This project is to update and refresh some old models I started to convert to Mental ray and move to a new max version. After finding a lot of errors that would require a lot of rebuilding I decided to just redo the ships. I also plan to align a few other older models to the same design style as well and also finish a few others off. First some images of the old versions. Plan is to include the variants as well as make a few more. The WIP as it sits now
Hey-a Madkoifish I've seen your work on the inter-webs before. I'm liking the WIP's. If you are using mental ray, are you using the "mia shaders" or are you using the standard one's? Also if you want any advice on Mental Ray, let me know. It was the main render I normally used for the last 2.5 years along with V-Ray. So any questions don't be afraid to shoot them over.
If you mean arch design yeah I am. I think mia was the old designation until 2008/9?, I forget. Been on MR for Id say the last 5years or so as the lethe here was one of the LAST scanline projects I did. I was sick and tired of faking everything and dealing with layer upon layer of foolery to get fake effects. I have noticed scanline has improved some as it will bounce light with the right settings in 2013, but it is still to yuck for me and it appears it is still single threaded and does not make use of the 64bit ram address. Not to mention rendering out in it does not match up to anything I do on MR nor can I render those ships in MR without it looking like shaved zitty dog butt. ATM I am using a add on (render optimizer by leao and hartman) for MR to push extras you often have to script into mental ray to get the features. It is mostly cause I can get the look I want without the huge render times as I hate waiting for renders. 5min+ taxes my patience. With it I get a few ao errors but renders of 8min are about 4~5 min with it. has options for importation irradaince, AO global, and FG cheats or fixes. A mess of things for architectural crap that is not useful for space crap. ATM most of my renders are a bit flat as there is no real environ map or anything for the ship besides itself to play with. I often have a fake gradient in my backgroundswitcher/chrome ball but it was lost somewhere and I have been too lazy to restore it. anyhow I will post my set up at some point when I get to editing all the menus and maybe we can compare notes or something. I am always aiming for that bounced light thing the sublte highlights and all that surfacing crap. I do have to admit my TMP hull effect is going wrong atm due to using the above mentioned add on. It dulls lum mats but highlights those pearl effects. Something I have to tune once I finish the model.
UPDATE, those nipple things. As I render this I am thinking of moving elsewhere as I am a bit sick of nacelles right now. I might go drastic and move to that marklin class project, but likely I will just go work on something else on this model. Like maybe the shuttle bay.
Shuttle bay Roughed out cargo bay. Even an airlock leading to the exterior. I do not plan to model anything past this receiving room. It is only big enough for a single shuttle so they would have to be stowed in the aft bay or a lower deck, no long term storage here. I will be adding upper obs rooms and some sort of interior control room solution. I have yet to decide what type of markings to use on the floor and walls. The exterior I will be adding railings and grips for that hatchway. And no that shuttle dopes not belong with this era, I just have not tos or pretos shuttles modeled up. Guess I will have to correct that as I have more TOS like ships than anything as complete models. Do not expect anything fancy here as I really have no plans to ever use a shuttle bay on these models but dunno bad habit of modeling these sort of crap into my models.
Madkoifish, I've been a HUGE fan of your work, even since I first saw them, and has been a large inspiration for me to one day get into 3D modeling one of these days, and to post my sketches and drawings in the meantime. It is a huge shame that it appears that a large portion of your past work seems to have disappeared, because everything that you do is fantastic. Not only your modeling skills, but also your attention to detail, is truly remarkable. So you can imagine my surprise and excitement when I saw your username as the poster for this thread. Once again, all of your work is fantastic, and every image and render eye candy. I've had a bit of a conversation with myself however, and have decided that Acheron and Phlegethon DEFINITELY do not look like they belong to the Potamos class like the Lethe. Yes, they share the same components, but then, so do the Longbow, Constitution, and Decatur, but make them the same class, that most certainly does not, and they have a more similar configuration than the Lethe, Acheron, and Phlegethon (the latter of which looks more like a Surya or Miranda class Frigate-albeit that the nacelles are above instead). You can come up with the class names if you want, or just assume that the Acheron and Phlegethon are one-offs. For now, that is what I've pretty much have done. Anyways, I look forward to seeing more of your work here, and as a fellow artist and designer, I welcome you heartily to TrekBBS!
Yeah archives all go away over time. It is why you save the images you like or want for refs. I do have some stuff on my da, blog and on pixiv but not much of it is WIP. And yeah go snatch up blender and have at it. One of these days I got to get my ass over and on that platform and over the hump that is the UI. Some of the stuff you can do with the free packages is something else. The ships being all one class was due to them all coming off the same process. It isn't like all the connie based ships where they were commissioned at different times. These variants were built as semi modular designs on the same process at the same time. So you have orbiting warehouse L3 that has 30 pairs of nacelles and stick those on plan D hull with core layout E etc and so on. Anyhow that was the idea to describe ships carrying so many similar BITS as in reality only cars are this modular in sharing components. Real sea faring ships would maybe only share armaments doors and bits and bobs not large super components. NOW with these updates depending what I do for the variants they might justify a new class name. EXP as I plan to add or cobble up various versions beyond just the original trio and I really do not know yet, how much alteration I will make to the parts. UPDATE: well sorta. . . . . A foot. Foot with ship for scale. I might have to scale it up some. One of 3 as I am going to be a lazy tit and make them all the same! Probably got a bit carried a way with all the lumpy crap, the insert and hole are for the strut mounts. I dunno yet how those will all go together as this whole model is seat of the pants no pre-work just poly pushing. Some other crap mostly just long ass renders with that ground plane but I did alter those greebs some and fooled around with proportions again.
Support struts etc for uneven surfaces. It is missing all the gubbins for the retraction. I figure a cam with that guide will cause them to come in and out evenly. Issue is internal room so I will have to look at that but eh, not that it is a important item as I doubt if I will rig this stuff for animation.
Some gubbins in the holes, probably never see up in here but just in case. I didn't rig it fully to work properly just sorta put crap in to give you an idea I did end up using a strut for the extension or at least most of it as I was not willing to fart around with a mess of stuff to make it fully work when all I need is feet sticking out for it to sit on while on deck. I have no plans to animate these, not to mention get close enough to see the mechanics working. I should probably think about some sort of thrusters for the belly for atmo flight along with all the belly greebs I plan to add. Well paneling etc. Though a plain flat belly wouldn't be all that bad either.
Wow, this is really impressive! I really like how much time and thought you've put into the small details. Nicely done, can't wait to see your future updates!
I think this is it for the bottom except some coluration and markings down the road. Maybe some small asymmetrical details (reason why the aft end has sat untouched for a while) I am still dissatisfied with the thruster elements so I might model a object for them then clone it all over the hull vs modeling it independently. some ground plane renders with that Balmung Shuttle.