Wellp, not exactly the most productive of times for me. I've been really struggling these past few weeks, it's been now almost 70 days since I last saw my partner, so this whole quarantine thing is starting to get on my nerves a bit. I've been following up on two commissions, but my clients have gone silent and thus I have nothing to show you on that front...
So I decided to do the only thing I know to do and model something, try to see if I can get back into things. After the events of the last few days, I decided on go for Ezri Dax's ship from the 'What We Left Behind' documentary: the USS Emmett Till.
Given the date of the events from the documentary as 2395, I'm going for a mix of the Enterprise-E and the Star Trek Online style, while also incorporating the combadge design from Picard for the dedication plaque. Colors are straight from that STO bridge (with the LCARS pallet provided by Thomas Marrone of the STO team).
I've modeled new perimeter consoles to signify that by that era Starfleet finally stopped using a 100 year old design. I'll also be doing a new viewscreen based on the STO design. Most other things are in place, though the floor still needs work, and everything else is subject to change at this point.
The ship doesn't have a given registry number, but we've seen one of Eaves' concept pieces with NCC-2277. I've added an 8 in front so I'll be using 82277 on the LCARS. I hope that by posting this WIP it'll be enough to force me to see it through, we'll see.
Post edited by Rekkert on
For all my finished Trek fan art, please visit my portfolio
Sorry to hear you’re having a ruff time. For what it’s worth, your posts brightens my day. The best source of new TNG material is in this thread as far as I’m concerned!
Glad you're liking this and to read I brighten someone's day, around the house all I hear is about how useless I am.
Don't know how much I'll be doing on this one, I'm finding very hard to concentrate, but here's what I've done today. Did some more work on the floor, completely changing the central area to a brand new design that I think works better with the rest of it. I included the UFP logo on the center from the STO bridges, I know it's a bit of a controversial feature of those designs, but I think it works here. I've also added some small light strips at the wall consoles and on the steps.
The viewscreen's done, and I also added the Picard combadge on the back of the chairs.
For all my finished Trek fan art, please visit my portfolio
very nice, I am not 100% sold on the UPF logo being on the floor or so prominent.
But I do agree it should be on the on the bridge most likely on the wall.
I don't know how it is in the US, but here in the UK any symbol like that, which has been put on the floor weather that is in a carpet or in marble, would be walked around. No one in the military will stand or walk over as it is consider an insult. You don't put your national flag on the floor for the same reason, it the same thing here.
This has nothing to do with the current bridges, but I have to post it somewhere. I'll reply to the comments about the Emmett Till when I have an update on that topic.
Back when we started compiling all the chair information for EAS, there was one chair that eluded us, despite appearing in almost all incarnations of Trek from the 90's: @Lt. Washburn had identified a US patent for a similar chair design belonging to Ergoform, which seemed to imply this chair was designed and manufactured by that company, but absolute confirmation was still missing.
Back in late 2019, while searching for "ergoform" "star trek" "chair", I came across this PDF listing documents kept in the Thunder Bay Museum pertaining to Benjamin Cowan, a designer for CK Engineering. Two specific folders seemed to be of interest:
A 127/6/1-14: Angel Investing, 16.5 cm, and a VHS cassette, 1967-1998
Covers B. Cowan’s investment into a number of companies as listed below:
[...]
6/4-5: Ergoform Inc.: Star Trek Chair (1989-1992, 4cm) – commissioned some designs for CKE, see 127/7.
A 127/7/1-4: CK Engineering (CKE), 10 cm, 1986-1998
Partnership with Marek Kmicikiewicz. Mostly concentrating on M. Knicikiewicz’s automotive design plan, but also contains work on an ergonomic chair design for Ergoform. 7/1 contains information about work with Ergoform, while other folders focus on the car design. Also includes patent information.
These seemed to imply that the chair in question was specifically designed (or at least referenced in the documents) as "Star Trek chair", and the dates fitted the time frame for this particular model. So, I emailed the museum about having these folders sent my way. This took the museum curator by surprise as no one had requested access to Mr. Cowan's files before, and thus it would be a while to have these digitized.
While all of that was happening, the curator found out that they had two very important pieces that even he didn't know about: blueprints, and one of the chairs itself on storage. The blueprints unfortunately proved to be of individual mechanical components linked to that US patent we knew about, and not of the chair itself or even useful for measuring it, at least not at first glance. However, once the chair was pulled out of storage, it proved to be the real deal.
