I know it's not much, but...

[TheSeeker]

... I thought I'd post it anyway. I started playing with Blender this week and have been working my way through the Blender 3D: Noob to Pro tutorial and have made it as far as using a picture as a reference to make a model. I'll definitely keep going with the tutorial but I just couldn't wait to get my feet wet so I decided to find a fairly simple ship design to practice. As luck would have it Vance has posted some great schematics and his Evarts Class seemed like a good choice.

Using the tools I have learned to use thus far this is what I have come up with:

Like I said, it's not much but I was curious to see if I could even create the basic shape.

 

[Relayer]

That's not bad at all, for starting out. Needs to be more than 12 sided, that's all. I use about 72 sides on the outer row to create a smooth looking saucer (36 on the interior rows) even for game use. You can still keep the overall model to under 7K triangles at that resolution.

 

[TheSeeker]

Thanks! I realize there aren't enough sides, but this was more of an exercise in seeing if I could construct a mesh that lined up as closely as possible with Vance's orthographic views. Basically I was just tracing the outline so that's why I only have 12 sides. Now that I have a bit of a feel for it I think I'll give your 72 sides a try!

Edit: Well, I rebuilt it from scratch with 72 sides as suggested. I was able to build it a lot faster this time too!

I don't know why I didn't try 3D modeling sooner. It's a lot of fun!

 

[Kaiser]

cool! Dont give up on this

 

[Klaus]

 

[TheSeeker]

Well, I was all ready to post another render with the deflector dish but I accidentally closed blender and I hadn't saved my work. Oops. Guess I'll have to start from scratch again...

 

[Rattrap]

It looks like you're getting off to a good start.

Also, thanks for the link. I'm a Lightwave user who's been trying to learn Blender on my own. These tutorials will make life ever so much easier.

 

[The Axeman]

Kudos to you for taking the time to learn, you're doing great. It's a real challenge, but the benefits start to outweigh the drawbacks as you get better and better.

 

[Cary L. Brown]

FYI, just for anyone who's not familiar with the origin of this design...

This seems to be Vance's "destroyer" version of the Baton Rouge Class. The Baton Rouge class was the first mentioned in the 1979-vintage "Spaceflight Chronology." (If memory serves, this was a pre-TNG Sternbach design, wasn't it?)

You can see the sole painted image of that ship on this page (second from the bottom):
http://steve.pugh.net/fleet/early.html

This particular design was probably the most popular of the "new" designs posited in that book, and was later referred to by FASA. It was also shown as the class of Commander James T. Kirk's command, prior to his promotion to captain and his being given command of the Enterprise... the U.S.S. Alexander... in the DC Comics Annual "All Those Years Ago..." (which was a FAR better "first mission" than anything else I've ever seen).

Just wanted to toss this out, for reference, in case any of you "newbies" weren't familiar with it.

 

[TheSeeker]

All right, build round 3 is now under way. Here's what I've got so far...

I know it looks pretty much identical to what I've already posted but I thought I'd post them anyway since I got a little further into the impulse engines than before. I managed to get this done in about an hour.

Now I just have to figure out how the deflector should look coming out of the saucer. It's kind of hard to tell from Vance's schematic. The side and front view don't seem to match up. Does anyone have any ideas?

 

[Vance]

Odd, I did subtly screw up the connection point on there in the fore-view. I'll correct that ASAP. Anyway, the deflector dish is a 'cage-style' deflector suspended on a FJ style dome drop.

There's a plus-shaped fin assembly from which the main 'pipe' drops down and connects to the sensor 'ball'. The dish then connects forward to the ball.

 

[TheSeeker]

Hey, thanks for doing that! I thought they were fins but I wasn't sure.

Maybe you can help me out with one more thing. I'm trying to figure out exactly how the underside of the impulse assembly joins the underside of the saucer. From the top view it spans two sections which to my mind means part of it would be visible from the front as well but it doesn't appear that way in your schematic. Am I reading it wrong?

Thanks again!

Edit: A little more progress...

I think it's almost time to resume the tutorial. I just know there are better ways to do this.

 

[TheSeeker]

Well at the risk of getting a warning for posting twice in a row here are my final images for this little exercise:

This is as good as I can make it look based on my still very limited knowledge of Blender. It is definitely time to get back to the tutorial. Who knows, maybe I'll try this one again after I've learned more.

 

[Vance]

Not bad at all! The 'Baton Rogue' impulse assembly is a little odd, particularly when coupled with a Constitution-class lower saucer. There's no official way to draw the underside of the housing given anywhere. The best one I've seen has it follow the two and four o'clock lines of the primary hull and mesh into the lower saucer that way.

You're right, though, a small part of it WOULD be visible from the front. *sighs* The saucer on the Baton Rogue itself actually covers it.

VERY nice job, though. As you move up to textures, I'm going to have to take a crack at Blender myself soon.

 

[TheSeeker]

^Thanks. I actually solved the impulse problem by widening the underside of the saucer just enough that you can't see the assembly when looking at it straight on.

 

[Tallguy]

Seeker, that's a really nice start. Welcome to Blender!

 

[Wingsley]

I would love to see this design with a second nacelle, coming out the opposite direction from the topside-aft of the saucer. Couldn't resist saying that. Love symmetry.

That's just me, of course...

 

[TheSeeker]

Tallguy said:
Seeker, that's a really nice start. Welcome to Blender!

Thanks! It was a busy week for me so I haven't gotten around to getting through any more of the tutorial but it's a long weekend for me so I am definitely going to work through some more of it.

I'm looking forward to seeing what else I could have done to make this model better. I'm not sorry I took a break though because after going through 4 builds I feel like I've gotten to know what I've learned so far fairly well.