Think I am almost done. Least with stuff north of the torp area. Aligning things is a bit annoying. Noticed all those trailing edge triangle windows were axed on the generations model. So tempted to follow suit.
Only windows I did not make a unique color are those tilted leading edge windows. Really do not like those along with those triangle ones at the back. Just gotta deal with them some how. Left them all squared up for now I will round them later.
Left side, close guess on a lot of it as I had only the earlier motion blurred image as well as a low rez studio photo Doug posted on his blog some time back. Of course the nacelle and bussard block a bunch of it.
oops ignore that bottom most row with the one fat pink window was an extra cutter it is suppose to be a set of 4 paired windows.
Now to have fun aligning those to the hull and keeping them in alignment to the deck layout. Doubt I have all the hull surface on the nose to the model. As I am looking at windows I can see some differences between each side in what bulges where. Left side has a slightly different horz profile. (well if sliced from left to right then compared)
it has me altering the ship's butt again so ugh.
i commend your attention to detail man, who am i talking to lol...... and not just thinking to hell with it and just duplicating the right side.... she's looking incredible as a base model... its great watching more and more detail being added...
Ok time crunch time is here. No more screwing around with Link and Midna.
heh
anyhow decided to cheat some and project horz bands on the hull to line the stupid windows up to as you rotate crap to sit flush to the hull the deck height on them always goes to hell. It does start getting dodgy on the over hang though and will be eyeballed. I could just use a reference line in the side ortho but sometimes that ends up with the windows not matching to how they look on the hull. Reality is I want to ti match the model over matching deck level or logical build layout.
What I do not look forward to is matching the window heights from left to right. Lots of matching windows up. Also screwing up I need to differentiate the windows that are different and mark ones that are the same so I only have to do this crap once for the duplicate windows.
Ok my "wibble" is close enough. I have decided to match the right side's wobbles as the left is really wobbly. Well rather it has a huge bulge just below these windows that would be a real headache to replicate. Only issue with using the projected lines is near the nose as they warp out. I dunno how or if this will cause troubles further down the hull.
ATM I am aligning all windows that are exactly the same on both sides. Then just cloning off a pivot point and applying symmetry to it. Idea is I will cut all of these and model them in then go in and cut the unique windows in. Should help some with how much extra work I will have to do later on. I am expecting to have to do all sorts of editing to the mesh to avoid cutting and extruding vomit. Again these will be boxed in like the saucer windows. Time will tell how these will all work out as many are being cheated to fit as reality rooms will overlap with how the windows are laid out. If you notice some of my tall windows overlap and the reason is I had made thim fit but the tall windows clearly were not tall enough to match to the photos.
Again I am matching the TV version of the ship. Generations version these windows are very different. I think they aimed to make less unique window sizes and shapes. All the triangular windows were filled in and almost all the wide windows were narrowed up.
how the projected lines flare out as mentioned.
Oh forgot to mention the gap between the light blue windows and the dark row. This is the part that is going to drive me mad as I will have to gradually shift everything down to close up these gaps.
Bleah. Slow going. Not truly happy with the long line of 11 windows at the front but it is a bit of a meh area of the hull.
Once I get the next few upper sets done it should speed up. Least until I go back to do the unique windows. . . . lol
Well had to do some major adjustments to realign things and better align some of the rows. Also adding in the forgotten loathed funny triangular windows. Right now they are spaced a bit further back from the edge than I think they were on the model. Just not got any real clear shots of it to see how close they really are.
Another ROW!!! lol. lots of moving around and boy it'll not be fun adding in the unique ones as everything is getting shifted about as I align them to the hull and re-space things. Those aft sets are all in the air too as I need to re-verify things and I am also loosely cloning the triangle unit just adjusting for hull angle of the back of the neck.
Hope to have this all done tonight unless I flake.
Ok coming up to an area I have issue with. As these go down the hull the spacing between all the windows gets smaller and smaller. Fighting the urge to space them evenly with the prior windows. A bit hard to see it as a lot of the unique rows are in these areas. Also have to cram those taller windows into this tight area as well.
Those leaning windows do need respacing to better line up to the rows behind.
Now on to placing the unique windows then,
to go to the warp cutout and properly fix that of all the pinches as I keep moving it about as I see other angles of the backside. I also still want to get the poly flow to match the hull paneling to make it easier to work later on.
Really, really fighting the urge to space these windows out evenly and to a more useable spacing (proper min 9ft deck heights.)