At this point, Covid-19 was already a thing and the museum was closed, so scanning all those big files was out of the question. Still, the curator goes in periodically to make sure everything's in order, and just last week they were able to find and send me a brochure for the chair, plus some higher quality pictures of it, and hopefully will be able to provide measurements directly of the chair soonish. This brochure provided more questions than answers, as it seemed to imply the chair was sold to the public (or at least planned to be sold), yet no mention of this specific name comes up online. Inside, the brochure mentions the patent found by @Lt. Washburn, as if further confirmation was needed at this point.
I'll only share the cover of the brochure for now, as I still have to come to an agreement with the curator about how much of all the documents I'll be able to make public. Worst case scenario where I can't share documents directly, at least the measurements taken, and any other picture of the chair will be posted here; plus anyone else interested will always be able to email the museum themselves and have the files sent to them, it is the way they make money after all. I'll let you know once we come to that agreement, or if they prefer to have people contact them. This has a cost on my end, but I still rather share this knowledge publicly as much as I'm allowed; I've literally been wondering about this chair for years now, I'd hate for all this to die on me. Also, I've contacted Ergoform directly with the info from the brochure, I'll post it here as well if I hear back from them.
Post edited by Rekkert on
For all my finished Trek fan art, please visit my portfolio
@Brandenberg: Yes, it appears that chair has rollers, though the entire base is different than the ones used on Trek. It's possible this was a prototype.
And in STO we have two different bridges with the logo at the center floor, one of which was reproduced in the Picard Countdown comics for the USS Verity. Here I added the logo on a place without steps to go down, so that it's technically not in the way, and people could go around it without it being a problem.
I've added the keyboard areas on the side consoles, and started designing the big panels above. I'm still not sure how I'll be using the space inside.
Also, I've de-skewed the photo of the Emmett Till exterior schematics provided by @VALKYRIE013, and I'm based the MSD area design off of that. I tried using the side profile here, as is common on Trek ships of the 24th Century, but the ship design is so long and thin that it didn't make for a very interesting graphic IMO, so I'm using the top view instead.
For all my finished Trek fan art, please visit my portfolio
And in STO we have two different bridges with the logo at the center floor, one of which was reproduced in the Picard Countdown comics for the USS Verity. Here I added the logo on a place without steps to go down, so that it's technically not in the way, and people could go around it without it being a problem.
I guess it a British thing. After all whenever we see real life places located in the States, CIA HQ or the Presidents Office in the White House as examples, it has their seal on the floor and people just walk over it.
@BolianAdmiral: Interesting, I didn't saw it that way but you're right, and I guess it matches the rest. The new large panel with its small trapezoidal cutout at the bottom is directly based on Voyager's Tactial and Ops panels.
@Freak: Yeah, that's a good real life case I hadn't noticed, I guess you're right must be a UK thing.
@Vortex5972: Well, almost, though not on purpose. Eaves pretty much reused the shape he did for the Emmett Till on the Ibn Majid. It's not identical, most notably the pylons are swept backward on the Ibn Majid while they end on a straight line perpendicular to the secondary hull on the Emmett Till.
Got feedback on one of the commissions so I'm moving forward with the Swiftsure bridge. The new side consoles are now added looking to the front. These had a lot of iterations since the last time I posted this bridge. As you can see, I ended up removing the columns and adjusting the whole area a lot more. Plus, the wall console was replaced with the Emmett Till design just for that first station, though the LCARS will logically be of the same style as the rest of my 2380's designs. Modeling is now done for this bridge, I'll be working on bringing in the computer panels next (plus adding labels and other miscellaneous stuff).
For all my finished Trek fan art, please visit my portfolio
An update on the Ergoform chair, the museum curator got back to me with both measurements on the chair and permission to post the brochure, so, here they are!
I uploaded the brochure to my Drive and you can see it (and download it) from there.
And here are the measurements, which I've drawn over one of the pictures sent last week for easier viewing:
For all my finished Trek fan art, please visit my portfolio
Finishing touches on the Swiftsure. All the LCARS are now in place, and I've replaced the Emmett Till style console with one that's more fitting (I couldn't help myself, had to keep the design consistent). I've also suggested and added handrails to all the perimeter stations, mostly as a consequence of this new console I did, which had an empty space at the bottom that was perfect for a handrail. We're still finishing some details, most importantly the possibility of using a marble texture for the rails, but other than that it's 99% done.
Post edited by Rekkert on
For all my finished Trek fan art, please visit my portfolio
I love adding details to my models, but I really don't get how you guys can create all those LCARS displays without going insane. The Starfleet logos on the backs of the chairs are a nice touch!
Regarding the look of the station handrails, IDK what specific look the client wants, but I was thinking one option might be to match them to the color/material of the tactical station, like we did with the Frontier bridge - the keyboard wrist rests were wood, just like the tactical station and the main ceiling struts. Just an idea.
