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Donny's TOS Enterprise Interiors

Having participated in some bruising debates over the years about the correct orientation of the TOS bridge, my eyes tend to glaze over whenever the topic resurfaces. :p
That, and
  • To aztec or not aztec the TOS Enterprise, that is the question.
  • The "real" size of the Enterprise. (Why, when I was a young'un, I remember the great 947 foot vs. 1100 foot wars)
  • Whether the domes on the forward end of the warp nacelles are properly called "Bussard collectors".
  • The "true" appearance (and nature) of those domes. (The lights are spinning! No, the lights are fixed! The vanes are translucent! There are twelve vanes! There are fourteen vanes! There are no vanes! There. Are. FOUR. LIGHTS!)
These, and many other penetrating questions of the hour, are why I day-drink.
 
That, and
  • To aztec or not aztec the TOS Enterprise, that is the question.
  • The "real" size of the Enterprise. (Why, when I was a young'un, I remember the great 947 foot vs. 1100 foot wars)
  • Whether the domes on the forward end of the warp nacelles are properly called "Bussard collectors".
  • The "true" appearance (and nature) of those domes. (The lights are spinning! No, the lights are fixed! The vanes are translucent! There are twelve vanes! There are fourteen vanes! There are no vanes! There. Are. FOUR. LIGHTS!)
These, and many other penetrating questions of the hour, are why I day-drink.
Yeah, but some of those are easy:
1) NO.
2) Open for debate. (SO much debate.)
3) No.
4) Not spinning and... Um, ask Gary.

Hope that was helpful. :D
 
That, and
  • To aztec or not aztec the TOS Enterprise, that is the question.
  • The "real" size of the Enterprise. (Why, when I was a young'un, I remember the great 947 foot vs. 1100 foot wars)
  • Whether the domes on the forward end of the warp nacelles are properly called "Bussard collectors".
  • The "true" appearance (and nature) of those domes. (The lights are spinning! No, the lights are fixed! The vanes are translucent! There are twelve vanes! There are fourteen vanes! There are no vanes! There. Are. FOUR. LIGHTS!)
These, and many other penetrating questions of the hour, are why I day-drink.
For this guy:
1) Not to aztec! Only a faint, penciled grid line on the saucer!
2) 947 feet but flexible on that!
3) Don't care!
4) Lights are fixed, but some are blinking. Vanes are solid, but are blurred under a semi-transparent dome:
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(Note, that video was an early WIP and I've since slowed down the speed of the spinning)

And with that, I should announce that I'm going to be making Pilot variants of my Enterprise exterior as well! :D
 
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Donny.... Donny! Do... nny!

I say a lot of nice things on this thread and I do my best to also look with a critical eye because I know you're trying to get everything as right as possible. Right?

Those. Are. The very very very best nacelle domes I have. Ever. Seen!

I would humbly ask that you post some kind of a break down of the pieces that went into it. Please? This isn't just great modeling, this is an actual reference for the real studio model!

I have to go lie down now.

EDIT: Did I miss this last year? Did I gush this much then and forget about it?
 
Donny.... Donny! Do... nny!

I say a lot of nice things on this thread and I do my best to also look with a critical eye because I know you're trying to get everything as right as possible. Right?

Those. Are. The very very very best nacelle domes I have. Ever. Seen!

I would humbly ask that you post some kind of a break down of the pieces that went into it. Please? This isn't just great modeling, this is an actual reference for the real studio model!

I have to go lie down now.

EDIT: Did I miss this last year? Did I gush this much then and forget about it?
Yep, you must've missed it last year. But I literally modeled and textured the ship in a quick 11 or 12 day window so I can see why you would have! (ALSO: that video is timestamped at July 2018. HAS IT REALLY BEEN A YEAR??)

I've actually got to go in sometime and scale the entire ship up from the 11 feet I built it at to the full sized 947 feet, and that will require me to do quite a bit of work on the nacelle cap effect then since the light components have to be scaled as well, so when I do so I'll do a breakdown for you all. I don't even remember how I have it set up, tbh. IIRC, the "vanes" are not geo, but a simple texture rotating over the base nacelle texture and then I have light components inside set to fire on a blink pattern. The dome material itself employs subsurface scattering shader tech so that lights behind it are blurred properly.
 
The only reason to go bigger than 947’ is to line up the interiors with the exterior. If that is what you need to do, by all means do it. But sets are designed to be photographed - through lenses that alter proportions to varying degrees. And sets might be altered for dramatic reasons - they are stages, after all. So in my mind, an Enterprise that fits inside the exterior is going to look different no matter what size you make said exterior. So why not make it the canonical size as indicated on the scale bar in “Day of the Dove”?

YMMV, of course.
 
All this talk got me thinking about my TOS Enterprise model, so I decided to load it up tonight and make a few tiny adjustments to the textures and things that have bothered me about it for the last year. Minor stuff, but I thought I'd take a few new shots.

The Enterprise really is a beauty.


 
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Stupid question, Donny, but have you been out to see the restored model at the Smithsonian? Based on your modeling it looks like you took detailed notes!
 
All this talk got me thinking about my TOS Enterprise model, so I decided to load it up tonight and make a few tiny adjustments to the textures and things that have bothered me about it for the last year. Minor stuff, but I thought I'd take a few new shots.

The Enterprise really is a beauty.
Between your model and the one Marc Bell did for Star Trek Continues, y'all have made me fall madly in love with the old girl again. My god, that's a gorgeous ship.
 
For this guy:

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God... your spot on takes of the nacelle caps makes me wish we saw this more often in Star Trek. It's one of the missing stylistic hallmarks, IMO, that truly defines if a show is Star Trek or not. No other vessel in the entirety of Star Trek has done this, preferring instead to do nebulous clouds or one-glow effects that aren't the same.

The Refit Enterprise is my favorite ship of Trek entirety, but I think she could have worked with some stylized jet intakes as well, complete with spinning fanblades. Quite a few of my alternate take Star Trek ships use them.


I also wouldn't mind seeing some more examples of how those nacelle caps are put together in case I ever get back to some of my own TOS modeling projects. Kudos!
 
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