I haven't read through the whole thread or seen all of your pics. But I just remembered that the secondary window arrangements are different on the starboard and port sides. IIRC the port side has each deck of windows horizontally parallel, not following the deflector shield lines. The starboard side has the deck windows following the deflector grid lines, making the deck arrangement more radial from the front, than horizontally stacked. Also, the pic at the top of page 7 here, couple of things: warp engines are too high on the pylons and the 2nd hull is missing it's belly phaser strip.
I know you are working hard on this. I can try to document these things if you wish.
the secondary window arrangements are different on the starboard and port sides. IIRC the port side has each deck of windows horizontally parallel, not following the deflector shield lines. The starboard side has the deck windows following the deflector grid lines, making the deck arrangement more radial from the front, than horizontally stacked. Also, the pic at the top of page 7 here, couple of things: warp engines are too high on the pylons and the 2nd hull is missing it's belly phaser strip.
About the warp engines, I originally had them as high as they were on the Ent-C, which had them quite high up, but then this photo of the model at auction has them very very low.
I dropped mine down but I didn't like how it looked. It's really weird though, because this photo of the studio model, as Yamaguchi, quite clearly show the pylons at different heights. Rumour has it that the lowered pylons was a modification made for a possible appearance in Generations, however they were done after it's final screen appearance.
I'm quite happy to leave mine as they are. They're not quite as high up as the Ent-C version, but I've lowered them just enough for the bussards to be clear of the saucer in the front view.
As for the belly phaser strip, the studio model never featured one.
A lot of people say that this is the belly phaser strip seen firing in DS9 - Emissary:
However I've looked at the footage from that episode time and time again and I say it's an error in post production. The phaser beam is clearly coming from the deflector array for some reason. If the strip is where people say it is, then the Yamaguchi is firing through itself here. Also at this angle of approach it would have made a lot more sense to fire from one of the forward saucer strips, more likely the bottom one as it's angled forward more than the top one.
But to sum up on that; studio model never featured one, this on-screen error may indicate the presence of one and loads of model kits feature it. I'm undecided. I'm currently re-building my phaser strip meshes anyway. I may add one to the belly, or I may not. I'll see how it looks.
As for the windows, I've never heard of that before. Looking very closely at the studio model again, the windows don't quite match up (as in they don't exactly mirror each side), but they seem pretty well lined up to me. Could be the angle I'm looking at though...
Thanks for the info about the belly strip! You'd think that I would have noticed.
I think the windows are bilaterally set up in the same configuration on a deck by deck basis, it's just that the Starboard side windows follow the deflector grid lines running from front to back. This looks weird from the side, as the decks are shown not to be parallel. On the port side, it appears that the windows do not follow the grid lines from front to back, but maintain a straight line instead. This puts those decks to be stacked in parallel on top of each other.
I think the work you are doing is wonderful. I use Lightwave and am hoping to get that good.
You know, when I do a google image search for "Ambassador Class", my new orleans shows up several times. However my Ambassador class doesn't. At all.
Eye candy.
I've rebuilt the nacelles, still some finishing details to do on them. The phaser strips on the saucer are new. Also the windows seem a bit dark because I'm experimenting with interior room textures, they're not very bright yet. Either that or my scene lights are too bright in this render...
I'll have to double check, but IIRC, the cross-section of the Ambassador class warp engine is very close to square, perhaps wider horizontally than tall, but not by much. I found the forward part interesting as the squarish cross-section had to be feathered into the slightly oval mount for the Bussard Collectors, also just wider than tall. The kit makes the Bussard oval by too great an extent. Same as the blueprints. The shooting model does not match what was drawn. My guess is that the differences were due to the rush with which Greg Jein had to build and finish the (was it 4 feet?) model for shooting.
hmm... When I start playing with lights and lens effects I get too carried away too easily.
Whole image created in 3DS Max, including the starfield background and the nebula, which believe it or not is just a lens flare. No photoshopping or after effects etc.
(btw, forum shrinks the image, right click it and view image )
Your model looks great, I don't know why you keep saying that ryo80's looks better. I'm really liking your take on this ship. That most recent image is especially cool.
His windows are rounded. Mine are square
I guess it's me being petty, I could make mine rounded but that would take a considerable amount of work. At the moment though, his does look a lot better than mine close-up. Which is why I haven't shown any close-ups of my model
Your model looks great, I don't know why you keep saying that ryo80's looks better. I'm really liking your take on this ship. That most recent image is especially cool.
His windows are rounded. Mine are square
I guess it's me being petty, I could make mine rounded but that would take a considerable amount of work. At the moment though, his does look a lot better than mine close-up. Which is why I haven't shown any close-ups of my model
Hah! I actually have an older version that has squared (or at least slightly-beveled) windows. I went with more rounded ones, having patterned after Valkyrie and Tobias' Ambassador-class models, mostly because I like how they look. It's all good though, man. For what it's worth, I still don't think mine looks as good as it should up close. I'd have been done with the whole thing by now if I wasn't trying to refine/rebuild everything on it. :P
I like the "shock wave" style effect after the hit, it's not what we're used to see but it's very cool. I would suggest toning down the shield's texture however, and give it a more clean surface.
