Modified TOS Ent - Wallpapers
- Thread starter Vektor
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I think I see a small change at the base of the pylons and where they connect to the warp drive units! Am I right?I haven't totally settled on the idea that the dome is purely an energy field. I'm thinking it might be a physical construct made out of transparent aluminum or whatever and the glow effect is like a luminous static charge that builds up from the spinning blades. This would rationalize the specular reflections and highlights on its surface. I also think it looks better when the engines are powered down and less like somebody left the hood off the engine.
So what about all that stuff I said about a giant glass dome detracting from the ship's sense of scale? Well, I do think the more visible internal components help to offset that effect, and I had another idea I borrowed from my USS Grandeur model that might work:
Nothing like a little jumbo-sized chicken wire to reinforce your transparent aluminum singularity containment sphere! Here's what it looks like lit up:
I like this overall, but it does prevent the finer details behind the dome from ever been seen with clarity, and the hex pattern really isn't visible from much further away than what's shown in these renderings. Still, I think it's an option worth considering.
I really like the so-called "chicken wire"--it should be visible more frequently than when you're only 10 meters away! Unsolicited suggestion: I'd enlarge the mesh and thicken the "wire" gauge to make it a little more visible.
You refering to the alterations on the pylons, right?
Yup, you're both right. I've seen a lot of comments over the years from people who thought those connections were a little too... plain? Abrupt? Simplified? Not sure of the best word to describe it, but they did seem to need a little something more.
On the previous iteration of this design, I used a fillet blend at the base of the pylons where they connect to the secondary hull. I was never really happy with that look because it wasn't consistent and it seemed a little too obviously derivative of the TMP refit. I later came up with the idea to use a more angular chamfer on the acute angled side of each connection point. You can't see it well in any of these latest renderings, but I did basically the same thing to the interconnecting dorsal. I think it makes those parts look a little more integrated without getting too organic, as is arguably the case with the new movie version.
Oh, I agree that not every detail needs to be visible at a distance, otherwise they would all be "features," not "details."The chicken wire will probably stay, though I may tone it down a little further yet, or possibly enlarge the pattern slightly, or both.
And despite the "chicken wire" comparison, I wasn't really thinking of it as a reinforcing mesh, but more as the bonded seams between hexagonal tiles of transparent aluminum assembled into a half-sphere. Perhaps the bonding process alters the molecular properties in such a way that it is no longer transparent at the joint, something like that.
I, too, strive for visual realism in my work, and that's the major reason why I'm taking another pass at this design for the Enterprise, to take the level of realism up another notch on the scale. I don't think the last iteration was half bad, but it was done as a rather hurried modification of an earlier model. I mentioned in a post not too long ago that I plan to use this model for my own updating of The Doomsday Machine, and it's going to be used by someone else for another project as well, which makes it even more important for the modeling and texturing to be brought up to high-def specs.
Unfortunately, I'm going to have to set this project aside for a bit because I absolutely have to get back to finishing the next round of updates on the Grandeur.
So many projects, so little time.
Coolness. Oh, and as I was schooled by Cary when I mentioned molecules in relation to metal:
Cary L. Brown wrote:
“Well, I hate to bring reality into it...
See... "metallic" materials do not have molecules. Not at all. If you make a molecule... even one which contains atoms of metallic elements... it is in no way whatsoever a metal anymore.
Anytime someone shows you a "molecule of metal" in science-fiction... they're simply demonstrating that they have no real grasp of even the most basic elements of materials science.
Steel is a metallic matrix, which in some forms has some small amounts of covalent iron compounds present along grain boundaries (resulting in a harder, but more brittle, state).
Then again... Aluminum is a metallic material, which (due to the same free electrons which make it metallic in the first place) is inherently, and incontrovertably, opaque.
So I guess basic materials science doesn't apply in Trekkiedom. Carry on.”
Can't have stuff jumpin' the rails, eh.
deg
You refering to the alterations on the pylons, right?
Yup, you're both right. I've seen a lot of comments over the years from people who thought those connections were a little too... plain? Abrupt? Simplified? Not sure of the best word to describe it, but they did seem to need a little something more.
On the previous iteration of this design, I used a fillet blend at the base of the pylons where they connect to the secondary hull. I was never really happy with that look because it wasn't consistent and it seemed a little too obviously derivative of the TMP refit. I later came up with the idea to use a more angular chamfer on the acute angled side of each connection point. You can't see it well in any of these latest renderings, but I did basically the same thing to the interconnecting dorsal. I think it makes those parts look a little more integrated without getting too organic, as is arguably the case with the new movie version.
Yep, everything structural generally has "pilings" for support. That was one on the first things I added to my E, as the idea of the pylons just jutting out of the hull was ridiculous to me. As is anything that just "juts."
deg
Hmm... Well, I certainly wouldn't want to provoke a similar schooling from Cary, so let's say the bonding process alters the atomic structure in such a way that it is no longer transparent. It's also possible that transparent aluminum is not actually a pure element any more than steel is, they just don't bother calling it by its full name, in which case the molecular structure comment could still be accurate.
^ The more I read the better I like! I cannot wait to see more!
Because some of you like to study wireframes, and because I thought it just looked cool.
^ i christen thee the USS VenetianBlinds
i always love the wireframes too!
Going back to your comment about the "going to warp" effect, I think that it would be enhanced if, in the interior 'trench' around the after dome, it had a glow effect that mirrored the spin of the blades, to indicated the connected-ness of the mechanism and emphasize that this is all one big engine. And I think that the wire should be a bit bigger.
Because some of you like to study wireframes, and because I thought it just looked cool.
I find it difficult to put into words the good feelings I get looking at this image.
I don't think you need to worry... Link
Back on topic, I hadn't noticed the alterations to the pylons you had made. I like it.
Yeah, I was aware of his "departure," just being sardonic. I actually like Cary and respect his level of knowledge about many things, but I hope he grows a thicker skin before he comes back.
I prefer the nacelles without the spikes. They always seemed a bit too much for the nacelles...like they were added just to look cool and nothing more. That said, I do like your rendition of them and giving them function. I look forward to seeing more of your Enterprise!
Yeah, I was aware of his "departure," just being sardonic. I actually like Cary and respect his level of knowledge about many things, but I hope he grows a thicker skin before he comes back.
Oh, I wasn't aware of all the friction/drama, and that he was gone. I liked Cary, he had a unique and interesting POV on stuff, at least when I spoke with him about stuff.
I do like the word sardonic though. Ya don't hear it enough in convo. Always reminds me of Dr. Sardonicus.
deg
3D Master
Rear Admiral
Yeah, I was aware of his "departure," just being sardonic. I actually like Cary and respect his level of knowledge about many things, but I hope he grows a thicker skin before he comes back.
Thicker skin? He needs a mile-thick neutronium skin, or something?
The thing is, he's right about this place. I'm one of those who do not agree with that same little clique, and as a result, you can get harrassed, insulted, trolled and whatnot and they get nothing. But if I so much hint at not having a perfect, impeccable, sweet, manners, and ole, there's another warning.
I myself have all but given up on this site. On a rare occasion when something interesting comes along in threads I'm already subscribed to I may comment, but anything new? Rarely if ever.
Without singling out Cary or anyone else, I think far too many people here and elsewhere on the Internet are far too easily offended. Not to condone any kind of abuse or harassment, but the Internet is not a church social, and the sooner people understand that, the sooner they can stop writing three page rants about every perceived slight against their dignity and the injustice of the board management and get on with something productive.
And that’s all I have to say about the matter in this thread.
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