I have some downloaded images from this site of this huge starship. I think the artist called it an Excalibur class. All the tiny windows... it appeared massive. I seem to remember some comment about star destroyer-sized Starfleet ships. Was that you? Some of the images did show other canon Starfleet ships in comparison. Some in the shuttle bay. It was quite a ship. I periodically consider doing something massive like it too.
The Excalibur was a ship created by a member of the modding community for Bridge Commander (I forget exactly which member). It was also to be the hero ship for the defunct Star Trek Excalibur fan made video game, but was replaced by DJ Curtis' Enterprise F. I'm not sure where you got the renders, but I haven't seen those before. It does appear to be modified (elongated and the aforementioned torpedo pod).
It was someone who took the old mesh and altered it to a much larger ship. The WIP is from here. I forget if he posted elsewhere. Oddly, I could swear it was much larger than the images next to the SOV. Vaguely remember miles being talked about.
For something sop large I would think the format of a fed ship might alter.
Id suggest you look at modularity, a colony ship think maybe everything assembled for a large ship then say a detachable patrol ship AKA typical small fed ship like the Voyager then compartments that could act as a orbiting facility and modules to bring down to the planet to become base buildings for the community. If you want to go a double saucer maybe a stacked one with the detachable patrol ship being one saucer the other being the base unit for a orbiter.
something like this, lower ship is upsidedown, and really nothing really needs a up or down but figure bits can be reconfigured etc into the orbiting base and ground support etc. I would think the botanical labs would stay in orbit to protect from crop failure etc.
Here are a two of shots of it. The artist had two Oberth class science ships parked in a couple of bays in it.
Thanks for posting those.
The scale here is not right with the Sov, just looking at the Sov windows compared to the ones on this ship. The other ship should be a lot larger I would say around the size of a large starbase.
I also agree with Dan, If the Starfleet was to build a ship of this size. They would not go with a standard Ship design.
It was someone who took the old mesh and altered it to a much larger ship. The WIP is from here. I forget if he posted elsewhere. Oddly, I could swear it was much larger than the images next to the SOV. Vaguely remember miles being talked about.
Thanks for the search. To give the original artist credit it was @stfanboy and earlier images in the thread depicted the ship smaller than later ones. Early in the thread someone noted a mismatch between the window size on the Sovereign class in the above photos and so he enlarged it even more. At that point he was putting Nova Class starships in his "miles long" Excalibur hangers. You were right @furswift, he had grabbed the design idea from a ship for Bridge Commander.
For something so large I would think the format of a fed ship might alter.
I'd suggest you look at modularity, a colony ship - think maybe everything assembled for a large ship then say a detachable patrol ship AKA typical small fed ship like the Voyager then compartments that could act as a orbiting facility and modules to bring down to the planet to become base buildings for the community. If you want to go a double saucer maybe a stacked one with the detachable patrol ship being one saucer the other being the base unit for a orbiter.
I had actually considered sending you a private message @MadKoiFish for a design thoughts on a ship like this. You seem to come up with stuff I like so much.
I was certainly thinking of modularity but hadn't thought of also having a starship for local exploration and materials for an orbiting station. Valid points. Very valid. Also to leave the Botanical modules in space, does offer protection from weather disaster.
My choice for a double saucer was based on the fact that there are a limited supply of rooms on saucers with an outside view. Like on a cruise ship, the interior cabins are cheaper but a bit claustrophobic, especially if the trip was a long one like a space journey to another planet (imagine all the interior room, given the volume of the Excalibur @stfanboy did). At the same time I like the general Starfleet design with its saucer, neck, main hull and engines and still sought to make this as graceful looking as possible.
First of all, I love your model work. It's always fantastic and your materials look good too. But, that design is a bit "out there" for my taste. I think it's because I'm not a big fan of doubling up on things like saucer sections (or secondary hulls.) But, the secondary hull on this ship is quite fantastic. I really like the giant "box" look that's obviously a cargo area, the tanks in front and the giant arboretum domes up top. Plus, four nacelles really balance the design well. It has a nice utilitarian look to it, which you'd expect in a colony ship.
Thanks @evil_genius_180. I appreciate honesty more than not. And of course it just means that when an honest person says something good, you know they mean it. 👍🏼
The idea of two saucers is definitely intriguing and not one I've ever thought of. The ship you're showing isn't exactly how I would imagine it; instead of two primary hulls I would integrate a saucer shape into the secondary hull. You can almost see this idea in the hull flares on the Enterprise B.
