Hey everybody,
Some of you have been following my take on the Daedalus-class in the 2d thread
here. I mentioned a couple of times that I would get started on a 3d version.
Well,
BorgMan's most excellent start (which can be found
here) inspied me to get my act together and get started on that. I've got a lot of the nacelle done so far (scribing lines into the hull is a pain
):
A close up of the bussard scoop:
I had originally modelled something more ornate before I decided I wanted a more functional-looking verion. This first version looks a bit like the tail light of a 50's car, but it was fun to model:
The insides still have a lot of work to be done, but I've already roughed out the ends where the inner coils will be "plugged" into the nacelle (it's my shout out to the LHC, which
hasn't blown the world up, thank you very much
):
Close-up of the aft section.
I'm really not happy with those intercoller fin things; I can't seem to find pleasing proportions for them. Thoughts?
Also, I've been having trouble with adding holes in the aft section:
I tried booleans for those holes (I'm using 3dMax 8), and I get this kind of wireframe:
Depending on how you move the lights in the scene, that will either look ok or have all sorts of horrible artifacts appearing. Is there any way to clean that up, or something?
Anyway, more updates later this week.
Thanks to
somacruz145 and
MadKoiFish for lighting advice.
Posts
If you cut some lines in the polygon (like a fairly dense grid) and then do the boolean, it will greatly reduce these random connections between the holes.
Try maybe something like that:
and if that doesn't do the job, try adding vertical cuts in the same manner.
Looking very good, this at least gives me a look in your way of thinking. I'm not sure if I will go as all-out on the detailing as you are doing, but I can always give it a shot
The 3D model doesn't seem any worse than the 2D version
I almost forgot that you asked me about the lighting and I was going to ask you why did you mention me here
Redid the intercoolers at the rear. I'm still not sure about those little fins, they might have to go.
Added the tubes at the front also. Splines are my friend.
Also did a few sketches for the engineering decks and control consoles. I've already posted them in BorgMan's thread, but I thought I'd post them here just 'cause.
C&C welcome as always.
Stupid flu. And work.:(
Anyways, I have a bit of an update; I got some work done on the bracings for the glass bit on the warp drive. I have two versions, and I'd like to know what you all think of them.
Which do you think I should go with?
Also, I did end up getting rid of those little fins on the intercoolers; they just ended up looking too "fussy" (I guess that's the best word). And I added the upper pipe.
I haven't forgotten about you, BorgMan, I'll have that deck plan for you soon as possible.
The Second looks Artsy/functional unless you add a visual reason for the extra detail.
The little fins on the intercoolers... have you tried to vary the count? A quarter as many or 3 groups of 2 would add detail without looking overly busy.
Got some work done on the connecting fin between the nacelle and the pylon:
And a full view:
Finally got to do some more work on this baby.:D
Re-did the pylons. Cutting hull panel lines was causing all kinds of lumps, bumps and other ugliness, so I restarted it, now with (many) extra polys. Thanks to tobian for his advice (and patience). :thumb:
Also roughed out the Engineering section. Here's how the whole thing looks so far:
While I was waiting for everything to render, I had some time to sketch out some ideas for a uniform patch:
As you can see, I also had the time to go Latin motto hunting.
I really like "Omne ignotum pro magnifico est" -- "Anything we haven't seen before is marvellous". I don't think it's been used by any of you guys yet, and it sums up the Starfleet attitude rather wonderfully.
C&C greatly welcomed, as usual.
By the way, would any of you guys who rock at Illustrator know of a tutorial for mission patches? Or might think of writing one? Thanks in advance.
Speaking of mission patches, I didn't know that Michael Okuda designs them for NASA now! How cool is that?!
I dig the 2nd and 4th patch
Forgot to post some wireframe pics:
As you can see, my modeling philiosophy for the pylons was "throw enough polys at it until the bumps go away" It's a decent result, but it's going to be an awfully heavy file when it's finished.
I may need to 'borrow' some of them ideas for my Daedalus
:thumb:
Yeah, I've spent most of my time cutting hull lines into the connecting tubes and the engineering section:
Thank God for MadKoiFish and his terriffic tutorials, or this update would've happened in May. 2015.
Two things I'm not sure I'm happy with:
-- The engineering lower section is more awkwardly boxy-looking than I was going for. What could I do with it? Stretch it, bevel it, angle it? I like how it looks from the side, but the 90 degree, up and down-ness of the walls is knid of brutal.
-- I'm also not toally keen on how the connector meets up with the pylon, especially the underside; I might put some kind of collar around it, or keep the pipe at the smaller diameter when it meets the pylon. Thoughts?
Another thing: does anyone know of any interesting sorts of metal bracings, or connectors or clamps? I'm trying to think of interesting ways to attach engineering to the reactor "tank" underneath while still having it look believeably sturdy.
I've tried searchin google image and flickr, but no such luck. Any ideas anyone has, don't hesitate to pitch em.
One more render, with the warp engines, to give an idea of height/proportion (hopefully):
And while I was waiting for all this to render.... a challenger appears! :devil:
I'm keeping an eye on this thread!
awesome stuff. I like your fancy-but-utilitarianism look of this guy.
Anyhoo, Re-worked the engineering section (again).
I tapered the lower part so it wasn't such a brutal 90 degree angle, stretched it out forward-to-back a little, and chafered all the edges so it didn't look so razor-sharp.
Also, finally finished cutting those hull panels (shudder).
And I changed how the walkway connects to the pylon to a small collar; looks a bit more elegant now.
I was going to post a render of everything modelled so far, but my Pc was taking forever, and I'm getting sleepy. So, until tomorrow evening, ladies and gents?
Got the base of one of the reactor sections done.
Also, did some work on the Engineering section.
Aaaand the neck.
And here's how everything looks so far:
Ignore the fact that there's no glass for the moment, it was mangling my processor...
I'm pretty happy with it so far; it's really coming together now that more of it's done.
Next up: taking a whack at lighting impulse engines (thanks, Vektor :thumb: )