Star Ship Polaris

[RoJoHen]

^It looks like somebody molded it with terra cotta.

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Gep Malakai wrote:

---

Sort of. Their approach is occasional panels or stripes of contrasting color, with the exception of Episode III, where all the capital ships suddenly sprouted large colorful graphic markings.

Right...Vektor has done a number of renderings with color panels/contrasts and I'm very interested in seeing where he goes with that. What I'm thinking is that on real vessels it seems common for numeric markings and (on commercial vessels) livery to be visible from a distance, but not so much the names of vessels. I think maybe the ship's name would be emblazoned and illuminated near points of entry and at a scale to be read on close approach.

I love the way all the various parts on this version combine in a very sculptural look - I mentioned to Vektor in an email, I think, that this is like the "Motion Picture Refit" of his earliest versions of the design, which were pretty amazing themselves.

[Vektor]

A different color scheme using the Venture Star orange:

[Gep Malakai]

Mmm. Sexy.

[Venardhi]

Hopefully not overstepping here; how about something along these lines?



My instinct is always to go with blue, had to fight it off.

[TheSeeker]

I really like the orange.

[USS Jack Riley]

Alright. That's it. You need to make a model of this for us plastic lovers to put together. The best part is that you don't have no stinkin' studio breathing down your neck claiming copyright infringement.

Beautiful work Vektor.

[Admiral Buzzkill]

TheSeeker wrote:

---

I really like the orange.

So do I. I really want to stay away from red, scarlet, etc. I don't think the vertical stripe on the central globe works, but carrying some kind of thin, dual stripe forward along the fuselage might be cool.

Which is really getting ahead of things - as Vektor notes, he's still working on the modeling itself.

Between aridas' original design layouts and all of the super design work that Vektor's done to make the ship come alive I like this as much as any fictional spaceship design I've ever seen. It has the sense of "thingness" that the Enterprise or C57-D do; there are clearly design inspirations from many places without being derivative. I love it.

I'd also love to see a plastic model of it myself. To be clear, any arrangements, income etc. from that kind of thing are for Vektor and aridas to work out between them - what I've asked for Polaris is only the right to use the ship in the movie and in any promotional and associated materials for it.

[dayxday1000]

I went back to page 1 of this thread today to retrace the evolution of this design. What a great looking and well thought out ship this is. Thanks for sharing and I look forward to the final product!

[Maverisms]

This thing has evolved into a brilliant bit of work.

This is the kind of iconic ship that deserves a personality, like the Millennium Falcon or the catamaran in Waterworld (the only moment I felt something in that movie was when the boat "died").

[Herkimer Jitty]

Vektor wrote:

---

A different color scheme using the Venture Star orange:

Hot. Orange.

Worked for the Venture Star, worked for the Normandy, and it works for Polaris.

[Psion]

I encourage folks to go back and scan this thread from page one through to now. The different approaches and techniques used ... the dead-ends ... it's fascinating to watch that all play out. Fortunately, it doesn't look like many links to images have been lost, so the full story remains intact.

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Well, the biggest leap forward after aridas designed the vessel was when I got out of the way and Vektor took over.

I felt that there ought to be the kind of unexpected details and elements that look as if they arise from some functional demands that aren't immediately apparent, rather than just added out of whimsical imagination - my favorite example of that is the engineering cove on the Enterprise. But I didn't have a clue how to do that.

[Psion]

Dennis wrote:

---

Well, the biggest leap forward after aridas designed the vessel was when I got out of the way and Vektor took over.

I felt that there ought to be the kind of unexpected details and elements that look as if they arise from some functional demands that aren't immediately apparent, rather than just added out of whimsical imagination - my favorite example of that is the engineering cove on the Enterprise. But I didn't have a clue how to do that.

You say that, but I really liked some of your variations. Yes, Vektor is an amazing artist and all that, but the designs you were settling on when you started experimenting with animation would have worked just fine.

[Maurice]

Well, we do need some other United Worlds ships for part of the show...maybe some of those earlier concepts could be the basis of some background vessels.