Where does that corridor go anyway?

Just a quick render...

Lewis.

Corridors and consoles...

Over the last few days I've pulled a lot of Toms console apart as it needs some serious re-work, mainly the top and the large viewing 'TV' that he has. I've spent a great deal of time on this console now and frankly I had to move on to something else to give myself a break.

In light of that I knocked together the rear corridor section that comes in next to Harry's console. Little way to go yet but it's taking shape. I've also included a shot of the completed centre rail console, or 'Sevens console' as I'm calling it...

 Lewis.

We're back in business...

Back before Christmas I had two sticks of RAM die, and frankly this made my computer painfully slow as I was back to 2GB ram. Thus, my various Sketchup projects went on hold. Well, I'm back, new ram, and ready to go, so expect to see more updates forthcoming...

I've lots of plans for 2013, obviously work on my Voyager bridge will continue, and I plan to do a Galaxy class bridge too. I've been mulling over in my head various aspects of this and think I've figured out how I'll approach it (Galaxy class bridge is packed full of organically curved surfaces compared to Intrepid class), so its bound to be a challenge, we'll see.

Lewis.

Slight material updates

Lewis.

Doing things the old fashioned way...

One of the great things about SketchUp is that there are literally thousands of plugins available that let you automate various tasks, as well as those tools that come with the program itself. While building Tom's console I tried all sorts of various methods, using a plugin called SoapSkin which will generate a surface stretched over a frame that's already made. The problem with this is that with complex shapes it creates a fair amount of erroneous geometry which you then have to go round and manually tidy up. Also, as the generated geometry isn't very uniform, it's doesn't respond very well to tools like joint push/pull and offset. I'd also tried to use the 'follow me' tool to carve out the shape required on the front, but again this doesn't create perfect geometry (mainly at either end) so I binned that idea.

In the end I went ahead a built most of the front side from scratch, firstly because using this method I could control the output a lot more, and secondly because the geometry required isn't organic. By that I mean the front of Tom's console is actually flat surfaces, not a curved surface, score!

Here's where I am so far with it, most of the key geometry is down it just needs detailing and tidying up now...

Lewis.

Bridge update

Sorry I've not posted in a while, been busy with a million other things lately, but I'm back. I've started modelling Tom's console, which is still in its infancy right now but getting there slowly. This part really is awkward, its a very strange shape and it's hard to keep sketchup behaving itself with really complex structures like this.

If anyone has any original set plans/blueprints from the making of Voyager, I'd really appreciate seeing them to help with this, drop me an email at lewisniven@gmail.com, I'd be very grateful.

Anyway, here's 2 quick dirty renders of where things stand at the moment...

Also, I uploaded Tuvok/Harry's console as it's own model, help yourself at; http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=4a91059b416fde1a15f3b2b460671b92

Lewis.

Corridor Section...

I've started knocking up a corridor section, just for a bit of variety, this represents about an hours worth of work...

The key geometry is there, it's just a case of fleshing the rest of it out. I wont do much, probably just a straight section and a curved section, just for the sake of doing some renders.

Lewis.

Alcove Stations...

-Forward handrails added

-Ready room/conference lounge doors added

-Front 'alcove' station fleshed out (need modifying slightly, the stations sticking out are too long and rake back too much in my opinion)

-Alcove geometry tidied up significantly

-Detailing around upper walls (either side of viewscreen) added and tidied

-RR/OL door frames modified slightly (not visible)

-Rear most handrail raised by just under a foot to bring it to the correct level

Next big thing I think will be re-doing the viewscreen, it needs to be wider.

Lewis.

Enterprise M.A.C.O Media Release 5

As part of STE:MACO, we've just released some new screenshots and details regarding what's going on with the mod, check out the full details here: http://www.enterprise-tcw.info/

Lewis.

Main viewer...

I'm going to have to re-model the entire ceiling section by the looks of it, some key parts aren't lining up right and it'll be quicker to just start again with it I think, which is annoying to say the least. Anyway, the main viewer has gone in, and I've also made what I've done available to 3D Warehouse for you to have a nose at, enjoy...

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=7ec01b9c3bf598e2748f5aa438313fb1

Lewis.