I've fixed the spacings to a degree on mine. It depends if you're going for the 'that's what was on screen so that's exactly how it is' approach or not. Personally I'm mindful of the fact that what we've seen is a model and it's ok to tweak it slightly, I mean, you're not going to model the masking tape, or cracks in the fiberglass, so where do you draw the line? The place where the spacing sticks out to me on yours is the long stanted windows on the front of the neck, the vertical spacing looks inconsistent to me.
Yup as mentioned those windows are all out of alignment as I have had to bump them around as I was going. I also suspect the top two are divided into two smaller windows. Yeah what I have done is allowed some matching to the model spacing from deck to deck but fudges some to account for really bad clearances. Overall goal is to match the filming model as close as possible but I figured there are things that would be off to some degree.
Anyhow atm the left side is done. Need to do a once over to double check heights of intersections of the cutters.
So far the only windows I am worried most about are the lowest set and the tilt along the hull. I think I have them but need to check images. I also really dislike the paired windows above and below that set of tall ones in the middle. But they are there in that location so eh.
Adding a everything on render.
These were mostly tedium, what I fear most is getting all those lower hull windows aligned and in place. BLEAH. That and dealing with maps or how the hell ever I plan to do for the hull. Then the big work of breaking it up.
Ok to end the night more ship butt. I really cannot tell if the base of the warp cutout flares inward following the forward curves from the hull or flows outward along the struts. Moved it all forward to better match the near side on shot from the Drexfiles image.
Changed my mind on how that area looks and how the edges flow around it. Sis a few loop "rolls" from various faces. EG the outer hull rolling into the cutout then across the flat of the strut. Still futzing with the curvatures and how it affects surroundings like the sensor rim that flows along the side into the leading edge of the strut.
Once done with all this crap I guess next step is either planning the lower hull windows or working on the nacelle bodies. I also have the saucer rim and upper windows to do too. ATM I think I might target all visible areas in the planned project just in case I run out of time which I fear I will end up doing. Meaning latter work might have to be undone later or lost entirely as I return to finish the model off.
After arguing with windows shares, odd mix of pcs can or cannot access the win10 system and the one the 10 system can access makes no sense. Ended up having to add win credentials so at least I can push or pull data from this pc. UGH. ANYHOW decided I would start work on laying out the shuttle bays and windows on the back of the neck to find well they changed those too. What I am finding odd exp with the aft tv caps exp on the saucer sep from farpoint is a lot seem to be much larger openings that were subdivided. So many have odd outlines around them or bridging other windows. Some even have light leaking through those.
A not when they built the ship she was made then when it cam to windows they applied masks then used a build up of paint to create the indent. Then they cast it and with those molds they cast the prop in a clear resin. So the windows are indented in the hull. Reason I commented earlier on "filling" of missing windows as many were just painted over or had masking tape still on in the post generations photos.
Also what I find odd are the triangle windows in the generations images that are not there in the TV version of the prop.
So yeah, YEAAAAAAy . . . . . . more fudging about.
boy what I wouldn't give to have decent photos of the ship before they painted it.
Ok those took less time than I thought getting the initial spacing was a pain though. Only change from one side to the other is one window was a triangle on the left side vs the other side of it. Not fully sure about the wider units or the narrowed spacing on the green ones. Overall those had smaller openings as well. Looking more at that screen cap it really looks like these were intended to be really wide windows but later rescinded and additional mullions were painted in.
I have noticed the wider windows mostly were narrowed up in the generations refit to all be more contiguous across the hull.
I am having some spacing issues with relation to the impulse but it might go away as I flush the windows to the hull. Then again the impulse might need to be pushed down by a foot or so.
Seems to have worked out but I am thinking maybe some of the spacing between windows is a bit too much. That singular outer window is a bit too close to the edge. I have them aligned with the side decks but on looking at it it seems they should be staggered. Least with the refs I am using.
Makes me wonder how off I have the lateral curvature that the photos look like it is flat in how the windows sit.
Some more adjustments to the cobra head. Found a shot if it at a oblique angle that shows it is steeper than what I had. Really wish there were some better images of this area. What I have set up based on the alt prop part does not seem to match to the screen shot. Also seeing details to parts that are not or just not clear in the photos I DO have.
Yeah not fun. I mean you can texture them in. Least lately I have found bumps and displacement a lot better than it used to be but even then the way I would do them via texture would be a confusing mess of mix materials material IDs and what not as I would want the windows separate from the hull textures and they would be bumped in with a bezel then have clear glass and a small window box behind. So probably just as much work in the end.
You would still be left with getting them unwrapped right so they do not pull or distort. And I could imagine the overhangs on the cobra head would be a nightmare to flatten out.
Posts
Only windows I did not make a unique color are those tilted leading edge windows. Really do not like those along with those triangle ones at the back. Just gotta deal with them some how. Left them all squared up for now I will round them later.
