Yeah, there's a bit of a margin of error due to scale of the drawings. I actually tried placing the deck 3 windows based on height from floor used on deck 2 and it put the window frames so close to the ceiling it told me my initial measurements were either off or something moved when I went to do the original boolean work. Haven't checked and don't care at this point .. just happy it looks closer to "right".
Worked it till my eyes crossed and went to bed. So, here's a render I did before bedtime Trimmed the top for the bridge floor, gangway and turbolift. Cleaned it up a bit and it's now two pieces. The last bit will be to tie it up to the bridge structural and mod it for the photorp bay in the front. The last part of that I likely can't do until the photorp bay itself has been finished.
I think I love you, Man... Okay- maybe not. But I do love that you're sharing this epic job. I thought Cary's was cool, but this is just epic! A couple of questions. I've been following but can't recall if you covered it, and I'm not going through 37 pages to find the answers . Anyway- Is the size you selected taking into consideration the thickness of whatever hull plating you slap on her? And I'm excited what your plans are for the nacelles. What are you going to base them off of? I'm quite entrenched in the nacelles containing the power for the ship and engineering sections being where the power is stored, converted, manipulated, and shunted. As well as where other power sources are generated. I won't be disappointed if you're not going that route- just curious. Oh ya- do you have this all backed up? I'd hate to see your work lost due to a pesky computer issue. Awesome work! Cheers.
Thank you, for starters. The dimensions of the ship do consider hull thickness. With regard to the nacelles, there is a published revision of the Franz Joseph plans that fleshes out the interior layout of the nacelles as well. They are on Cygnus if memory serves in a low res form. I've already done a base model of the nacelles; so, you might want to do the 37 page thing. Or you can go to 3dbuzz where it's 97 at this point As to backups, yep - multiple redundant backups.
Just simply amazing work!! I frickin' love the scope of the project and the attention to detail is amazing. I will continue to watch this tread with great interest!!
Ok, lots done... Here you can see the cutout for the Observatory area. Above, you can also see an area where work still needs done. The superstructure is intruding into the turbolift area and must be modded to fit it better. Here you can see the modded inner hull skins in place within the superstructure. It may not be readily apparent; but, it has been modded to include the balance of the ceiling area for deck 2, something that had been lacking earlier. This shows the outer hull skin in its present condition. Still needs work obviously; but, with all the access points, and windows cut in save for the photon torpedo bay ports, it's nearing a point where the final work can be done to clean it up. Still a little way to go... This is here just to show the uneven nature of the ceiling due to the unusual manner in which the bridge deck intrudes upon deck 2. The drop floor of the bridge makes the deck 2 ceiling rather more interesting than it otherwise would be. Here's a shot showing the modded window placement. This seems like a much more comfortable placement and I'm quite happy with the result. And a view of the deck 2 corridor space, again showing the ceiling in place. Finally, a shot that shows the rollercoaster manner of the ceiling. This shot also seems to make the deck 2 corridor feel more roomy - perhaps more than it really is. Where I am now: The windows and trim need further work. They are in a temp state for now that allowed me to get other things done. They will be revisited probably when I get off work tonight. The superstructure mods remaining to be done are the photon torpedo launch area and the turbolift area. The turbolift fix is already worked out and just needs to be executed. The time involved should be minimal. There are quite a few structural intrusions visible in prior renders that have been fixed. Furnishings on deck 2 appear to be in need of adjustment. This is apparent in the current renders. Part of it is resultant from a change in the thickness of the hull. In the course of building the superstructure, I also thickened the hull on the upper decks a tad. So the geometry change is also affecting the internal assets. Some pieces may also have simply shifted. Will have to have a close look at what's going on. I've researched the telescope for deck 3 and while I can't say I entirely understand the workings of them, I have quite a few examples and have picked one that may be suitable for the space. More to come..
Nice, but I would still like to see an attempt at making a place for the turbo lift to slide to the side so that the bridge isn't offset. I envision a lift going to the top and sliding to the left where the doors open to enter the bridge. On either side of the shaft, there is space for an extra lift so that one is always stationed at the bridge. If someone leaves the bridge, the extra lift slides into place once it's gone. If someone is transporting to the bridge, the lift that's in position slides out of the way for the incoming one. The shaft that's viewed from the outside could be a docking port if needed. Very easy way to access a spacedock or starbase using the ship's own turbolift. Instead of going to the bridge, people can use it to go directly to their quarters on a Starbase. It might require a few tweaks in the size of things but if the Galileo Shuttlecraft is bigger on the inside (like a Tardis) then there's no reason the turboshaft system couldn't allow for my scenario.
Great work as usual. Regarding the meeting of the Lower bridge area to Deck 2 have you thought of raising the Bridge slightly in the bridge dome to allow for an 8ft ceiling under that area? Keep up the great work Looking forward to the Book when it comes out
I did wonder a little on how you'd handle the ceilings. Interesting how much more cramped it appears with it lowered.
Unless you use the wide angle lens as above! It's great to see that part of the ship fully rendered in 3D. With the unusually wide corridor / mini rec room in between all those science labs, it would definitely be one of the more pleasant areas of the ship to work in.
Moving the turbolift access point in order to change the offset angle of the bridge presents a whole set of problems that may not be readily apparent. The geometry of the outer hull would have to change and that takes you out of the safe zone of being canonical. It also cuts off access to the maintenance walkway on one side of the lift. It also cuts off rear panel access to the engineering consoles. And it would cut off the access point needed to feed main power either to the sensor array or to the bridge deck consoles. Pretty critical junction point. I could probably go on for a little while; but, from my chair, I don't see how it could be done practically with this floor plan. It could be done; but, you'd compromise the design in doing it.
Thank you. And as to modifying the bridge.. nope. Although I will say that were I redesigning it, rather than restricting myself to the plans, I would raise that section and expand the size of the bridge deck. Strictly speaking from a standpoint of having had to design spaces now to route all the pwt lines against available space and maintaining structural integerity, I would opt for what was done in the refit version of the ship. The added space gives a lot more room both to get these things done and to provide maintenance access to the spaces that are more restrictive in this design.
I'd rather see a pure FJ execution top to bottom anyway as version 1.0, before an undertaking of how to "fix" the FJ plans in version 2.0. Let FJ be FJ.
^^^ Agreed. That was the intent of this project to begin with, as I understand it. I say let it continue to operate within those parameters. It continues to look fantastic.
This is a temp placement of the furnishings for deck 3. Just gettin started. The walls have to be modded/detailed yet; so, the placement will shift a tad; but, not much.
Latest update: These show the ongoing buildup of the telescope that will, when finished, reside in the physics bay in the aft of deck 3. These show the assets still being placed on deck 3 as well as the ongoing mods to the furnishings and to the walls. The detailing of the walls is mostly finished at this point. The lighting is a little overbaked at the moment with the upper decks removed from the scene. I'll have to do some tweaking as I work on the overhead lighting.
While I realize that the intent is to closely follow FJ, I would recommend that in some instances a larger, angular briefing room table would make more sense than a single table in a large room. Science officers would be able to meet in one area, and then break up into smaller groups for problem solving...or lunch. But this is truly spectacular, and I'm enjoying this thread immensely. Keep up the great work!