the deflector dish is set too far into the cavity? Or that the cavity itself is cut too far into the secondary hull? Either way I will take a look.
Have I started proper texturing yet? If you mean the hull textures... yeah that's about where they are going to be. I may have a few tweaks here and there, but I think the textures on the hull are about placed. They are not entirely accurate everywhere, but they are close enough for my purposes. If I wanted to get them more accurate than this, I would probably have to go back to before I cut the deflector grids and texture the ship at that point. It seems like it was a mistake to physically cut the deflector grids on this ship. All that did was mess up the hull geometry and make the hull difficult to texture. I should have just accomplished the grids as part of the textures. But the nice thing about me saving every significant step of every ship I create, is that I can go back and make a different choice in the future, if it really calls to me.
I still have to texture the windows and impulse grills and stuff like that. I may also layer some subtle weathering onto my hull materials.
Yep. You would know.
That's true too, though they had less "other" Starfleet models on that series because of where it took place. I mostly remember DS9, where they had those big battles with ships that had glows where they shouldn't be, such as the saucer impulse engines on the Galaxy-class.
Yep, that's true. All hail the Almighty Probert.
Are you planning on letting anyone else use the model? I'd really like to make some images when you're done.
-Ricky
Sure, I would love to see what you create with this mesh. There's another reason for me to get her done.
I really ate up those large battle scenes. They were really spectacular in a way that Trek had not been before. But one really did need to not look too closely. I disliked the way they bashed a rough Galaxy mesh into a cheap Nebula class that was always in the background. Blech. And I swore violently when they re-used footage from Sacrifice of angels for one of the final battles. That was really annoying. They should have been able to do something to that footage to at least make it seem different at first glance.
Star Trek was never supposed to be about battles and war, but I too enjoyed those. I think a show like DS9 needed something like a big enemy to fight, because a space station that never moves is more boring than a ship flying to new worlds and meeting new species. They needed some excitement to come to them, and the two or three wars they had take place during the series added that excitement. Plus, it was really cool to see huge battle fleets of starships engaging equally huge fleets of enemies.
I never really paid too much attention to the CGI back when I watched the whole series on DVD, but sites like Ex Astris Scientia make it fun to go back and look at these things. One really funny pic on there was posted to show something else, but it shows a Galaxy class that's (presumably) stationary around a Starbase. The main impulse engine is "off," but the saucer ones are still lit up. That's wrong on more than one level.
Battle bridge area so far...
If you look at "The die is cast", the last big battle before the series switched to CGI (excluding Way of the Warrior, of course) all the background romulan and cardassian ships are actual photographs that were superimposed on the equivalent of overhead projector film, that's why they seem to fly by in most shots (so you don't notice it, but you still can if you know where to look). It was the only way Dan Curry could have that many ships in the same scene without having a movie sized budget for 5 minutes of combat
It was actually Ira Behr who insisted on the more combat/battle/action focus of DS9 when he came on board fully, because the battles kept the attention of the viewer by rewarding them for all the constant talking and drama. It also helped draw away from that TNG-era trope of "Here's a major battle on screen, let's just describe it and watch the reaction shots of our crew!"
Polaris, good so far, but the forward of the cobra head should not look that severe, it should be much, much rounder. And there are some old photos of the cobra head for reference around somewhere, i'll try to track them down for you, so you can get some more detail on the top. Prologic's enterprise-D took a fair few voyager-esque liberties to make the cobra head look less bland.
Current Projects:
Ambassador Class
Yeah, you did get the sense that there was some photo-trickery involved. But it looked really good for the time. I mean it looked way better than early TNG effects and we were getting epic scenes so I was not going to complain. I always felt a little guilty about liking these scenes so much, because this really wasn't what Trek was "supposed" to be about. But on the other hand, I have to admit it was this direction that got me interested in DS9 again. While "Emissary" is my favorite Trek Pilot of all time, I have to say my interest in the first couple of seasons of the show was pretty weak. I was really getting away from the show until the Odyssey was destroyed and the Defiant showed up. from that moment on I was hooked again.
References would definitely be appreciated. I know my basic shape is off. I was using Prologic's work as a reference, as well as my old Ertl model. I couldn't find really good shots of the Studio model BB, and actually I don't really care for that shape as much as some of the fan versions. This is sort of my take on the basic design, I guess. I Don't like that point at the very front, but it's too late to fix that now.
Thanks! The texture is somewhat improvised as I couldn't find clear templates or aztec patterns or pics for that area.
Last year I learned a neat trick, and now I can't remember where I saw it or how to do it. It was a tutorial on this site, I think, but I just have not been able to find it. Basically, It let you select a path of vertices, and then select a curve or a circle, and it would stretch that shape over the trail of vertices. It was a great way to make pipes or tubes over the surface of a hull. It was easy and gave great results, but I can't remember exactly how it was done. I need this trick to finish the detail on my Stardrive Battle bridge area. Can anyone help?
This may come as a shock, but there's an "Edit" button on each post so if you forget something, you can just add it to the existing post.
Books: [ Ashes of Alour-Tan | Embers of Alour-Tan ] | Blender Tutorials | Blog