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3DKlingon D7 Project

BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
edited January 2014 in Work in Progress #1
I consider the Klingon D7 one of the most beautiful ships in the Star Trek universe. Inspired by REL777's physical model, I decided to tackle this complicated ship. What you see here represents numerous starts and redo's.

The teardrop front structure has been redone 4 times. The top twice. I finally found some very good photos to work from. A certain amount minor things you see here will be redone. But I wanted to start a post.

Enjoy my faltering efforts. This is done in Lightwave.

Edit: Changed /updated the Thumbnail 1/12/2013
99481.png
Post edited by Brandenberg on
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Posts

  • mikalamikala176 Posts: 440Member
    Subscribed!
  • RekkertRekkert4037 Buenos Aires, ArgentinaPosts: 2,302Member
    Great start, the details are very well done. :thumb:
    For all my finished Trek fan art, please visit my portfolio
  • REL777REL7770 Posts: 0Member
    If you need close up pics of the kit parts used on the original I will be happy to post them so you can recreate them digitally. Actually since a lot of these ships used the same off the shelf kit parts for their greebles it would be cool if someone made digital versions of all of them.
  • ChanurChanur191 53.33° N / 10.00° EPosts: 305Member
    Great start!! I'll watch this closely :)
  • publiusrpubliusr550 Posts: 1,746Member
    I wonder if it might be be good to scan your finished product in an un-assembled state, and build in the computer if possible.

    I've see other sites compare drawings of the Connie, with overlays to show differences. I don't think anyone has done that from D-7 to K't'inga yet.
  • TALON_UKTALON_UK2 Posts: 0Member
    Nice. Be interesting to see this and the physical model progress in tandem. Very strong start, looking forwards to seeing how this develops.
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    mikala, Rekkert, Chanur, TALON_UK. Thanks. Will try not to disappoint!
    REL777. Would love those photos. Hey your work made me want to be a better artist!
    Publiusr. Related to what you said, sometimes you wish that orthos of the ship pieces were posted. Some of the pieces are impossible because they are obscured by something closer to the ortho camera.

    I'll try to have another pic up soon. Thanks all.
  • StarshipStarship464 São Paulo - BrasilPosts: 1,976Member
    All those details... Already looks amazing!
    Surelly will rivalize with one of the bests D7 meshes ever made, which was built by Ebolli to many years ago. :thumb:
  • TralfazTralfaz412 Posts: 846Member
    REL777 wrote: »
    If you need close up pics of the kit parts used on the original I will be happy to post them so you can recreate them digitally. Actually since a lot of these ships used the same off the shelf kit parts for their greebles it would be cool if someone made digital versions of all of them.

    Yeah, if you could post the pics, I would be more than happy to start modeling them.

    Al
  • HelotHelot391 Posts: 164Member
    Excellent start.
  • TallguyTallguy350 Posts: 467Member
    It looks beautiful. I was little disappointed to see a K'Tinga instead of a D7, however.
    Bill "Tallguy" Thomas All I ask is a tall ship...
    Various Work: U.S.S. Constellation - Matt Jefferies Concept Shuttle
  • VALKYRIE013VALKYRIE013547 Posts: 1,473Member
    looking Nice! and agree with Tall guy, not a D7 but a K'tinga which isn't bad.. just wrong name :)
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Someone correct me. I thought the K'tinga was one of the D7 class ships. Like Enterprise is a Constitution class ship. Update coming later today.
  • ryo80ryo800 Posts: 0Member
    Yeah, I suppose it depends on the period. The K't'inga is said to have replaced the D7 sometime during the 2270's. Not sure as to what (if any of) the functional changes were in comparison, though.

    Either way, she's looking good so far! :thumb:
  • JedilawJedilaw0 Posts: 0Member
    REL777 wrote: »
    If you need close up pics of the kit parts used on the original I will be happy to post them so you can recreate them digitally. Actually since a lot of these ships used the same off the shelf kit parts for their greebles it would be cool if someone made digital versions of all of them.

    You rang? ;)

    Good start, very clean and efficient details. That design is awesome, although there are some very odd shape transitions that seem very daunting for a CG artist, particularly where the neck meets the main hull.
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Ok, did the research and I am wrong. The K'tinga is a "Class" of warship. The thread is incorrectly named. Tried to fix that, but am not seeing how to change the thread title in the outer 3D WIP list. I have been working on the front greebles and promised a post. Wish this was further along. I actually have more time tomorrow afternoon and will replace this thumbnail pic with an update.

