Antares Class

[Solarbaby]

Drooling!

This actually looks like a solid viable design for the first time

 

[RichMerk]

 

[Timo]

The strange funnel portion of the lower hull is harder to rationalize.

Here the Guenther/SSA solution would work nicely: the funnel on the aft surface of the "keel slab" would be but one of many possible hold modules that could be bolted on, and its exotic shape might coincide with an exotic commodity being hauled on this particular cargo run.

Or then it's a UESPA survey pack that can be bolted onto the freighters, and the Antares was engaged in a UESPA science project (explaining why she happened onto a seldom-visited planet and found Charlie there, and why Kirk in his obituary-log calls the ship a "science probe vessel").

I'd think the Federation would have lots of these nifty and compact vessels, space being big enough for all the variants we've seen on screen and in fan blueprints, and then some...

That said, I'd like to suggest that this particular variant could be fine-tuned a bit. The row of window slits just below the top surfaces of the hulls seems awfully cramped somehow; it would look more satisfactory IMHO if it sat a bit lower, like seen in that TOS-R screencap, regardless of what scale one chooses for this vessel.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Sarvek]

Those orthos are totally fantastic. Great work. I am looking foreward to the robot version.

 

[Kaiser]

very cool Ortho

 

[RichMerk]

Thanks, everyone.

That said, I'd like to suggest that this particular variant could be fine-tuned a bit. The row of window slits just below the top surfaces of the hulls seems awfully cramped somehow; it would look more satisfactory IMHO if it sat a bit lower, like seen in that TOS-R screencap, regardless of what scale one chooses for this vessel.

Curse you. I looked closer at the screenies and you're right! Aargh! Well, because of the work done to make the mesh Poser-friendly, edits have become quite difficult. I'm not really in the mood anymore to do that sort of tweeking. We'll save this particular improvement for the next model.

I did improve the texture mapping on the nacelles, however, and I think the model is ready for public testing! If anyone would care to, the download is available here:

http://3d.merknet.com/free/antares/Antares_Poser.zip

This time I have tried to make the zip file so that it installs the ship prop properly into the Poser runtime.

If someone could give it a try and let me know if it works or if it comes up with any 'missing file' error messages, that would be wonderful. It should work with Poser 5+. I have no idea about Daz Studio.

 

[Sarvek]

Your Antares Class looks highly accurate to me and even the best that I have seen yet to date. Keep up the great work and will be looking foreward to the robot cargo ship.

 

[Redfern]

If someone could give it a try and let me know if it works or if it comes up with any 'missing file' error messages, that would be wonderful. It should work with Poser 5+.

Thanks for the "beta" version!

Using Poser 7 here (finally weaned myself off of P4; it's not even installed on my new machine). No missing files; Poser didn't try searching for missing textures. All "normals" appear to face forward. (That was a major issue with a series of meshes a fan converted (with permission) from Foundation 3D. Half it not more of the polygons were back-faced among other problems, oy.)

The only thing I did was to reduce the default "crease angle" from 80 degrees to 32 to flatten a few surfaces and check "cast shadows" in the properties tab. (10 seconds worth of effort, at most.) Afterwards, this beauty renders like a champ!

I just viewed the wireframe and I see it is a very "frugal" mesh. One can load an entire "convey" of vessels without bogging down the system.

Again, thanks for sharing!

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[RichMerk]

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

Terrific work there!

 

[kkozoriz1]

Spectacular!

Have you considered doing the Huron? I'd prefer that the plans done by Madel were used because the Huron as drawn is just really, really odd. It would be interesting to see either of those done as a companion to the Antares.

 

[RichMerk]

Thanks, guys.

After I finish up the Antares, I'm going to do the robot version. After that I'm not sure what I'll do. I need a shuttle for my fanfic, so that's a possibility. Or maybe I'll try to finish up writing the story I'm working on.

 

[RichMerk]

Okee doke, I think we're finished. Enjoy.

http://3d.merknet.com/free/antares/antares.html

 

[RichMerk]

I imported it into Carrara and set up some decent lighting, which I can never seem to accomplish in Poser...

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

Absolutely cool!

 

[RichMerk]

 

[largo]

awesome. i like the cargo pods.

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

I do, too!

 

[TrekkieMonster]

First of all, beautiful work. Your rendition of the Antares, herself, is fantastic, but your addition of the cargo pods somehow completes the whole design. You've added exactly what it was missing as previously seen, both visually and logically. Nicely done.

Second, I can't help but respect anyone who could bring CW McCall's "Convoy" into Star Trek. Well played!

 

[Sarvek]

I completely agree.