NCC-1701-D (Star Trek Enterprise) update 1/14

Artwork Works in Progress
#1

Well upon working on my chess tut, my HD failed, and i lost tons of data, and after a nice conversation at work with my fellow nerd, i decided to take on quite a undertaking, probably my biggest one yet. The Highest detailed NCC-1701-D I personally could produce.

Polys is of no concern, if it takes a million plus i will take it. If i can do it with only 50k then i will take it. This is a no compromise model on my part. Why? because im the resident nerd in my little click of juggalos.

My first few attempts in getting a technical sheet of the Ship seemed almost hopeless, especially a big picture tech readout, besides TV shots, and finally i stubled upon a holy grail, the 5 shots i needed to make a near exact replica of the Ship. And im happy to know that the pictures of reference im using is 900+x700+ size, so i might even use it as a texture map if i decide to go past the grey model look.

In my techinque im modeling one half then mirroring, and then adding the details that are specific to each sides (which is very few). so this first picture im posting because i just couldnt keep it from public eyes anymore, is a Image shot. meaning i only work on half of that model you are seeing and i only mirrored it to show it off, by the time the first post about my model appears, half of that model will be gone as i work on it some more :P.

Currently, its at 2400+ Faces and 2400verts…with no subserf and no smoothing, havent decided if i would add more polys or work out the kinks in the subserf to get a ‘perfect look’

enjoy i hope you like it as much as i do…Oh yea total time so far is a good 5hrs, why so long? because getting the actual correct postions of each vert to make it a almost exact replica in size and looks is quite time consuming. Plus 2 kids under 3 doesnt help concentration either…lol

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#2

Looks good :slight_smile:

I like all of the detail and the amount of accuracy you put into it.

Good Job

#3

Well, you have the basic shape down pat. Excellent resemblance.

But, there were no such deep panel grooves in the hull. There are the small window openings in the hull, but not those huge grooves. Do a google image search and see what I mean.

Great start though.

BgDM

#4

thats what i did, and very model you can buy or build has the paneling on them, The Studio Model had small grooves but the lighting and other shots and CGI power of the late 80’s and early 90’s didnt portray these. But using Technical readouts and other Fact sheats, these grooves indeed do exist.

i might make them abit shorter in height so they dont look so deep, now im using a extrude of .01, i might try for a .005 or the like…

Currently im using about 30 pictures+ as a reference for it, including Canon models that indeed show the grooves, and techinical readout shows these grooves as a reason for structural integrity during high warps, and on the Enterprise-B the grooves were made deaper to help with the higher warp speeds, etc…

but i do contest that most of the CGI in the TV series didnt have the grooves like the technical manual suggests…but im using them as a reference for on how things should look…(P.S. the model of voyager later using the improved PC’s, had grooves in CGI shots)

but its also the same with the phaser banks, in the technical readout it shows much detail and in the CGI TV shots, they look like mere textures…then again in 1990 i was lucky to have 8mb of ram in a PC, and very very slow ram at that, compared to what we have now, Blender alone on this model is using 40MB…Or a model done in 1997 in CGI, using a dual P2 with 512MB of ram, took 15mins+ to render a 15,000 poly model with lighting etc, compared to a minute it took for mine

#5

a few reference pics from tech manuals showing grooves on hull and showing that its not a flat piece of material (that would be horrible for repairs also a stating in the tech manuals)

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#6

OK, then, you are correct. But yes, yours are way too promenent and overpowering. They should also be narrower too.

Keep up the good work.

BgDM

#7

I would suggest to contact IRML on scifi-meshes.com
His Ent-D is the best that is there:
http://www.scifi-meshes.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/1858/size/big/cat/500/ppuser/7206

#8

Lol, i was actually using that same photo from the site as one of my reference pics, lol.

im using three kinds, TV (for mere details tech sheets dont show), Tech Sheets for dimensions and overall shape, And other CGI work including the one you have posted.

in fact his render made me pretty confident i can pull this off, might not be as good as his, but i will be contacting him for where he got those textures at…

#9

Polys is of no concern, if it takes a million plus i will take it.

With that sentiment, I don’t think you’ve put nearly enough polies into the part you’ve already shown. The individual edges of the circular shape are clearly visible. Since you said you aren’t sure whether to add polies or use subserf, I think you are aware of it already. Personally, I much prefer using polies for mechanical things because I find them easier for getting the exact shape.

