Intrepid-type Starship

[evil_genius_180]

I'm building the Intrepid-type Starship from Enterprise.



It may not look like much, but this is about 3 days' worth of work. (Granted, as much time in those 3 days was spent playing games as was spent modeling but that's beside the point.) The main saucer was a bit of a pain to get right because it has a lot more complex a shape than some of the TOS, movie and TNG ships and I had to get everything right before I could cut the back off.

Nice. Can't wait to see what it'll come out as.

[evil_genius_180]

Thanks.

More work on what will be the engineering section. Without its nacelles, this thing kinda looks like a fish.

Sadly, all of the parts except the main saucer are as detailed as they were on the studio CGI model. I might go back when I'm done and do some "refit" parts to add some more details.

[evil_genius_180]

More crap on the back. This ship has to have one of the weirdest engine sections in all of Trek (probably because it's kitbashed together.)



The piece on the bottom of my newest addition (the one that runs up into the saucer) was the strangest to build and isn't completely accurate but that's as close as it's getting. It's not like I exactly want to copy Rob Bonchune's work anyway and that's not the only piece that's not completely accurate. Some I had to modify to make them work better in trueSpace with minimal errors, others I just don't have a clear view of from all views on the orthos because of the nacelle or strut.

[evil_genius_180]

More work on the little engineering section. I only have a few more things to do with this part of the ship.

No matter what you do with it, I'm sure it'll come out awesome.

[evil_genius_180]

I finished the engineering section (at least it's as finished as it will be for now.) I'll probably work some more on the saucer before I move on to the nacelles.

Beautiful ship. My comments are getting repetitive, aren't they? :P
Perhaps you should make a refit version, since the producers of Enterprise gave little reference.

[evil_genius_180]

Thanks.

As far as references, Rob Bonchune, the CGI artist who built the Intrepid, rendered some 5-view orthos in 2005 and released them. So, I have very accurate references of the actual studio CGI model. (with the exception of a few parts on the side view where they are obscured by the nacelles) However, the ship was a medium/low detail filming model designed to render quickly and only be used in a few shots. So I probably will add some more details to some areas after I finish the ship (mostly) accurate to the orthos.

That's actually what I meant. It was never meant for closeups, so you have some artistic freedom for that.

[evil_genius_180]

It can actually hold up pretty well for closeups. The saucer is plenty detailed, since it's basically the NX-01 saucer with the back lopped off. And the nacelles are pretty detailed also. But there are some other areas that I think could use some improvement. At the very least, I need to add a glowy dome thing to that area between the nacelles that's just beggin' for one. :evil:

I hate cutting grid lines. But then I'm usually happy with the results, so I guess it's a tradeoff. Since I obviously couldn't just cut the radial lines into my spline and then turn it like I usually do, I tried something different (at least for me it is) and it worked quite nicely, even though it was more time consuming. But it was worth it since I really don't want to half ass anything on this build.



Anywho, I got most of the top lines cut. I'll do the rest and the bottom lines later. I seriously need to go do something else for a while. As it is, I'm sure I'll be dreaming about vertices.

Off Topic-
What Sovereign mesh is the best? As much as I've seen, it's the CG Sovereign. But I'm a Bridge Commander native, so I'm biased.

On Topic-
Are you gonna slap on a few registries or leave it mostly blank?

[evil_genius_180]

As far as the Sovereign thing, I'm not sure. I think there are a couple that are really good for Lightwave and Max that I've heard people talk about, but I don't know more than that.

And the answer to your 2nd question lies in the update:

I finished up the grid lines on the saucer top. Next I have to do the bottom lines and then I'm done with lines for a while. I also positioned some text on the hull. I haven't decided if that's the exact size and position that the final text will be. I can take whatever liberties I want in that area, since the studio CGI model had no hull markings, but I'm trying to conform to the Enterprise markings as best I can. Unfortunately, the curvy thing under the bridge comes down farther on this ship than the NX-class ships, so I had to move the name down some and I'll have to put the registry on the curvy thing.

