A parade of spaceships...

Discussion in 'Fan Art' started by Warped9, Feb 5, 2013.

  1. USS Mariner

    USS Mariner Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    The model sheets of the 80's show give me a hint of Ralph McQuarrie, though I certainly prefer the original.
     
  2. publiusr

    publiusr Admiral Admiral

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    I actually like the 1980 version well enough. Uglor's ship was used by Emory and Oglethorp--the Plutonians on Aqua Teen

    That might have been inspired by both the D-7 and the Dragonship from Jason/Star Command
     
  3. Timo

    Timo Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I'm unfamiliar with all incarnations of Space Ghost... How likely would it be, within the technology frame of that universe, for the Space Cruiser to have flexible wings?

    I mean, if the thing does land on non-flat surfaces as shown, there'd be some motivation to raise the wings out of ground contact. And the overall blended shapes don't particularly support the idea of simple hinges...

    Timo Saloniemi
     
  4. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

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    One could certainly speculate about the ship possessing some form of truly advanced flexible alloy to its hull or wings. The show never got technical in that respect.
     
  5. Redfern

    Redfern Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Yup, for people, like Timo, who are not familiar with the show, Space Ghost would be depicted leaving the Phantom Cruiser (by way of the canopy simply lifting) and then flying to whatever destination Superman style...because he needs to get there faster than the Cruiser can carry him! :eek: Keep in mind he does this seemingly in "deep space" without any visible means of propulsive or life support gear. :wtf:

    Obviously, Space Ghost exists in a quantum reality where the physical laws of nature function VERY different from ours! ;)

    But the Phantom Cruiser is STILL a very sweet ride! :techman:

    Sincerely,

    Bill
     
  6. Timo

    Timo Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Hmm... If the Space Ghost has Superman powers of this sort, it's sort of natural to assume he also grew the Cruiser the way Kal-El can grow things out of crystals - as a somewhat crude extension of himself and his powers, inferior to the character himself in many respects. That is, unlike the technologies of Batman, which are superior to the physique of the character himself and elevate his powers to new levels. The Ghost might not grow a particularly "physical" Cruiser for himself, then, just something that he likes to "wear" when going to work.

    This doesn't bode well for the modeling project, though, so it's probably best not dwelt upon too much.

    Timo Saloniemi
     
  7. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

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    I'm not going to be concerning myself with details like landing gear. Right now I'm trying to get the wings to flow smoothly into the fuselage. There are a lot of complex compound curves on this thing.
     
  8. Chrisisall

    Chrisisall Commodore Commodore

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    This will call for some difficult artistic choices to pull off a comprehensive version, methinks.:wtf:

    At least I can follow your work here!;)
     
  9. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

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    I'm presently working on an idea of how to accomplish this. Part of the issue is that the ship's centreline isn't perfectly straight. it curves gently upward as it moves aft to the tip of the tail. This creates an additional challenge in getting the wings to flow smoothly into the fuselage. It has an added complication of the wings gently curving upward as well (in line with the ship's centreline) as you move back. This is all to get a design that is generally consistent with what the onscreen depiction seems to be suggesting.
     
  10. sojourner

    sojourner Admiral In Memoriam

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    ^I've never been good at compound curved surfaces in Sketchup, so I am interested to see how you manage it.
     
  11. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

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    My approach is basically to take a page from building physical scratchbuild models: create a framework on to which you can lay a "skin" to form your compaund curve surface. This would be much like an airplane fuselage or boat hull frame. I've already done this to a limited extent with my TAS and TOS shuttlecraft 3D models. But the Phantom Cruiser is much more complex in form so it will be a challenge. Yeah, it is time consuming, but at least I know I'm getting the shape I want.

    Mind you there are a lot of plugins for SketchUp some of which could well make this easier, but it takes time to find the right one and learn how to use it.
     
  12. B.J.

    B.J. Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I've also seen some people build aircraft-like models by drawing a cross-section, use push/pull to where you want the next section, then modify that face to what you need. Rinse/Repeat until you have your entire hull.
     
  13. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

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    Yes, that's the simplest way to do it, but it can get real challenging when the one cross-section doesn't really serve because it might need to be drastically changed as you go forward.
     
  14. sojourner

    sojourner Admiral In Memoriam

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    Yeah, I've tried all of those techniques and every addon I can find. Nothing has satisfied me for getting the curves *I* want as opposed to what the addon gives me and having those curves come out smooth. Even in the HL-10 model I posted early in this thread has small imperfections were one curve does not flow smoothly into the other that bug me. (look near the nose)

    ETA: oops, that wasn't earlier in this thread. That was in the thread for the other ship you were working on. Which for the life of me I can't find now, even using the search function.
     
    Last edited: May 15, 2013
  15. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

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  16. sojourner

    sojourner Admiral In Memoriam

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    Ah, yeah, no wonder I couldn't find it. It wasn't your thread, hehe.
     
  17. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

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    Okay, I admit I'm getting stumped with this. It's just not coming together in a way I like. I feel almost like my brain is mud trying to figure this out.
     
  18. Potemkin_Prod

    Potemkin_Prod Commodore Commodore

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    Is the key problem error is just after the cockpit where the wings tie in?
     
  19. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

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    Meshing the wings smoothly into the body is a challenge, but since my previous post I have an idea that I want to try that might work. It could likely prove to be tedious, but it should get the job done.
     
  20. Warped9

    Warped9 Admiral Admiral

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    Here I'm beginning to get the wings to merge with the fuselage. The real challenge is the wings being a complex shape: they have something of an aircraft wing cross section to them but they also curve in two different directions as well as narrowing as they go outward from the fuselage to the outer edges. Mt plan is to make cross-sections as the wing narrows out and the skin those. The really tricky part I see is the leading edge of the wings flowing into the fuselage.

    [​IMG]