After a long time of blender abstinence due to lack of time :(, I finally managed to model a half decent thing: A Spaceship.
Yes, I know: Probably everybody already modeled a starship. But I actually want to model a good one and I donât want to stop when Iâm only half finished.
So far I modelled the basic shape and a few details. The nose still needs a proper finish. I think I will model the girders straight rather than curved. I will also replace the light near the front of the ship with a gun. Any other suggestions?
Iâm also open for suggestions about details that contribute to the perception of the scale of the spaceship (notice the 2 passangers in the cockpit on top)
one small point, about the perception of size: i think the cockpit looks way too tiny, especially considering the shape of the craft, or maybe could use a more approriate positioing (maybe in the dorsal region). Thatâs itâŚthe model is coming up nicely, and when u r done with the nose, i guess it will look pretty awesome.
I actually think the tiny cockpit is an interesting idea. Maybe a gigantic engine is necessary for traveling through space at outrageous speeds. Itâs almost a caricature.
Is it just me, or does some of the edges on the front look funny, such as the little jaggedness near the top point and the blurred corners.
I love the different proportions, I wish everyone would get away from the star wars norm, of making car or bus sized starships! Itâs provocative and reminds me of some Spaceship Fantasy books from the 70âs (canât remember artist names thoâ).
I actually think it looks pretty nice. Its like a space caravan, one of those tiny ones mind. The modelling and features like the antenna and the mini lights are a nice touch. With a bit of texturing it should look pretty good.
My mistake, it isnât supposed to be tiny. I thought the cockpit was just another light.
However, it still looks good, although I think it will look better in terms of what size it should be when it is rendered with other objects in the scene, like asteroids or mini transport ships.
Like this design! (Iâve finally got a ship or two designed (paper) that might give you a run for your money though - hehe! If I can get the time to Blend and detail them myselfl:rolleyes: )
Observation: nice lighting, surface detailing and materials! I assume youâre going to texture it too. Glad to see you didnât do that before the materials.
Question: whatâs the visibly illuminated interior, behind the grill, in the front view? Is it a reaction chamber? Is there a light in there or is that externally lit from somewhere? Its awful big and exposed for a reaction drive, unless youâve got some kind of hyperdrive concept going.
Suggestion: The cockpit (?) is a little hard to distinguish as a crew module. I would suggest seeing how it would look with
a) continue the white solid back, up over the top so that is more windows than cockpit. Thereâs no way an engine with a seat belt like this is going to be a fighter, so you donât need a fighter cockpit. (Anything requiring an engine that big would be too hard to maneuver obviously)
A defensive gun would still be ok. Straightening the grill is probably a good idea, but keep a copy of the existing grill on another layer to compare them.
If youâre going to work on the nose more, try continuing the stepped-curve effect you already have going. Maybe meeting a slanted flat grating coming from below. Uh⌠âslanted flat gratingâ⌠how to describe⌠as in⌠whale⌠âteethâ. Corrugated, thatâs the word I wanted!
and/or
b) try adding some more blisters or expanding the crew area, maybe continuing down the side, like saddle stirrups, hinting at a non-cockpit area.
I bet youâre talking Chris Foss etc. Love those things. The ships in the game Homeworld obviously were similarly inspired.
You should go for realism. Granted you might need a large engine for space travel, but having that large of an engine, where would you keep the fuel?
You donât need a grill on the front; there is no air in space. You would need it for landing and take-off, but itâs too big for that. That size and proportion needs to stay with space stations or cruise liners; but itâs not that either, because it looks like it can only hold a couple of people who also need to know how to pilot it and maintain it.
What type of drive are you going for? If itâs a hyperdrive, you would have to have sub-space technology anyways, so you could just put the whole engine in sub-space. That way, you donât need that large of a craft. If itâs an ion drive, then you probably have it about right; just take out the grill and make more room for fuel. If itâs a tachyon drive, youâll need to have some sort of ring to go through and send the tachyons across space, and another ring somewhere else to turn the tachyons back to mass and then re-assemble you. then you need to take out the grill and make the inside for fuel and tachyon production; the rings are just transceiving stations. If itâs sub-light engines of a chemical or energy sort, just take out the grill and leave more room for fuel.
If itâs just going for artistic reasons, ignore the rest of my post.
Go for realism? What is that? I havenât seen any ârealâ intergalactic ships with NASA on the side lately⌠This ship is as real any Tachyon drive I think.
Star wars ships looked ârealâ but had wings (non lifting) and flew like 'aeroâplanes in space! (you donât have to bank to turn in space).
I love the grill, it suggests something else⌠character/drama not just function. After all this is Science âFictionâ. I would love to see more mr.C
also to make the joke maybe a bit better why dont you elevate the cockpit vertical or even diagonal away from the space ship. why does everything need to be symetrical?
good subdiv modeling. however the lower fins need some sharper edges where they connect to the main spacecraft body!
Thx for the many very helpful and supporting replies!
About the concept/background of my starship:
The ship is supposed to be a ridiculously fast low-tech scout / bomber. Because I was unsure at the beginning wether to make it a intra-atmospheric race-ship or a space scout I designed the nose as a huge intake for the jet engine.
