Hey all! ChiefBrex here. Been a long time member of Sci-Fi Meshes, but never took the time to post anything here, since most of my work was intended for Star Trek: Bridge Commander. But, those days are long gone. So, I figured I would post some of the projects I'm working on here. The first project I want to share with you guys, is one that I've been itching to complete for a long, long time.
It is called the Poseidon Class. It is inspired by the Intrepid Class, Sovereign Class, and Prometheus Class. With the help of my friend Farshot, we took what was essentially a kitbash, and tweaked it to look more original. It is a post-TNG era ship (circa 2380s). It's stats:
Length: 547m
Decks: 20
Top Speed (Conventional Warp Drive - TNG Scale): 9.975
Equipped with a Quantum Slipstream Drive
Images:
Here's what I've got so far:
These are the sketches my friend Farshot put together for me based off my own orthos:
Tell me what you guys think. I admit that I'm pretty much an amateur to you everyone here, but look forward to getting better!
I apologize for the image sizes - I tried to resize them, but I couldn't get it to work
Posts
And, don't worry about your work being amateur. While there are some professionals on here, the majority of us are amateurs. The best way to learn a hobby like this is by joining a forum like this one and getting advice and feedback on your stuff.
yeah, photobucket used to be awesome. I'm looking for another place to host my images. Might switch to imgur, assuming they're not gone the way of photobucket.
Thanks for the feedback @evil_genius_180. This is my first time trying TNG/Post-TNG era ships. I've only ever done TOS ships before.
I believe a number of people use imgur, and it seems to still be OK. Though, Photobucket used to be too. I used them more than a decade ago, back when they were nice.
Frequent updates at our Discord channel!
As for hosting, I use ArtStation and it seems to work perfectly so far. Just create a private project and dump all images in there, then you're free to link to them.
Looking forwards to seeing how this turns out.
@Rekkert I will try out ArtStation. I've never heard of them before, so this'll be a new experience for me! And I will update the photos so that they're off of photobucket. The watermark is really annoying, and it frustrates me that photobucket has become a money grabber to get rid of it.
UPDATE: Switched to Imgur, using Large Thumbnails. Now you guys should be able to see the work without any issues.
@Viper I am using 3DS Max2020.
I will try to post regularly. School is about to start back, so I'm gearing up getting ready for my students and all that. So, if you see irregular updates, please forgive!
Let me know what you guys think so far!
Blending shapes together is definitely one of the more frustrating things to do in CGI.
Poseidon Class specs:
Length: 548 meters
Height: 76 meters
Beam: 202 meters
Number of Decks: 20
Max Warp Velocity: 9.9975
Cruising Speed: Warp 8.2
Crew Complement: 435
- Officers: 115
- Enlisted: 320
Additional:
* Equipped with a quantum slipstream drive
* Capable of saucer separation (saucer equipped with warp nacelles)
* 15 Type XII Phaser Arrays
* 3 Torpedo Bays (2 Fore, 1 Aft) - Capable of firing quantum torpedoes
* Medium Duranium/Tritanium Hull coated with a 14 centimeter Ablative Armor
This ship is designed for deep space assignments.
I keep wondering what your idea is for the back end / shuttle bay area.
I was coached through the nacelles. While I did all the work, my friend Farshot gave me suggestions on how to accomplish the task. Same thing with the secondary hull and the saucer. But, Farshot's been out of modding/modeling for some years, and he's a bit busy these days. And, it's been about 2 years or so since I've worked on this mesh. So, I'm basically relearning how to design these elements. Which is why I'm grateful for the advice of you and MadKoiFish, but you guys use tools I haven't touched before. Trying to get practice with them.
Plus, with the bridge, there are so many ways to build it. I could use boxes, spheres, cylinders....all of which react differently in Max. And with MeshSmooth, starting out as a modder, I was told to avoid that tool at all costs, and rely on Smoothing Groups to accomplish the smoothing I needed. You guys, on here, don't worry about that at all. In other words, there's a lot of variables I'm contending with here. I want this ship to be on the same level as your work, MadKoi's work, and so many others.
It's all good ^_^. No worries man.
[Top is box modeling, Bottom is cylinder & spheres]
Example:
As for editable poly or mesh I think I use poly cause mesh lacks tools. Kinda stupid really as I think both are just branches from when max HAD no editing tools. Hoever it does not make much sense with errors. Would need to see some examples and likely caps showing the UI set up prior to applying it. (well converting TO.)
Top one looks to have better geo in it for the interior use EG a hall and room/office. KIM turbo and meshsmooth are just there to make it easier to make complex high poly shapes. As well as starting objects are all the same thing in max choosing one over another is just to make it easier to start your base mesh. Heck at time I just use a plane and edit that as I usually delete at least 2 faces of a box when I am working. I would suggest a bit more polygons to eliminate the segmentation. Keep in mind too to not only have enough polies to not see segmentation but to break a balance of how many are there based on the future details planned for that part. Fewer edges running across a window hole the easier it is to avoid messes when extruding them or cutting them in.
In my way of working I will start out with a base mesh a control mesh I think is the OFFICIAL term. Then working with the goal of using turbo or mesh smooth. (KIM those smoothing groups still matter! as you can control that subdivision a lot with it) I then collapse it when I think the sape is right then clean it up and use box modeling techniques to add details/alterations of features I couldnt do in subdiv.
As for the geo, I'm going to do a mash up of the top and bottom. Mainly the base body for the bridge in the top, while using the Y-branching bit from the bottom image. I was thinking last night that those two different pieces would give me more of what I'm trying to achieve for the bridge. I also was thinking of doing some chamfering to reduce the segmentation and give a smoother look to the overall shape.
no, no, the modifier is what you want to use. I think what you heard before relates to the meshsmooth within the poly editor. As anything done with that is undoable in regards to the base mesh. Not to mention any edges verts or polies. I attached an image to show how the poly editor mesh smooth looks and what it does to a mesh.
I don't see the image. I only ever use the modifiers, I've never used the poly edit version of Mesh Smooth.
Anyway - the latest bridge I posted used the MeshSmooth modifier from the drop down menu.
The torn open connie saucer. In editable poly under edit geometry next to tessellate is MSmooth. This will smooth whatever is selected on a mesh. You have a unit entry of 0~1 for smoothness and separate by smoothing groups and materials.
I am suggesting this is the one you were warned to avoid. I would reinforce that idea unless you specifically need it as it is not undoable as a modifier is. IE mesh smooth or turbosmooth you can drill down the stack to edit the base mesh, the msmooth in poly edit you cannot return to the base mesh it applies to the mesh and that is the end of it.