    Edit: New front view - removed for image posting
  • TALON_UKTALON_UK2 Posts: 0Member
    Nice detailing.


    Oh, and the Enterprise (TOS version at least) was a Constitution class not Constellation, wasn't the Stargazer a Constellation? I forget.
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Right - I'm "losing it." Corrected above. And yes, the stargazer was the Constellation Class.
  • VALKYRIE013VALKYRIE013547 Posts: 1,473Member
    forward details are looking great sir!

    ... Just ask a moderator to change the title of the thread... there usually nice about it.. unless there not :P

    D7 is different class of ship shown on the original series, the K'tinga is the upgrade/refit/new class seen in the movies :)
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    D7 is different class of ship shown on the original series, the K'tinga is the upgrade/refit/new class seen in the movies :)
    So that's what I thought. We refer to the movie Enterprise as Constitution Class Refit, and I thought the K'tinga was the ship name of a D7 class refit.

    About the following render. I want to state up front, that the engines you see were modeled by yours truly, but using EBOLII's engines as a pattern guide in the background. I did this about 8 months ago for fun, and then set it aside never planning to do anything with them. I am using them here only as a temporary placeholder. I use Lightwave and I believe the mesh I used was a Lightwave conversion. Apparently as part of the conversion process the small pipes became very crimped, distorted and crooked. In the rest of the engine, every polygon was tripled and then some. I redrew it, reducing the poly count, tripling only when necessary. Everything you see was redone. No parts were borrowed. However, I want to give credit to EBOLII's work as an inspiration.

    For this project, the engines will be redone, following the movie model from the "Undiscovered Country." The rest of the ship is original, with no use of another mesh as a background pattern.

    Edit: Removed the image to post others
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Oh, I keep forgetting to ask. Does anyone have a really good closeup image of the top of the sensor dome structure behind the bridge? The greebles there cannot be made out in the photos I have. Don't like the sensor dome on the "Undiscovered country" model.
  • BolianAdmiralBolianAdmiral1114 Torrance, CaliforniaPosts: 2,560Member
    Top-notch work on this so far. I look forward to the progress!
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Started Building the body. More detail on the side of the forward section. Haven't started building the new engines yet.

    Edit: Removed image to allow for others.
  • SaquistSaquist1 Posts: 0Member
    Very good sir.
  • mattcmattc181 Perth, AuPosts: 322Member
    Apparently as part of the conversion process the small pipes became very crimped, distorted and crooked.

    Shouldn't have. Though I wouldn't be surprised. The geometry on that thing was awful and I had to be real careful not to screw with anything too much as I didn't have the tools back then to ensure that the UVs remained ok. But I never noticed any crumply bits.

    M.
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Hope I didn't offend. I was very grateful for the mesh. So thanks.

    I started to detail the neck some.;)
  • mattcmattc181 Perth, AuPosts: 322Member
    Hope I didn't offend. I was very grateful for the mesh. So thanks.

    I started to detail the neck some.;)

    Nah, not at all. It was 10 years ago. Time flies. :)

    I had a look at the UV mapping a few minutes ago....ugh, I'm not sure I could sort out that mess. What I could do is re-lay out the UV's and then regenerate the ambient occlusion maps. That might be where the distortion you're describing is coming from. The geometry itself on the nacelles is actually not bad.

    Yours, however, is looking really good. Looking forward to seeing it finished.

    Bets of Luck,
    M.
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    I guess "crimped" was an inaccurate term. Things were tripled so much, it appeared crimped. See below - mine on the left. The Poly count on this new progect so far is 50,569. The EBOLII Lightwave conversion was 138,948. Of course, I'm not done yet.

    It doesn't change the fact that your work was appreciated.
  • mattcmattc181 Perth, AuPosts: 322Member
    That's just how Ebolli's geometry is. Looks like the first version as well as the other one is about 250K polys all up.

    He used the meshsmooth modifier a lot without then checking how the base geometry turned out.
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Interesting. But then given this model, one can see why someone would use meshsmooth modifier a LOT. My smoother sometimes works wonders and more than sometimes... NOT. I have to eyeball things and move points.

    I started thinking about it, and actually I probably have more polys in what you see in the example, than he does. It's nice to get it done with less polys without sacrificing how it looks.

    Completely off topic: Just out of curiosity, what is the criteria for SFM Guru and the other designations?

    Oh and...
    mattc wrote:
    Yours, however, is looking really good. Looking forward to seeing it finished.
    Thanks.
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