Stargazer Class Explorer

I had an idea earlier for a Mid 24th Century version of the Constillation, this is what I have so far:



I have some smoothing problems here:


thoughts on how I could redo the top to be less problematic?

I built the top faces manually, the default ones from the extrude didn't smooth well either, but apparently I went about it wrong

Oh, and I'm not droping my Constitution, I'm just working on something else aswell so I don't go crazy on one...

The command section is looking better now

I made the command section larger so that it makes the saucer itself look smaller, so it looks more like a smaller ship

[skyhawk223]

Coming along nicely. What do you have in mind for the rest of the ship?

A design simmilar to the Constillation class. More specificly.. I dunno

Update:

Made b-deck shorter:

[skyhawk223]

The angles look a little tricky on the back there. Looks like the sides angle in on the saucer rim but angle out on the back.

The back doesn't angle at all, I think its the Chamfer that makes it look like that

Lower Sensor Dome

Some Lifepods


Does anyone know a good method for doing Phaser strips?

your best bet for making TNG style phasor strips would be to draw its cross section and then extrude it along a path (for non-circular strips) or just lathe it for a circular type. Then you can cap off your ends by doing a lathe of half of the profile spline.

How would I path extrude?

Updates:

Update:

in max, its the loft function. Draw your phasor profile (the cross-section of it) and move its pivot point to its center and base (or where ever you want, but the extrude will move your profile along the path via the center of the profile) then draw a spline that would be the extruding path. its a bit tricky making sure your normals are all in the right directions. Anyways, then you'll use the Loft function. Usually I have my profile selected and when I loft I use the Get Path function. Tweak the settings for the path step and profile interpolation (which will determine how dense the resulting mesh is) to your liking.

Lofting takes a bit of practice, but its very handy as you will I'm sure discover

Oh, a loft.... duh


Some more textureing:

rough idea for the neck and nacelle pilons

What are people's thougts on this back part? I think it could use to get smaller, does anyone else have ideas?

[skyhawk223]

I would either round off the back end or taper it. Seems a bit plain right now. Is that where the shuttle bay will be?

I'm not sure where the bay will be exactly, I might have one in the front like on the Constillation, or somewhere else on the rim, or I might make two in the back, like on the Miranda

Anyway, a few updates. Started a new neck, though it will look more or less the same at the end, but this one is more of the beginings of a final, not a rough design. I also added nav lights and Phaser Strip placeholders. I'm still having trouble modeling them, the loft doesn't like me alot.

[General Phoenix]

It's looking good so far.

Thanks

Warp Nacelle attachment

Updates:

Topedo Launcher:

Shot of the whole ship as it currently stands. I chamfered the neck

Possible deflector beginings

I'm thinking I might do something like this for the deflector, with a forward shuttlebay between the pannels.

[skyhawk223]

That would certainly be different. Anyone know of a reason why a deflector must be round?