metamoth

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.









Enjoy

Been a while since the last update, I decided to completely rebuild the base mesh as I wanted to focus on my mesh flow but ended up getting a little obsessed. I still have to merge the lower wings and engines so you'll notice some bad topography round those area's. As a result it may look like a step backwards but I used this time to redesigned certain aspects of the design such as the main cockpit and engine 'inlets'. I'm trying to update the design without losing that 'B5' feel (whatever that means...)










Did take a break to start on the main cannon though

Not much chance to model this week and stuck testing options for the secondary hull. So instead did a quick sketch over this evening.



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.

Thumbnail update 31/03/20




So, with the release of 2.8 I’ve been getting back into Blender and have been on and off very slowly working on this model when I have a few minutes for the last 6 months. Thought I’d finally post something if nothing else to give me the motivation to get this over the line.
It’s not intended to be a screen accurate model instead it’s my interpretation based it off the original draft sketches by Steve Berg that I found on B5scrolls ( a site I highly recommend for all things B5). As such I’m calling this the SA-32B ‘Tsunami’ Thunderbolt variant.





Eventually once this is done I might move on and give the Omega model I started some love....

I think it's time that B5 was shown some love on these forums (I have posted a few times previously with my Thunderbolt model).

I have a library/graveyard of models and a very bad habit of starting a model and never finishing so I told myself that by the end of this year I want to finish at least one of these models. Some might be easier to start from scratch due to their age and my modelling skill at the time but I think I'm going to start with the Omega as it's one of my all time favourite ship designs.

Take from the announcement trailer, haven't been able to get it out my head since I saw it so thought I'd give it a go. Here's my progress so far...

Small Update, as it's meant to work in atmosphere I'm looking into aerospike engines as inspiration .



Just another view because why not.



I was digging around my old folders I came arcoss a Warlock model I started (but didn't finish ) back in 2010, although it never really got the screen time it deserved I've always liked this ship

McC wrote: »

Rock on! I was just thinking "Man, I wonder why so few people are doing modern updates/takes on B5 designs..."

Good timing

If you're interested I found this while looking for references, someone got hold of the original files and re-rendered them in HD! Maybe its my nostalgia googles but I still think B5 has some some of the best cinematography when it comes to space scenes...

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.

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

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Updated 25/03/23



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