Oooh, you're gonna need the Gold Bond when you see what I've done to the fins aft of the Bussard collector domes.
So, I made this.
- Thread starter Professor Moriarty
- Start date
I got a really good chuckle out of that. Keep it coming!Oooh, you're gonna need the Gold Bond when you see what I've done to the fins aft of the Bussard collector domes.
Funny that you should ask.
...
The Enterprise is not a TARDIS; I am striving not to "fill in the details" anywhere that won't work space-wise.
The mechanical bay that takes up the middle of the pylon is just slightly wider than the four inboard grilles. The bay has an L-shaped cross-section because the conduits/pipes on the forward half of each pylon are much smaller in diameter than the warp plasma conduits on the rear half. That leaves just barely enough room to allow for stairs that rise up from the secondary hull to the warp nacelles, and a series of inspection platforms directly behind the small-diameter conduits (albeit with only 1.9 meters of headroom at any point thanks to the constant 47-degree slope of the pylons). I imagine there are probably multiple instances of these maintenance and inspection platforms, but the only three that we can catch a peek of are the ones sited where the outboard portholes are located. There are probably many more that we cannot see, so that our favorite (slightly overweight) Starfleet engineer can take little rest breaks while climbing those hellacious stairs.
You can't see them in this image, but there are inspection portholes at each of these platforms (which are only a bit larger in area than the landing on a flight of stairs in an apartment building) that point inward, where Scotty and his engineers can visually inspect the ductwork and conduits in the pylon mechanical bays. If the ship is flying by the camera at the right angle, it's possible to look through the outboard portholes into the maintenance platforms, look through the inboard portholes, and catch a fleeting glimpse of the warp plasma conduit closest to the inspection platforms (the conduit with orange-colored plasma). (BTW, I'm not planning on having orange and blue plasma; the two different colors are there now only so that I can decide which color I like better. Leaning towards the orange; glowy blue sh!t is the domain of the refit Enterprise.)
And with all of this, there's still plenty of room for the pylon superstructure itself, just beneath the duranium casing on the fore and aft semi-rounded edges of each pylon.
[stomps his feet in joy] You geeeeek!
Don't forget, those shafts can be zero-g, so Scotty, et al can coast up those shafts once they get away from the fields in the secondary hull.
I am SO loving this project!
You do me a kindness, sir.
Someone pass @scifieric the Benadryl.
Vimeo:
YouTube:
Please ignore the materials error at the base of the interconnecting dorsal; that's already been fixed (but not in time for this video). For anyone who watched this video earlier today, I've already corrected the alpha transparency problem in the impulse engine intermix chamber (you could see stars flying by from inside the chamber). This updated version also adds a bit of film grain; still experimenting with the optimum settings for that.
Vimeo:
YouTube:
Please ignore the materials error at the base of the interconnecting dorsal; that's already been fixed (but not in time for this video). For anyone who watched this video earlier today, I've already corrected the alpha transparency problem in the impulse engine intermix chamber (you could see stars flying by from inside the chamber). This updated version also adds a bit of film grain; still experimenting with the optimum settings for that.
Last edited:
I have to say that is beautiful work, even if I have a rash now! LOL! I was going to ask if the stars/flashes were intentional inside the warp engines, but you've already stated that you've corrected it. Nice work!Someone pass @scifieric the Benadryl.
I do like some of the materials changes you have made.
The Impulse Engines seem ... sharper at the sides. Was that intentional?
They're untouched. Perhaps it's just a trick of the lighting, but the "carbon fiber except it's not carbon fiber" weave hasn't been touched since June.
ETA: Just to be clear, the flashes of light you see through the "vents" behind the warp nacelle domes (aka the "Bussard collectors") are not what I fixed; what was fixed was the issue with being able to see stars flying by from within the inside of the impulse engine reactor chambers. The warp nacelle effect where you see the rotating (and counter-rotating) pistons is completely intentional. The pistons themselves are not lighted; the flashes are caused by reflections of the lights in the cylindrical chamber behind those vents, glinting off the rotating metal objects you can glimpse beneath.
ETA: Just to be clear, the flashes of light you see through the "vents" behind the warp nacelle domes (aka the "Bussard collectors") are not what I fixed; what was fixed was the issue with being able to see stars flying by from within the inside of the impulse engine reactor chambers. The warp nacelle effect where you see the rotating (and counter-rotating) pistons is completely intentional. The pistons themselves are not lighted; the flashes are caused by reflections of the lights in the cylindrical chamber behind those vents, glinting off the rotating metal objects you can glimpse beneath.
Last edited:
The video links on WIP #121 have been updated to version #121-A. This version fixes the "see-through" impulse reactor chamber.
Interesting! I wondered if that was the case!
That's the fun thing (to me) about this project. Computing power has finally gotten to the point where I can try out some of the wacko ideas I've had over the years and experiment in real time. When I attemped "The Doomsday Machine" project over a decade ago, it literally took days just to render a 10-second video at 480p. Now I can run 4K renders overnight. We live in amazing times
Very nice work!
Question: Are the intermix conduits in the nacelle pylons animated as well, or is just a moire pattern optical illusion from the camera movement?
Question: Are the intermix conduits in the nacelle pylons animated as well, or is just a moire pattern optical illusion from the camera movement?
Great question and nope, not a moire pattern; they are indeed animated. But that’s why these are labeled as test videos; you’re watching me try out stuff that sometimes doesn’t quite work, and this is an example of something that doesn’t quite work.
I’ve already figured out how to fix this in my head, but in my head is where it shall stay until the weekend of October 25th, because I am leaving now for my 20th anniversary vacation and won’t be back here until then. So... until then!
Damn, dude, I think it works really well! 
Your project, though. You do what you think is right.
And happy anniversary! 20 years? Now THAT is an accomplishment!
Your project, though. You do what you think is right.
And happy anniversary! 20 years? Now THAT is an accomplishment!
Hi everyone! Our Rome-to-Miami ship pulls into port tomorrow and I finally got internet access tonight. We had a great twentieth annie vacation, and after a nice 2-1/2 week break I’m itching to get back to the Wacom! Meanwhile, a picture of some real art (and me): The Rape of Proserpina by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, at the Borghese Museum in Rome. This Baroque masterpiece was sculpted by Bernini in 1621-22 when Bernini was 24 years old. What were YOU doing at that age?!
Walking through the Borghese and seeing the genius of this master in the (marble) flesh was humbling, stupefying, incredible... the words just don’t suffice. Magnificent. Back to regular updates next week!
Walking through the Borghese and seeing the genius of this master in the (marble) flesh was humbling, stupefying, incredible... the words just don’t suffice. Magnificent. Back to regular updates next week!
Last edited:
After a much-needed three weeks off I’m back in the saddle. The model as shown in this image does not include any new features compared to WIP video #121-A from three weeks ago; it’s just a test image that I rendered to reacquaint myself with the Enterprise model and see what’s left to do.
Click here for an 8K version of this image (warning: may not render correctly on all browsers).
Click here for an 8K version of this image (warning: may not render correctly on all browsers).
Thanks 
One more test image before bedtime, but this one does have some updates:
In the above image, the following parts were updated:
One more test image before bedtime, but this one does have some updates:
In the above image, the following parts were updated:
- nacelle endcaps
- spheres on the ends of the nacelles
- intercooler grilles
- flux chiller grilles (at least I think that's what they're called--the box-shaped objects on the aft outboard and inboard of each nacelle)
- grilles on the inboard side of each nacelle
Similar threads
