And Progress

Progress has resumed with the Defiant bridge, namely that I've found a great plugin for Sketchup that lets me push/pull on curved surfaces, which solves the problem of the lit panels around the top of the ceiling.

I've spent a fair bit of time tidying a lot of little bits and pieces that were bugging me too, and it looks like I'm going to have to re-model a large part of the ceiling structure, but there we go, something I'll have to deal with.

Also managed to get back on the purple/dark blue soft cushioning round the edges of the consoles, this parts tricky because of the profile but I think I've figured out a way of doing it.

Lewis.

Getting Warmer...

The last few days have seen the model really progress. at the moment I'm tidying up the ceiling sections and I'll finish the cut outs for the lights round the edges. I also knocked up a quick Photoshop just to test my shading skills and also to put something a bit arty out there. I'll do another one when the model is complete obviously.

Lewis.

So far so good...

I think I'm getting the hang of this now, it's certainly coming together anyway. Still wresting with a few of sketchup's little foibles but nothing I can't handle. That blue cushioning round the edges of the consoles is a royal pain though, I'm leaving that for later...

Lewis.

Suicide!

Yeah maybe I'm being a bit ambitious now, still, learning is fun, and it's going well so far...

Lewis.

Sketchup...

As this project has progressed, it's become apparent that I'm going to need to start modelling props and other parts in a 3D program as the source engine just cant cope with the complexity required in brush form. Because of that, I've spent the day learning Google Sketchup, which seems pretty straightforward to use, if infuriating at times. I think I'm getting the hang of it though, here's my progress so far;

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=ebd99d3b8292d875e2b3ea15995169e8

Feel free to download it/critique it etc, do what you like with it. As time goes on I'll post more bits up here as I do them.

Lewis.

I'm back

It's been a few weeks since I worked on this but I'm back, and working on the big one now. This is going to be a royal pain I can tell...

Lewis.

Let there be light...

Thought I'd show a bit about the process, as opposed to just posting continuous screenshots, so here's a quick run down of the early lighting for sick bay. I think I'm going more for the movie feel (Generations) with the lighting for this area so I wanted the central spot to be fairly prominent. As I progress I'll add subtle spots above each bio bed, and a bit more ambient lighting around the doors.

The above shot shows the lighting setup, with just the single spot in the room. The spot light is made up of the inner cone (this is the bright area, the main spot if you will), outer cone (ambient diffusion of the light around the room), and the 50% falloff radius. It's not often I use the 50% falloff but I thought it important the light didnt light the whole room uniformly, so this cuts the brightness right down as you get away from what will be the primary biobed. The outer cone helps to gently light the floor for the rest of the room. I may tweak it slightly, and make it a bit brighter, but here's how it looks in engine;

Lewis.

Medical emergency...

Today I got started on sickbay. I've wanted to do this bit for a while but it's on odd shaped room and naturally nothing sits on grid. It seems to be going fairly well so far though, I think I've got the room size pretty much spot on, and whilst there is a little bit of guess work going on with regard to dimensions, It looks screen accurate to me. Obviously this is still very early, but here's what I have so far.

Lewis

[edit, a bit more progress]

[and more...]

It's still going...

I was making some minor tweaks to the engineering section the other day, just made a quick shot of the jeffries tube section I've been working on. I'm planning to build a new pc in the next few months so once that happens I'll be able to stick all this together and compile it without my PC audibly begging for mercy.

Lewis.

Sanding my life away...

Quite a lot of updates on this one. Firstly, i noticed as soon as I got the kit the the photon torpedo launcher part was missing. I flirted with the idea of ordering a replacement part from Don's Light and Magic, but it only comes as part of a kit, along with other parts, and I'm really not looking to spend that kind of money. So I had to fabricate one, of which so far I've made the backing plate, I'll knock up the launcher tubes separately later on.

I also sanded the primer back off on parts of the hull that I wasn't happy with, and refilled these sections, which so far is looking better. Also made a start sanding the warp nacelles.

Now, I'd made a start sanding the top saucer section, and it quickly dawned on me that I could well spend the rest of my life on this part alone, its hard work. After a trip to the garage to scout out a better way of doing it, I came across some much harsher sandpaper than I was using before, which has made life far easier. It's still damned hard work, but I least I stand a chance of getting it finished before real starships are being launched.

It's getting there, slowly.

Lewis