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3DProject: Dragonfly (Sentinel-121)

JayruJayru1037 UKPosts: 653Member
So, I'm back again - but NOT with a Trek project this time. I'm taking a little break from Gene's universe, but still want to keep my hand in with 3D, so have started something that's coming straight out of my imagination...

CDYI1tN.jpg

Lots and lots to do, before I can say that I have got this idea fully out of my brain and onto the screen as a model. She or rather he (I'll explain later) is a 56 meter long starship capable of atmospheric flight and space flight, and FTL. He will have teeth, this is going to be a sort of gun ship. The "wings" will move and have different positions. Yes, this ship will be able to land. As always, something fun to explore the universe with. I'll be working on an interior as well as exterior. But this is sort of the start more will follow. For now, working on some the detail on the front of the hull -

mc0VMj1.jpg

C&C welcome. More soon
The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
- Mike Oldfield
Lizzy777Hunter GStarCruiserMustang13Camaro68
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  • JayruJayru1037 UKPosts: 653Member
    More work done on the nose -

    XmBciPx.jpg


    C&C welcome, more soon :-)
    ashleytingerLizzy777Hunter GStarCruisersrspicer
    The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
    - Mike Oldfield
  • JayruJayru1037 UKPosts: 653Member
    edited August 2022 #3
    Introducing… Project “Dragonfly”
    Or,
    The Protectorate Scout, Sentinel Series – registration S121.
    Role: Deep range scout, primary investigation and enforcement vehicle. Enhanced stealth and anti-detection systems for observation roles. Primary Omni-directional Pulse Cannons for enforcement role, with reactive defence shielding and reenforced hull plating. Secondary Disruption Cannon for target capture.
    Power: Solar Fusion Core, rated for 50 Terran years, with backup chargeable batteries. Core replaceable at appropriate Protectorate Shipyard.
    Drive Systems: Sublight Thrusters (rated for atmospheric use), Primary AG drive (sublight), and a secondary Hyper Propulsion System (FTL).
    Crew: 1-2, not including onboard AI.

    Real world background;
    I’ve been playing around with this design for almost… 25 years. It’s gone through a few iterations over the years, from a sphere with wings to a more organic looking similar shape to its current lines. Like all of my 3D work, the original model was lost a few years back, aside from a few videos showing how the wings fold up (I’ll upload them at some point). The story background for the ship – and its crew – is also something I have played around with and worked on. Ironically, I’ve never sold a sci-fi story – horror yes, but not sci-fi (well, not yet – there is still time, lol). But anyways, whilst I’m taking a break from a few things I thought I would have a go and build this. No, it’s not Trek – but something else, so I hope you enjoy the build and a little glimpse into a universe I’m creating.


    More soon :-)
    Post edited by Jayru on
    Hunter G
    The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
    - Mike Oldfield
  • JayruJayru1037 UKPosts: 653Member
    More work on the nose -

    z2dFLWw.jpg

    and the backend -

    USGeVwk.jpg


    C&C welcome, more soon!
    ashleytingerLizzy777srspicer
    The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
    - Mike Oldfield
  • JayruJayru1037 UKPosts: 653Member
    Started work on the wing joint - the current wings are temp only, but want to get the ball joint system locked down -

    e0V2iOH.jpg
    NEGccXM.jpg

    And a quick look at the two states of the wings (the current ones are temp, they will be more dynamic, but wanted to show them folded as far as the joint will allow) -

    xN6wxOT.jpg
    PhS6mJf.jpg

    More later, C&C welcome!
    ashleytingerLizzy777srspicer
    The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
    - Mike Oldfield
  • ashleytingerashleytinger1998 Central OhioPosts: 1,232Member
    It's a really neat design. Will it have space for crew to sleep in it or are they stuck in the main control area?
    Jayru
  • JayruJayru1037 UKPosts: 653Member
    It's a really neat design. Will it have space for crew to sleep in it or are they stuck in the main control area?

    Thank you :-)

    It's currently 56 meters long, so it will have space to live in as well as a control area and a few other things. I'm thinking that the crew facilities will be across one deck, but I want to get more of the external detail done before I dive inside.

