Enterprise D with a circular saucer section (AI)

[Atomic_Monkey]

I'm a huge fan of the Enterprise D, but if I could change one thing I'd make the saucer section perfectly circular rather than oval. I've tried to imagine that in my head for the past 40 years. I have zero artistic ability, so I've not been able to sketch it.

Today it occured to me that I could ask AI to render it. Claude wouldn't do it for fear of violating copyright, or something like that. ChatGTP produced the visual equivalent of gibberish (it seriously looked like a balloon animal). Perplexity produced a picture but the proportions were way off (the engineering hull was bigger than the saucer).

Gemini outputted a decent, but not perfect render. The saucer is still an oval and not truly circular, but it's less ovoid than the genuine article:



Next I asked it to shorten the nacelles so that they don't extend back beyond their struts. Gemini knew what I was talking about because its reply cited Andy Probert's comments that his original design had shorter nacelles until Gene Roddenberry insisted on lengthening them. However, it outputted the same exact picture. I pointed this out. Gemini acknowledged its mistake, but produced the same picture for a third time.

 

[Bell'Orso]

just messing with perfection, ngl

 

[publiusr]

I prefer a circular saucer too, but it needs atop a longer secondary hull with a bit more heft:

https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/blueprints/macpherson-class-heavy-transport-sheet-8.jpg

I could see a circular saucer larger than Ent-Ds on the secondary hull above, but with the horizontal windows Probert started with.

A good non Sovereign E-E

 

[Atomic_Monkey]

I prefer a circular saucer too, but it needs atop a longer secondary hull with a bit more heft:

I respect us having different taste, but I'd disagree. I think a circular saucer section would look better with a shorter engineering hull.

 

[Bell'Orso]

that just sounds like a Nebula alternate. kinda closer to the Ambassador-based Apollo class you see floating around

 

[Atomic_Monkey]

that just sounds like a Nebula alternate. kinda closer to the Ambassador-based Apollo class you see floating around

Sorry, I should have been more explicit. When I said I'd like a shorter engineering hull, I meant just a hair shorter. Not dramatically so. The pictures I found online of the Apollo class's engineering hull look very stubby. I wouldn't go that short. (Their engineering hulls also looked more cylindrical, rather than the squashed look of the Galaxy.)

What I'm envisioning is pretty close to the existing Galaxy class, just refining the proportions a bit. The type of thing that if you glanced at it you might not notice the difference. Someone would have to say, "Take a closer look," for you to spot it.

I wish I had artistic ability so that I could draw it myself and didn't fumble over words in a pathetic attempt to describe it.

 

[Atomic_Monkey]

I found this photo of a "preliminary study model" of the D in the book "The Continuing Mission" by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. It has a circular saucer section, but I don't like how the engineering hull doesn't taper and remains wide throughout its length.

 

[angille]

have you taken a look at the Ross class? first showed up in STO, but got canonized in Picard.

 

[Atomic_Monkey]

have you taken a look at the Ross class? first showed up in STO, but got canonized in Picard.

I hadn’t heard of that. I’ll check it out.

 

[B.J.]

The Ross class is ugly as sin and has none of the elegance of the Galaxy class. Definitely looks like it was designed for a video game.

 

[publiusr]

I found this photo of a "preliminary study model" of the D in the book "The Continuing Mission" by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. It has a circular saucer section, but I don't like how the engineering hull doesn't taper and remains wide throughout its length.

View attachment 53594

OTOY needs to scan that.
Eaglemoss do one?

 

[Dukhat]

I'm a huge fan of the Enterprise D, but if I could change one thing I'd make the saucer section perfectly circular rather than oval. I've tried to imagine that in my head for the past 40 years. I have zero artistic ability, so I've not been able to sketch it.

Today it occured to me that I could ask AI to render it. Claude wouldn't do it for fear of violating copyright, or something like that. ChatGTP produced the visual equivalent of gibberish (it seriously looked like a balloon animal). Perplexity produced a picture but the proportions were way off (the engineering hull was bigger than the saucer).

Gemini outputted a decent, but not perfect render. The saucer is still an oval and not truly circular, but it's less ovoid than the genuine article:

View attachment 53582

Next I asked it to shorten the nacelles so that they don't extend back beyond their struts. Gemini knew what I was talking about because its reply cited Andy Probert's comments that his original design had shorter nacelles until Gene Roddenberry insisted on lengthening them. However, it outputted the same exact picture. I pointed this out. Gemini acknowledged its mistake, but produced the same picture for a third time.

So, basically it looks exactly like a Galaxy class from 3 of the 4 angles, and the 4th is just the Galaxy class with a circular saucer.

 

[Atomic_Monkey]

have you taken a look at the Ross class? first showed up in STO, but got canonized in Picard.

Thanks for pointing this out. It is close to what I'm imaging. Its engineering section's forward profile is round, rather than oval like the the Galaxy, but otherwise I like it.

You sent me down a rabbit hole looking at other ships that were created by fans and/or for online games. I came across one I really like called the Dedication class. (If I understand correctly, a fan submitted it for a contest. It lost but received a lot of praise.) Its silhouette is nothing like the Galaxy that I'm so enamoured with, but its overall design is very organic like the Galaxy. Each section flows into the next, as though it was sculpted rather bolted together. The hull is pretty smooth without excessive ornamentation. Overall a futuristic look.



[Design by Chris Madden, modeling by Mark Kingsnorth]

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

It looks like a cross between the Enterprise E and SNW Enterprise, with a bit of Kelvin Enterprise in the neck.

 

[Atomic_Monkey]

It looks like a cross between the Enterprise E and SNW Enterprise, with a bit of Kelvin Enterprise in the neck.

I believe the designer said he was inspired by the Enterprise J. That inspiration isn't obvious in the first photo I posted, but it's apparent from this view:



[Design by Chris Madden, modeling by Mark Kingsnorth]