Modified TOS Enterprise

Okay, the primary hull has been entirely rebuilt with the proper 28 segments and I finally managed to dispose of those smoothing errors. Didn't get as far as I'd hoped on the windows, but I did turn out a pretty cool depth-of-field image:



Here's a close-up of the bottom of the saucer and the rectangular windows surrounding the sensor array:



And finally, a wireframe rendering to give you all an idea of what the mesh itself looks like at this point:



I'm really happy with the way the deflector grid came out. It's so subtle it almost disappears in most of the images, but not quite. No way I could have accomplished that with a texture map, not one of a reasonable size anyway.

Current face count for the saucer stands at 19,138. The entire model is 59,898. Render times on my system are in the 30-40 second range, although the depth-of-field image was closer to 4 and a half minutes. Not bad considering I'm using over 100 light sources.

More progress this weekend, hopefully.

Remind me what kind of system spec you're working on with this.

Originally posted by Proximo
Remind me what kind of system spec you're working on with this.

Dual Athlon 2100+, 1GB RAM, GeForce 4 Ti4600, 120GB Hard Drive, etc.

Today was a productive day.



I redid all my previous work on the saucer windows to make them a little smaller and more proportional, and I added in all of the others except for the ones around the rim. I also added the access panels and signage as well as the registry numbers and those triangular features in front of them.



No, the registry font is not official. I used to have a copy of the AmarilloUSAF font but I think I may have lost it when my other computer crashed about a month ago. This one will have to do for now. Oh, and it's modeled, not textured. In fact, the deflector dish is still the only textured part of this entire model.



Hey! Who turned on the lights? Just experimenting a little with a noise map in the self-illumination slot for the window textures. Of course, I'm also using some DOF in all these latest images for an added hint of realism.

Face count: About 62,000.

Tomorrow I start the detail work on the top of the primary hull.

Damn I am envious

I'm jealous too!

Ahhhhhhh, my dream machine...

Just for kicks, I decided to make myself a wallpaper and thought I'd share it:

OHH!!! Wallpaper indeed.

Ever wonder where the photon torpedoes were fired from on the TOS Enterprise?



At last the answer is revealed!



That should get me a little closer to IDMC membership.

I am wondering, how does the torpedo tube door open? Does it split down the middle or does the entire panel slide up/across?

I love the shape you decided on for the launcher - looks very much like a predecessor to the TMP design, and having it within the hull means you don't have to make any major alterations to the exterior TOS hull. Excellent.

Originally posted by Vektor
Ever wonder where the photon torpedoes were fired from on the TOS Enterprise?

Actually, I have always wondered where the phaser emitters were located. I'm sure that will be your next post, though... looks cool, Vektor!

Originally posted by Blip
I am wondering, how does the torpedo tube door open? Does it split down the middle or does the entire panel slide up/across?

I haven't decided yet. Most likely it will pop inward and slide down beneath the torpedo bay, but the hull opening is still preliminary and may change before all is said and done.

I was recently reminded that on at least one occasion in TOS, the Enterprise was known to have fired two photon torpedoes at once. With that in mind, I have redesigned my concept of what the launch tubes might have looked like:



Obviously, the launch assembly has not yet been installed in the ship's hull. I'm going to have to enlarge the hull opening slightly before I can do that.

And before anyone asks, I have no idea what the cylindrical features above and below are, it just seemed like it needed something extra. The bright red color is a stylistic nod to the characteristic TOS color scheme.

Comments?

Originally posted by Vektor
And before anyone asks, I have no idea what the cylindrical features above and below are

The phaser cannons!

Yeah, I was just about to say the same. It makes sense...

Back by popular demand, CYLINDRICAL LAUNCH TUBES!



This ain't your father's double-barreled shotgun.

Originally posted by Scott Gammans
The phaser cannons!

Except in TOS, the phaser emitters were clearly shown to be in a side-by-side arrangement, not above and below. I have other plans for the red cylinders; they're going to wind up as shock absorbers tied into the ship's superstructure.

[Commodore-SirJohn]

Makes sense to me...

Absolutely Amazing.


Now, lets see a Sovereign, or that new Romulan Schimitar ship....ouch!

