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3DThe Polaris Shipyard (In Blender)

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Posts

  • Polaris 004Polaris 004199 Posts: 752Member
    I love your work and despair at even being so good. But one thing I doo have to offer as a constructive comment is the triangular tower rising out of the glowing blue done just doesn't look right at all. I'd move or remove it, the dome looks better without it and the way it just comes up looks fake.

    That's all I'd say for a suggested improvement.

    Thanks, I agree and will do something to fix that dome/tower problem. My work commonly has a number of such issues. :p

    As for your despair: don't. Just about anyone can learn Blender to my level. I have very little natural talent for this sort of thing. I just REALLY, REALLY, REALLY always wanted to model starships of my own. The learning curve is steep, but it's so much fun when you break through and figure out how to do something that's been stopping you...
  • Polaris 004Polaris 004199 Posts: 752Member
    Here's a quick animation I did, Launching the Capricorn from the main bay.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo1CYeCC1JE
  • StarshipStarship466 São Paulo - BrasilPosts: 1,978Member
    Looking good.
    I suggest you to add some sort of connection arm when inside the dock and before the launch sequence. ;)
  • Ice-DragonIce-Dragon0 Posts: 0Member
    Looks good Polaris 004
    Starship wrote: »
    I suggest you to add some sort of connection arm when inside the dock and before the launch sequence. ;)
    or add a shuttle, shuttle pod or work-bee flghting around just to add a little more life
  • halhal192 Posts: 157Member
    Nice work. As well as what the others have said you need door running tracks and maybe some flashing lights on the door (similar to those seen in star trek 3) and perhaps some running lights on the ship.
  • mtblilliemtblillie171 Posts: 0Member
    I'm really liking this concept you have goin! Keep it up its awsome!
  • Polaris 004Polaris 004199 Posts: 752Member
    Thanks everyone. I am planning to add more elements and lighting effects to this animation, or one like it. I figured out that I can save the set up in a file and then add to it or change it later without setting everything up again. I can even delete the Capricorn, add a new ship, marry it to the control lattice, and launch that ship instead. That's a huge time saver.
  • LonewriterLonewriter236 Posts: 1,078Member
    Reminds me of the Immence class station. Nice job.
  • Mycroft MaxwellMycroft Maxwell0 Posts: 0Member
    Wow. This is really a nice station. Blender definatly needs some stations to its library. Be cool to add some "Neon" lights like the underside of the Spacedock from ST III had. Would make it look cooler. Hey speaking of which, I just saw the bonus footage on my special edition STIII, the whole station model was lit up from the inside by a huge coil of Neon light lol. IF you havent already thought of this, take a look at the Spacedock. I think the Polaris Station could use some "paint" markings. What i mean is literally where they have painted the hull. Like a painted ring around each dome section. Anyways, This is a beautiful mesh. Cant wait to see it finished Polaris.
  • Polaris 004Polaris 004199 Posts: 752Member
    Wow. This is really a nice station. Blender definatly needs some stations to its library. Be cool to add some "Neon" lights like the underside of the Spacedock from ST III had. Would make it look cooler. Hey speaking of which, I just saw the bonus footage on my special edition STIII, the whole station model was lit up from the inside by a huge coil of Neon light lol. IF you havent already thought of this, take a look at the Spacedock. I think the Polaris Station could use some "paint" markings. What i mean is literally where they have painted the hull. Like a painted ring around each dome section. Anyways, This is a beautiful mesh. Cant wait to see it finished Polaris.

    Thanks. I may release some version of this for Blender heads to use. I agree it could use more light, particularly under the rim of the "Mushroom Heads." I think maybe some mapped textures on top of the physical ones might also help. But I don't know if this model will ever really be "finished." I just sort of threw it together to have a place to park my ships. It's sort of a stand in, really. The more time I dedicate to this, the less time I have to actually work on my Starships, which is what I really want to be doing. Maybe someday soon I'll get sick of Federation Starships and I'll want to do some of these other things. (Listen to me, talking crazy...)
  • publiusrpubliusr550 Posts: 1,747Member
    I think it looks just fine as is. It has its own character that way.
  • Polaris 004Polaris 004199 Posts: 752Member
    This clip is not some of my best work. It's a disaster really; the compositing is a mess and the timing is "off." The whole station needs a HUGE modeling overhaul. That said, I thought this might be fun to show here anyway... as always, feel free to criticize or comment.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlDuNj0PKXo
  • JennyJenny2 Posts: 0Member
    Remember that a movie is a series of still images. Yes, the timing of the animation is off, but worse, we never get the pay-off images... the shot of your ship in dock should be held a bit longer... as it is, we just glimpse it, and then we're moving away again. Shots of the ships over the poles of the planet should show us the ship more clearly.
  • Polaris 004Polaris 004199 Posts: 752Member
    Jenny wrote: »
    Remember that a movie is a series of still images. Yes, the timing of the animation is off, but worse, we never get the pay-off images... the shot of your ship in dock should be held a bit longer... as it is, we just glimpse it, and then we're moving away again. Shots of the ships over the poles of the planet should show us the ship more clearly.

