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Abram's Enterprise, Version 4

aye, she's a fine ship.

and if i'd known how many bloody versions you'd make,
i'd have sorted the images in my collection better. :)
(let's see... we'll call this one wip 04a.15b2...)
 
OK, I was working on some stuff tonight... I think I solved some lighting problems. I also figured out how to render stuff in blender to separate layers, so I can tweak stuff after the render. :)
It's a big image...

AsteroidField%201440.jpg


It's inspired by TobiasRichter's newest video. :)
 
MadMan,

You know, the angles you posted just above (not the planetary one) are very good and much more embraceable than some of the previous ones. I think one thing that would aid this design would be to have the nacelle pylons sweep backwards. It would add some substance and I think would be much better in appearance. Also, a larger bridge module would be nice.

After you finish with the regular version, any chance you'll work on a variant?

Rob+
 
Thanks. :)

I was thinking about making a "refit" version of this as well, changing the deflector dish to the enclosed type, and giving it pylons shaped more like the original Refit. I think I would only slightly change the Nacelles, making them glow red, and connect farther back.
 
I happen to like the external dish, but perhaps tucked back a bit further into a cowling (not completely obscured ala TMP) and I definately agree on the pylons... though I personally like blue nacelle caps.

Rob+
 
Beautiful work Madman... I'm not a huge fan of this design, but your work on this has been awesome. I love seeing the progession of all 4 versions you made, and this one is by far the best. And the image of The Enterprise sailing next to this version is a terrific and fun image. Despite it's odd proportions, this ship would work well in the original universe and certaily looks like a TOS (including TMP) inspired design.

But where do you go from here? There are other ships orbiting a certain space station in the movie... Perhaps some speculative designs based on those ships?
 
Yep, that's definitely the direction I'm going. :) I started work on the Starbase today, so I will have some WIP's on that up tomorrow. :)

After that, I will have seen the movie, and will know which designs I like the best, to build. :)
 
Is there any chance you could release a rendering with more realistic lighting? At the moment, your model looks very artificial, almost like a plastic toy held infront of a space poster. If you were to eliminate all ambient lighting and only use "natural" lights, for example, by inserting a light source that mimics a sun, together with the lights present on the model, I'm sure it would look much more believable. And please don't take this as a slighting of your work, I'm just interested to see how it might look for "real".
 
Is there any chance you could release a rendering with more realistic lighting? At the moment, your model looks very artificial, almost like a plastic toy held infront of a space poster. If you were to eliminate all ambient lighting and only use "natural" lights, for example, by inserting a light source that mimics a sun, together with the lights present on the model, I'm sure it would look much more believable. And please don't take this as a slighting of your work, I'm just interested to see how it might look for "real".
Yeah, lighting is my weak. :) In that last image, that's exactly what I did.. I have the one "sun" lamp, the lights on the ship, and my "Ambient Occlusion" (some apps call this global illumination?) to a very low level, just so it bounces the light around in the shadows some, to give it a little "texture".

Like I said, lighting is always WIP with me. :)
 
For that shot you should have at least a few lights.

Sun and Planet at the very least, and I'd go with probably one more accent light of a contrasting color to the planet light.

Do the lights on the ship itself work properly to actually cast light around them?

Ambient lighting is bad. Turn it off entirely and put in a very faint light if you want to see things in the shadows.
 
As Venardhi said, I would switch of the ambient light. Space is very dark indeed and this means that everything that is not in the direct path of an original light source will be pitch black. That is of course as it should be and I always thought that this adds to the beauty of a model and gives it a nice feel of outer space mysteria. :) The backgrounds you have been using have all been very bright and colourful so I guess what I am asking would require them do be brightened down somewhat.


As an example Vector had one wonderful render of his update for the original Enterprise, where the lighting looks very naturalistic. Here is a thumbnail of the picture:

ToFarHorizons_thumb.jpg
 
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Good modelling.

Godawful lighting.

I also don't think you got the nacelle pylons right.
 
My view of the new Enterprise is marginally better after seeing the film... but I still prefer the old girl, or the TMP version better. (Or, better yet, a hybrid of the two).

Rob+
 
I actually thought the Enterprise looked great in the film... they definitely "filmed" the model from all the right angles.

MINOR SPOILER ALERT!
.
.
.
.
.
(Side note: Did anyone else notice that the Klingon battlecruisers briefly glimpsed at the beginning of the movie appeared almost unchanged from their appearance in the 1980's Trek era?)
 
I actually thought the Enterprise looked great in the film... they definitely "filmed" the model from all the right angles.

Agreed!

MINOR SPOILER ALERT!
(Side note: Did anyone else notice that the Klingon battlecruisers briefly glimpsed at the beginning of the movie appeared almost unchanged from their appearance in the 1980's Trek era?)

Indeed I did... that was really kinda cool. Only thing that I was a little befuddled about was the sense of scale seemed a bit off - they seemed tiny. I'd also be curious to get an idea of what kind of ship Kirk was supposed to be commanding in the sim.

Rob+
 
Good modelling.

Godawful lighting.

I also don't think you got the nacelle pylons right.

Thanks. Lighting is something I REALLY need to work on. And I agree about the Pylons... but I think they're close enough, for now. This model has turned out better than I hoped it would, even with it's deficiencies. It's even pretty "clean" mesh wise. That's part of the reason some shapes aren't quite right.

(Side note: Did anyone else notice that the Klingon battlecruisers briefly glimpsed at the beginning of the movie appeared almost unchanged from their appearance in the 1980's Trek era?)

I like this! Even thought the explosions had kind of a old videogame feel. I'm guessing that was just because the simulation didn't have that programmed in as a contingency.

Soooo, Version 5?
Not for a while. :) I'm happy with this one, for a while. I need to build a few other things, and get my lighting worked out. :)

I actually thought the Enterprise looked great in the film... they definitely "filmed" the model from all the right angles.

Agreed!

MINOR SPOILER ALERT!
(Side note: Did anyone else notice that the Klingon battlecruisers briefly glimpsed at the beginning of the movie appeared almost unchanged from their appearance in the 1980's Trek era?)
Indeed I did... that was really kinda cool. Only thing that I was a little befuddled about was the sense of scale seemed a bit off - they seemed tiny. I'd also be curious to get an idea of what kind of ship Kirk was supposed to be commanding in the sim.

Rob+

That would be good to know, too. I'm going to go along with a heavy cruiser in the configuration of the Enterprise, but with Kelvin Styled parts. :)
 
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