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-= The Project =-

I have had issues with 2d too so ehh dunno each has it's drawbacks. Mainly the pc HAH. Well rather the 01000110 01010101 01000011 01001011 01001001 01001110 01000111 code.

Ok I think I got most of the blatent UVW crap sorted out. I do think I might replace the aztec maps with the random hull maps instead so that is a mess of work to dig through and apply them and then get the tiling ratio matched up. Only thing I think I have left is some more lum corrections.










I do need to go through ship by ship and create new folders and clear out all the unused maps and verify they all point to the ROOT dir as max 2013 seems to be the WORST about keeping the entire folder chain to the root hdd vs just root folder. Making relocating the assets a royal PITFA. In the past max was smart enough to look in the root dir where the file is saved to FIRST for maps vs constantly referring to the drive root and a chain of folders. RAGE.

MM looking at this underside render and thinking I probably could do to stencil in a mess of crap to detail it up. Stuff like those VOY capsule decals etc. But EHHh again the original idea was just to fix the bloody surfacing and light rig bugs vs this revamp refit of the model. DOUH.
 
It is lovely being able to get a close look at the Linerunner, since I haven't been able to do so up to this point.

I don't suppose that you plan on also adding aft Phaser arrays? I just find it unusual that she has 2 forward torpedo launchers, 2 aft launchers, but no aft phasers. You're usually pretty good with Phaser coverage. If I didn't know any better, I'd have to say that she isn't meant for combat.

Not that I want to add any more work to your plate!:lol:
 
I probably could ass a small 8ft wide on in that recess out back but it would be occluded in places. I had planned for 2 aftward where that pennant text is but the room for the mechanicals there is really tight. I am also not a fan of strut or nacelle mounted weapons. Coverage isn't all everyone makes it out to be as these are mobile platforms NOT near static battleships out at sea. The linerunners flat profile means those saucer strips do cover quite a bit. Remember too the Defiant had no strips and only forward mounted weapons systems.

Also remember she is a small ship, well small compared to other TNG era ships @220m.

One thing I notice where I am not done is RCS. I have forgotten the nacelle RCS systems. hah.


mm maybe a pulse phaser turret. Looking at the defiant there are those extended nozzle deals on the fairings (though given the drive systems that are canon for the upper banks I dunno how those lower ones could possibly work given they are emitters on a box sticking out the hull. Either way I can easily hard mount one aft wards on the belly, the area of issue is where on topside could one go as anything aft of the impulse is a meh thing that and it is filled with hatches. Pre of the impulse is a issue of the mechanics of the drive. I could excise some of those science boxes closer to the ops room. Or even stick it on top. MM ideas I guess not sure if I will tackle it today though. Been doing a lot more 3d stuff than I had planned this last few months.
 
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Well hull material is a bit meh still but I altered it to use a different set of maps and added in those missing RCS thrusters. I then axed all the LUM materials in the RCS too as I really disliked the look.

The ship is pretty much done as it needs to be really. Unless there is some other bit or bob I have forgotten. I do plan to dim some rooms and possibly de-glow the ship some as it is like a bloody xmas tree with all the glowy bits all over. I had originally added all of that crap to define that something existed on the hull other than panels. IE to show some sort of shield system or other systems that would be sensor pits, opticals, field generators, etc.



 
Video of a bit of some old work and today's work as I started in on the secondary hull.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23Yz5WTvxSM








I also changed up the hull materials. I found a gaff in one of the composite maps meaning I have a lot of corrections to make on a few other models. A single layer at the bottom stack apparently was overriding everything like a mask so that had to go. ATM things are a bit weak but for this ship I sort of what this. one will note I have excised the aztec pattern from the material as well for a random pattern instead.
 
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Well I think I have the rough grids mapped out. Added a metallicish border to them as when i was considering what to do for plating as I was thinking for a bit about doing something different I looked at various renders and even the jjprise and found there were light areas in the secondary hull panels so I decided to give it a go. NOW the panel lines are WIDE but plan is to bevel them 1/2 inch or so so the gap will narrow to about 3/4in wide when done. The metallic border is just random shiny material #58 and will be adjusted to be something else later on. Having to re-render one of these sample images as I had a derp moment and uh didn't save it. Let it show on the video for 30sec and that was about it. hahahah Well if you watch the last 2 vids you will see a lot of derp moments as I guess taking that break from modeling for a month really did me in. Oh well no real deadline so no worry. Though I do want to rush this one out to get to some alien ideas and another project that I have been wanting to get to.






