Experimenting with panel design. I want to maintain something of the raised look present in the Ambassador Class model, but toned it down a bit. Still got vents, thrusters and running lights to make before I consider this nacelle model finished.
Your work on this nacelle is nothing short of phenomenal. I absolutely love the detailing you've done on it. But then, given the other work you've shared with us, that's no surprise.
I could imagine that this was the standard nacelle design before the Ambassador’s wider units were modified for mass-production. I’m not sure I’m a fan of the grated look, over the standard clean look of most grills and collectors. But it is easy to imagine a practical use for them, most likely defense field emitters, similar to the ones mentioned in TWOK apparently protecting the bridge.
This is the sort of look I’ve been struggling to get! How do you get all of the different parts to look like they are bolted/welded together, as opposed to different parts trying to occupy the same space (and failing bizarrely at that!)?
So far, the best I could do is nudge things into place, often having to nudge vertices individually so they are practically right next to the object to be attached to (which often means an hour for each part, at least. Not counting it’s creation in the first place).
Your work on this nacelle is nothing short of phenomenal. I absolutely love the detailing you've done on it. But then, given the other work you've shared with us, that's no surprise.
I could imagine that this was the standard nacelle design before the Ambassador’s wider units were modified for mass-production. I’m not sure I’m a fan of the grated look, over the standard clean look of most grills and collectors. But it is easy to imagine a practical use for them, most likely defense field emitters, similar to the ones mentioned in TWOK apparently protecting the bridge.
This is the sort of look I’ve been struggling to get! How do you get all of the different parts to look like they are bolted/welded together, as opposed to different parts trying to occupy the same space (and failing bizarrely at that!)?
So far, the best I could do is nudge things into place, often having to nudge vertices individually so they are practically right next to the object to be attached to (which often means an hour for each part, at least. Not counting it’s creation in the first place).
I can imagine that adding the additional structure on the bussards and grilles wouldn't be entirely liked from all quarters. I do like ships that have a clean look, but I think I'm still in an old fashioned, nuts and bolts sort of mood hehe. I try to design my ships in a way that I can imagine they would be concievably be constructed in reality. That usually means lots of spars and struts embedded into the hull. I'm imagining the bussard, as I've modelled it, functions by letting gasses in through a series of pores located at the lattice intersections. It then gets concentrated in the collection loop, and then ducted into the interior of the nacelle.
In terms of modeling technique; the panels are separated pieces of geometry, that have been booleaned into the various segments. I then retopologize the segments so I can more easily edit the geometry. (In this case, insetting and extruding the edges of each panel.)
Your work on this nacelle is nothing short of phenomenal. I absolutely love the detailing you've done on it. But then, given the other work you've shared with us, that's no surprise.
I could imagine that this was the standard nacelle design before the Ambassador’s wider units were modified for mass-production. I’m not sure I’m a fan of the grated look, over the standard clean look of most grills and collectors. But it is easy to imagine a practical use for them, most likely defense field emitters, similar to the ones mentioned in TWOK apparently protecting the bridge.
This is the sort of look I’ve been struggling to get! How do you get all of the different parts to look like they are bolted/welded together, as opposed to different parts trying to occupy the same space (and failing bizarrely at that!)?
So far, the best I could do is nudge things into place, often having to nudge vertices individually so they are practically right next to the object to be attached to (which often means an hour for each part, at least. Not counting it’s creation in the first place).
I can imagine that adding the additional structure on the bussards and grilles wouldn't be entirely liked from all quarters. I do like ships that have a clean look, but I think I'm still in an old fashioned, nuts and bolts sort of mood hehe. I try to design my ships in a way that I can imagine they would be concievably be constructed in reality. That usually means lots of spars and struts embedded into the hull. I'm imagining the bussard, as I've modelled it, functions by letting gasses in through a series of pores located at the lattice intersections. It then gets concentrated in the collection loop, and then ducted into the interior of the nacelle.
In terms of modeling technique; the panels are separated pieces of geometry, that have been booleaned into the various segments. I then retopologize the segments so I can more easily edit the geometry. (In this case, insetting and extruding the edges of each panel.)