    Yeah, I completely agree. When I was putting it together originally, I wanted it to be all about the station, and not have the ships detracting too much. But clearly I overdid that and made the ships a bunch of nondescript blurrs. I realize now that on DS9, if a ship was docked at the station, the shot always showed off BOTH the station AND the ship. (Unless they were using one of those crap kit-smash models.) I would definitely do this sequence differently now.

    Now that I re-read your comment, I see you are saying something even more important. "Remember that a movie is a series of still images." I sorta blew through that the first time I read it, but it encapsulates the problems in this clip much better that I realized. I wanted a series of images, say A,B and C. And I naturally wanted them all to run together. That's the whole gimmik I was going for: go from A to B to C without using a camera cut. But I spent so much energy and attention getting from one shot to the next, I sorta lost focus on what the shots I wanted actually were. The result is sorta sloppy feeling instead of clear.
  • JennyJenny2 Posts: 0Member
    That's what I was trying to say, but in a much more coherent form. Thank you. :cool:
  • Polaris 004Polaris 004199 Posts: 752Member
    Jenny wrote: »
    That's what I was trying to say, but in a much more coherent form. Thank you. :cool:

    It was perfectly clear, Jenny. I just wasn't paying enough attention to what you were saying at first. I wanted to show you I really understood what you were saying. Thanks, as always.
  • Kalic-VadekKalic-Vadek0 Posts: 0Member
    Not sure if this has been asked, but what is the Purpose of the main dock?

    Also very nice Model.
  • oldmangregoldmangreg198 Woodland Hills, CAPosts: 1,339Member
    Not sure if this has been asked, but what is the Purpose of the main dock?

    Also very nice Model.

    Go to the first post.
    Your right to an opinion does not make your opinion valid.
  • VALKYRIE013VALKYRIE013547 Posts: 1,473Member
    late to the party.. but nice looking station you have there!!

    never really understood all those windows... especially in the shell around the dock area.. i mean there's only so many people, and so many offices!!
  • Polaris 004Polaris 004199 Posts: 752Member
    late to the party.. but nice looking station you have there!!

    never really understood all those windows... especially in the shell around the dock area.. i mean there's only so many people, and so many offices!!

    Yeah, if I ever get around to rebuilding this thing, one of the things I will do is put more thought into the windows. None of them are actually cut, so that would be easy to fix. I think the general design is pretty neat, but the details definitely need some more thought. But that's exactly the way I roll.
  • Polaris 004Polaris 004199 Posts: 752Member
    Not sure if this has been asked, but what is the Purpose of the main dock?

    Also very nice Model.

    Thanks. This station is the core complex for the Polaris Shipyards, located in Sector 004. The different pods accommodate construction and refit activities for different sizes of starships. The main bay is a fly through space that can easily accommodate two surveyors.
  • Kalic-VadekKalic-Vadek0 Posts: 0Member
    So the main bay is just there, to hold two ships, or can it repair ships aswell?
  • Polaris 004Polaris 004199 Posts: 752Member
    So the main bay is just there, to hold two ships, or can it repair ships aswell?

    Repair, refit, or even construct an entire Starship from scratchola. It's a small auxiliary shipyard, rarely put into full production mode, but is kept operating in order to augment shipbuilding in times of conflict. In relative peacetime, it fills the odd order and conducts research and trials of new classes of Starships. It has been in continual operation since about the time the first Connies were put together, and has been continually upgraded and rebuilt in a modular fashion for well over a hundred years. That is why aspects of its design have a retro feel, while other hardware looks more modern.
  • JennyJenny2 Posts: 0Member
    scratchola.

    What a fabulous word!

    Scratchola... when you absolutely don't want it to shine!

    You don't know fecal matter from scratchola, pal! :lol:
  • Polaris 004Polaris 004199 Posts: 752Member
    Jenny wrote: »
    What a fabulous word!

    Scratchola... when you absolutely don't want it to shine!

    You don't know fecal matter from scratchola, pal! :lol:

    draft_lens2340404module13090600photo_1229580732buzz-lightyear-3.jpg
    (You're mocking me, aren't you?)
  • Kalic-VadekKalic-Vadek0 Posts: 0Member
    Hmm this is a extremely small Star base, to be the headquarters for 2 fleet, which would each hold a few hundred ships.
  • Polaris 004Polaris 004199 Posts: 752Member
    Hmm this is a extremely small Star base, to be the headquarters for 2 fleet, which would each hold a few hundred ships.

    It isn't the headquarters for any fleet, but rather just a small shipyard. And it's almost smack dab in the middle of the Federation, which means it's well protected by the Home Fleet. If anything, I made it too large....
  • JennyJenny2 Posts: 0Member
    (You're mocking me, aren't you?)

    I am not! I'm playing with the word, because it amuses me. Okay, I may be teasing a little bit, but I seriously do like the word. It's a marvelous example of how new words are formed in English, and that makes me happy in my little language-geek heart.
  • Polaris 004Polaris 004199 Posts: 752Member
    Jenny, I was just teasing you right back. ;) Bless your geeky heart.
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