I also wonder if part of the aesthetic issue is that they are the same size. I’ll probably play with making one or the other a different size. Thanks for your thought @Loophole, I'll play with that.
If my argument is that I want more colonists to have outside view instead of interior view, then smaller saucers actually increase the exterior surface area versus internal volume and make sense. I do plan to add windows to the spine/neck of the ship and also more to the large saucer as well. So here are two different versions to "Vote" on. In addition the topmost smaller saucer could be incorporated into an orbiting station. The engines could be detached and joined to the large saucer for a ship. Oh I should add, I did increase the size of the two "Silent Running like" botanical structures.
I'm also looking at Olympic class like spheres for more colonist area. I tried one and didn't like it but I might not have hit on the right idea yet.
Take two saucers, put them on the same deck, one in front, one at the back of the neck as you have it now. Then extend a piece in the middle from the edges of the saucers to connect them together. From the side it'd look like one giant disc/saucer. From above, well, easiest description would be it'd look like a perfectly straight sausage or hot dog. It'd get rid of the broken up look on/around the neck which is really confusing to look at at the moment. I understand what you're trying to do, so don't get me wrong, just that the perspective makes those bottom three mini-saucers start merging in weird ways that makes me subconsciously not want to look at it due to the geometries. As for the back end/engineering section and under the neck, keep it. You've got that perfectly setup.
Out of the two option I go with the 1st.
But I also like the one with the saucer on either side.
You said the main Saucer and Engines detach from the body and join together to make a ship.
But would that not leave the orbiting platform with out a power sauce?
I am also curious to see what your orbiting platform would look like.
The Excalibur was a ship created by a member of the modding community for Bridge Commander (I forget exactly which member). It was also to be the hero ship for the defunct Star Trek Excalibur fan made video game, but was replaced by DJ Curtis' Enterprise F. I'm not sure where you got the renders, but I haven't seen those before. It does appear to be modified (elongated and the aforementioned torpedo pod).
No, the original wasn´t built by a Bridge Commander member. The original was built by Steven Davis (aka Rivers3d and Steve Rivers), in the now dead Millenium cgi forums. Therefore, the original mesh is still available for download at https://www.trekmeshes.ch/.
Steven was a great artist. He also built the Magelan Class USS Nautilus, which is still available for download at https://www.trekmeshes.ch/ too.
Unhappyness, Steven lost interest in 3d modelling years ago. His youtube channel is still up. One of his most ambitious projects was to model the entire solar system in scale with the ships, but he discovered it couldn´t be done in 3dsmax at that time. He also begun to model an updated Excalibur and Natilus ships, with full interiors, but he never ended these projects too. Until 3-4 years ago I still had contact with him, but since that time he vanished. A great miss to the 3d comunity.
About the version with the nebula Class pod, it was the original Excalibur severelly streched, modified and kitibashed by stfanboy.
Thanks @Starship for the correction on the Excalibur and the download. I have to admit I would probably burn out and lose interest if I tried to model the whole solar system AND the interior of the Excalibur. They sound like very exhausting projects. Also, thanks for your vote. I rather liked that one too.
Here is yet another model based on the suggestion made by @Barricade . It includes extra work on windows and the forward tanks and deflector.
Thanks @Starship for the correction on the Excalibur and the download. I have to admit I would probably burn out and lose interest if I tried to model the whole solar system AND the interior of the Excalibur. They sound like very exhausting projects. Also, thanks for your vote. I rather liked that one too.
Here is yet another model based on the suggestion made by @Barricade . It includes extra work on windows and the forward tanks and deflector.
You´re welcome!
The new version looks better indeed.
Therefore, i would make e few more chances:
Move the naceles a bit forward, maybe between the domes, and make the pylons a tad more large. They looks fragile for a ship big like this.
Posts
Long before I found this site. I don't have the pic's anymore.
But I would love to see the one your talking about.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqRhLEHgwgTKxsalM5YznYQ
Formerly furswift
Do you know where that is from? Did I download the renders from SFM or somewhere else? And it was part of a game?
Here's a screen shot from the game:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqRhLEHgwgTKxsalM5YznYQ
Formerly furswift
For something sop large I would think the format of a fed ship might alter.
