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Building the USS Enterprise in Blender 3D

Cleaned up geometry around the pylon windows and started on the warp engines.

21 Pylon Windows and Warp Engines
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This will be fun. I'll have to watch this one for sure!
Hello Tallguy! I'm extraordinarily interested in your opinions. I think your renders are above professional quality (you already know that, I think). If you think there is a better way to do any of what I am showing, I'm interested in seeing how it should be done!
 
This one went a little ... over time!

22-A Rear Warp Engine Caps
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22-B Rear Warp Engine Caps
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22-B2 Rear Warp Engine Caps with Sync'd Sound
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Same as part 2 above, but the sound is synchronized a little better.
 
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You missed the part where the rear nacelle caps retract into the ship and the grills extend out to cover them.

Just kidding. Great tutorials!
 
More warp engine goodness!

23 Quicker Warp Engine
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24 Warp Engine Trough
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Starting on some of the detail bits on the Warp Engines.

25 Warp Intercoolers
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26 Warp Engine Flux Control
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Eric, I'm sorry that I haven't been able to devote as much time to this as I'd like. But then you did the warp trough and I just had to look.

Wow. Not only are you doing a fantastic job but you're breaking it down into easily digestible nuggets where a user can follow along.

I've heard you disparage your modeling skills a few times in these videos. You're not sculpting, you're not rigging, you're not doing "advanced" modeling. But you're certainly not doing beginner work here.

It is funny how I've completely sworn off booleans in the last few years. Perhaps needlessly so. I should reassess, perhaps. Fine work on showing how to increase the mesh density for the booleans to "bite".
 
Eric, I'm sorry that I haven't been able to devote as much time to this as I'd like. But then you did the warp trough and I just had to look.

Wow. Not only are you doing a fantastic job but you're breaking it down into easily digestible nuggets where a user can follow along.

I've heard you disparage your modeling skills a few times in these videos. You're not sculpting, you're not rigging, you're not doing "advanced" modeling. But you're certainly not doing beginner work here.

It is funny how I've completely sworn off booleans in the last few years. Perhaps needlessly so. I should reassess, perhaps. Fine work on showing how to increase the mesh density for the booleans to "bite".

I had sworn off booleans, as well, but recently found out that they are not necessarily a bad thing; you just need to know how to clean up after them. It's also best to start with as simple operators as possible and they need to be approximately the same density.
 
Eric, I'm sorry that I haven't been able to devote as much time to this as I'd like. But then you did the warp trough and I just had to look.

Wow. Not only are you doing a fantastic job but you're breaking it down into easily digestible nuggets where a user can follow along.

I've heard you disparage your modeling skills a few times in these videos. You're not sculpting, you're not rigging, you're not doing "advanced" modeling. But you're certainly not doing beginner work here.

It is funny how I've completely sworn off booleans in the last few years. Perhaps needlessly so. I should reassess, perhaps. Fine work on showing how to increase the mesh density for the booleans to "bite".
Thank you, Tallguy! You have no idea how much your encouragement means to me.

I understand the hesitancy over Booleans, but I often use them to get an approximate shape for something, then spend MORE time doing clean-up work, or even manually remaking the area I want. For this tutorial, I figured what little I had them doing was enough. I mentioned about cleanup, but I didn't show anyone HOW to cleanup, at least not yet.

And as for how I'm doing the tutorials, I'm doing them they way I do all my tutorials, including for work. I work with a particular type of professional. And I hate to break it to anyone, but quite often, the professionals need anything to be broken down to its simplest level so that they can follow along. It still drives me a little nutty, but this is also guided by my own understanding of 3D. My understanding isn't the greatest, but hopefully I can get them to "stick the landing" (so to speak).
I had sworn off booleans, as well, but recently found out that they are not necessarily a bad thing; you just need to know how to clean up after them. It's also best to start with as simple operators as possible and they need to be approximately the same density.
I agree with everything you typed!
 
THANK YOU for NOT making the rear nacelle end caps glow white - something the original was never designed to do. I've been seeing a growing trend in TOS-E modeling in recent years doing this - probably some influence from all the glowy bits on the Abramsprise.
 
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For the upper saucer hull and curve (upper lip) to the front of the upper saucer: Alan Sinclair

David Shaw has absolutely spectacular drawings for the saucer hull that he has put together from reverse engineering photographs, but he loves a knife-sharp upper lip to his hull. Other than that, his drawings are FLAWLESS. i use his drawings for the curve of the underside of the saucer.

David Shaw's drawings of the BC Deck and Bridge are perfect in shape, but I think a tiny fraction small. Alan Sinclair's drawings of the Bridge and BC Deck are better in scale to the rest of the saucer, but his curve at the front of the BC Deck is a little off. If you can find one of the Polar Lights decal guides for the large TOS Enterprise, they are nearly flawless. They show the shape and relation of the BC Deck very well. They are slightly off in window placement.

Charles Casimiro is VERY close on the neck.

Alan Sinclair's Engineering Hull plans are terrific, but a fraction too large. Bring it down a percent or two (not much) and they're about as close to perfect as you're going to get.

David Shaw's warp engines ARE perfect. I think the only thing I think is off a little are the size of the intercoolers. But the structure of the warp engines themselves, the shapes and placement of the inserts and the back ends of the warp engines are spectacular.

I hope that helps!

Eric, you are a great YT tutor, and I've watched a ton of Blender tutorials. Some seem to forget that they are doing a tutorial, and the next thing you know, they're just doing their thing, not telling us viewers what to do.

I've even seen tutorial pros forget to turn on their screencast keys! I'm not going to name names, because you've probably seen them yourself.

So, yeah I'm doing my first complete, start to finish E-nil , and because of that being a little too precious with the mesh. Your tutorials are going to give me the confidence to tackle some challenges- ie cutting windows, detailing the shuttle bay doors, etc, knowing that I'm not gonna jack it up beyond repair.

So, thanks to you, Eric! (I was stalking you for years over at 3dscifi, and could never thank you properly, but now I can thank you personally.
 
THANK YOU for NOT making the rear nacelle end caps glow white - something the original was never designed to do. I've been seeing a growing trend in TOS-E modeling in recent years doing this - probably some influence from all the glowy bits on the Abramsprise.
I've seen people doing that for decades. I wasn't sure that the balls didn't glow until I found out that they were painted the original hull color. I figure that it was a combination of two things, the darker paint of the rest of that rear end cap, and the way the balls were lit sometimes, from behind. It often made them look very bright.

Oh, and my pleasure. The goal was to make something that looks as close to the original Enterprise can be, following a beginner's tutorial and using Alan Sinclair's wonderful drawings!
Eric, you are a great YT tutor, and I've watched a ton of Blender tutorials. Some seem to forget that they are doing a tutorial, and the next thing you know, they're just doing their thing, not telling us viewers what to do.

I've even seen tutorial pros forget to turn on their screencast keys! I'm not going to name names, because you've probably seen them yourself.

So, yeah I'm doing my first complete, start to finish E-nil , and because of that being a little too precious with the mesh. Your tutorials are going to give me the confidence to tackle some challenges- ie cutting windows, detailing the shuttle bay doors, etc, knowing that I'm not gonna jack it up beyond repair.

So, thanks to you, Eric! (I was stalking you for years over at 3dscifi, and could never thank you properly, but now I can thank you personally.
WOW! Uh, THANK YOU! I really appreciate the compliment! I hope that my tutorials can help in some small way. I'm sure you'll do great!
 
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