@furswift: Haha, the fact that I've been building up my library of LCARS over the last 3 years really helps. For most new consoles I need, I can just start off with an existing panel. Back when I started every big panel or MSD was a huge endeavor, now it's a lot more manageable, though it still takes time.
@BolianAdmiral: We were going for the plain metallic look of the handrails from Nemesis. Besides, as you can see below, making them the same material as the tactical station would've been weird for a handrail.
Here's the finished Swiftsure bridge! As mentioned on the previous post, indeed we changed the material from both tactical and the rails on the back section to a reddish marble. Can't say it would've been my choice, but if we've seen wood being used in starships, why not marble as well? I guess being a non-organic material it would be even easier to replicate.
For all my finished Trek fan art, please visit my portfolio
The material on the tactical railing doesn't work for me, but as long as your client likes it, that's what matters. Other than that, the bridge looks fantastic.
More work on the Emmett Till. I've designed the pattern I'll be using for the LCARS screens. I've kept the smaller panels below, but expanded them into the frame somewhat. The new horizontal space between the top and bottom sections will be used by the red alert lights.
I've replicated this look on the MSD panel, and after some tests have decided to have a side cutaway graphic on it after all (but without the nacelles, as those take way too much horizontal space).
There's no class stated for the Emmett Till, so I'm planning to go with Perseverance-Class. I think it works on several levels, considering the similarly shaped Curiosity-Class from canon.
Post edited by Rekkert on
For all my finished Trek fan art, please visit my portfolio
Posts
So I decided to do the only thing I know to do and model something, try to see if I can get back into things. After the events of the last few days, I decided on go for Ezri Dax's ship from the 'What We Left Behind' documentary: the USS Emmett Till.
Given the date of the events from the documentary as 2395, I'm going for a mix of the Enterprise-E and the Star Trek Online style, while also incorporating the combadge design from Picard for the dedication plaque. Colors are straight from that STO bridge (with the LCARS pallet provided by Thomas Marrone of the STO team).
I've modeled new perimeter consoles to signify that by that era Starfleet finally stopped using a 100 year old design. I'll also be doing a new viewscreen based on the STO design. Most other things are in place, though the floor still needs work, and everything else is subject to change at this point.
The ship doesn't have a given registry number, but we've seen one of Eaves' concept pieces with NCC-2277. I've added an 8 in front so I'll be using 82277 on the LCARS. I hope that by posting this WIP it'll be enough to force me to see it through, we'll see.
Don't know how much I'll be doing on this one, I'm finding very hard to concentrate, but here's what I've done today. Did some more work on the floor, completely changing the central area to a brand new design that I think works better with the rest of it. I included the UFP logo on the center from the STO bridges, I know it's a bit of a controversial feature of those designs, but I think it works here. I've also added some small light strips at the wall consoles and on the steps.
The viewscreen's done, and I also added the Picard combadge on the back of the chairs.
But I do agree it should be on the on the bridge most likely on the wall.
I don't know how it is in the US, but here in the UK any symbol like that, which has been put on the floor weather that is in a carpet or in marble, would be walked around. No one in the military will stand or walk over as it is consider an insult. You don't put your national flag on the floor for the same reason, it the same thing here.
Back when we started compiling all the chair information for EAS, there was one chair that eluded us, despite appearing in almost all incarnations of Trek from the 90's:
@Lt. Washburn had identified a US patent for a similar chair design belonging to Ergoform, which seemed to imply this chair was designed and manufactured by that company, but absolute confirmation was still missing.
Back in late 2019, while searching for "ergoform" "star trek" "chair", I came across this PDF listing documents kept in the Thunder Bay Museum pertaining to Benjamin Cowan, a designer for CK Engineering. Two specific folders seemed to be of interest:
These seemed to imply that the chair in question was specifically designed (or at least referenced in the documents) as "Star Trek chair", and the dates fitted the time frame for this particular model. So, I emailed the museum about having these folders sent my way. This took the museum curator by surprise as no one had requested access to Mr. Cowan's files before, and thus it would be a while to have these digitized.
While all of that was happening, the curator found out that they had two very important pieces that even he didn't know about: blueprints, and one of the chairs itself on storage. The blueprints unfortunately proved to be of individual mechanical components linked to that US patent we knew about, and not of the chair itself or even useful for measuring it, at least not at first glance. However, once the chair was pulled out of storage, it proved to be the real deal.
At this point, Covid-19 was already a thing and the museum was closed, so scanning all those big files was out of the question. Still, the curator goes in periodically to make sure everything's in order, and just last week they were able to find and send me a brochure for the chair, plus some higher quality pictures of it, and hopefully will be able to provide measurements directly of the chair soonish. This brochure provided more questions than answers, as it seemed to imply the chair was sold to the public (or at least planned to be sold), yet no mention of this specific name comes up online. Inside, the brochure mentions the patent found by @Lt. Washburn, as if further confirmation was needed at this point.
