Ray's TAS shuttlecraft...

I always liked the look of that. The curved surfaces seem to blend better with the full blown starship design than the shuttle we actually got.

How did you make that, anyway?

Sincerely,

Bill

 

I used Photoshop. I essentially used bits and parts from aircraft pictures and bashed them together.

 

Ah, "croppings" of aircraft fuselages. I wondered if such was the case. At that resolution, the illusion is quite effective. the "grain" actually adds to the effect, making it look like a processed shot from a few decades ago.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

Sorry, the grain is all mine - I stored this one in a much compacted form. The original I remember having been pleasantly smooth and shiny.

...What is being reflected on that windshield?

Timo Saloniemi

 

I've no real idea. The windshield is a slice from the cockpit of an F-16 if I recall correctly.

 

Slow but steady progress. I struggled a bit with this, but finally it came together: the aft nacelle cowling.

 

I'm very impressed looks fantastic looking forward to you mirroring the parts to makeup the whole.

 

Thanks! This evening I'm going to work on the bits of entailing for the nacelle as well as the support pylon attaching it to the hull. The landing struts will be the last parts before the painting, markings and rendering. One thing I'd like to try adding is a bit of weathering to make it look a bit used.

 

You are doing an awesome job!

 

Some nacelle details: intercoolers, heat dissipation units, support pylon and lower service access panel.

 

Your shuttle is turning out fantastic. I really love the way it is turning out. Great work.

 

Initially I wanted to wait until I was a bit further along, but I found myself rather liking this and wanted to share. I think this is actually beginning to come together.



Ya know, I can almost hear the music.


Since I've scaled this with the Class F shuttlecraft I find myself wondering about seeing this on the Enterprise's flight deck. I'm getting some vague idea of making myself a 3D hangar deck. I must be nuts...

 

Wow she looks fantastic I think I'm going to have to look at sketch up a bit more closely

 

And the model hasn't been rendered or painted yet.

 

Getting there, folks. Aft landing strut and antigrav stabilizer in place. Now for the forward landing strut.

 

Almost there. Some small details and then I can think of texturing, painting and rendering.



I did reams of sketches when trying to adapt the TAS design into something more credible to fit within the TOS "reality." And while I liked how the schematics came out I did wonder how they might translate into 3D. Drawings sketches and an actual model with precise dimensions and accurate perspective and shadowing aren't the same thing. I'm gratified that it seems to be working out. The only serious change I had to make from the schematics were to soften the edges a bit more by increasing the radius on those edges. Otherwise the design looked a bit too boxy for my liking whereas now it looks somewhat less simplistic and toy like. And while the design is apparently stubbier and sports some curvature that departs from the TAS image when seen at certain angles with forced perspective I think it does evoke the original design. The TAS depiction of the Enterprise was a stylized and simpler version of the ship as seen on TOS. So I guess it works that you can reverse that approach to render a more credible version of a simple TAS design.

Before I mirror this I'm going to fashion something of a rudimentary interior. It will not only give an idea of what I have in mind in terms of the interior layout, but also make the model look a little more complete given that something can be seen through the darkened viewport albeit barely.

I've also got to do some more reading and tutorial videos before I proceed with painting and rendering. I'd also love to know if I could do some animations with this as well as Photshop images.

 

If you can save the model in .3ds, .obj, .lwo or .DXF format then I can knock out some renders and animations for you. What package are you using for this?

 

I'm currently using Sketchup (the latest free version) and so to export in the formats you mention I'd need to upgrade to Sketchup Pro or perhaps start all over again with another program such as Blender. Still, even as is I should be able to make my own renders with a 2nd party program (I've installed one called Maxwell) and that should allow me to do some photomanips for some Never seen TOS scenes.


Some preliminary mirroring trials.



I must say there is one thing I'm not happy with yet there's nothing I can really do about it at this point, simply because it would involve changing too many things. I think the main hull is too wide. It should be about ten percent more narrow and the upper section (the forward part being the main viewport) should be angled in a bit more on the sides. It's a nitpick at this point but there it is. One day I'll come back to this design and remake it and then I can fix what I don't like, but for now I'm going to follow it through the rest of the way.

 

Converting a Sketchup model is no problem. I have the time limited demo of Sketchup Pro already installed on my machine at home. It allows me to convert Sketchup models to formats I can use, and as it takes only a couple of minutes of the 8 hour time limit I calculate I can probably convert 240 models before I need to reinstall.

I have a number of TAS shuttles and conjectural TOS models on my website for people to download. If you're up for it I'd love to host this model as well, so that others could use it for their animations and pictures. It's always nice to see people using the designs and models we come up with in their own fantastic pictures and animations.

 

OMG, you are fantastic. The shuttle looks fantastic and rendered quite well. I can not wait to see the signage and nomenclature added. Once again, fantastic work.