I haven't shown any of my work around here yet, but I do a lot of 3D modeling. So I thought I'd post some progress renders of my current project of U.S.S. Voyager. At this point the mesh is mostly done, and I'm working on texturing. These renders are from different stages of work, and there are still several little errors that need ironing out (such as the hard crease near the forward tractor emitter). All feedback is welcome, positive or negative, as long as it's constructive Rear view. I think things are looking pretty good here. Warp nacelle. The blue lines look crap right now, but they are actually geometry of glowing cylinders, and not just a cheap texture. Rear view, slightly older progress render. Main deflector. Tractor emitter still needs work.
Beautiful work! One of your nacelles fell off though. That's what they get for puttin' 'em on hinges like that.
I've held off duplicating the other side for now because I haven't finished the heirarchy for all of the pieces (such as the internal lights and bussard scoops). I forgot to mention that once this is done, I intend to use it to recreate the opening sequence of the show (if I have time). I've got a lot of it started already.
Sounds like a fun project! Your VOY seems to be very accurate, and everything looks good so far. I know the good Rick Sternbach himself lurks around these parts, so maybe he'll pop in and offer some insight as well. Are you planning on creating the ground hover footpads as well, or just the standard-issue TV ship? Either way, I look forward to following this.
I'm only building it to the detail needed for the opening sequence, so no tiny leggies for this one. And I've tried my best to make it as accurate as possible to the physical model. I've got it pretty close overall, although there are a few little differences, but I've got it more accurate than the CG model was, so that's close enough for me. I've only taken some very minor creative license for the shape of the mess hall window and captain's quarters window. I made them slightly more curved to match the physical interior sets.
Lovely work on the body, looks great. One thing that bugs me is the stripes seen on the warp nacelle 'blue bits', for want of a techy phrase. On the real models, is this simply a texture or are there actual modeled grid lines or indentations like a real grille? For me it always looks very phoney close up when the lines are clearly painted on, I'm much more in favour of modeling in actual ridges myself. It makes them look that much more real when lit from inside.
On the real model, it's got indented lines like a real grill. My current failed attempt that you see here is actually a clear outer shell, like glass or plastic, then glowing cylinders inside the warp nacelle, so sort of like fluorescent lights. As you can see, it didn't turn out well and just looks like a texture of blurry lines. I just don't really know what I should do with it right now to make it look good. It would be nice to come up with something that looks equally good at a distance and close up.
I tried the internal glowing parts trick myslelf, it rarely works. That's why I model actual ridges into the warp grilles now, and then assign slightly different textures to both. It means I can make the raised areas less transparent so I still get the line effect but it looks good close up. Usually I give the ridges a brassy or gold tinge as well, to make them look more metallic.
As I recall from interviews and/or message board comments, Rick Sternbach wasn't especially fond of some of the inaccuracies of the Voyager CG model used on the TV show. An example that comes to mind is that the dorsal phasers on the not-saucer are supposed to be "flat" when viewed from the side. The CG model's phasers weren't, as this image shows: http://www.startrek-wallpapers.com/Star-Trek-Voyager/USS-Voyager-Crashes-Ice-Planet/ (Rick, if my recollection isn't correct, then I apologize in advance.) Your model, by the way, looks great so far!
Thanks. I'm not surprised that he was unhappy with it. I actually started off my model from ortho views of the CG model, but the further I got into it, the more the inaccuracies built up, and I basically restarted from new blueprints, that I checked against photos first. That's what I get for assuming the CG model was accurate in the first place. First of all, I noticed that the warp wings weren't long/wide enough to fit the hinge details (which are completely missing on the CG model), so I had to keep widening it, at which point I noticed that the entire saucer section on the CG model isn't wide enough either. And the phaser strips and hull deck lines are all curved instead of straight. I suspect that all of the hull lines were directly textured from above with a flat projection, so they don't correspond to the geometry. My lines will be textured on per polygon, as my geometry matches the correct lines (my phasers actually slightly curve down towards the front, but it's very minor compared to the CG model). Related to this, the raised lines that run along the back of the hull (between the aft phaser strips and rear RCS thruster) are also wonky and curve sharply upwards. It took a bit of work for me to avoid the same mistake. The problem is that the area is supposed to sink in quite far, whereas the CG model (and mine) don't do that so much. So if you're matching up those lines from a top view, they end up curving upwards from the side view. I matched mine up from the side view, so they're straight. And the main center sensor array goes too far up the hull. The entire bridge module is way too small, and because of this the distance between the captain's quarters window and the mess hall window is huge. I've also noticed that the simplified texture mapping on the CG model creates all sorts of line errors. The texturing on top of the warp nacelles is off, and the lines on either side of the Starfleet logo are way too narrow, instead of being in line with the raised section as they should. You'll also notice that the edge around the front of the hull has huge vertical streaks where the texture mapping direction is parallel to the surfaces direction. The impulse engines are also too big. The curve of the rear landing pad is too steep and too sharp. These are most of the bigger errors. There are also lots of differences in the minor details where the CG model doesn't quite capture the character and style of the physical model. So I actually completely disregard the CG model now, and rely only on photos of the real model. I can safely say that my model is a lot more accurate than the CG model in the show. I'd say the one in the show was about 75% of the way there, and mine's maybe about 90% right now. Some of the differences are intentional, while others are just close enough or small enough not to spend too much time on.
One of the problems I've always had with trying to model starships was that I could never get all the little windows to look right. They always distorted somehow, and sometimes I swear they do it just to piss me off but then I'm relatively new to the CGI scene (I'm still using free software, believe you me!).