Id suggest you look at modularity, a colony ship think maybe everything assembled for a large ship then say a detachable patrol ship AKA typical small fed ship like the Voyager then compartments that could act as a orbiting facility and modules to bring down to the planet to become base buildings for the community. If you want to go a double saucer maybe a stacked one with the detachable patrol ship being one saucer the other being the base unit for a orbiter.
something like this, lower ship is upsidedown, and really nothing really needs a up or down but figure bits can be reconfigured etc into the orbiting base and ground support etc. I would think the botanical labs would stay in orbit to protect from crop failure etc.
Thanks for posting those.
The scale here is not right with the Sov, just looking at the Sov windows compared to the ones on this ship. The other ship should be a lot larger I would say around the size of a large starbase.
I also agree with Dan, If the Starfleet was to build a ship of this size. They would not go with a standard Ship design.
https://forums.scifi-meshes.com/discussion/76318/
Instead I spent most of it yelling at cats as I found 3 of my usb3 cables chewed into something nasty.
Sadly photofukit was used so most of the content is junk watermarked or just plain gone.
oh some ar on the sfm hosting.
in there is a SOV under the star destroyer.
least I think this is the elongated version.
Thanks for the search. To give the original artist credit it was @stfanboy and earlier images in the thread depicted the ship smaller than later ones. Early in the thread someone noted a mismatch between the window size on the Sovereign class in the above photos and so he enlarged it even more. At that point he was putting Nova Class starships in his "miles long" Excalibur hangers. You were right @furswift, he had grabbed the design idea from a ship for Bridge Commander.
I had actually considered sending you a private message @MadKoiFish for a design thoughts on a ship like this. You seem to come up with stuff I like so much.
I was certainly thinking of modularity but hadn't thought of also having a starship for local exploration and materials for an orbiting station. Valid points. Very valid. Also to leave the Botanical modules in space, does offer protection from weather disaster.
My choice for a double saucer was based on the fact that there are a limited supply of rooms on saucers with an outside view. Like on a cruise ship, the interior cabins are cheaper but a bit claustrophobic, especially if the trip was a long one like a space journey to another planet (imagine all the interior room, given the volume of the Excalibur @stfanboy did). At the same time I like the general Starfleet design with its saucer, neck, main hull and engines and still sought to make this as graceful looking as possible.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqRhLEHgwgTKxsalM5YznYQ
Formerly furswift
I'm also looking at Olympic class like spheres for more colonist area. I tried one and didn't like it but I might not have hit on the right idea yet.
Take two saucers, put them on the same deck, one in front, one at the back of the neck as you have it now. Then extend a piece in the middle from the edges of the saucers to connect them together. From the side it'd look like one giant disc/saucer. From above, well, easiest description would be it'd look like a perfectly straight sausage or hot dog. It'd get rid of the broken up look on/around the neck which is really confusing to look at at the moment. I understand what you're trying to do, so don't get me wrong, just that the perspective makes those bottom three mini-saucers start merging in weird ways that makes me subconsciously not want to look at it due to the geometries. As for the back end/engineering section and under the neck, keep it. You've got that perfectly setup.
But I also like the one with the saucer on either side.
You said the main Saucer and Engines detach from the body and join together to make a ship.
But would that not leave the orbiting platform with out a power sauce?
I am also curious to see what your orbiting platform would look like.
No, the original wasn´t built by a Bridge Commander member. The original was built by Steven Davis (aka Rivers3d and Steve Rivers), in the now dead Millenium cgi forums. Therefore, the original mesh is still available for download at https://www.trekmeshes.ch/.
Steven was a great artist. He also built the Magelan Class USS Nautilus, which is still available for download at https://www.trekmeshes.ch/ too.
Unhappyness, Steven lost interest in 3d modelling years ago. His youtube channel is still up. One of his most ambitious projects was to model the entire solar system in scale with the ships, but he discovered it couldn´t be done in 3dsmax at that time. He also begun to model an updated Excalibur and Natilus ships, with full interiors, but he never ended these projects too. Until 3-4 years ago I still had contact with him, but since that time he vanished. A great miss to the 3d comunity.
About the version with the nebula Class pod, it was the original Excalibur severelly streched, modified and kitibashed by stfanboy.
Good work. I like this version!
Here is yet another model based on the suggestion made by @Barricade . It includes extra work on windows and the forward tanks and deflector.
You´re welcome!
The new version looks better indeed.
Therefore, i would make e few more chances:
Move the naceles a bit forward, maybe between the domes, and make the pylons a tad more large. They looks fragile for a ship big like this.
I might like the above with the split saucers instead. The two side bubbles on the neck are a mall/restaurant/Recreation.