I'll only share the cover of the brochure for now, as I still have to come to an agreement with the curator about how much of all the documents I'll be able to make public. Worst case scenario where I can't share documents directly, at least the measurements taken, and any other picture of the chair will be posted here; plus anyone else interested will always be able to email the museum themselves and have the files sent to them, it is the way they make money after all. I'll let you know once we come to that agreement, or if they prefer to have people contact them. This has a cost on my end, but I still rather share this knowledge publicly as much as I'm allowed; I've literally been wondering about this chair for years now, I'd hate for all this to die on me. Also, I've contacted Ergoform directly with the info from the brochure, I'll post it here as well if I hear back from them.
@Freak: Regarding the UFP logo on the floor, from what we know in Trek it's somewhat common, just never on a bridge before. On TMP we saw the big logo at the Starfleet HQ airtram station; on early TNG Picard had a UFP carpet at the center of his quarters, commonly stepped on by people and furniture; and on Enterprise we saw a Starfleet Command carpet at the center of a room in HQ, which Archer steps on repeatedly during his speech at the end of 'Terra Prime'.
And in STO we have two different bridges with the logo at the center floor, one of which was reproduced in the Picard Countdown comics for the USS Verity. Here I added the logo on a place without steps to go down, so that it's technically not in the way, and people could go around it without it being a problem.
I've added the keyboard areas on the side consoles, and started designing the big panels above. I'm still not sure how I'll be using the space inside.
Also, I've de-skewed the photo of the Emmett Till exterior schematics provided by @VALKYRIE013, and I'm based the MSD area design off of that. I tried using the side profile here, as is common on Trek ships of the 24th Century, but the ship design is so long and thin that it didn't make for a very interesting graphic IMO, so I'm using the top view instead.
I guess it a British thing. After all whenever we see real life places located in the States, CIA HQ or the Presidents Office in the White House as examples, it has their seal on the floor and people just walk over it.
Is that top view the same ship as the Ibn Majid from Picard?
@BolianAdmiral: Interesting, I didn't saw it that way but you're right, and I guess it matches the rest. The new large panel with its small trapezoidal cutout at the bottom is directly based on Voyager's Tactial and Ops panels.
@Freak: Yeah, that's a good real life case I hadn't noticed, I guess you're right must be a UK thing.
@Vortex5972: Well, almost, though not on purpose. Eaves pretty much reused the shape he did for the Emmett Till on the Ibn Majid. It's not identical, most notably the pylons are swept backward on the Ibn Majid while they end on a straight line perpendicular to the secondary hull on the Emmett Till.
Got feedback on one of the commissions so I'm moving forward with the Swiftsure bridge. The new side consoles are now added looking to the front. These had a lot of iterations since the last time I posted this bridge. As you can see, I ended up removing the columns and adjusting the whole area a lot more. Plus, the wall console was replaced with the Emmett Till design just for that first station, though the LCARS will logically be of the same style as the rest of my 2380's designs. Modeling is now done for this bridge, I'll be working on bringing in the computer panels next (plus adding labels and other miscellaneous stuff).
Really liking that bridge. Different yet familiar and with a comfortable colour scheme.
An update on the Ergoform chair, the museum curator got back to me with both measurements on the chair and permission to post the brochure, so, here they are!
I uploaded the brochure to my Drive and you can see it (and download it) from there.
And here are the measurements, which I've drawn over one of the pictures sent last week for easier viewing:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqRhLEHgwgTKxsalM5YznYQ
Formerly furswift
@evil_genius_180: Thanks!
@BolianAdmiral: We were going for the plain metallic look of the handrails from Nemesis. Besides, as you can see below, making them the same material as the tactical station would've been weird for a handrail.
Here's the finished Swiftsure bridge! As mentioned on the previous post, indeed we changed the material from both tactical and the rails on the back section to a reddish marble. Can't say it would've been my choice, but if we've seen wood being used in starships, why not marble as well? I guess being a non-organic material it would be even easier to replicate.
@evil_genius_180: Thanks!
More work on the Emmett Till. I've designed the pattern I'll be using for the LCARS screens. I've kept the smaller panels below, but expanded them into the frame somewhat. The new horizontal space between the top and bottom sections will be used by the red alert lights.
I've replicated this look on the MSD panel, and after some tests have decided to have a side cutaway graphic on it after all (but without the nacelles, as those take way too much horizontal space).
There's no class stated for the Emmett Till, so I'm planning to go with Perseverance-Class. I think it works on several levels, considering the similarly shaped Curiosity-Class from canon.