#10

:slight_smile: yea i was hoping to get away with that amount, just because of the time it took to rig saucer exactly to blueprint, placing each one individually when needed etc, doing just that took up almost all my time…But at the same rate, i Dont want to go so poly happy that im just doing it for the poly count, i want each verticie to have a purpose and not sloppy, i cant within reasonable time place each and everyone, but i have made sure that the cutting and pasting etc are done very precisely to not make it a poly hog when it dont need to be.

then i went back like the other suggested and looking at more reference pics and redid the prominence of the panels…which has taken up about 2hrs alone today to rerig the damn thing, but i enjoyed it and actually found some flaws…

here is my next update for the night before bed…it has more rifined egdes using more verticies(polys), bring the total count to about 6k, But im happy with the more circle edge instead of the noticeable sharp edges. I added abit more escape hatches, i didnt have much time to put more on, considering each one needs specific placement and rotation etc. mainly because of the new panels and riging i did today

I already know of a few flaws in my current pic, but its late i have to be at work before 7am so those will be adressed tomorrow, mainly with details about the bridge and rear shuttle bay(shuttle bay one i believe). And hopefully I will have the Seperate Captains Yacht modeled to be fitted to a beginning bottom saucer…Also some flat areas aound the phaser bank needs adressing with the brigde…so much to do, oh well its fun hehe

Well without furhter ado, here it is…Hope this one is abit more eye pleasing, and of course C&C alot and enjoy. Oh it is blue because the studio model was a very light blue to mimic the Enterprise-A blueish tint in the original series, but it cancled out the CGI blue and appeared a greyish white onscreen…Is there a poly counter in blender? or a script for it?

just noticed the panels on the left side underwent bad mirroring, lol, oh well those are easier to fix than the entire panel system :wink:

Render Time:10mins 16secs
Fa: 4461
Ve: 4628

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#11

wow nice, I like it. I’m baking fluids right now, so I’m taking the oppritunity to post replies to stuff. The model seems sound, and I’m looking forward to seeing in completed. Are you every planning to animate it?

PS: Star Wars would pwn Star Trek

Nice work, keep it up

XrQLz :wink:

#12

yea i was hoping to get away with that amount […] i cant within reasonable time place each and everyone, but i have made sure that the cutting and pasting etc are done very precisely to not make it a poly hog when it dont need to be.

Sounds like you aren’t really willing to do a million polies if necessary :stuck_out_tongue: . Not a big deal at all, I would never do that many, but don’t say something unless you’re willing to do it. Be sure you set realistic goals and expectations.

It looks rounder now. Good so far!

Is there a poly counter in blender? or a script for it?

Aren’t faces and polies the same thing? you must know where the faces are because you put that in the post.

#13

Still alot of segmention visible in the soucer and the brudge dome especialy.
And not even 5k polys, that is nothing.
To be real smooth i would guess around 100k for the soucer alone, without the fancy detail liek phaser strip and escape pods and so on.

#14

Oh yeah, looking at it again the bridge dome is not very rounded. I think 100,000 is an absurd number, he shouldn’t need more than twice the current number.

#15

Yea i know the bridge needed rounding, as stated in my post of my last pic, along with some rough edges by the shuttle bay door.

And no i didnt say something i didnt mean with my million poly quote…

i said if it takes a million polys to get what i want then so be it, but if it only takes 500k, then why in the hell would i add a additional 500k polys?

that sentence was to show that if there was a flaw, i didnt mind adding polys etc, it was of no concern

im still modeling right now, but its doing another render so i have to waite for ten mins to see how it comes out :P.

And for the poly guy…No faces are not the same as polys

from what i understand, a poly is a face made by 3verticies, the minimul amount of verticies able to make a face. That is a poly, its a triangle in 3d space…

some high priced modeling programs can make a face out of more than 4 verts, in blender it wont let you, but if you take a simple plain in blender, using 4 verts and One face, then in a game engine model viewer that views in triangles etc, then you will see its Two Polys not one like in blender…

so in fact my 5k face count, is probably a good 8k polys if not more, considering 90% of the current model is 4verts per face…

at any rate, my goal of producing the bottom saucer skeleton was not reached, one i had to work later than expected and two, i was rigging a new bridge lay out because some of the midpoint cuts i did was causing rough edges

but non the less, a rear render will be displayed tonight when sleeping, untill then…

#16

thelonesoldier: It realy depends on how close the camera will be able to get to the mesh.
And if he realy wants to do a high detail mesh, he will want to go close, otherwise its a waste of time.

#17

here is a small update, the bridge is still getting redone as to a few different reference pics dictate differences on how it should look…along with some things on the hull…so the saucer has been put on a slight hold untill a friend of mine brings in his two tech manuals for me to actually hold…

so i decided to start on the engine area…not to bad, got the basic shape down in the rear, playing with a few things on how to do the plating

it took awhile just because of the curves and some other things on the Ent. that make it wierd to model straight from tech sheets…

enjoy sorry about the slow update, but the last few days fliping threw tech sheets, and actually even redesigning the saucer(scraped later) because of things…

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