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Transwarp Heavy Cruiser Concept

Maverisms

Okay, I'm uploading the images I've edited for illustrative purposes. Before you start with anything, I'd like to hear your opinions about the feasibility of the design

This is based on the Legacy Mk II Class, which is the work of Andrew Hardin who uses the handle "Dmitri". The line's I drew was to basically illustrate the desired contour of the neck.

neck0001.jpg


neck0001l.jpg


The second image in the series illustrates additional lines to illustrate a proposed neck re-contouring -- this does not indicate any desire for the hull to have a grille shape on it. The numbers marked on the hull indicate the leading edge of the neck and the contouring changes to the neck. Since you are far better at 3D art than I am I just wanted to hear your opinion as to which of the two images in this series would work best? (This is just conceptualization here)



CuttingEdge100
 
I've spent an hour or two thinking about what you've illustrated, and I've come to the conclusion that I don't get it. My first impression is that you are saying you want neck with a flat face and rather extreme forward lunge, somewhat similar to what I did with my DTNE entry, but you want the front face to curve into the side faces. No sharp corners.

The issue I'm having is that I have pretty much zero idea how that relates to what you said before, or how that differs very much from the Legacy Mk II's neck, beyond losing the diamond flare at the top of the neck.

I am a simple and unassuming critter. I'm going to need something a bit simpler than that. And something a bit more comprehensive. You're thinking far too small here, in terms of demonstrations I clearly don't understand how the whole ship is supposed to go together. What I'm asking for is a picture of the whole thing.

I also think you're letting the level of artistry implied by my work fool you. I assure you, it's nothing like artistic talent. At least nothing like that how that talent is assumed to work. I don't have a special "eye" for things. As an amateur photographer I admire once said, "I [do} a lot of pictures. With my volume a few of them are bound to look good." While I'm certainly a bit proud of my own creations, I do a huge number of iteration to get the look I want.

I also start with really crappy sources. Here's a sample of one of my reference pictures:
ScanImage002B.png

I said earlier I might dig up some of my stuff to show just how crappy an artist I am. Here's what that turned into:
16ShadedF.jpg

16ShadedR.jpg


Don't let the shading fool you, that's a 3d model. One I never finished, but still 3d.

I understand what you are trying to do, if not what you are trying to tell me. I think you are trying too hard. Simpler. And preferably orthographic. Perspective views offer too much room for interpretation.
 
Wow, this ship is excellent - I'm new here so I wasn't around when it was first posted. This design is incredible - I love absolutely everything about it. The 3d model is looking great too, can't wait to see it finished!
 
Maverisms

My first impression is that you are saying you want neck with a flat face and rather extreme forward lunge, somewhat similar to what I did with my DTNE entry, but you want the front face to curve into the side faces. No sharp corners.

First of all, what does DTNE stand for?

The idea basically is that I don't want a neck that goes all the way to the nav-dome, but I don't want a neck with a leading-edge like the Excelsior's (blunt/flat), but more V-shaped at the leading edge, yet still retaining the compact/blended characteristic the Sovereign Class has (where the saucer/secondary hull all blend into each other, the upper secondary hull is similar and so forth).

Is that helpful?
What additional information do you want?
 
Is that helpful?
What additional information do you want?

No. Not really.

I need you to understand something. From the outset, you've utterly failed to clearly describe what you want. Your terminology and statements have been contradictory at worst and fuzzy at best. When asked to be specific you've replied in even more general terms. When ask for a picture to clarify your meaning, you provided one that did exactly the opposite.

I am in the habit of using big words from time to time, but this is the internet and most modern web browsers allow one to search the meaning of text with a highlight-right click. At this point I can not see how I could have been more clear.

I won't continue this game of talking at you while you talk past me. I strongly recommend you go to http://www.blender.org and download blender. There are quite a few tutorials online, and you should be able to master the basics well enough to create a rough of own desing in no more than 45 days. That's less time than has already been wasted trying to get someone to do it for you.
 
Maverisms

I'm not the most articulate person sometimes. Basically I want absolute leading edge of the neck to look like the one I showed you in the picture, then as you transition further back for it to look more like the Sovereign.

I can't think of any better way to phrase it.
 
I do hope you complete the work you have already started--I like to see the circular saucer hull design fleshed out--it really looks nice.

I think he is talking about a staggered neck sharp and v shaped but that attaches to a full secondary hull in the usual fashion but not go all the way to blend with the dish. As if the Sovvie had a full neck.
 
publiusr

I do hope you complete the work you have already started--I like to see the circular saucer hull design fleshed out--it really looks nice.

Yeah, I would like to see this design completed

I think he is talking about a staggered neck sharp and v shaped but that attaches to a full secondary hull in the usual fashion but not go all the way to blend with the dish. As if the Sovvie had a full neck.

When you say "to blend in with the dish", if you substituted "to blend in with the nav-dome" you'd be correct...
 
Are there rules against copyright infringement (i.e. Maverisms) if I can get another person to begin using the basic concept?

I'd really rather not get sued.
 
I doubt anything I've done is strong enough to deserve copyright protection. That said, I know it is generally polite to avoid stepping on toes, so I'll say now that I don't consider the work I did here to be worth getting bent out of shape over. Most of it is clearly CuttingEdge's ideas done in simple geometric shapes. The rest is fairly derivative of MadeinJapan's design, so I'm making not claims of ownership.

That said, I think you missed a major point, CuttingEdge, so I'd like to reiterate it; With the time you've spent on this project, trying to get someone else to do it, you could have learned enough blender to do it yourself, and I think you should. http://www.blender.org
 
Well, to be fair, not everybody has a calling or a knack for that. If say, you were ever to work for a director, you might need to face those impossible standards from a person with vision and no chops, and there are folks who could probably code a very good design for gears, but has no artistic vision. It is unfortunate that many conflicts result in nice start ups never being fleshed out in the end.

Then too, nobody wants to work for free either. Not everybody is comfortable at the screen. I'm at a stage where I like to collect interesting plastic shapes, to fit them together to see if anything pops out.
 
I grant that totally. I have no issue with that in principle. Two things change it in practice;

1) I'm not getting paid for this.
It really can't get much clearer than that. It's not a question of principled work ethic when it's not work. This is hobby.

2) I'm not in this to make the big time.
I might take what I can do and put it into a business plan one day, but if I do I'll be the boss. Should that expand into work for hire, I think I'll be able to handle it. I've spent years working for my father, and anyone who has worked for family can tell you, you learn how to suck it up and follow orders. You also learn how to take unreasonable requests, and turn them into results--even if those results are just talking points on the way to a final product.

Not to discus CuttingEdge as if he isn't "here," but I'm not suggesting he learn to model on the even the level I'm at. I'm also not saying he needs to "do it all" himself. I've said before, and will say again, basic 3D has jack to do with talent. It's all polygons. In the time he's spent trying to get someone else to do this project, CuttingEdge could have gotten good enough with blender to build a "gesture model" he could use as a discussion point.

He can clearly see it in his head. If he can do that, he can do it in blender. I know. I can't draw work a damn, and I've posted one of my model sheets to prove it. It's back a page or so. But I can see it in my head, and I can use that to make it happen in 3D using spheres and cylinders and such.

I could be wrong. I don't think I have "talent." What I have is "vision." An ability to visualize shapes. Maybe that ability is "talent." and CuttingEdge doesn't have it. But there's only one way to find out, and that for him to knuckle down and try.

If he does, I'll be more than happy to lend my "talent" to his efforts. Or if he wants to pay me, I'll put up with things as they are now. But I have an hourly rate of $56 (based on my rate as an IT guy) so I doubt he could afford me.
 
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