Firstly, please, be gentle, this is my first one that I’m going to show,
This is for Fallout, a discovery era star trek fan film; this is a Disco/Tos era refit,
I call it the Saladin class because there is no clear cannon name for what class the Kelvin was and since it looks so much like the Saladin silhouette from star trek III why not?
The story is that it’s a few days before the Discovery returns from the mirror universe;
The Klingons are in the core worlds of the federation, the federation fleet is decimated,
Starfleet during the missing year needed ships and plenty of them and they DIDN’T care,
Where they come from, even mobilising the remnants of the Vulcan high command, the Andorran Imperial guard and old Starfleet ships.
The Saladin was selected as one of them to be refited but the refits where “fast and dirty”, tech was bolted onto the hull,
So the prototype was the U.S.S. Saladin NX-0500 with the Kelvin being the 14th star ship build of the 5 class.
The secondary Hull is now one massive flight deck, the other tech that was in there science labs was ripped out and the engineering was moved into the saucer section along with the warp core.
With the upgrades the ship can hit warp 7.8 but because it was a “fast and dirty” refit the warp nacelle required extra shielding and was lowered from its’ previous location because the radiation admitted from the nacelle and they added a warp field governor to the nacelle to ensure that the warp field covered the entire ship in its altered configuration.
Her weapon systems where upgraded:
X5 phaser emitters (single units) (4 forward 1 aft) (power similar to Walker/Shepard class ships)
X2 photon torpedo turrets (aft) (fixed locations, firing locations at 12, 3 & 6 O’clock)
X2 photon torpedo launchers (forward) (ventral)
X14 point defence phase cannon turrets (dorsal) (Mark 3)
X14 point defence phase cannon turrets (ventral)
X18 point defence phaser banks (dual units) (dorsal)
X2 point defence phaser emitters (single units) (ventral)
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What I'd do from here is work on the shapes a bit more. Right now they seem pretty basic. For me, this would be the blocking stage where I rough out the direction I'd like to go towards. And trust me, I've done multiple versions at this point of a build. Hell, I've done multiple rebuilds of bits later into a design as well!
When I'm happy with the overall shape, that's when I start thinking about smaller details. I like to do at least three levels of detail (level 1: base shape; level 2: panel lines/extrusions/indents/gaps/etc; level 3: hatches, vents, lights, external panels, weapons, etc.).
If I REALLY want to get super detailed, even my bits will have smaller bits!
I'm currently working on the DISCO version of the Enterprise and I've uploaded most of my progress renders to imgur. Take a look around and see if it helps you get some ideas on how to advance from what you've made so far. -> https://imgur.com/a/ThlqilU
What you have now is a very promising start!
Well it is meant to be a refit of that class in the transition between Disco & Tos, and as for it being blocky looking that's intended, the two extra impulse engines, the upper point defense phaser turrets, the saucer sections point defense phase cannons where just welded onto the hull no attempt was made to make them seem seamless and that includes the extra hull armor behind the bridge dome, that is where they moved engineering to they just installed an MK2 or so NX class warp core.
The Extra impulse engines were inspired by the Enterprise-B's engines and I do intend to add additional details on it next as for textures, I don't have a clue how to make those Aztec patterns I would need a video tutorial or have someone do it for me.
Thanks for the feed back its most helpful!
And that's nice work on the Connie!
It's the difference between a model looking like it belongs to a video game of the 90s/00s, and something that looks like it was built by hand.
"Boxy" on the other hand is the word I'd use to mean how you've described your main goal. A lot of Star Wars ships are boxy. The original TOS Trek shuttlecraft are boxy. The Botany Bay (Khan's ship) was boxy. The USS Discovery NCC-1031 is kind of boxy. A completely valid design choice for Trek. 👍
Azteking is a whole other matter. You'd probably need to unwrap your model so the wireframe can be mapped to a 2D image. Then to get the right effect, you'd need to create a few layers. There's the base Texture map, the Specular map (determines different levels of reflections), a Displacement or Normal map (for bumps, highlights, and shadows), and an Opacity (or Transparency) map. Though not all of them are necessary depending on the software you're using to render the final image.
When I used TrueSpace, I could get a nice effect with just a Texture map and a Transparency map, (for example, my own Saladin-class https://www.deviantart.com/lady-die/art/USS-Rostam-161610609).
HOWEVER! I've started using Blender not too long ago and the method for applying textures is a bit different. And yet the basics are the same - multiple layers applied to a model in order to get an effect. Something I'll need to learn myself in the near future. So... Depending on what software you're using, someone else will have to guide you through that process.
That or I get results on the Pontiac Aztek which frankly, I thought was a rather ugly vehicle.
The best I can do for you on that front is a 14 minute tutorial on how to do basic UV mapping and textures. Once you learn how to apply maps and shaders to a model, the rest should give you an idea of how to apply the effect to your models.
NOW! There is a method that I just now remembered to apply the effect you're after without using textures, and that's to model them in. 2D objects layered on top of your base mesh that are a different color to give the effect you're after. A lot of people (on this forum as well) use this technique for lettering and pennants and other surface details. Best of all, this technique works well with fairly simple shapes.
As to the best way to do this in Maya? I have no idea. At least the patterns are easy to find.
So....Yeah. Try a few things and see which works out best for you.