USS Grandeur - One... More... Time!

[Vektor]

More progress on the warp nacelles...






I think these are pretty self-explanatory. All I'll say is that I know there is some segmentation visible, especially in the second image with the tight close-up on the bussard collector. My intent is to be able to use this model for animation so I am working hard to keep the polycount down, but I should still be able to fix most of the obvious stuff in the final modeling stages. By the way, the current polycount is about 186,000 for the entire model, but I haven't even started freezing and optimizing the Sub-D's yet so I'm still hopeful of staying under 200K.

[Ptrope]

Just ... wow!!

I love the detail on this, especially that second shot. The surfacing of the bussard collector, and the intersection of the character lines in the design ... beautiful!

Polar Lights? Art Asylum? Are you watching this?

[FrontLine]

Hot dang I love the work on the nacelles (as well as the rest of the ship. I like the honey comb paterns to the bussard collectors. I also like the grill between them. It harkens back (forcefully, but not obnoxiously) to the TMP refit.

Ptrope said:
Polar Lights? Art Asylum? Are you watching this?

Oh how I wish

Ptrope said:
Along with your campaign to have Vanguard in a canon Star Trek prequel film, I think, should there be any decision to make a Trek film that follows TNG/DS9/VOY, Grandeur should find a place onscreen, as well; it's just that good :thumbsup:.

Ok I obviously missed something along the way. Can anyone fill me in with out taking this thread too far off topic.

[Ptrope]

^^

This should do the trick:

[b]Who Wants to See This Ship in Trek XI?

[Valley Forge]

Anyone else think that the first nacelle shot would also double as a great hand phaser design?

BTW, Vek, Sweet, sweet work!

Vf

[Vektor]

You know what's funny? Even though these warp nacelles are very similar to the previous version, they are an entirely new rebuild and I was downright shocked to realize how much easier it was this time than it was a couple of years ago. There is a definite intuitive/predictive knack to Sub-D modeling that takes a lot of time and practice to develop, or at least it did for me. It's kind of like chess in that you really need to be able to think multiple steps ahead of where you're at to achieve a winning strategy.

Since we're on the topic, here's a wireframe rendering of the base mesh for the warp nacelle before the two iterations of subdivision are applied:

[Trek]

Wow Vector, I think you've been working on this ship about as long as I've been doing my Sovereign.

[DRACO]

even throught the re design i still love this ship, what are the specs again?

[Vektor]

Well, this isn't the huge, awesomely impressive update I had intended it to be, but it's been so long since I posted anything new that I thought I'd better show something.

For starters, a full set of orthographics:







And some perspective views for good measure:





A few things to note before you start commenting:

1. No, the bridge and other details on top of the saucer have not been eliminated, they're just not in presentable condition at the moment so I left them out of these renderings.

2. The groove in the edge of the saucer is only temporarily absent and will be restored at a later stage.

3. The photorp/quantorp launchers above and below the deflector dish are not the final versions. I have a significant update in store for them in the near future.

4. The beam cannons on the bow and the auxiliary deflector just behind them are next on my list.

All for now.

[FrontLine]

That may be all for now, but it'll do nicely. Cant wait to see the next awesome update

[Rally_man]

I have a question:

Has the poor lil guy out side the secondary hull hanger bay gotten tired of standing up all this time for us?

[TheSeeker]

Colonel Midnight said:

She's gorgeous as always, Vektor.

This is a nice view, especially. Put a starfield behind it, and it would look just ... WOW! :thumbsup:

Cheers,
-CM-

I just couldn't resist. A quick and dirty starfield! (Actually, I guess it's more of a galaxyfield)



Vektor, I hope this is OK with you. I think we've all been waiting anxiously to see how the Grandeur develops, and this is only intended as a short term fix to help us all get rid of the shakes!

If you feel this infringes on your work just say the word and I'll take it down.

[Squiggy]

Glorious! One question...

NFC?

[Vektor]

Rally_man said:
I have a question: Has the poor lil guy out side the secondary hull hanger bay gotten tired of standing up all this time for us?

Well, we hired a Little Red Guy to give the Little Blue Guy a break once in a while, but for some reason the Little Red Guy kept getting killed off by stray phaser blasts, alien spores, flying spears, etc, so we renegotiated the Little Blue Guy's contract to let him sit down, read magazines, and make fast food trips between takes and he's generally pretty happy now.

[Vektor]

TheSeeker said:
Vektor, I hope this is OK with you. I think we've all been waiting anxiously to see how the Grandeur develops, and this is only intended as a short term fix to help us all get rid of the shakes!

I don't mind. I just don't plan on doing any beauty shots myself until the ship is done.