I am also really considering looking into learning and moving over to LW or Blender. I do not like the idea of having to export over my models to either format I just feel like max has held me back and I have missed out on quite a few opportunities over the years because of my package choice.
 
Session 8 ish





Just panels on the saucer being updated to reflect the rest of the ship. However it might be moot as the upper saucer is grating on me atm.





 
Session 9 work on the new upper saucer.



again give the video time to process 10~20min past this posts time stamp.



2 variations of the saucer back.

A bit of a profile shot showing the new curvature.
 
Last nights session 11. I was to lazy to process edit and post it until now. No 12 yet as Starbase1 over at F3D distracted be by posting a nasa image of Andromeda. Been trolling the database since for images. A real bad habit, almost like smoking or whatnot. Fill those HDDs with images I MIGHT process for wallpapers or composite bits into something or just inspirational images. lol anyhow here is the viddia of me processing those grids and doing some "I'm sick of this" decaling. Might be due to take another break from this prj.




What sucks is I am still not happy with the curvature of the upper hull but ATM I am not going to drag this project further out by redoing it again.






 
Figured maybe at least one close up of some of the work being done was needed. Kinda want to complicate up that lip where the saucer element falls into the existing flat area above the impulse area. I kept that area as a separate element on purpose as it (or to me at least) seems to nicely add detail without a pile of greebles that looks better than what I had earlier which was a large flat area. I however have no plans to return those windows that flanked the fusion crystal thingy. I dunno why I put them there to begin with. The fusion and engineering rooms will remain flanking this element though, I just do not think it will be visible or obvious externally. AND well I have no plans to model interior rooms or do any sort of blueprint crap for this ship either.



Need to handwavium some sort of details to put above the torp launchers though. Thinking maybe some of the hull materials are a bit too subtle as the light toned hull decaling sorta goes away as diffuse light floods the scene.

 
Thanks man.

Well I sat staring at the monitors rolled the dice and this one came up so Here I go . Inset the dark bits around the dome. Also seen is a gaff in the rebuild of these parts Easy fix but still a dough thing. Leave you to spot it.





Really not sure how far I should go with these parts. IE cutting windows in the dome etc. I do know these sorts of shapes are a PITA when it comes to windows as you have to fight making the cutter planar to the curves then the whole thing of getting enough polys to avoid smoothing issues but low enough poly to be workable. The rooms would be a ready room or an office, maybe both depending on space.
 




Well added these "things" to the backside. Then got distracted again fooling with hidden objects and using it to fake lights and get around using photometrics or annoying MR gizmos. It does not work well with my bussards but seems to work ok on markers and the impulse. Still needs some work but eh heh makes for easier rigging. Ignore the fact my markers glow white yet have coloured spill, just pretend they are the proper colours. HAH.
Got the idea after looking at medjai's Dumont take 2 in max. I am cheating atm and just using the old lum method vs the self lighting set up as I am just experimenting with the idea. Why I never thought to do this on my own is beyond me. I mean this is EXACTLY the sort of silly thing I used to do in old scanline to fake things.

Viewer's left is the hidden lum dome, creates some funk due to the reflective nature of the spike. Oddly does not throw a tonne of light onto the bussard itself as it is a 2 sided IE solid object. HOWEVER transparent or translucent objects do some odd things in MR as often lum shaders WILL NOT emit light past them. It sees any object often as a solid. Right side is the photometric omni. As you can see it creates puke as STRONG reflections on the hull but is controlled as the lum stuff just ambients all over everything without much control. Just size (of the emission object) and intensity. So, it just fails for how I do these bussards. I do like that the light does not spill into the bussard itself unlike the gizmo, but the bad reflections bouncing off the spikes then onto the domes is fail.

Aft view showing lum material cyl above the marker lights and impulse shapes just aft of well, the impulse drives.


Close up of those fin things and me fooling with the lum objects off the impulse. I added a small smudge of lum yellow to the center of the object facing the drives themselves.


This will probably only work in stills as lum often flickers in animations. You can see some of this in my SOTL breakdown animation from 2012 or whenever that was. lol. Just barely but it is there.
 
The technical stuff really is just materials that emit light. (not self illumnination) I think in Blender they are called emission materials. Anyhow these emit light the trick is to hide them so the camera does not see them but they still emit their photons.

The issue I had with that render of the bussards was a gaff as I had unchecked a rendering setting on the object so it was not allowing it to light up anything past the transparent domes on the bussard.
 
Awesome. Love the attention to detail.

Respectfully suggest some asymmetry in the windows though. I served on several vessels during my tenure in the US Navy and none of them had symmetrical interiors.

Anyway, again, great job! :techman:
 
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