Does anyone know if anyone has ever done a ship design that is basically a "Miranda" version of the Daedalus class? I searched and searched but came up with zip. I have a fanfic concept that could use something like that. I'm a noob at 3D, but I started building a model just to see how it would turn out.
For a 'noob' you've done a better job than many more experienced hobbyists. It's an odd looking thing, that's for sure, and I cant remember ever seeing anything like it before. I think you've got an original there.
What ^he^ said. An original and good work too. You could round out the back end kinda like the 1701's fantail. Assuming the Daedalus had any kind of shuttle bay on it.
Well here's a rough concept of the direction I think would be more aesthetically pleasing. I just subbed Miranda's saucer and nacelles with Daedalus's, so the gap in tech is obvious, but you get the idea.
Yeah, the drawing looks like a flying wing more than a Deadalus anything. I'd stick with the original concept and see where it goes. I like the idea of a fantail rear though, it would round out that rear end a bit and make it match the front more.
Heh, I never thought of that. Still... a little too "modern". The Daedalus always struck me as cylindrical, and this is too flat. I'm using the pictures in the Starfleet Museum as reference, and it's got a shuttle bay in those. I'm not quite sure I know what you mean by fantail... Which curve are you refering to?
I think he meant having a shuttle bay in the Enterprise style. your model in the first post had no shuttle bay at all. . .
You're right. I also played around with increasing primary hull & nacelle size. Pulling the primary hull back into the second a little also seems to help. I haven't made a presentable version of those tests, though.
Funny you should mention that, I pictured your miranda/daedalus cross idea as the design that first suggests saucers instead of balls. Here's an example, made this one from scratch, so it's not as detailed, but more along the lines of how I see it working out. With time, the ball would move back into the middle of the saucer, with the parts protruding above becoming the bridge module, and the parts bellow becoming the phaser bedding/sensor array.
One could make a name for himself just by building all these Daedalus variants. For now I'm going to stick with the original idea. These others can come later, and probably would be less of a pain to build because a lot of the parts could be reused. I do plan on adding a hangar deck. Every picture I've ever seen has basically the same style, including the pictures of the actual models on Ex Astris Scientia. http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/articles/daedalus-problems.htm
I still think that would be too big. The ball should be the biggest part of it, or else it looses it's Daedalusness.
Okay, I took a cue from the pros and created a nifty background over which to display my WIPs. See? I'm learning already. More details added, and rendered in Carrara 5. BTW, I'm building it in Hexagon 2. No work done on the sphere yet except for the bridge. Plus I added a hangar deck to the back. I don't like those things I have where the rollbar bends. They were supposed to be the impulse engines, but they look too Flash Gordon.
Look at you, your better than me already, and I've been dabbling in 3d off and on for 3 years! It might look better if you made a sort of 'neck' so that it integrates with the ball better. And those impulse engines are rather tiny, the ones on regular ships are about 3 decks high, and go deep into the ship.
Thanks. It all clicked when I tried Hexagon. Before that I tried Wings, Shade, Truespace, and Blender, and got absolutely nowhere. I'll try adding a neck.
I'm using wings, I won't pay for software unless of course, theres someway to get a free version, then I'm listening