Obviously, this is one of the bussard collectors, or nacelle domes, or whatever the heck you want to call them. Personally, I'm not that fond of the whole bussard concept as it pertains to Trek ships but I guess we're stuck with it at this point.
The way they look or what they are?
Originally the Bussard Collectors weren't Bussard Collectors at all…
I’m familiar with the design lineage. I don’t like the concept of bussard collectors for several reasons. Bussard conceived them as part of a ramscoop drive system that really isn’t applicable to a Trek ship other than for fuel replenishment, and there are certain problems with that as well. I just don’t think they make sense other than as a one-off plot device. Arguably, the nacelles on the TOS
Enterprise and the TMP refit never had bussard collectors and that innovation didn’t come into use until the TNG era, which is the explanation I prefer.
So, if they’re not bussard collectors, what are they? FJ’s matter/energy sinks work just fine for me.
I always figured that the dark orange lanes twirling around in the nacelle cap weren't so much machinery, but rapidly twirling plasma streamers. Maybe you can see how that looks; swirling plasma, making the entire nacelle-cap churning with power.
I’m not big on the “swirling plasma” idea either. Why the hell would you have any kind of plasma inside those domes just sitting there twirling around? If they really are bussard collectors, it might be hydrogen gas concentrated and excited by the magnetic fields used to collect it, but it might just as easily be visible radiation given off by the singularity effect of the matter/energy sinks, which in turn is generated by the spinning gravitational emitters and the forcefield is used to contain the hard radiation. Or whatever. In any case, the rotating bands always struck me as definitely mechanical, which is the approach I’ve decided to take.
Vektor could animate the effect to vary the opacity, diffusion and mutliple other channels, perhaps along with little energy discharges/sparks/bolts of energy coruscating around the whirling blades. Really, there's just about no limit to what could be done once you decide that the dome isn't a physical object anymore... Vek's now only limited by his imagination (and the render time required for whatever he comes up with!)
I’m thinking of adding a coruscating “flash” effect to the glowing grills at the back of the dome, reminiscent of the flashing Christmas lights used on the original model. I will probably also add some sparkle to the forcefield dome, something subtle but slightly more dynamic. None of which should significantly effect the render time.
If you want to use a dome then I'd use the second version - but would probably tone down the reflection/specularity since this is an energy field and not a physical object.
The reflection/specularity issue is interesting—and complicated—in several ways. How
would light interact with a forcefield? To be visible at all, it must emit some light of its own or distort light passing through it. Who’s to say it wouldn’t also reflect light in a way similar to a specular surface? I’ve actually tried making the domes totally non-reflective and they just look… weirdly unnatural. Realistic or not, the specular highlights sort of bring them to life.
I’m not completely satisfied with everything, particularly the way the domes receive light and shadow, but I’m still working out the details.
Just curious: have you tried 50% (or some other gradation between the 2 above), or would that be too "middle of the road"?
Actually, the first rendering of the forcefield dome was at 50%.
It's where one of the RCS thrusters used to be. I'm in the process of re-doing those in a different way and the polygons are just missing at the moment.
