3D interiors in Blender

[Rekkert]

@Tomalak: Of course, even escape pods should have Captain's chairs!

@Matthew Raymond: My thinking is pretty much as @cardinal biggles theorized, that those two consoles aren't used all the time. The Mediterranean Class is a small vessel of at most 30 crew members, and it's used solely inside Federation space, so I'd gather the full bridge crew doesn't actually spend a lot of time on the bridge unless it's at the start of journeys or approaching its destination.

The way I imagine it, the CO's a Lt. Commander and the rest of the crew is mostly Ensigns (other than department heads) so in essence it's a ship of junior officers with most of the crew being cargo and logistic specialists. This'll also be reflected in the other interiors, sickbay for example won't have any sort of office for the CMO, their quarters are just located across the hallway and they'll go to sickbay as needed.

@danellis: To be honest I have 0 idea what the bridge of a real navy ship looks like, at all. I doubt they have fuel lines under the computer keyboards though.

Slowly did some more progress when time allowed during the week. I've finished the MSD (I always preferred top views than the cutaway style graphic, despite having already done one of those for the Mediterranean I could've adapted) and the other two overhead LCARS. I've also done more work on the ceiling, I went for a look based on the TNG cybernetics lab, sans the central piece as I didn't want to overcomplicate it. Plus I added more details on the side walls, and some black tape detailing all over the bridge, including on the helm console, which now also has a plant-on with more white and blue sticker LCARS to match the other stations.

I still need to finish the carpet pattern, add some more details to the front end of the bridge, have something on the wall behind the Captain's chair (I have no idea what to put there), and a few other bits.

 

[Lt. Washburn]

Are they stickers? I thought there were silk-screened.

 

[batboy853]

I'm liking the overhead displays.

 

[blssdwlf]

It feels like the wall behind the Captain needs to be functional like have fold down or slide out table or computer terminal so the captain can do some work or do research without having to get up to look at the screens on the sides that would be at an extreme angle to read.

 

[Finn]

I like the functional approach. Probably one of those ships that just ferries between starbases and Federation worlds, safely away from the unknown.

 

[batboy853]

I'd say for behind the captains chair maybe something like what is seen on that wall for the BOBW version of the set?

And then maybe a single arm height console to the side of it similar in style to what is seen on the defiant bridge for the search pt 1

 

[publiusr]

Maybe the TNG helm and nav positions one in front of the other--the captains gets one that swings one way---smaller, a wider than average helm/Nav combo in front that swings to the other side?

 

[Rekkert]

@Lt. Washburn: No idea actually, I just assumed they were stickers from the way they look, you're probably correct.

@blssdwlf, @batboy853 and @publiusr: I actually didn't plan on having any sort of controls for the Captain, as was customary on TNG bridges-of-the-week like the Brattain, Sutherland and even the Prometheus (both of them ). Given that this is a small freighter, I think it's not really needed either.

@The Green Monster: Safely away from the unknown until a certain cube shaped ship showed up

I tried a lot of different paneling for the wall behind the Captain: TNG transporter room greebles; segmented panels like those on the Potemkin ready room; acoustic panels; and everything in between. In the end I went for some plexi panels with white tape lines, I think they frame the Captain nicely while also matching the little panels above the doors.

Other than that, I've added a ton of red capsule labels everywhere and black taping, going hard on the TNG set-of-the-week aesthetic. I think I'll leave the floor as it is, without any sort of two tone pattern, being such a small set I don't think it needs it.

As you can see the first two images are posted twice with a not so subtle difference between both versions: I had the idea to add a handrail matching the doors around the Captain's chair. I think this is quite the awkward bridge-of-the-week touch, but maybe it's a bit too awkward. What do you think, should I keep them?

 

[Redgeneral]

Love the bridge design. I'm not keen on the railings though, they seem to box in the captain and don't really add to the overall design.

 

[cardinal biggles]

Agreed. Unless you're going to mount a couple of small consoles on those railings for the captain to use, they're just in the way.

 

[Lt. Washburn]

Those cases next to the doors look a little too big to me. They should be about 15" wide.

 

[Rekkert]

Haha, okey okey I'll lose the rails, I wasn't sold on them either and knew they were awkward; it just seemed like something we could've seen in a TNG bridge-of-the-week, so I needed a sanity check.

@Lt. Washburn: Yep, you're correct! Silly me took the larger version I had used here instead of the more accurate one I did later with measurements from TFW. Good catch!

Here's how it's looking with the accurate cases, I might need to redesign that area a bit to account for their smaller size.

 

[cardinal biggles]

When in doubt, add more black tape.

 

[DEWLine]

Mike Okuda would agree.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Those ribbed panels they slapped all over Voyager’s walls could make a reappearance any time too.

 

[Mage]

I actually felt the railings added more to the design. The raised section feels unfinished right now, the railings made it complete to me.

 

[Finn]

I'd add consoles by the Captain's Chair. Perhaps a cup holder as well.

 

[Matthew Raymond]

As you can see the first two images are posted twice with a not so subtle difference between both versions: I had the idea to add a handrail matching the doors around the Captain's chair. I think this is quite the awkward bridge-of-the-week touch, but maybe it's a bit too awkward. What do you think, should I keep them?

I think Health and Safety would approve.

 

[Rekkert]

I revised the paneling around the new cases and extended some of the black tape boxes, I also added some more black tape behind the Captain's chair. Plus I changed the color of both chairs to the standard TNG bridge tones in order to better match the doors and add some more splashes of color without the handrails.

I think I'm ready to call this one done, I tested some chairs for the two flanking consoles, and some carpet pattern and different colors, but I didn't like any of those alternate looks.

 

[Rekkert]

Here are the finished renders of the bridge!