Let's Map a Star Destroyer!

[SPOOFE]

I think the first thing to do would be to build all the interior areas that we have pictures of from the original ICS. This includes the hangar area, raw material storage and fabrication facility, HTL turret control center, and HUGE areas that hold power reactors, cells, conduits, and all sorts of gigantic instruments that are used in ship operation.

After that... well, it all depends on how detailed you want to get... you can leave all the hallways and rooms blank, to save poly counts... or you can divide the damn thing up and then combine it later into one model...

Either way, someone's gonna need a helluva powerful computer. We're talking at least 3.0 ghz, several gigs of RAM, REALLY fast FSB's, multi-RAIDed hard drives to speed up data transfer, powerful video card... etc.

[Helm]

Anyone interestred in mapping out the interior of a Star Destroyer? From the EU, there are many parts of the SD described. I have some here:

http://h4h.com/louis/pdd2/isd.html

I haven't completed my PDD-ing of "Heir to the Empire" yet, but there's a few clues there as well. "Dark Force Rising" and "Vision of the Future" also have some good bits on the interior. Anyone have more?

Go find the old old old Star Wars technical manual... I think that was the name of it. It was like the first of it's kind. Hard back, black. Had details on the interior of a ISD in fact along with other little tid bits.

[Darktrayn]

Either way, someone's gonna need a helluva powerful computer. We're talking at least 3.0 ghz, several gigs of RAM, REALLY fast FSB's, multi-RAIDed hard drives to speed up data transfer, powerful video card... etc.

3 gigs of ram....maybe. Everyone has at least 3 gigs of hard disk space anyway.


gigs of memory ram....doubtful. One gig will do just fine. Depends always on your rendering software. Now if you're concerned with having one huge ass model on the screen in maya/3ds/whatever else, that's what layers are for. Real time ram requirements are not a problem, and with that said:

multi-RAIDed hard drives...the performance you get out of this for 3d is almost zero. The software isn't going to be pulling data from the hard drive in such a way that you'll need that kind of data rate. A single ata 133 hard drive will do fine, though it admittably will take a minute or two to load all of that information initially.

Powerful video card: Yeah At least a geforce 4 4200, and 3d specific cards like quadros are even better. But then again...layers can solve this problem for the most part. Just displaying one area of the ship at a time is usually all that's going to be neccessary.

Anyone that will be helping you model the ship will already have most of the sys. requirements needed.

[SPOOFE]

You'd be surprised, Darktrayn (welcome to the Boards, by the way), what kinds of computers people will do 3D modelling on. My brother's system is a P3 500 mhz with 512 mb of PC-133 RAM. He has trouble modelling individual fighters (though he does get accolades on his work).

[Publius]

A brief scan of the twenty-first edition of The Bluejackets' Manual (1990) yields the following terms:

Abaft – Farther aft, as in "abaft the beam"
Abeam, abreast – On a relative bearing of 90 degrees ("abeam to starboard"), or 270 degrees ("abeam to port")
Aboard – In a naval station or on a ship
Aft – Toward the stern; not as specific as abaft
After – That which is farthest aft
Aloft – Generally, any area above the highest deck
Alongside – By the side of the ship or pier
Amidships – Indefinite area midway between the bow and the stern; "rudder amidships" means that the rudder is in line with the ship's centreline
Armament – The weapons of a ship
Astern – Directly behind a ship
Athwart – Across; at right angles to
Auxiliary – Extra or secondary
Beam – The extreme breadth of a vessel
Below – Downward, beneath, or beyond something
Berth – Bunk; duty assignment; mooring space assigned to a ship
Bilge – Bottom of the hull near the keel
Bow – Forward end of a ship or boat
Bridge – Area in the superstructure from which a ship is operated; see Conn
Brig – Gaol
Bulkhead – Vertical partition; never called a "wall"
Cabin – Commanding Officer's living compartment
Chart house – Navigator's work compartment
Collision bulkhead – A stronger than normal bulkhead located forward to control flooding in the event of a head-on collision
Companionway – Deck opening giving access to a ladder, including the ladder
Compartment – Interior space of a ship
Complete deck – Any deck extending the length and breadth of a ship
Conn – Station from which a ship is controlled, usually on the bridge
Deck – Horizontal planking or plating which divides a ship into layers; never called the "floor"
Fantail – The after end of the main deck
Flight deck – Deck on an aircraft carrier for aircraft takeoff and landing
Fore and aft – The entire length of a ship
Forecastle – Forward section of the main deck; pronounced fok-sul
Forward – Toward the bow
Galley – Space where food is prepared; never called a "kitchen"
Half deck – A partial deck below the main deck
Hatch – A square or rectangular access in a deck
Helm – Mechanical device used to turn the rudder
Hold – Large cargo stowage space aboard ship
Holding bulkhead – The innermost of a series of bulkheads that forms the tanks and voids of the torpedo protection system
Hull – The shell, or plating, of a ship from keel to gunwale
Inboard – Toward the centreline
Ladder – A shipboard flight of steps
Magazine – Compartment used for stowage of ammunition
Main deck – The uppermost complete deck
Mess – Place where meals are eaten; a group that takes meals together, as in "officers' mess"
Outboard – Away from the centreline
Passageway – A corridor used for interior horizontal movement aboard ship
Pilot house – Enclosure on the bridge housing the main steering controls
Pitch – Vertical rise and fall of a ship's bow
Port – To the left of the centreline when facing forward
Quarterdeck – Deck area designated by the Commanding Officer as the place to carry out official functions; station of the Officer of the Deck in port
Rudder – Device attached to the stern which controls the ship's direction of travel
Scuttlebutt – A drinking fountain
Second deck – First complete deck below the main deck
Ship – Any large vessel capable of extended independent operation
Side port – A watertight opening in a ship's side, used as a doorway
Small craft Any less-than-ship-size vessel
Starboard – To the right of the centreline when facing forward
State room – An officer's or officers' living compartment
Station – An individual's place of duty; position of a ship in formation; location of persons and equipment with a specific purpose, as in "gun-control station"
Stem – Extreme forward line of bow
Stern – The aftermost part of a vessel
Structural bulkhead – Transverse strength bulkhead which forms a watertight boundary
Superstructure – The structure above a ship's main deck
Topside – Above (referring to the deck above)
Upper deck – First deck above the main deck
Void – An empty tank
Waist – The amidships section of the main deck
Wardroom – Officers' messing compartment

In certain cases, the definition must obviously be altered – a flight deck, for example, is no longer a large dominant feature of carriers (except for an unusual vessel seen in Empire's End, and one must of course question the propriety of calling a Star Destroyer's hangar bay a flight deck, as it is in fact a compartment, and not a deck. The various baffles on the main engine nozzles of a Star Destroyer ought to be called rudders, although this is more by way of analogy than not. Presumably, of course, a turbolift would not be called a ladder, although a turbolift shaft and the lift itself might justifiably be called a companionway. A side port is most nearly duplicated by an airlock, and the latter term is most preferable. In general, the term "aloft" might be rather superfluous in space.

[Robert Treder]

The FAS has a great article called Boats for Beginners that could help as a nomenclature guide.

[Publius]

The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) has a excellent section called "Boats for Beginners" here, which ought to provide a guide to the correct terminology (e.g., ships have decks, bulkheads, overheads, compartments, and passageways, not floors, walls, ceilings, rooms, and corridors).

-- posted Monday, 13 January 2003.

Still, The Bluejackets' Manual is a valuable additional source.

[Robert Treder]

Oops, didn't see that there before.

[Darktrayn]

So, is this ever going to actually go anywhere or what?

[Lord Poe]

So, is this ever going to actually go anywhere or what?

I'm sorry, gents. I literally haven't had a day off in two months. I hope to have Saturday off (since we managed to finally hire some responsible people) but my day(s) off are going to be booked for a while!

[Spanky The Dolphin]

The best things always take time.

[Dorsk 81]

I've got a Star Destroyer mapped fpr Duke Nuke'Em 3D, it's not great, but I've seen worse. Me, my friend Mark and his bro made it ages ago it's not as detailed as your talking about, it's got some of the bridge that you might find useful, but like I said it's probably not too accurate.