    More soon, all comments & questions welcome :-)
    The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
    - Mike Oldfield
  • JayruJayru1037 UKPosts: 653Member
    Quick render with a person for scale - hope that helps with the size. Working on the wings splitting, and the sub-engine placement -

    mTGZn6t.jpg

    C&C welcome, more soon :-)
    StarriggersrspicerLizzy777
    The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
    - Mike Oldfield
  • JayruJayru1037 UKPosts: 653Member
    The sub=thrusters are finished for now, working on the wings, how they split and the mechanism (all fun) -

    TJEMBLz.jpg
    1NgBp3f.jpg
    PT9lVAt.jpg
    w3JgHgz.jpg

    C&C welcome, more soon :-)
    srspicerLizzy777
    The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
    - Mike Oldfield
  • ashleytingerashleytinger1998 Central OhioPosts: 1,232Member
    Oh yeah, much larger than I was picturing. I really like those wings
    Jayru
  • JayruJayru1037 UKPosts: 653Member
    Oh yeah, much larger than I was picturing. I really like those wings

    Thank you, the wings are one of my fav things. I may play around with them a little, see if I can refine the shapes to be better. They look rather delicate, which I don't have an issue with (at the moment), but it's something I shall think on.

    More soon :-)
    The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
    - Mike Oldfield
  • JayruJayru1037 UKPosts: 653Member
    Playing around with texture ideas. This is far from final, but it's sort of the look I want to go for -

    tuWolAK.jpg
    8Xu5bVW.jpg

    C&C welcome, more soon!
    Lizzy777srspicer
    The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
    - Mike Oldfield
  • JayruJayru1037 UKPosts: 653Member
    Did some more work on the texture maps. Happier, but it's not quite right yet -

    jh0Yywb.jpg
    nUjkY8G.jpg

    Started work on the weapons bay - the "gun" is a placeholder (something I borrowed from my flying saucer project) it will be changing! -

    z0pOgLu.jpg

    More soon!
    StarriggerLizzy777srspicer
    The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
    - Mike Oldfield
  • JayruJayru1037 UKPosts: 653Member
    Some pics of how I originally had the body -

    iK9lp4L.jpg
    ctsswlj.jpg

    The original was far more organic looking, but I could never get the wings to sit right. Going for an angular look solved that problem. Plus, and not to keep rehashing this, I lost all my original 3D work, so I've had to start again with this as well. This is probably the furthest I've got with the design though, lol.

    Phaser look? I hadn't noticed, but yes you could say it has that look, but (big but), this is no Trek ship :-)

    Update to the Primary Pulse Cannon -

    gEKXqiW.jpg

    Needs more detail and to be finished, but it's coming along nicely.

    C&C welcome, more soon!
    StarriggerLizzy777
    The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
    - Mike Oldfield
  • JayruJayru1037 UKPosts: 653Member
    Finished work on the Pulse Cannons. Just need some textures -

    cVWlLvj.jpg
    JXJnAFU.jpg

    I3ZBUJr.jpg
    N4SHzi8.jpg

    I guess it has a phaser-ish shape. But it wasn't intentional -

    3JeOGcg.jpg

    Anyways, C&C welcome, more soon :-)
    Lizzy777srspicer
    The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
    - Mike Oldfield
  • ashleytingerashleytinger1998 Central OhioPosts: 1,232Member
    Reminds me more of a cross between the cannons on the Falcon and a PDC from Teh Expanse
    Jayru
  • publiusrpubliusr550 Posts: 1,746Member
    The smoother version reminds me of the Protector’s main hull.

    The more angular take is best with flat wings—it all works together
    Jayru
  • JayruJayru1037 UKPosts: 653Member
    Reminds me more of a cross between the cannons on the Falcon and a PDC from Teh Expanse

    I'm rather pleased with how they turned out :-)

    publiusr wrote: »
    The smoother version reminds me of the Protector’s main hull.

    The more angular take is best with flat wings—it all works together

    That was my thoughts as well. Although the prior iteration was a smooth hull with split wings (as I've done here). I've not been able to find the animation of the old version, so I'm going to put that in the "lost everything from YouTube as well," sigh.

    More soon!
    The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
    - Mike Oldfield
  • JayruJayru1037 UKPosts: 653Member
    Big guns have now been added (couldn't sleep, so I decided to mesh instead) and the beginning of the hyper-drive nacelle - needs more work, but it's coming along nicely and in mind with my "vision" for this ship -

    6mv1GP6.jpg
    vSznwW9.jpg
    EqC6Foa.jpg

    Things still to do - add logo, final texturing, add landing gear, add egress hatch, add minor details (then phase 1 complete, and on to phase 2 the interior...)