Now the fun part the left side. . . . . .
oops ignore that bottom most row with the one fat pink window was an extra cutter it is suppose to be a set of 4 paired windows.
Now to have fun aligning those to the hull and keeping them in alignment to the deck layout. Doubt I have all the hull surface on the nose to the model. As I am looking at windows I can see some differences between each side in what bulges where. Left side has a slightly different horz profile. (well if sliced from left to right then compared)
it has me altering the ship's butt again so ugh.
Again laughing. I shouldn't, because some day I have to do it too.
heh
anyhow decided to cheat some and project horz bands on the hull to line the stupid windows up to as you rotate crap to sit flush to the hull the deck height on them always goes to hell. It does start getting dodgy on the over hang though and will be eyeballed. I could just use a reference line in the side ortho but sometimes that ends up with the windows not matching to how they look on the hull. Reality is I want to ti match the model over matching deck level or logical build layout.
What I do not look forward to is matching the window heights from left to right. Lots of matching windows up. Also screwing up I need to differentiate the windows that are different and mark ones that are the same so I only have to do this crap once for the duplicate windows.
ATM I am aligning all windows that are exactly the same on both sides. Then just cloning off a pivot point and applying symmetry to it. Idea is I will cut all of these and model them in then go in and cut the unique windows in. Should help some with how much extra work I will have to do later on. I am expecting to have to do all sorts of editing to the mesh to avoid cutting and extruding vomit. Again these will be boxed in like the saucer windows. Time will tell how these will all work out as many are being cheated to fit as reality rooms will overlap with how the windows are laid out. If you notice some of my tall windows overlap and the reason is I had made thim fit but the tall windows clearly were not tall enough to match to the photos.
Again I am matching the TV version of the ship. Generations version these windows are very different. I think they aimed to make less unique window sizes and shapes. All the triangular windows were filled in and almost all the wide windows were narrowed up.
how the projected lines flare out as mentioned.
Oh forgot to mention the gap between the light blue windows and the dark row. This is the part that is going to drive me mad as I will have to gradually shift everything down to close up these gaps.
Once I get the next few upper sets done it should speed up. Least until I go back to do the unique windows. . . . lol
Hope to have this all done tonight unless I flake.
Those leaning windows do need respacing to better line up to the rows behind.
Now on to placing the unique windows then,
to go to the warp cutout and properly fix that of all the pinches as I keep moving it about as I see other angles of the backside. I also still want to get the poly flow to match the hull paneling to make it easier to work later on.
Really, really fighting the urge to space these windows out evenly and to a more useable spacing (proper min 9ft deck heights.)
Anyhow atm the left side is done. Need to do a once over to double check heights of intersections of the cutters.
So far the only windows I am worried most about are the lowest set and the tilt along the hull. I think I have them but need to check images. I also really dislike the paired windows above and below that set of tall ones in the middle. But they are there in that location so eh.
Adding a everything on render.
These were mostly tedium, what I fear most is getting all those lower hull windows aligned and in place. BLEAH. That and dealing with maps or how the hell ever I plan to do for the hull. Then the big work of breaking it up.
Once done with all this crap I guess next step is either planning the lower hull windows or working on the nacelle bodies. I also have the saucer rim and upper windows to do too. ATM I think I might target all visible areas in the planned project just in case I run out of time which I fear I will end up doing. Meaning latter work might have to be undone later or lost entirely as I return to finish the model off.
A not when they built the ship she was made then when it cam to windows they applied masks then used a build up of paint to create the indent. Then they cast it and with those molds they cast the prop in a clear resin. So the windows are indented in the hull. Reason I commented earlier on "filling" of missing windows as many were just painted over or had masking tape still on in the post generations photos.
Also what I find odd are the triangle windows in the generations images that are not there in the TV version of the prop.
So yeah, YEAAAAAAy . . . . . . more fudging about.
boy what I wouldn't give to have decent photos of the ship before they painted it.
I have noticed the wider windows mostly were narrowed up in the generations refit to all be more contiguous across the hull.
I am having some spacing issues with relation to the impulse but it might go away as I flush the windows to the hull. Then again the impulse might need to be pushed down by a foot or so.
Makes me wonder how off I have the lateral curvature that the photos look like it is flat in how the windows sit.
Ok seeing as I looked and it is already out of pre-order I suppose I should release a web version of the image.
https://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Ships-Line-Calendar/dp/0789338823/
Not looking forward to this when I get round to building the D.
You would still be left with getting them unwrapped right so they do not pull or distort. And I could imagine the overhangs on the cobra head would be a nightmare to flatten out.