You can VOTE here once each day:
http://www.startrekonline.com/enterpris ... 0Weixelman
Animation coming SOON!
I got a great deal of help from this community, and I want to take this moment to thank:
Chaotic Neutral
CSJM
Eternal_Freedom
ShadowDragon8685
Chardok
Crossroads Inc.
Themightytom
Knife
Prannon
Phantasee
and everyone else who made an effort to push me in the right direction. I couldn’t have done it without you
Work in progress thread can be found here:
http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic. ... 4&t=146105
-and will be fully restored (all images) sometime Sunday.
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It's pretty difficult to come up with something that hasn't been done before, yet is still unquestionably the "Enterprise" at a glance, from all orthos and in thumbnail.
Ideally the viewer should recognize the Enterprise first, and then identify the differences. Additionally those differences must indicate an understanding of the design lineage, but should play out in an unexpected and interesting way (avoid stretched sovereigns.)
On top of those difficulties, one must strive to create something both attractive and believable.
Not a lightweight undertaking.
In retrospect I feel that I've done well, but there are things I would do differently given another chance.
The engineering section looks a bit clunky, the deflector dish is very vanilla, and it’s cavity ought to angle upwards to match the curvature of the neck (like the Enterprise-D). Additionally, I ought to have given the nacelle struts a sexier shape, curving them in toward the front and pulling them back to make them thinner from the side, and perhaps giving them an hourglass feel by reducing their width in the center. They feel sturdy, but in a utilitarian way for which there is no precedent. Moving away from a consolidated primary and secondary hull was risky, but in combining the nacelle struts with the neck, I feel I've held true to a the consolidated hull philosophy, albeit in a new direction.
Somehow despite the elongated saucer and streamlined nacelle features my design feels more at home between the Enterprise C and D, or perhaps as an alternative to the E. I've failed to create a new branch off the same limb.
Part of this is an attempt to re-create the hull texture of TMP Enterprise. Namely subtle differences in hull plating specularity. That style is my personal favorite, but was abandoned in TNG and beyond. Cryptic will of course be creating their own texture set(s) however, so I felt comfortable emulating my favorite style for the sake of attractiveness over continuity, but this may have been unwise.
The nacelles could be a bit lower, closer to the saucer, and truer to the Enterprise's characteristic silhouette. My saucer is rather lumpy, and perhaps a little too reminiscent in shape to an egg, and my windows aren’t all perfectly to scale. My deck heights are also slightly inconsistent, and at the top of the neck the deck with the airlock is actually angled up slightly, though I suppose this is okay in a... what do you call the enclosed ramp that leads from the gate to the airplane?... Googling... ah, a “jetway” or "airbridge" sort of way.
Overall, I should have come up with something a bit more streamlined and compact, with a bit more attention to the characteristics that evolved after TNG, but I’m very proud of my work, and very grateful to you fine folks for helping me develop it.
Please vote, and wish me luck!
It's a crying shame that the contest is USA only. 