    C&C welcome, more soon.
    Lizzy777publiusr
    The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
    - Mike Oldfield
  • JayruJayru1037 UKPosts: 653Member
    Hyper-drive nacelle gubbings have now been finished. Just needs texturing -

    peTCTGR.jpg
    Y2nkg2s.jpg

    C&C as always, welcome. More later (prob tomorrow, need to recharge my batteries).
    ashleytingerLizzy777StarCruiser
    The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
    - Mike Oldfield
  • JayruJayru1037 UKPosts: 653Member
    Morning! Finally found it -

    https://youtube.com/watch?v=4rczyggwtx4

    The old test video I made, before I lost all the files. Here's a new one that's fresh off the press -

    https://youtube.com/watch?v=k9GrMyCmXsM

    C&C welcome, more soon!
    srspicer
    The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
    - Mike Oldfield
  • JayruJayru1037 UKPosts: 653Member
    And here's todays update -

    Xk93rhs.jpg
    jlVNz4q.jpg
    xmjwAqb.jpg
    tZpjUwv.jpg

    Lots more work to do, but thought it would be nice to texture what I already have :-)

    C&C welcome, more soon!
    SCE2AuxStarCruisersrspicer
    The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
    - Mike Oldfield
  • SCE2AuxSCE2Aux1038 Posts: 202Member
    I think the shape of this craft is really well proportioned, with good silhouettes. I'm also liking the additional surface details as you model them in.

    If there was something I'd focus in on, it would be to improve the shader for the hexagonal panels, maybe ramp up the reflection map, and bump/normal mapping? Or, since you're a 3dsMax user, you could open up the retopology tools - one of the topology patterns is called 'hive', which will quickly create nice hexagon patterns on your hull surface. An Open Chamfer operation will separate the hexagons into individual elements, then the Shell Modifier will give the hexagons some depth. Then add a Material By Element modifier, which will randomly assign polygon IDs to your hexagon elements. From there creating a multi-sub-object material will give each hexagon a slightly different colour/brightness/reflectivity/etc.

    The retopology tools work best when the underlying geometry has a nice even distribution of polygons, otherwise the hexagons tend to get stretched in places. If you think it's worth going this route with the model, I'd be tempted to create a separate plane object with the desired polygon density, then once you have your hexagon pattern made, you can boolean/slice the hexagons into the various shapes you need to fit your ship.

    I hope at least some of that makes sense!
    Jayru
  • JayruJayru1037 UKPosts: 653Member
    SCE2Aux wrote: »
    I think the shape of this craft is really well proportioned, with good silhouettes. I'm also liking the additional surface details as you model them in.

    If there was something I'd focus in on, it would be to improve the shader for the hexagonal panels, maybe ramp up the reflection map, and bump/normal mapping? Or, since you're a 3dsMax user, you could open up the retopology tools - one of the topology patterns is called 'hive', which will quickly create nice hexagon patterns on your hull surface. An Open Chamfer operation will separate the hexagons into individual elements, then the Shell Modifier will give the hexagons some depth. Then add a Material By Element modifier, which will randomly assign polygon IDs to your hexagon elements. From there creating a multi-sub-object material will give each hexagon a slightly different colour/brightness/reflectivity/etc.

    The retopology tools work best when the underlying geometry has a nice even distribution of polygons, otherwise the hexagons tend to get stretched in places. If you think it's worth going this route with the model, I'd be tempted to create a separate plane object with the desired polygon density, then once you have your hexagon pattern made, you can boolean/slice the hexagons into the various shapes you need to fit your ship.

    I hope at least some of that makes sense!

    Thank you! It all makes sense.

    I have thought about doing it - the only reason I haven't is because I haven't finished putting on all the details and surface objects that need to be in place. Also, I'm not 100% attached to the hexagonal panels - so they may change. I like them... but I can do better.

    More soon ;-)
    The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
    - Mike Oldfield
  • JayruJayru1037 UKPosts: 653Member
    Playing with the textures - let me know what you think -

    X3X3uqg.jpg
    I8ZWSeA.jpg
    68yv8B0.jpg
    dR6iVbz.jpg

    C&C welcome, more soon
    srspicer
    The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
    - Mike Oldfield
  • BlueNeumannBlueNeumann615 Posts: 1,275Member
    Oh the textures really make it work.
    Jayru
  • JayruJayru1037 UKPosts: 653Member
    Oh the textures really make it work.

    Thank you!
    The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
    - Mike Oldfield
  • JayruJayru1037 UKPosts: 653Member
    Some orthos -

    pgGCM2n.jpg
    zcBn3Ef.jpg
    PI0Jny8.jpg

    Now to work on the landing gear and egress hatches - C&C welcome, more later :-)
    srspicer
    The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
    - Mike Oldfield
  • JayruJayru1037 UKPosts: 653Member
    Possible placement of landing legs. I haven't got a finalised design for them yet, something I need to play with - but I think this arrangement/placement would work -

    CeHF9sa.jpg
    nBPVktc.jpg

    C&C welcome - more soon!
    The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
    - Mike Oldfield
  • JayruJayru1037 UKPosts: 653Member
    First pass at landing legs. I'm not fond of them, so am going to work up something else, but anyway here they are -

    3gQuf1i.jpg
    J1Jmtpj.jpg

    C&C welcome, more soon :-)
    The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
    - Mike Oldfield
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