OMG! Design the next USS ENTERPRISE (Offical Contest)

[Eternal_Freedom]

Kinda hard to fix up for the next episode though

[Molyneux]

Looks very cool, Fuzzy! I can't wait 'til they announce the official winner. If the judges overrule the popular vote, they're blind.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Coincidentally, I settled on "Frontier Class" as a nod both to the "Final Frontier" and to my home state, the "Last Frontier" (Alaska.)

[Fuzzy_Modem]

I thought I'd try my hand at bridging the gap between the F and the J:





-and here is the linage in silhouette going all the way back to the nx-01 refit:
http://crossovercomic.com/media/extras/ ... j_orth.jpg

Very rough of course. Just basic shapes. I might finish them a bit more in the future.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Hate to say it Fuzzy but in that linked image, that is most definitely NOT the shape of the NX-01.

[Crazedwraith]

It is for the planned season 5 upgrade where they were going to add an entire secondary hull to the NX.


On the one hand, your ship designs are cool Fuzzy, on the other hand I've never been sure the 'silhoette evolution' thing people like to do is accurate or plausible. Take a look at the Nil to the E there isn't that much of an 'evolution' especially between the A and B or the B and C.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

There is at least some measure of evolution/inter-relation between iterations.

The most obvious is the "over and up" nacelle strut style adopted by the excelsior and lasting to the D, dropping slightly each generation.

The E went back to the V style, and I've shown that moving up to a level with the saucer where the J has it. It's really the only thing my F has in common with the J, which obviously has much longer struts, placing the nacelles high above the saucer.

I'm not exactly a huge fan of the J, but she does make me feel better about my nacelle and strut placement, as mine are higher than any previous Enterprise, and the J's are SO MUCH higher that I'd like to think my F is the first step toward that design characteristic.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Found an F I'd never seen before-> http://www.mistletoenholly.com/store/St ... 31172.html

I like it. Looks like the NX-01 (Akira) but better. I wonder about the second set of bussard collector though.

Does anyone know more about this design, or where it came from? I'm guessing it's Hasbro exclusive, but I could be wrong.

[Iroscato]

Hmmm...am I the only one who thinks the Enterprise-J is a beautiful ship?

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Hmmm...am I the only one who thinks the Enterprise-J is a beautiful ship?

You might be :p

Winner will be announced as early as tomorrow. I'm almost hoping they put it off 'till after April Fool's day... almost.

[HMS Sophia]

Any news on who won?

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Scuttlebutt is that the winner will be announced as part of the Engineering Report in “mid April”

While we wait, here are some new renders to look at










The originals are 2048x1152, and can be found here:
http://crossovercomic.com/index.php?pag ... folder=big

-as well as a few other renders not seen above:

I’m also working on a really big one (8192x2048) but I’ll keep polishing it until they announce the winner.

[Molyneux]

That first picture is now my new desktop, FM.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

That first picture is now my new desktop, FM.

Cool

That's high praise, as it amounts to "this is what I want to look at by default." How well does she fit? It occurs to me that these were made for my own desktop, which is an unusual resolution.

[Molyneux]

That first picture is now my new desktop, FM.

Cool

That's high praise, as it amounts to "this is what I want to look at by default." How well does she fit? It occurs to me that these were made for my own desktop, which is an unusual resolution.

It's just a teensy bit too big - I'm losing some of the starfield off the sides - but the ship itself fits on the desktop just fine.

[Dalton]

Let it never be said that we don't have awesomely talented people on this board. Good work FM. Most impressive. This 100% belongs in the Gallery.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Interviews are out detailing what's going on with the contest judging:

http://www.justin.tv/jupiterbroadcasting/b/283130264
Skip to 8 minutes and 22 minutes.

Highlights:

• CBS isn't happy with any of the entries.
• Biggest thing cryptic is struggling with is "there is no consensus on who should win. Everyone has their favorite ship but there is no clear, obvious winner." This is contradicted by the second interview which states that they have a design selected that they are pushing on CBS.
• Hope to be able to announce something in the next week.
• The winning design will be considered canon by CBS. This is also part of the hold-up as they are being very particular about the selection.
• Many of the entries have "the wrong number of nacelles" or "a different kind of configuration" than what they believe the fans will accept as a new, canonical Enterprise.
• Cannot wait to get some of the "awesome, awesome ship designs" that are nevertheless "just not an Enterprise" into the game, suggesting that submissions other than the one ultimately chosen as the new Enterprise may be used as well.
• Hope to announce the 25 top prize winners, top 4 and, presumably, the grand prize winner within the next week.
• Lots of emails going back and forth "all day long" to determine those winners.

"a different kind of configuration" sounds like mine, so I'm now rather skeptical about my chances.

[Crazedwraith]

Haha, sounds like quite clusterfuck to me. Tough luck, Fuzzy my fingers are crossed for you (buts its making typing a bitch) Given the placing in the vote I can't see how they can't at least have you as runner up.

[Agent Sorchus]

I don't really think yours is one of the worst that they are struggling on as unusual, look at number 3, 9 and 10 highest rated and number 3 highest voted. In comparison yours is rather conventional and is a clear successor to the lineage.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

I don't really think yours is one of the worst that they are struggling on as unusual, look at number 3, 9 and 10 highest rated and number 3 highest voted. In comparison yours is rather conventional and is a clear successor to the lineage.

Lets see if I have these right:





They all have something in common in that they go saucer-> neck-> engineering-> pylons-> nacelles, as does every other Enterprise except the NX-01 and the J.
Mine goes saucer-> neck/pylons-> engineering/nacelles. That's what I'm worried about, but I've been thinking, and I wouldn't go back and design her differently if I could. This is the ship I wanted to make. The judges decision won't change that, and that makes me feel okay.

[Agent Sorchus]

The first and last are the ones I was talking about. The first doesn't have a traditional saucer and it suffers for it more than the neck connection you have. The last has basically ditched the pylons and attached the nacelles directly to the hull, which is a bad thing and a major departure from the Original Enterprise shape. Also:


Which are really different, though the last is Akira like, it isn't really Enterprise like shape.

[Molyneux]

I have to say, the "frontier-class" and that second design in Sorchus' post just look...incomplete to me. The space between the nacelles looks awkward, and it weakens the design.

Fingers crossed for you, FM!

[Atlan]

Taste is subjective. If anything I'd think that CBS would be happy with you, if not for the design itself, then at least for the fact that you gave this contest (and by extension, Star Trek Online) a LOT of publicity on a lot of different boards.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Taste is subjective. If anything I'd think that CBS would be happy with you, if not for the design itself, then at least for the fact that you gave this contest (and by extension, Star Trek Online) a LOT of publicity on a lot of different boards.

If only the winner were decided by level of exposure, but they get the publicity either way :p

[Fuzzy_Modem]

If I were to pitch my design to CBS, I would say this:

The ideal “Next Enterprise” is both unique and recognizable, and should look like the next logical step into the Star Trek future.

An Enterprise is composed of a saucer, an ellipsoid, and two cylinders connected by struts.

Over Star Trek’s history, circles have become ovals, first wider now longer, and the individual components have begun to merge.

The “Next Enterprise” should continue this trend. Her saucer should be stretched further forward than her predecessor’s, and her components should be more integrated.

I believe my design best meets these qualifications. Thank you for your consideration.

So if anyone at CBS happens to be listening...