Greetings!

Welcome to Scifi-Meshes.com! Click one of these buttons to join in on the fun.

3DAurora - Back from the dead 2023

metamothmetamoth232 Posts: 21Member
edited March 2023 in Work in Progress #1
Updated 25/03/23

k5bcnjqg5gnz.png

ORIGINAL POST

Hi all,

Been a member on here for years absorbing all the amazing work, thought it was about time I introduced some of my own. Just to give a bit of background, I work in architecture and used blender a lot during my uni years to build models and renders of course work but since I've entered the world of work I haven't really used it at all. So a couple of months back I decided it was time to fall back in love with it and what better way than modeling my own starship.
So far I'm still working on making the silhouette as strong as possible and make sure the model has good mesh topography before I move on to the detailing.

As you can see there is still holes in the mesh and I need to remodel the saucer, bridge section, nacelles and tidy up the underside of the saucer but it gives a good idea of where I'm heading.

A bit about the design, I've had the idea of a 'wishbone' secondary hull for years. In my mind each prong contains a massive hanger bay which house a standard shuttle complement as well as larger scout ships (think oversized runabouts). My thinking behind this is she's a long range transwarp explorer designed to operate deep in uncharted space for years at a time without any support from starfleet, therefore she needs to be completely self sufficient. She would act as a kind of base of operations, enter a system launch scouts and then follow up if anything of interest arises.

I also rendered a quick turntable animation which you can view here

https://vimeo.com/196351324

Be interested to here your opinions
111064.png
111065.jpg
111066.png
111067.png
Post edited by metamoth on
JESExcalibor
Tagged:

Posts

  • metamothmetamoth232 Posts: 21Member
    Today started on the Nacelle design also through in a person to get a sense of scale.

    Back Per4.jpg
    Scale.jpg
    Scale2.jpg
    111070.jpg111071.jpg111072.jpg
    JES
  • BlueNeumannBlueNeumann615 Posts: 1,275Member
    Digging the smooth lines of it... feels very contemporary (in a good way).
  • Hunter GHunter G1905 Posts: 543Member
    I like this shape, good job!
  • metamothmetamoth232 Posts: 21Member
    Thank guys,

    I'm deliberately going for a contemporary look all sweeping curves (but without becoming squishy and formless). Working in architecture i've been inspired by firms such as Foster and Partners, Zaha Hadid (RIP), BIG and I've become quite obsessed with the artwork of Daniel Simon who designed the vehicles for Tron Legacy, Oblivion and more recently worked with Bioware on Mass Effect Andromeda.
    I'm imagining the Aurora as being constructed around 100 years post Nemesis, which gives me enough breathing room to create a new starship aesthetic.
  • metamothmetamoth232 Posts: 21Member
    So last few days I've refining the curve of the engineering hull and carried on working on the nacelles...

    Nacelle closeup.jpg

    Nacelle.png
    111081.jpg111082.png
    JES
  • evil_genius_180evil_genius_1804256 Posts: 11,034Member
    This is looking really good so far. It's nice to see something from well after the TNG movie era that goes away from conventions used at that time.
  • metamothmetamoth232 Posts: 21Member
    Thanks evil_genius, I grew up with TNG ( enjoying it all over again now Netflix has all of Star Trek atm) but I wanted to challenge myself to come up with something new, after all First Contact was first released 20 years ago!! Really makes me feel old I remember seeing it at the cinema...

    Anyway, last update before off to Italy for christmas, finished the nacelle shape and added a bussard placeholder.

    Back Per.jpg

    Side2.png

    Have a good christmas everyone!
    111084.jpg111085.png
    JES
  • BorgManBorgMan209 DutchlandPosts: 581Member
    Open field warp coils! Now that's been a while... Nice progress :)
  • dreamwalkerdreamwalker179 Posts: 189Member
    Looking great, keep it going.
  • psCargilepsCargile417 Posts: 620Member
    These are the kinds of designs I favor, enough Trek to notice, clean lines, and looking futuristic without needing a lot of surface detail.
  • metamothmetamoth232 Posts: 21Member
    Thanks for all the comments everyone, I've just got back so nothing really to post but I'm reworking the front of the Nacelle because it didn't feel balanced to me then moving on refine the main engineering/hanger hulls. I'v posted a render of a cross section to show how I currently image the layout, which helped to inform the design of the ship .