Iâm still not sure how to design the nose. Maybe I will put one huge torpedo inside, or I will mount a torpedo under the ship (like a space-âstukaâ :D).
The Drive is supposed to be old school chemical and is taken from a transporter that I also designed (not yet modelled, though). For extra boost a afterburner is added (top engine). The rest of the ship basicly only consists of fuel-tank. Itâs a very minimalistic ship that achieves top speeds for little money (except the fule costs :)) Thatâs why there is only space for 2-3 passangers: pilot, navigator, gunner. The cockpit has to be mainly glass because of the obvious lack of mobility of the ship.
The ship is stationed on a large base-ship or a hidden space-station at the edge of an asteroid field from where it can strike.
The fins can also hold additional guns, but their main task is to be some kind of landing gear. Alos they contribute to the fish-like design of the ship. This is one point why I chose the girders at the nose. They look like teeth.
@Waffler: Yes, youâre right. I also noticed the funny edges at the nose, but I forgot to post the corrected result.
@dgrebel: Challenge accepted⌠Yes, I will texture it. Got a few designs for the texture ready, but I want to finish the modelling first.
The âinteriorâ is not modelled at all and you basically see the engine light shining through the hollow inside. I will obviously fix that.
Thx for the suggestions for the nose. Will keep it in mind.
@Tynach: Thx for mentioning the different possibilities for a space-drive. As I mentioned in this post, the engine will be a low-tech chemical sub-light engine, so I will indeed get rid of the intake!
@cekuhnen: Nice idea to place the cockpit at one side. Maybe I will try that just for comparison. However, I think this ship will be rather symmetrical. I got a few non-symmatrical design in mind that I will model when I got more time.
@everybody else: Thx for the posts and comments! Iâm really thrilled that so many elaborate and supporting replies were posted!
I will post an update soon. Saturday at the latest!
If I understand what youâre saying, youâre going for âplausible if you ignore the actual numbersâ ie feasible, though maybe not practical. Unlike SW/ST which are pure âfuturistic fantasyâ.
In that case, you need nail down what you want this ship to do.
At the moment it is neither fish nor fowl, especially since youâre not going for âsufficiently advancedâ aka magic technology. Is it a scout or fighter or bomber or âŚ?
Scouts will be fastest of course, but you will need sensor equipment, including probes, etc. Bomber, well, you need bomb storage space, a drop mechanism, as well as your big fuel pods to actually move the munitions. Fighter - well, this is obviously not an agile chemical ship.
Iâm still not sure how to design the nose. Maybe I will put one huge torpedo inside, or I will mount a torpedo under the ship (like a space-âstukaâ :D).
Either spot sounds like it might be feasible. See how it looks once youâve designed on the nose. But youâre gonna want to have more than one torpedo. Single arm ships are not going to be worth that amount of fuel:)
The Drive is supposed to be old school chemical and is taken from a transporter that I also designed (not yet modelled, though).
Ooo⌠That would explain it. It looks closer to a transporter than a fighter. If you smoothed out the triangularity and made it a bit longer, I think it would look very similar to a Chris Foss design tug? that I vaguely remember.
While I hesitate to suggest this, as I really like the overall look in itself, in the interests of completenessâŚ
You might want to consider using this as your transport base instead of whatever. A ship that will see offensive action probably should be thinner and longer. It would need too much defensive armament to protect itself otherwise. But thatâs just me.
Thatâs why there is only space for 2-3 passangers: pilot, navigator, gunner. The cockpit has to be mainly glass because of the obvious lack of mobility of the ship.
I see what you mean about the cockpit, but it looks like you thereâs only more for one passenger there. Add another blister? Make it longer?
But, if this is going to be a spacer only, visual is going to be next to useless. A bomber is not going to want to be close enough to eye-ball a target in space! But if you want to do that anyway, youâll want a bomber blister elsewhere.
You might want to do something which intimates that the inside is all fuel-tank, since you probably donât want to drop that nice outer hull. If you kept the grill, you could pile fuel pods inside, with either big, quick refuelling connectors or replacement attachments (rails, releases).
I kind of like the chem design limitation concept, in fact, I wandered off looking for Foss designs after noticing Davidâs 70âs reference.
Landing gear⌠for a spacer? Docking gear would make sense though. Chemical rockets mean no artificial gravity (well⌠highly unlikely), so it will need to be docked in free-fall and secured.
Ah, wondered if that could be the engine light. My suggestion would be to not over-do the texture if its a ânewâ ship. Its a very nice, clean design. Maybe you will need some new and some âusedâ textures
My design is actually an âadvanced-physicsâ force-drive fighter rather than an impulse engine though. Your tug-boat wouldnât stand a chance Unfortunately, it will be awhile before mine gets built, as the computerâs heading back to the shop.
Yes, I like this. (i know, youâre thrilled). It seems to me like an early spaceship, that still needs a huge engine for the amount of weight it is carrying, or maybe you could have it as a future version of a âboy racerâsâ craft, with an design for vanity rather than utility.