I do think it WOULD look better with the clean look, but I have appreciation for designs that have a lot of thought put into them. If you wanted to go for a clean look, it could be that the pores are microscopic (and hence you can't see them). I think I remember reading somewhere that the bussard caps are semi-permeable, allowing gasses to penetrate, and not much of anything else (which is good, because you wouldn't want rocks traveling at millions of miles per hour to penetrate the only thing standing between you and getting trapped trillions of miles from the nearest habitable world.
But I love the thought that you put into designing this thus far, it does lend a more realistic feel, and it does you credit. And it is mind-blowing for a novice now that I've started modeling myself, looking all of those details, while I struggle just to get large parts to look the way I want! I often like to do the same thing with my designs, and try to assign functions to every part to make their presence justified, but as you know, modeling details in 3D is far different from drawing them in 2D!
I've only tried a boolean once (with mixed results), and don't even know what a retropologize is, but I imagine there must be a dozen tutorials on them. I think that trying a warp grille on my current Galaxy Mk-II should be a sufficient test subject, and I'm kind of excited to try it!
Edit: and the hull paneling just looks outstanding! It helps to add depth and scaling. How do you do that? Just extruding the edges outwards (I'm considering just that strategy for when I move onto the deflector grid)?
Fantastic, Any chance of a closeup of the Bussard collector, or a look at the mesh for the nacelle?
Here's a wireframe of the isolated bussard mesh:
I've finished the nacelle model. Also been hacking up the low res mesh in order to find the best route forward (that mesh is now an ungodly mess of booleans!)
The next step is to make the secondary hull, using this rough model as a guide but much, much neater.
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The nacelle is super, I like it.
This is the sort of look I’ve been struggling to get! How do you get all of the different parts to look like they are bolted/welded together, as opposed to different parts trying to occupy the same space (and failing bizarrely at that!)?
So far, the best I could do is nudge things into place, often having to nudge vertices individually so they are practically right next to the object to be attached to (which often means an hour for each part, at least. Not counting it’s creation in the first place).
That's really nice of you to say, thank you!
I can imagine that adding the additional structure on the bussards and grilles wouldn't be entirely liked from all quarters. I do like ships that have a clean look, but I think I'm still in an old fashioned, nuts and bolts sort of mood hehe. I try to design my ships in a way that I can imagine they would be concievably be constructed in reality. That usually means lots of spars and struts embedded into the hull. I'm imagining the bussard, as I've modelled it, functions by letting gasses in through a series of pores located at the lattice intersections. It then gets concentrated in the collection loop, and then ducted into the interior of the nacelle.
In terms of modeling technique; the panels are separated pieces of geometry, that have been booleaned into the various segments. I then retopologize the segments so I can more easily edit the geometry. (In this case, insetting and extruding the edges of each panel.)
I do think it WOULD look better with the clean look, but I have appreciation for designs that have a lot of thought put into them. If you wanted to go for a clean look, it could be that the pores are microscopic (and hence you can't see them). I think I remember reading somewhere that the bussard caps are semi-permeable, allowing gasses to penetrate, and not much of anything else (which is good, because you wouldn't want rocks traveling at millions of miles per hour to penetrate the only thing standing between you and getting trapped trillions of miles from the nearest habitable world.
But I love the thought that you put into designing this thus far, it does lend a more realistic feel, and it does you credit. And it is mind-blowing for a novice now that I've started modeling myself, looking all of those details, while I struggle just to get large parts to look the way I want! I often like to do the same thing with my designs, and try to assign functions to every part to make their presence justified, but as you know, modeling details in 3D is far different from drawing them in 2D!
I've only tried a boolean once (with mixed results), and don't even know what a retropologize is, but I imagine there must be a dozen tutorials on them. I think that trying a warp grille on my current Galaxy Mk-II should be a sufficient test subject, and I'm kind of excited to try it!
Edit: and the hull paneling just looks outstanding! It helps to add depth and scaling. How do you do that? Just extruding the edges outwards (I'm considering just that strategy for when I move onto the deflector grid)?
Here's a wireframe of the isolated bussard mesh:
I've finished the nacelle model. Also been hacking up the low res mesh in order to find the best route forward (that mesh is now an ungodly mess of booleans!)
The next step is to make the secondary hull, using this rough model as a guide but much, much neater.