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3DaPepaah's TOS Enterprise WIP
APEPAAAH1
Posts: 0Member
Hi Everyone
I've been working on this model of the TOS connie in Lightwave for the last few weeks. I'm a sort-of novice at everything; I did try to learn modelling about 10 years ago, but didn't get very far and never stuck with it.
I'm trying my best to reference the recently restored 11-foot model for everything, but since some of the schematics available for the ship online aren't always accurate and are sometimes self-contradicting, I've made a few mistakes, especially with the contour of the saucer, which is too late to fix now.
I've spent an enormous amount of time trying to get the surface properties of the nacelle domes to look right under different lighting situations, but I'm quite proud of how they look now. They're actually built as a crude mock-up of the original lighting rig used in the studio model; there are two translucent domes, two fans and some luminous geometry for the light bulbs.
Here she is:
test2004.jpgtest2006.jpgtest2007.png
I also have some cool renders of it against a schematic they used as a painting guide from the Smithsonian, but I'm not sure if that would be allowed as the images are from TrekCore.
Criticism is most welcome, and if anyone can point me to some good tips/tutorials for how to map on the textures I would be very grateful!
I've been working on this model of the TOS connie in Lightwave for the last few weeks. I'm a sort-of novice at everything; I did try to learn modelling about 10 years ago, but didn't get very far and never stuck with it.
I'm trying my best to reference the recently restored 11-foot model for everything, but since some of the schematics available for the ship online aren't always accurate and are sometimes self-contradicting, I've made a few mistakes, especially with the contour of the saucer, which is too late to fix now.
I've spent an enormous amount of time trying to get the surface properties of the nacelle domes to look right under different lighting situations, but I'm quite proud of how they look now. They're actually built as a crude mock-up of the original lighting rig used in the studio model; there are two translucent domes, two fans and some luminous geometry for the light bulbs.
Here she is:
test2004.jpgtest2006.jpgtest2007.png
I also have some cool renders of it against a schematic they used as a painting guide from the Smithsonian, but I'm not sure if that would be allowed as the images are from TrekCore.
Criticism is most welcome, and if anyone can point me to some good tips/tutorials for how to map on the textures I would be very grateful!
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Thank you!
The curve of the underneath is a bit off, so the lower decks are a bit too narrow. I don't think it's noticeable to most people unless you put it side-by-side against the original, but it still bugs me. I've built the rest of the ship around it, so I'd have to rebuild half the model to fix it, which I'm just not interested in doing at this point!
Sample of offset panels on my connie
https://bolidecascade.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/1701-273png.jpg
Mapping I just use fairly basic projection maps in the unwrap process. To do this ship right and avoid multiple material IDs in uvw to cheat you have to UVW unwrap her. Key is to break seams where you wont have details painted on.
Thanks, I suspected as much. I wasn't sure if it was a camera angle/distortion thing.
Forgive me, but I'm not sure what you mean? My saucer's circumference is made up of 288 segments, while the texture map is made out of 28, so the only places they should perfectly match up is every 90 degrees. The only other place where the line perfectly matches geometry is where it meets the currently untextured rim. Is that what you mean?
It could just be my eyes and the image itself causing me to see this happening. Here is a series of images showing what I mean in geometry. There is no change in any physical poly angles just where the panels are cut. It is exaggerated here to show the results.
https://bolidecascade.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/plating-01.jpg
https://bolidecascade.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/plating-02.jpg
Anyhow ignore it if this isnt what is going on. It could just be my eyes and when I looked at the images.
some refs just in case you might not have them. Some of them have good shots of the impulse. I forget if it is casmiro that had the best blues or not. Been a while.
This gallery I think are all viewmaster prints, hence the funny peach highlighting.
https://imgur.com/a/cGAnI
random HD caps supposedly
https://imgur.com/a/AmdD1
does have some of the smaller model in but those should be fairly obvious.
11foot mess of images.
https://imgur.com/a/U4V19
these should still be downloadable as a massive ZIP file. I cant tell anymore as what I see logged in is very different to the end user.
you can find more over at Erics forum too I do not want to link directly as I am not sure how he feels about it. they are linked to on his forum.
http://www.3dscifi.com/forums/forum.php
Oh as I was rushing out the door, I forgot to mention I do not think trekcore thing matters too much if it is WIP reference.
The "Rounder" tool in Lightwave can be used to work with existing geometry to add grid-lines and whatnot without breaking the surface smoothing between polygons.
BTW, APEPAAAH, you've have added the Franz-Joseph-dent to your secondary hull. You shouldn't have done that. The secondary hull is a simply tapering cylinder.
wouldnt know about LW >_> didn't know it could add edges, in max I can just loop and connect them in. Anyhow this was in reference to placing texture grids near the geo edges. I found this can emphasize this same effect that modeled work can. It does appear moot though as looking at it on my main monitors vs a tablet it seems it is just the consistency of the panel grime that made it appear like that.
Most plans I can find, including ones apparently made by Jeffries in the 60s show the taper is curved that way, albeit not as strongly at the bottom as Franz Joseph's version. it's also apparent in photos of the 3-foot model.
it's really hard to judge from photos of the 11-footer whether the dent/curve was present due to the lighting and perspective, as well as the way the rectangular cut-out/protrusion affects perception of the shape, so I ended up just extrapolating as best I could from different sources. It may well be the case that the 11-footer was supposed to look this way, but ended up being built slightly different for practical reasons, I really can't tell.
Great job!
Thank you, Scifieric! Yes, it's difficult to be sure which reference material is accurate and which is not, not only because the reference material itself is never perfect, but also because the 11 foot model itself was altered during production and the various restorations. Some are also going to be based on the 3-foot model or even the various commercial model kits. Often if in doubt I just study photos of the 11-footer and eyeball it as best I can.
And may I take the opportunity to return the complement; nice job on your Blender version!
I don't suppose anyone happens to know what shape the studs are on that piece? The only photos I can find are too far away or too low res to be able to see it, and the schematics I can't find aren't much help either.
http://3dscifi.com/ericimages/enterprise/enterprisereference/image17.html
http://3dscifi.com/ericimages/enterprise/enterprisereference/image16.html