Originally posted by Vektor


Except in TOS, the phaser emitters were clearly shown to be in a side-by-side arrangement, not above and below. I have other plans for the red cylinders; they're going to wind up as shock absorbers tied into the ship's superstructure.

maybe you can add in some sort of targeting sensor greebles?

Couldn't you slot the phasers down either side of the launchers? Because they're cylinders, there's a lot of otherwise wasted space in the lower 'corners' of the assembly that woudl be perfect for two phaser cannons.

Vector, I have a question regarding the grids in your saucer. I didn't build mine in sections as you did, but as one whole saucer. In trying to emulate the way you did your grid lines, I selected edges for the radial lines and concentric circles using Alan's drawings as a guide. Then, I chamfered those edges slightly to give the grid lines their desired width. I then chose all of the new polys that were created during the aforementioned process (i.e. all of the polys which now make the grid), gave them a unique material ID, and then applied a texture slightly darker than what was applied to the remaining polys (i.e. those polys not chosen as grid lines). My problem is that the grids are not smoothed with the rest of the hull itself and appear "pinched" somewhat wherever there is a lot ofcurvature to the hull (e.g. near the top and on the underside where it curves at the neck pylon).

I've tried selecting all of the effected polys (grid & non-grid) and playing with smoothing groups to no avail. Any suggestions?

Sorry I haven't responded in a while. I'm leaving on a business trip to Vegas tomorrow morning and will be out of touch until next weekend at the earliest. I will do my best to catch up with all the questions and comments at that time.

Originally posted by Haggus
Vector, I have a question regarding the grids in your saucer... My problem is that the grids are not smoothed with the rest of the hull itself and appear "pinched" somewhat wherever there is a lot ofcurvature to the hull (e.g. near the top and on the underside where it curves at the neck pylon).

I've tried selecting all of the effected polys (grid & non-grid) and playing with smoothing groups to no avail. Any suggestions?

I'll go ahead and answer this one really quick because there's no sense letting you torture yourself for a whole week.

Bottom line: If you model those gridlines directly into the saucer object, you cannot get the smoothing to come out right on those highly curved surfaces unless you use a ridiculously high mesh density.

I'll let you in on a little secret: In all of my latest renderings, the gridlines aren't a part of the saucer at all, they're a separate object just like the pennant decals on the sides of the secondary hull. I'll let you figure out how to accomplish that for yourself, but it's not all that hard to do.

Good luck!

Originally posted by Vektor


I'll go ahead and answer this one really quick because there's no sense letting you torture yourself for a whole week.

Bottom line: If you model those gridlines directly into the saucer object, you cannot get the smoothing to come out right on those highly curved surfaces unless you use a ridiculously high mesh density.

I'll let you in on a little secret: In all of my latest renderings, the gridlines aren't a part of the saucer at all, they're a separate object just like the pennant decals on the sides of the secondary hull. I'll let you figure out how to accomplish that for yourself, but it's not all that hard to do.

Good luck!

Ahh...very neat. That is, if I did the same thing you were talking about. I selected the polys which made up the grid lines and then detached them from the mesh as a seperate object. I then brought in a clone of the saucer mesh and...viola! Grid lines without the smoothing errors.

Very nice! Thanks for the help :thumbsup: !

Vektor,

Can you post some wallpaper size images? That is just gotta be on my desktop...

I know something you don't know...Vektor he did not go...as soon as holidays is over back to modeling his talent will flo....So then do not forget I send you a **bump** if anything it will cause SeanR to call me a chump!

Today I fired up 3ds Max for the first time in at least a month and actually managed to make some progress on my TOS Enterprise model. And you all thought the project was dead. Ha!




I hit a major creative block on these pesky photon torpedo launch tubes, which is just one of the reasons why it has taken me so long to get back to working on this baby. I'm pretty happy with this design scheme.

For those who are wondering, the oval shaped hatch covers are hinged at the leading edge and tilt upward as the tubes prepare to fire. The tubes themselves are mounted on extensible shock absorbers (the red cylinders you can faintly see in the second pic) and roll forward when the hatches are opened. I envision a recoil effect on the tubes when the torpedoes are fired.

Well, what do you all think?

Very happy to see you back...how about [just a thought] tiny hinges at the top then?....to add to realism? or maybe not

I can't wait to fight this with the K'T'Inga