    Cross section.jpg

    Full disclosure I'm a big fan of the kelvin Enterprise, I know it gets a lot of hate and I agree it's not perfect but one of the things I really like the most is how the interior of the engineering hull really feels like the 'guts' of the ship compared to the pristine corridors of the saucer. So i'm using that as inspiration, with a multi level engineering section and large hanger bay while the saucer is accommodation and science stuff.

    Each of the large blocks in the shuttle bay are what I'm dubbing 'Pathfinder' scouts, They're currently 2 decks and 40m long. The smaller blocks are standard shuttles stored in front on (which is why they look square).
    111121.jpg
    JES
  • PhilArtPhilArt172 Posts: 22Member
    I'm really digging this design, especially the nacelles. They seem to call back to both Ent-A and Ent-E, but still feel fresh. I'm getting back to blender after a long absence myself, good to see others here.
  • publiusrpubliusr550 Posts: 1,746Member
    The nacelles really are outstanding.
  • metamothmetamoth232 Posts: 21Member
    Cad Sketchs done, time to start modeling the bridge section

    CAD.jpg
    111184.jpg
    CAD.jpg 253.6K
    JES
  • metamothmetamoth232 Posts: 21Member
    Due to real life getting in the way I haven't been able to give the project much attention but a small update. I'm playing with the idea of the bridge have some kind of 'nose cone/ blast shield' I got the idea from seeing a retired concord not long ago. The bridge would have a large panoramic viewscreen/window taking up most of the front of the bridge that could then be covered during an attack/ transwarp.

    Bridge Shutter.jpg

    on a fun sidenote, i found the original doodle from 2008 that was the cataylst for this project. How time flies...

    first sketch.jpg
    111199.jpg111200.jpg
    JESStarCruiser
  • publiusrpubliusr550 Posts: 1,746Member
    That's even more rakish
  • metamothmetamoth232 Posts: 21Member
    Back from the dead!!

    I posted at the start of this year about finally completing something with my B5 models but Picard S3 has drawn me back to this. This project has gone through many different iterations over the year and at times have got stuck in a cycle of rumination and not being able to commit to a form due to having the luxury of time and no pressure of an impending deadline. But over the last month things have got moving again and I'm really happy with how the blocked out form has settled.

    I haven't committed to a time period, instead just had fun with how I imagine the aesthetic of a time period between TNG/Picard and the 32nd Century shown in Disco would look. Think of the jump in design language between TMP and TNG.
    I wanted to take design cues from ships that would hint and what is to come and what came before (e.g. the 'horseshoe' collar on the saucer rim inspired by the Saturn Class, split nacelle of the Ent-J and the cobra neck smooth transition from the saucer to the secondary hull from the Ent-D).

    Next up is to work on the saucer/bridge spine and the knit the model into one piece before locking it down to detail.

    aqzp0o8f7dex.png

    0tzfmixhzxkm.png

    174etezlg5zy.png

    95kbk3alzuxk.png

    Enjoy



    rojrenevil_genius_180wibbleLizzy777StarCruiserbacksteptsrspicerJESashleytinger
  • BlueNeumannBlueNeumann615 Posts: 1,275Member
    Oh this one looks great. I LOVE the design language of this.
  • publiusrpubliusr550 Posts: 1,746Member
    The saucer ring is inspired.

    I still miss the lower sensor dome. A saucer should smile.
  • metamothmetamoth232 Posts: 21Member
    Not much chance to model this week and stuck testing options for the secondary hull. So instead did a quick sketch over this evening.

    5dfbcb4hudek.jpeg

    Find this a really quick way to test ideas and work through geometry issues that would normally take me ages within blender. Best thing is I can upload the sketch into camera view in blender to use as a guide when modelling.
    evil_genius_180backsteptStarCruiserLizzy777publiusrraztovMustang13Camaro68
  • paulbhartzogpaulbhartzog345 Posts: 31Member
    I really like where you are going with this !
Sign In or Register to comment.