Merian-Class and Mogai-Type Warbird

[JamesTiberiusKirk]

I would go for an armored version. this one looks too... gentleb - texture wise of course ;)

[aaron067]

I'm still around, but October and November are very busy months in my profession.  The textures aren't much further along, but I decided to redo parts of the nacelles because they just didn't seem like a practical design.  With each part that I remodeled, I decided another needed to change.  So, now I've finally decided to redo the entire nacelle.  I might have some pics up later tonight. 

[Shadowknight1]

WHAAAAAAAAAAT?  The nacelles were great!

[aaron067]

The nacelles were really due for a rebuild anyway, as they were the last bit of the original ship that hasn't gotten that attention yet.  They'll still be very similar, but the plasma vents were just ridiculous.  They had way too much surface area for this to be a tactically-oriented class, so I'm going to incorporate a few ideas from the Vesta class nacelles in addition to a few new ones.  When I'm done they'll look a bit leaner and give the ship a slightly more menacing appearance.   

[Shadowknight1]

The nacelles were really due for a rebuild anyway, as they were the last bit of the original ship that hasn't gotten that attention yet.  They'll still be very similar, but the plasma vents were just ridiculous.  They had way too much surface area for this to be a tactically-oriented class, so I'm going to incorporate a few ideas from the Vesta class nacelles in addition to a few new ones.  When I'm done they'll look a bit leaner and give the ship a slightly more menacing appearance.   

  The plasma vents(the warp grille?) was part of the nacelle that I really, really liked.

[Locke]

Or you could go the way the Akyazi Class went and shield the plasma vents.  Of course, you would probably want to use some sort of curved style, but the idea's the same.

[aaron067]

The nacelles are close to done, but I've got a few more details I want to add before I unveil them.  In the meantime, I started on hull panel detailing, ship markings, and windows.  Here's a couple of teaser shots.

[Tally]

liking how she looks she has some great lines  ...cookie duly given

[FarShot]

Sweet.  I always look forward to updates from you!  Can't wait for the nacelle reveal.

[Saquist]

I see potential here Farshot.

Obviously this is derivative of the Prometheus.
I have a long list of projects I'd like to tackle once I get the right system and Prometheus is like...3rd or 4th on my list,  It's literally the worse designed ship in all of Trek.  Even as a design it's a flawed concept but the implementing of that concept was by far a larger flaw.  Most of it is the MSD: shuttles sitting on the separation plane of ship, and the lack of a sep plane for the secondary hull, landing gear where there are no ports on the outside,

This ship has what Prometheus lacks...attention to detail.
You should considering redoing Prometheus as the ship it should have been.

[FarShot]

I see potential here Farshot.

Obviously this is derivative of the Prometheus.
I have a long list of projects I'd like to tackle once I get the right system and Prometheus is like...3rd or 4th on my list,  It's literally the worse designed ship in all of Trek.  Even as a design it's a flawed concept but the implementing of that concept was by far a larger flaw.  Most of it is the MSD: shuttles sitting on the separation plane of ship, and the lack of a sep plane for the secondary hull, landing gear where there are no ports on the outside,

This ship has what Prometheus lacks...attention to detail.
You should considering redoing Prometheus as the ship it should have been.

Do you mean me, Farshot, or Aaron, the maker of the model here?

Another reason I ask is because I do recall giving Aaron some suggestions here and there.  I do tend to believe I have a small knack for ship design, even if I can't get my ass of the couch long enough to put out... wait, that didn't come out right.

Oh, Aaron, forgot to mention this, but I'm totally digging the name choice.  Cerberus is golden.

[Saquist]

Hmmm. 
My mistake I thought this was a Farshot project.  Sorry I guess that does go to aaron.

[aaron067]

The idea did indeed begin as a re-design of the Prometheus.  Unfortunately, the more I worked with the MVAM approach the less certain I became that it could actually work with this ship and as an engineering principle in general.  If you look back a page or two you'll see my struggle with that particular feature.  Ultimately, I just wasn't able to create two parts of the ship that both maintained an aesthetically pleasing and logical design...at least, not two parts that fit my particular design tastes.   She'll still be outfitted with the latest defensive technologies, though. When I'm done she'll pack one heck of a wallop and hopefully look beautiful doing it.

[aaron067]

Just a quick update from a different perspective.  I've been redoing the windows over and over trying to make them just right.  I've added a few more details, too, plus I took the time to cut out a docking port on the secondary hull.  I'm having trouble matching the color of the doors, so it isn't pictured yet.

[WileyCoyote]

Looking nice!

[flarespire]

Just a quick question, how did you actually get the shape of the saucer section? ive been trying to do that for my new project and im failing terribly at it.

[aaron067]

I use spline caging for all of my foundation modeling.  The entire hull plus the basic shape of the nacelles is done with just splines, then I add a surface.  If I don't like the shape I'm able to adjust the splines, which means I can see an immediate change to the mesh with a single tweak.  As long as I haven't made any radical cuts to the mesh I can keep going back to the splines to make adjustments if necessary.  I do one side of the model then, when I'm happy with it, I mirror it to create the other side.  I know of some people who use spline caging for everything, while others don't use it for anything.  I find, with my particular approach to modeling (which is colored heavily by my being somewhat of a perfectionist), that spline caging allows me much greater flexibility than just messing with polygons and vertices.  It's taken me a couple of years to get to this point, and I still learn a great deal with each model that I work on.  

Also, bear in mind that I've been working on this ship for almost a year now.  It started as a recreation of another mesh I found online, with me using spline caging almost exclusively, and then it gradually morphed until I had completely redesigned the entire ship one piece at a time.  Because of that I had to sort of piece everything together as inspiration revealed itself instead of having a single goal from the beginning.  That's given me the opportunity to really learn how to manipulate a mesh with ease.  My biggest struggle still comes from finding a balance between my desire for greater detail and quality and keeping the number of polygons at a reasonable amount.  Fortunately, this one's still sitting at ~15k.

[aaron067]

Another quick update.  I haven't begun adding the armor texture to the nacelles yet, but here's a small glimpse.  Additional features are the new docking port, windows, and escape pods on the secondary hull.

[Captain_D]

Looking better every time i see it. Nice so far.

Realy like the textures you are using on the bussards and warp area. Are you going to add grills in that part of the engine, or leave as is?

[flarespire]

THX for the help, im giving it ago now, though in MAX 2011 its a pain because all the tools have moved or been renamed....ah well.