Speaking of which, does anybody know where the registry number NV-01 came from? Is that from an "official" source or just something someone did on a schematic or CGI model and people ran with it? As I said, the Intrepid had no hull markings on the show and you can't see the patch on the captain's shoulder in the episode The Expanse, so there's no way to know for certain if the ship even had a registry number.

I would move the name somewhere else. Since we can't see it (because they never put it on), I would put it in the areas that were dark in the shots, to the side of the curvy thing.



As for the NV-01, what the heck, I'd put it in just cause. You're right in that that isn't canon. Who gives a crap though.:laugh:

[evil_genius_180]

The name is staying where it is. The only thing that might change is the size of the lettering and the spacing. And I was thinking of changing the registry but people who like the NV-01 will just bitch at me, so I'll probably put it on there.

I'm finally done with the grid lines, with the exception of running the lines near the center onto the piece I haven't built yet that goes there. I still have some cleanup to do on some of the odd places that those end but I'm done cutting them.

[evil_genius_180]

More stuff on the saucer bottom.

[Thomas P]

I dunno, could you add some extra detail

Amazing work. This is going to be very nice when you get it all done.

[evil_genius_180]

Thanks dude.

Did you do boolean cuts in TS? From what I can tell so far, they look very nice and clean. I'm surprised that you didn't mention any major problems cutting the grid lines.

[evil_genius_180]

I hardly ever have problems cutting lines in trueSpace (lord knows I've had enough practice.) I've figured out tricks along the way through trial and error.

Winderz, docking ports & torpedo launchers. I also made the cuts for the RCS thrusters and navigational deflector. I'll probably build the thrusters next and then the deflector. Then there are only impulse engines, sensors, shuttlebays and some other random crap to add to the saucer and it's done.



I think the curvy thing under the bridge needs something. There are some textured shapes on the studio CGI model (similar to the ones on the NX-class) that I might use as a guide to add some grid lines to it. It's not much but it should make that thing look a little better, IMO.

[evil_genius_180]

A little bit of guesswork on the RCS thrusters. I can barely make those out on the orthos and a few of the screenshots I've made. I wasn't about to start searching through my Enterprise DVDs hoping for a closeup on one of the thrusters (especially since I'm mostly certain that they never had one on the show.)

Meh, works for me.

[Tenement]

If that ship gets any better looking then I'm booking the first ticket on it and I want a good cabin. Port out, starboard home!

[evil_genius_180]

Today I added a lot of vertices today to clean up mesh errors around the booleans cuts. There are still a few spots I need to hit but most of the major problems should be gone now. I also redid the INTREPID writing, I didn't like the exact position or spacing before and I added some NV-01 markings in the usual places. And I added the navigational deflector assembly, though there are still some greeble things I need to add to that area before it's done.

[evil_genius_180]

I finished up all of the details on the saucer as they appeared on the studio CGI model. I'll be adding at least a couple phase cannon ports since the ship had phase cannons (as seen in The Expanse and Twilight) but they weren't on the model. Of course that's not surprising, they didn't even put navigation lights on the thing. I, of course, don't build a starship without modeled navigation lights.

That is great.

Go ahead with what you're planning: I want to see the end product.

[gmd3d]

very nice work mate .. looks like a real model that you can handle

[mikala]

Was not a real fan of the shape of this one but you are changing my mind.
This has a real flow to it.

[evil_genius_180]

Thanks guys. I like the oddly shaped ships. The half saucer and half-assed engineering section really appeal to my odd sense of what it is cool. Plus, it kinda resembles an early Steamrunner-class and I love the Steamrunner-class (another odd design.)

[evil_genius_180]

I've been fighting a cold the last couple days, so not much progress. (I've mostly been napping and watching Enterprise.) I cut in some grid lines to the big curvy thing under the bridge. It needed some. I also added a bunch of little round hatches. Enterprise had those all over. I know some of them were phase cannon ports, but I think some were just personnel hatches.