The Hood in Orbit

[evil_genius_180]

This is a little work of mine I did a while back and thought I'd share. This is my Connie model from TOS and one of the various registries I made for it (eventually, I will have all 12 Muwahahahahahaha....... :evil: )

I tried to give the image a TOS look and feel by using simple texturing on the planet and adding a TV-noise effect after it was rendered.

Everything was modeled, textured and rendered using TS 3.2.

[Darrell Lawrence]

My only quibble on the model are those bussards

Are they textured or modeled in?

[evil_genius_180]

Modeled. I do about 90% modeled details and 10% textures on my mods. That's the way I always do TOS-era bussards 'cause I like to be different. The whole ship is not, technically speaking, 100% accurate, but this is about my 40th go at that model and I decided to add some custom touches

[gmd3d]

very nice .. The connie is my fav starship.

[Darrell Lawrence]

Originally Posted by evil_genius_180

Modeled. I do about 90% modeled details and 10% textures on my mods. That's the way I always do TOS-era bussards 'cause I like to be different. The whole ship is not, technically speaking, 100% accurate, but this is about my 40th go at that model and I decided to add some custom touches

Over-all, it's a pretty good looking model.

As for the bussards, I prefer modeled myself. It's just too much red in yours though

[evil_genius_180]

Warrior: That's funny you should mention that. I had them a lot less red, based on the studio model images I emulated. I posted some pics at STMC and people didn't like them, they wanted them more red, so I made it so. I actually liked them the way I had them before. What are your suggestions? I've seen your great Connie model and I'd really like advice from you.

Taranis: Thanks I only got to see one of your pics in your cool finished art TOS thread, but I'm looking forward to going back right now.

[Darrell Lawrence]

Around here somewhere is a thread regarding the actual physical model build of how the bussards were set up.

Then not too long ago, Dennis Bailey did some bussards for his connie for the Exeter fan eps. His were the closest I've seen to the actual effect, so that's the method I use now.

I've yet to apply that to my Connie though :laugh:

Transparency on the outer dome is what you see on my Connie in it's older pics, and before that was just a texture.

[evil_genius_180]

I had the transparent outer dome on my model before this one. That's the one that got the complaints from the folks at STMC. So, when I built this model, I did the bussards like they suggested. I'm going to find that thread and check it out Thanks.

[Darrell Lawrence]

http://www.3dgladiators.net/forums/s...ead.php?t=6953
Excalibur's OLD modeled bussards.

http://www.3dgladiators.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=21314
This is a newer texture TEST for bussards.

I'll post what the new modeled/lighted bussards look like here in a bit.

[evil_genius_180]

You rule

[Darrell Lawrence]

Which is a texture, and which is modeled?

http://www.3dgladiators.net/wip/uss_...ssard_test.jpg

http://www.3dgladiators.net/wip/uss_...sard_test2.jpg

[evil_genius_180]

The second one looks like the modeled one.

[Darrell Lawrence]

Very good! You get a penny... when I can afford it :laugh:

Yes, it's the second one that's modeled.

The first one is a texture I rendered of the modeled one to see how it'd look.

[evil_genius_180]

The second one looked better, as modeled details always do. So, it was logical to assume that was the right one

[Darrell Lawrence]

Ok... I can't find the old "bussard" thread (must have gotten purged), but I did find my old friend meshula's site is still up with a small article on it-

http://www.hash.com/users/meshula/1701/1701_1.html

[evil_genius_180]

So, did you put little christmas lights in your bussards to get that look?

[Darrell Lawrence]

The CGI version of them, yeah :laugh:

Area lights.

[evil_genius_180]

Did you make said lights visible? I can't do that in my program.

[Darrell Lawrence]

My bad. I meant point lights.

What types of lights do you have in tS?

[evil_genius_180]

In my version, there's area lights, infinite lights and spotlights. I might be able to achieve a similar effect by putting colored globes with a strong ambient glow inside. After all, it doesn't have to really light anything, just glow.

[gmd3d]

Thanks evil
I admire your Mesh. while its my fav ship including the refit version ... its the one ship I don't what to make myself. I could ever be happy with
what I would do?! sound mad but there you are I prefare to work on models that have never been done or only done a few time in the past .

[evil_genius_180]

Thanks Taranis. I use the Constitution-class as sort of a personal test. It was the first model I ever attempted. I figured I couldn't really consider myself a serious 3D modeler until I got it right. It took me a lot of versions over the last few years to get to this one. The version I did before this one was close, but there were a lot of mesh distortions. I kept it, though, to use for those distance shots, since it's lower poly. I did this one with a totally new modeling method, which I now use to build all of my ships

I did make this ship a little unique, though. While I conformed to the basic Constitution-class, I made some changes like some things are a little rounder and the impulse engines are totally different. Instead of 2 square black cuts, I made rounder cuts that glow orange, more like later impulse engines.

[gmd3d]

perhaps one day once I get use to LW a bit more .... But as I said It my fav ship really .. perhaps its the first I traveled on sound silly but that how
it feels at time's .. so when ever i see the Enterprise it reminds me of those times ..

I remember reading in "tha makeing of Star Trek " book ..(long since lost or nicked) that Gene wanted the ship to have a look of power seen from any angle to look familer .. or something of that nature :0

[evil_genius_180]

She's my fav too I loved the lines, the styling, everthing. I also made modified versions of my Connie, the Scout/Destroyer and the Transport/Tug from the TOS Tech Manual. They use the same saucer and warp engines just in different arrangements.

[gmd3d]

Cool ... how long have you been using TS or 3d progs in general ??

[evil_genius_180]

About 4-5 years. I started with TS 2 and was happy with that for a long time. Then I saw 3.2 was available for free, so I upgraded.

[gmd3d]

I have been modeling for 5 weeks boy is it a learning curve

[evil_genius_180]

Well, 4 of the years I've been modeling were spent in the employ of the U.S. Army, so I didn't get a whole lot done during those years. It's only been since I got out that I started doing hardcore modeling. I've seen your starship thread and that's really great work for 5 weeks of modeling. I was kitbashing at that point

[evil_genius_180]

This is similar to what my bussards looked like before the jackoffs at STMC convinced me to make them more red and glow more. Unfortunately, building bussards like the ones on the show was out because the lights in TS 3.2 just don't work that way. There was light all over the place when I made them that way.

I did remodel the bussards. I also repainted the whole ship. I've been watching a lot of TOS lately and I've noticed the bussards ranged in the yellow-orange area most of the time, so I made mine yellow-orange I also noticed they didn't glow that much, unlike later bussards.

I didn't add any shadows or glow effects to this render as this was a test shot.

[skyhawk223]

The bussasrds look better now. Add some Christmas lights behind them (different colors) to get the tv effect.