Starbase Delta

Chris B · April 28th, 2003, 06:08 AM

Hello, hello...

it is about time to model something new. and, yet again, i have stumbled over something on the forums that i decided to model.

so, here goes:

http://www.dd3d.de/deltastation1.jpg

this is the lower part of the station, two thirds are yet to come. check the finished art section for a schematic view.

Elowan · April 28th, 2003, 09:53 AM

Looking good!

April 28th, 2003, 12:00 PM

Thank you...

Thank you do very much

She looks great man!

Chris B · April 28th, 2003, 12:09 PM

glad you like it so far

the basic structure is complete allready. need to add all the remaining plates, antennae, hangars, etc.

when that is done i'll have to decide wether i want to model or texture the windows...we'll see.

i strongly dislike the spherical hangars btw, but we'll see what they look like, when done.

till then...

April 28th, 2003, 07:46 PM

Looks promising so far. We don't see enough space stations 'round here.

April 28th, 2003, 09:41 PM

ohhhhh wow....*drools* your doing the old station real justice man

Yea, I know what you mean about the sphere docks, I'll see if I can whip up a new design for them for ya hehehe

Chris B · April 29th, 2003, 03:40 AM

warning: big dimension (allthough only 90kb)
http://www.dd3d.de/deltastation2.jpg

a view of the complete structure. the spherical-bays are complete and most of the rst is too. the main saucer needs plating and the bottom sides of the two saucers below that too. the dockingramps are still missing as well.

hangar doors can be animated, btw.

hope you like

Hito · April 29th, 2003, 08:46 AM

Oh wow
I rememebr this station.
I tried to model it once too.
But u r doing a way better job of it than me

April 29th, 2003, 10:39 AM

My amazement never ends

She is gorgeous, even all naked like that

Fëanor: Do you think you could give me an idea of what size a Galaxy class is by comparison? Maybe just a visual guide even?

Keep up the great work XmESs, you are dazzling me

Chris B · April 29th, 2003, 01:26 PM

this station is 9000m tall, the galaxy class vessels are 643m long.

aproximately 3 ent a's would fit in one sphere and have still enough room to manoeuver...it's gigantic...

oh, and thanks a lot!

April 29th, 2003, 02:01 PM

you could mount some torp launchers on top of those spheres and some phaser strips so the spheres can be like top secret star ship manufacturing bays.

Chris B · April 29th, 2003, 02:16 PM

according to the statistics feanor provided this thing has hundreds of phaserstrips, i hope u don't expect me to model all o them! :O

Thomas P · April 29th, 2003, 02:18 PM

duh..duh..duh..DAMN! Very impressive.

April 29th, 2003, 02:31 PM

Model everything...especially the windows. It'll be a pain in the ass, but models always look better with actual modeled detail. Textured windows usually look like crap.

Chris B · April 29th, 2003, 02:46 PM

we are talking aprox. 1000-2000 windows here...

the spheres have too few faces..we'll see wether i have to correct that.
on the very left ou can see a ittle spot: the USS Venture A. It is about 320 meters long...i tell you that station is huge.

the docking clamps were added and there's some more plating
http://www.dd3d.de/deltastation3.jpg

Hito · April 29th, 2003, 02:52 PM

What if the spheres blended somehow into the mushroom cap, and the ships would enter through them the same way they would throughthe big bay doors on the Earth spacedock.
(that is assuming the mushroom cap is set up on the inside the same as spacedock 1)

Meshed windows would blow this things facecount right through the roof I bet.

Chris B · April 29th, 2003, 02:54 PM

i would think the spheres are producing hangars, while the finished ships are hostend inside the mushroom.

he ting is allready 150k faces heavy (without optimizing). with windows it will jump skyhigh, that's true, hito. and it will **** up the mesh

April 29th, 2003, 03:45 PM

Oh wow......wow wow wow! Thats absolutly fabulous man!!! *drools* I soo want a copy of this wheen it's done! *drools a bit more*

Yea, the sphere's are enclosed drydocks for conducting major repaies or constructing new starships.

There are still the large bay door's on the mushroom as well

heres some of the stats for the station;

Height: 9km approx
Diamiter: 6km approx

Total Crew compliment: 176,000 officers and crew (not counting civilians and visiters)

Armaments:
Phaser, Type 12: 800 strips
Phaser Cannon, Type 12a: 540 in 180 triple mount turrets
Torpedoe Launcher, Type XXIIV (rapid fire): 60
-Photon Torpedoes: 8,000
-Quantome Torpedoes: 10,000
Point Defence Laser, Type I: 1,100 in 400 triple mount turrets

April 29th, 2003, 04:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by XmESs
we are talking aprox. 1000-2000 windows here...

And?

It'll be a pain to model them, but it will look so much better for it. Plus, the windows are most likely symmetrical so you have that going for you. Predictable in size and shape and location.

April 29th, 2003, 08:59 PM

XmESs this thing is gorgeous man.

I am so very excited to see how it ends

April 29th, 2003, 09:09 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Kakaze
Model everything...especially the windows. It'll be a pain in the ass, but models always look better with actual modeled detail. Textured windows usually look like crap.

You'd be surprised what one can do with a good window map

Melvin the Dork · April 29th, 2003, 11:12 PM

Damn. That is big. And damn cool as well.

April 29th, 2003, 11:49 PM

Big stations = good

Chris B · April 30th, 2003, 01:50 AM

thanks everyone, updates soon.

kaz, when you add 1000 circular windows to a msh using bolean or shapemerge your mesh will be so screwed by all those additional vertices max puts in, you'd go nuts.
now of course you could try to correct that by hand...but we are talking perhaps 300k vertices to be deleted...

this is not funn anymore

i prefer modelling stuff myself but at some point there's a limit...

ah well, we'll see

Crusader · April 30th, 2003, 07:46 AM

awesome stations XmESs! I like

how long has it taken so far?

Elowan · April 30th, 2003, 08:21 AM

Boolean operations are simple as long as you keep it simple. Once you start to perform more than a few on any object things begin to go awry. Plys go missing, normals get twisted.

It sometimes helps to select the poly(s) being operated on in the foreground layer. To put in all the windows would require that only one section be booleaned and the rest cloned/mirrored.

Not for the faint-of-heart.

Chris B · April 30th, 2003, 09:37 AM

theuns, it actuall didn't take that long yet. it's only lathed splines, zylinders and some meshediting for the plates, you see.

elowan, we are talking about 200 boleans to one object and cylinders being abstracted not boxes. oh hell, we'll see. let's not worry about it just now ok

April 30th, 2003, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by XmESs
thanks everyone, updates soon.

kaz, when you add 1000 circular windows to a msh using bolean or shapemerge your mesh will be so screwed by all those additional vertices max puts in, you'd go nuts.
now of course you could try to correct that by hand...but we are talking perhaps 300k vertices to be deleted...

this is not funn anymore

i prefer modelling stuff myself but at some point there's a limit...

ah well, we'll see

You can do it, I'm sure.

If anything, at least try it and see what happens.

Crusader · April 30th, 2003, 11:31 PM

how about 'glue' the objects together instead of boolean? i know trueSpace also acts up sometimes with complex object booleans so i only boolean basic sub-sets and glue the rest together, easier to undo or redesign as well, boolean is almost permanent and can not always be undone...

Chris B · May 1st, 2003, 01:18 AM

i had an idea earlier on: i could cut the faces that will recieve "window-ing" out, bolean the windows into them and then re-connect them with the station. tat wouldn't completely destroy the mesh. the facecount would still jump upwards.
might be worth a try though