3DModelling the Legacy Class MK II

CLEMARC

Hi there,

I started modelling this nice ship here in Blender (thx to Galen82 for the schematics):

Legacy_Class_Poster_sample_by_Galen82.jpg

This is what I have done so far:

first_render.png

Not really much I know

I have little experience in 3D modelling, but mostly interior stuff. So I am stuck at the hull section of the ship. I tried some different things, like doing a box and then loop cut it and so on. But I dont get the front of the hull section right. Has anyone a tip for me how I should try it?

Regards,

CLEMARC

McC

It looks like a solid start to me. Not sure what issue you're having, exactly?

I have a bunch of tutorials, Blender-specific, about how to tackle common starship modeling techniques here. Perhaps that will offer some insight?

CLEMARC

Thx, the subdivision tutorial helped me a lot.

I'm talking about this area (green), especially the red part:

Legacy_Class_Poster_sample_by_Galen82_marked.jpg

McC

Most Starfleet hulls of that style are fundamentally "cigar shaped," and so it usually makes sense to start them from a cylinder. Alternately, you can start them with a box and reshape it, but you usually end up with a faceted cylinder anyway.

From there, it's a matter of cutting in new edgeloops to reflow the shape topology so that it follows the contour lines of the hull. This gets trickier as the shape undergoes more complex curvature. If your hull and saucer section are seamless (as they appear to be in the reference image), then you'll face challenges trying to gracefully marry the basically-a-cylinder shape of the secondary hull to the saucer section. Pretty much everyone modeling an integrated hull like this faces those challenges, so you're not alone.

I wouldn't worry too much about that linear grille bit inset into the neck. My Ambassador had the same sort of thing and as you can see from the subdivision tutorial, the actual hull mesh only has the inset area; the grille piece is separate and added later.

Take a look at some of the discussion in Polaris004's Galaxy-class thread for an idea of how these contours can be dealt with.

evil_genius_180

Welcome to the site and nice start. I know you said you don't have much yet, but you've got a start and that's what matters. Besides, I can guarantee you everyone else's builds look similar to that early on.

I'm surprised that schematic sheet you're using doesn't include a top-down view. That would be really helpful.

CLEMARC

I have other schematics with better resolution, but they are toooo big to upload

evil_genius_180 wrote: »

Besides, I can guarantee you everyone else's builds look similar to that early on.

Yes its a a big problem for me some times when I think "uh it looks like... it has to be bad"

Saquist

I found the top views easily enough:

http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs44/i/2009/122/3/1/Legacy_Class_Mk_2_Blueprint_2_by_Galen82.jpg

My Thoughts
The design is a modern confluence of eras/
-Deflection crystals and Neck-TMP,
-Sovereign cues in the lower deck detail, Nacelle (nose on view), Secondary Hull (Nose on view)
-DJ Curtis design clues from the darker trim rounding the saucer and the angled contours of the saucer's edge

Tech:
The ship should be capable of fairly high warp. The Long Nacelles provide plenty of Negative Energy at the rear of the ship and allow for maneuvering at warp. The Saucer is very streamlined except for the front edge indentions which will limit it's top speed from structural integrity concerns. With a sovereign class Hex-Core I could see Warp 9.6 Sustained/ Warp 9.91 Dash Speed.

-The placement of the impulse engines centerlined would make the ship as cumbersome as the Galaxy at warp.
-It seems to sport 3 deflector with one facing aft
-16 phaser arrays
-2 Forward photon tubes/2 aft photon tubes
-1 Forward Quantum tube

There is no separation plane for this ship but there is a dual shuttle bay.
I'm often a critic of design that ad features like this for no apparent reason. Explorers don't need heavy flight operation. One egress and entrance is truely enough as flight operations can potentially jeopardize ship operations.

The phaser design is a welcome upgrade from the ridge array. (at least on the artist final product)
http://galen82.deviantart.com/art/Legacy-Mk-2-3d-Model-Plan-View-138714364
The placement of the phasers creates the standard Sovereign/Constitution blind spots aft with no coverage for the nacelles.

The Hull is moderate on windows but seems lightly armored, modular yet conformal in body in a fairly ridged structure. The pylons do look small but the nacelles aren't too massive.

Conclusion
It's design conscious and not over powered. It fits it's role moderately with the 3 deflectors and limited armament. It remains somewhat modular with the nacelles and I don't see superfluous styling like Sovereign's arrows and arrow-heads around the lower and superstructure. Artistically it appears forward modern and largely pleasantly familiar.

CLEMARC

Thx for the review of the design Saquist. Since the author of the schematics thinks that the area around the shuttle bay looks to "flat", I will maybe change some things there.

I started with a cylinder now and a first quick test worked out really well. Now I will try it with more patience and I will show you the result

CLEMARC

Hm, I stopped here, cause I think its the wrong way I did it...

screen1.PNG

screen2.PNG

Martocticvs

The one thing you do not want to do on a shape like this, is have a couple of edge loops very close together - that will cause a bit of a ridge in the smoothed object.

CLEMARC

I gave it another try. It looks...weird...but I think, when I cut out the grille it should look right.

I had to flatten the bottom of the hull, now the cut out of the deflector should work. Thx to McC, the curve tool that you recommended helped me a lot.

screen3.jpg

screen4.jpg

screen5.jpg

TrekMD

Cool. I've always really liked this design.

CLEMARC

One big problem I have at the moment is the discrepancy of the schematics. A lot of lines/proportions are different on every view.

evil_genius_180

CLEMARC wrote: »

One big problem I have at the moment is the discrepancy of the schematics. A lot of lines/proportions are different on every view.

That happens a lot. What I usually do is just make it line up with one view and get as close to the others as possible.

CLEMARC

I need your help...

Should I do the marked part (the shuttle bay / red marked part in the picture below) before I apply the subdivision modifier or cut it in afterwards?

USS_Cadence_Dorsal_View_by_Galen82_marked.jpg

McC

Given the shape, I'd probably try to do it before. At least the main cutouts. You can always flesh it out in more detail after, but the main cutouts are going to heavily influence the local topology there.

Lonewriter

I remember this ship when Galen and Kaden made it, I have the Lightwave version, great start.

CLEMARC

I unfortunately only have pictures of their finished model, but it still helped me a lot.

I finally managed to get this shuttle bay done. I think I have to tweak some parts later, but it looks good for now. The lightning in my scene is crap so sorry for the weird shadows.

render_01.png

CLEMARC

Finally, after some work related break, I managed to build most of the bottom hull.

WIP_01.jpg

I have to fix some areas, but now I'm happy with the result.

Vortex5972

It's looking good.

CLEMARC

Here a small update. I have to work on my renders, but I think you can see the progress

WIP_02.png

evil_genius_180

I'd suggest changing your background to a contrasting dark color, to make the ship easier to see.

From what I can see, it looks good so far.

Vortex5972

Rather than change the background, if you go into world settings and uncheck "Camera", the background won't render but it'll still have the lighting from it. (This is a good way of showing off WIPs.

CLEMARC

Thx for the tipp with the background Vortex.

I focused on the upper hull a bit. Here is the result:

WIP_03.png

Vortex5972

You're welcome. Looking nice and clean so far.

CLEMARC

Today I did the "grill" part of the bottom hull. Needs still some tweaks, but it looks good so far.

WIP_04.png

Now there are only the impuls engines and the warp nancelles left, then I can start with the detailing.