For all my finished Trek fan art, please visit my portfolio
This is nifty! I also agree on the shield bubble. Perhaps the ripple effect could be toned down a wee bit, and I'm not sure if you're using a texture for the bubble or procedural, but I think it would be really convincing if the "cloud" pattern were a bit more irregular. (Maybe if increased the sampling size?) If you need a map for it, I have plenty of textures you're welcome to use. Third thing that would give you an edge is making only the affected portion of the bubble be visible. When you see ships getting attacked in TNG, movies, etc., it has kind of a gradient effect. Good luck on this, though. It'll be awesome to see finished!
Thanks for the comments. I am still tweaking it, so these suggestions are valued. The shield bubble's texture is just a noise map from the material editor, with a second fractal map over the impact point. I agree looking at it that the noise map is far too small, so I'll try raising the size value and see how that looks...
Early TNG one (from the era the Yamaguchi was in) were basically shockwaves and solid colours with a transparency, that fizzly crap didn't really come in much until voyager. I like the shockwave but the lack of animated ripples on the bubble really ruins it imo.
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Looking good sir!! doing great rebuilding her!
I haven't read through the whole thread or seen all of your pics. But I just remembered that the secondary window arrangements are different on the starboard and port sides. IIRC the port side has each deck of windows horizontally parallel, not following the deflector shield lines. The starboard side has the deck windows following the deflector grid lines, making the deck arrangement more radial from the front, than horizontally stacked. Also, the pic at the top of page 7 here, couple of things: warp engines are too high on the pylons and the 2nd hull is missing it's belly phaser strip.
I know you are working hard on this. I can try to document these things if you wish.
About the warp engines, I originally had them as high as they were on the Ent-C, which had them quite high up, but then this photo of the model at auction has them very very low.
I dropped mine down but I didn't like how it looked. It's really weird though, because this photo of the studio model, as Yamaguchi, quite clearly show the pylons at different heights. Rumour has it that the lowered pylons was a modification made for a possible appearance in Generations, however they were done after it's final screen appearance.
I'm quite happy to leave mine as they are. They're not quite as high up as the Ent-C version, but I've lowered them just enough for the bussards to be clear of the saucer in the front view.
As for the belly phaser strip, the studio model never featured one.
A lot of people say that this is the belly phaser strip seen firing in DS9 - Emissary:
However I've looked at the footage from that episode time and time again and I say it's an error in post production. The phaser beam is clearly coming from the deflector array for some reason. If the strip is where people say it is, then the Yamaguchi is firing through itself here. Also at this angle of approach it would have made a lot more sense to fire from one of the forward saucer strips, more likely the bottom one as it's angled forward more than the top one.
But to sum up on that; studio model never featured one, this on-screen error may indicate the presence of one and loads of model kits feature it. I'm undecided. I'm currently re-building my phaser strip meshes anyway. I may add one to the belly, or I may not. I'll see how it looks.
As for the windows, I've never heard of that before. Looking very closely at the studio model again, the windows don't quite match up (as in they don't exactly mirror each side), but they seem pretty well lined up to me. Could be the angle I'm looking at though...
I think the windows are bilaterally set up in the same configuration on a deck by deck basis, it's just that the Starboard side windows follow the deflector grid lines running from front to back. This looks weird from the side, as the decks are shown not to be parallel. On the port side, it appears that the windows do not follow the grid lines from front to back, but maintain a straight line instead. This puts those decks to be stacked in parallel on top of each other.
I think the work you are doing is wonderful. I use Lightwave and am hoping to get that good.
Eye candy.
I've rebuilt the nacelles, still some finishing details to do on them. The phaser strips on the saucer are new. Also the windows seem a bit dark because I'm experimenting with interior room textures, they're not very bright yet. Either that or my scene lights are too bright in this render...
- Mike Oldfield
hmm... When I start playing with lights and lens effects I get too carried away too easily.
Whole image created in 3DS Max, including the starfield background and the nebula, which believe it or not is just a lens flare. No photoshopping or after effects etc.
(btw, forum shrinks the image, right click it and view image
I guess it's me being petty, I could make mine rounded but that would take a considerable amount of work. At the moment though, his does look a lot better than mine close-up. Which is why I haven't shown any close-ups of my model
That's exactly what I'm saying!
Hah! I actually have an older version that has squared (or at least slightly-beveled) windows. I went with more rounded ones, having patterned after Valkyrie and Tobias' Ambassador-class models, mostly because I like how they look. It's all good though, man. For what it's worth, I still don't think mine looks as good as it should up close. I'd have been done with the whole thing by now if I wasn't trying to refine/rebuild everything on it. :P
please post an orthographic view
I'm liking it! nice to see the yamaguci variant done well!
Current Projects:
Ambassador Class