OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

[Fuzzy_Modem]

I'll post these two together so you can compare:



VS



Still have a lot of detail to work out on the new one of course.

[Phantasee]

You've recreated the evolution of the Galaxy to the Sovereign. To be perfectly honest, I prefer your version of the Galaxy, because, while it looks like a Galaxy from the front, your side profile was a lot more aggressive. The Sovereign-style ship is just too...smeared. I kinda liked it with the Ent-E, because it was fresh and new, but it's really not that great a side profile.

Plus your original is a cross between the Constitution and Galaxy Enterprises.

[Prannon]

Actually, the Excelsior class is very strong with the second model.

[Vanas]

I quite like the Sovvie-esque design there, but something about the engineering hull from the front doesn't sit right with me. Maybe it's a bit wide? Or too flat-sided? One of the two, certainly.

[Phantasee]

It could lose some weight, yeah. It's very Ambassador-esque in that regard.

[Knife]

Only thing I like about the new one is the nacelles. Sorry man.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Thoughts? I'm not happy with the basic shape of the engineering section, especially from the front.

[Chardok]

OH hey! Dude why not get rid of the neck altogether? Attach the secondary hull to the rear of the saucer section and have the deflector section sticking out of the bottom sort of like a hood scoop on a car, only on the underside!

[Knife]

For balance, remove pointy part of the secondary hull, and move it and the neck forward a bit, say 2/3's along the saucer section, and perhaps shrink it down a bit. I think it will balance out the design having the secondary hull more towards the middle of the ship with the nacelles acting as a counter weight to that. The saucer section looks better in this one, really very 'Voyager-esque', almost to the point you should put that circular deflector dish on the dorsal side of the saucer.

That said, I liked where the last design was headed better.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

I like this engineering section better.


This is what it looks like with absolutely no smoothing btw.

[CSJM]

If that's unsmoothed, how many faces is that saucer?

[Fuzzy_Modem]

If that's unsmoothed, how many faces is that saucer?

Wireframe

[Phantasee]

That neck looks too fragile. Looks like it could be snapped between the saucer and the nacelles. Cantilevers never look very strong, no matter what the actual strength of the design.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Progress:

[Prannon]

The top down profile and the forward facing profile look great. It's aesthetically pleasing, and the way the nacelles sort of match the contours of the saucer is excellent for overall design form, I think. It's also well balanced from saucer to nacelles.

I worry about the engineering section though. It's like you're trying to add too many bells and whistles to make it look good, or something. Perhaps it's just a styling thing, but I always preferred simple and fluid to bells and whistles. I also think that the neck, retaining its current thickness, should extend further forward to the saucer to give it more strength on that really far forward saucer and make the whole design more solid. That's just me though.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Thought you guys might want to see it against a black background:

[Phantasee]

Oh wow, I hadn't even noticed how wide that neck is. It still looks very fragile from the side, but I can see that it isn't so from above. Can you give us a shot from the front, looking up at the saucer/engineering connection? Maybe a little left or right.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Oh wow, I hadn't even noticed how wide that neck is. It still looks very fragile from the side, but I can see that it isn't so from above. Can you give us a shot from the front, looking up at the saucer/engineering connection? Maybe a little left or right.

Sure, next time I take a screenshot.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Added a couple of lights and swapped my orthos for perspectives:


Bigger:
http://crossovercomic.com/media/extras/ ... _08big.jpg

[Phantasee]

I was thinking on how the Intrepid moved towards somewhat close to a peak at the front, and the Sovereign also went in a more front-to-back length of the saucer, and we see a prototype (that three-in-one ship) that was pretty pointed in the front. Have you considered going in that direction, and actually having a moderately pointed prow, that sweeps back in arcs like you have now? Just a very light sharpening would give you a lot more aggressiveness, something your saucer section lacks when looking from above or below. The profile is pretty aggressive, but it looks too friendly for the lean, mean Starfleet of the future. I can only imagine the next generation of Enterprise being more aggressively styled than before, when you compare the Ent-E to the Ent-D, and look at the other ship designs.

[Chardok]

GODFUCKING DAMMIT! I wrote like a 300 word post and it got punked by my ISP so I'll summarize-

Dont listen to phant RE: Saucer section. Any pointer and it'll look bad.

I LIKE where this is going. Sweeping arcs on the nacelle strust blah blah blah look really good.


Secondary hull still rubs me sub-optimally.


Love,
Chardok

PS - I'll probably re write the large post tomorrow when I'm not exhausted.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Progress:



Can you verify that my system redundancy is correct for saucer separation? I'm just giving the saucer impulse power, like the Ent D, so it doesn't actually need a deflector dish does it? What can I turn that into instead?

[Fuzzy_Modem]

I tried some targeted smooth and totally broke the model, so these are from an earlier save:







It's probably a good idea to add more detail and do more tweaking before I start smoothing anyway.

[edit] I'm thinking saucer separation will consist of just the horseshoe shaped outside portion of the saucer (including the primary impulse engines) separating from all the rest, leaving basically the same shape, but with a smaller saucer.

[OmegaChief]

I wasn't convinced at first, but wow that is actually a pretty damn good design.

As to the secondary deflector, I don't think it's really needed, I don't recall any other ship having one.

For what you could turn it into? Maybe a nice smooth edge to the saucer? Some kind of advenced sensor array? or maybe even a ten-forward style bar/observation lounge (This is the federation we're talking about after all)?

[Knife]

I don't know. The saucer is cool, the nacells are awesome, and enen in the front and back view the secondary hull looks good. But, on the side view, the secondary hull makes the whole thing look bulky and off. Imho anyway.