I like it, the design looks very Hitchhikers-guide-esque. In my opinion itâs a great, fun, piece already, and despite what some people have said I think you should be wary of taking it too seriously. How many spaceships have you guys seen lately, anyway? In any case, it could easily be a design for some form of hydrogen ramjet propulsion system.
One thing I donât really like is the grill on the front, as it would seem to belong to something much smaller in scale.
Exellent modeling! The only thing that bothering my eye is the place where the part on the side (in the middle) goes into the body mesh - ( I am talking about the seam),doesnt look right.
I really like your ship and not critisizing your way of modeling, like you said there is no real standarts (non of the things in Starwars or any sci-fi movie is real - including sound in the vacuum), but me personalyâŚeverything must make sence (even if its not real).
I was also thinking- if you are ready to go big you can use your entire ship as a one of the engines of a hell of a ship
Do you mind to share with me your lighting set up please (that you used for the first picture)âŚI like it, a lot
Hmm. Mostly good but 1) I liked the grill front better. More detail than the plain cone. 2) Are you going to add the extra detailing in again I hope?
âEngines should always have intake vents.â Or something. You do have the side vents there but theyâre pretty whimpy for the huge engine. And thereâs no need to streamline a deep-space ship like this so you donât need a pointed nose for that reason at least.
If theyâre defensive covers or plating, then okay, but try making it more slabby/tough âarmourâ looking, a pointed nose is not necessarily most efficient.
And protect the cockpit more.
The only thing that bothering my eye is the place where the part on the side (in the middle) goes into the body mesh
Yes, that are just two seperate meshes, and because of the complex form of the base body mesh, itâs hard to make it look right. I tried modelling it out of the base mesh, but that was evenmore complicated because that lead to triangles all over the place. And those triangles throw of the subsurfing and the smoothingâŚ
Any general ideas how to model that neatly?
EDIT: The light setup is just a simple 3 point lighting. Use 3 lights. One white main light (sun) with shadows, one slightly blueish light to fill the shadow areas a little and a slightly yellowish light opposite of the blue light. @dgrebel
All right, youâre gonna finish this puppy?!
I think so. Iâm pretty happy about the general shape and hope to do a little bit of modelling every day, to keep the ball rolling.
I liked the grill front better. More detail than the plain cone
I did like the front gril as well, it gave a nice teethy/agressive look to the front. I think Iâm gonna add it again, just to see if I can make it fit to the new designâŚ
Iâm not sure about the actual use of the hollow space in the front of the ship. Maybe as a cargo space for hijacked ships or as a nest for smaller fighters for a raid. Maybe even both. Have to think about what front design would make most sense for that purpose.
Also Iâm thinking about adding one or two cranes the the ship to be able to get in hijacked ships / wrecks. Either Iâm setting one of the cranes on top of the nose to make the ship look a little bit like a frogfish, or Iâll put the cranes into the opening in the front. That way they are protected and when they reach out of the âmouthâ to operate they look really scary.
If theyâre defensive covers or plating, then okay, but try making it more slabby/tough âarmourâ looking, a pointed nose is not necessarily most efficient.
And protect the cockpit more.
I was thinking of the front to be a protection of the cargo of the ship and trying to find a descent way for the front to open (divided the nose into three parts that open, or tu turn upwards completely like a cargo plane). But neither method gave satisfying resulsts, yet.
Meanwhile Iâm playing around with the design of the side a little. What do you think about this new version? I think I will at least make the lower opening in the front smaller like the upper one and maybe add 1 or two more⌠The tail part looks a little bit like stitches which adds to the pirate look, I think.
Hmmm⌠about an aggressive (i.e. thin, close and deep - like sharp teeth) grill on the top half and a more corrugated lower half (with square-wave top edge). Cargo/capture bay. If you need a ship with huge engines like this, youâd unlikely to have âfightersâ as well. Given the size of the cockpit, the bay canât be that big or youâll have no room for engines and fuel.
The opening behind the grill doesnât have to go all the way back, of course. Maybe one or more compressor turbines hinted at? (Just because itâs chemical doesnât mean you wonât have pumps, compressors, turbines, etc naturally youâd need more)
More of the round vents could look good. Hmm⌠make 4 of them and it will be aâŚ
Actually, those would be good for steering/braking jets if you want to bother with that.
Things from the old model: The old fins had a more aggressive slant to them.
I liked how the original had the long horizontal panels seam. The new âstitchesâ - I like the style but something⌠Maybe the size - either bit bigger or maybe smaller? Maybe push them most of the way to the back end? A wider gap and some discombobu-detail at the bottom of the âwellâ?
You donât want to overdo the blockiness of seams and panels though or you may lose the style youâve got. Sort of a lower-tech Star Trek style - smooth and finished but with powerful technobabble under the hood.
Itâs almost a caricature.
like this is going to be a fighter, so you donât need a fighter cockpit. (Anything requiring an engine that big would be too hard to maneuver obviously)
Yes, I will texture it. Got a few designs for the texture ready, but I want to finish the modelling first.
