Whilst a few people will be wondering why I'm not back at my desk working on the Ingram WIP,
I thought it was time for something a little different. Have no fears about the Ingram though, I am working on it (and building in windows is a bitch, hence I am taking a break from that and moving on to another project
)
Some time ago in the Ingram Wip Thread (lets see how many times I plug that shall we?) I mentioned, and showed some of my own design concepts, well just some of the Trek based ones. One really hit a cord with people... but this thread isn't about the "Exeter." One of them has been "calling to me" for years to be given the time and energy it deserves... and after finding a box full of old floppy discs with more information on it then I ever thought I still had, I'm going for it, and starting work on one of my own designs; a Wolf Class Starship.
Ok, now on to a "little" history and some very early crappy 3D work:
The Wolf Class was something I designed at least ten years ago (according to the dates on the hand drawn stuff), and it was designed to be used by a Trek based RP group, before they moved on to something else (the Sovereign Class). Bottom line, what I designed would only ever exist on paper, as I didn't have the skill/ability to turn it into anything more then something hand drawn.
In 2002, that bright wonderful year when I first started playing around with Milkshape and the joys of 3D modeling, I decied to do the Wolf as my second ever 3D model - as a conversion for the ST: Bridge Commander game.
As you can tell, it's pretty basic, low poly, and has very crappy texture maps. Yes, I know - we all have to start somewhere... and I would like to think I've improved since doing that one
But, I messed up badly when I built that mesh and lost 4 decks and messed up the shape and feel of the ship - I knocked up an MSD of it at the time;
Unfortunatly all that showed me was that I had a lot, a BIG lot to learn about creating 3D meshes.
So fast forward to six years later, and after a week of looking through some very old hand drawn stuff, and files, and early attempts to put it all on computer I thought; what the hell. It's time to give this baby the time and energy it needs. Time to do it justice.
I have revised the design somewhat - which I figure I would have done anyways had I stuck at it. I know an obscene ammount about this ship - becasue I created the damn thing, and becasue the level of info required by the RP Group was high;
- The Wolf Class is a multipurpose vessel, similar in size and scale to the Intrepid Class.
- The original "Mark 1" design of the ship was 312 meters long, and had/has 15 decks.
- The "Mark 1" ships were built a few years after the first of the Intrepid Class were launched - USS Wolf NX-76100, USS Horizon NCC-76176, USS New Frontiers NCC-76179, were the first three built.
- They can land on planets.
- The warp nacelles move... and were/are angled
- The Bridge is not on deck 1 - in fact originally it was below the level of the main shuttle bay - but on the "Mark 1" both the bridge and shuttle bay are on deck 3.
- The "Mark 1" has four "mini" deflectors, rather then one main one, and a backup.
I could carry on, and fill up pages about this baby... Not sure if that makes me sad or anal, LOL. But I know a lot about this ship.
So (keeping things chronological - and yes, I know this post is getting long, but bear with me...) yesterday I drafted some rough plans for an updated version of my design - as I figure ten years on it needed a bit of a face lift - and lathed up a new hull for it in max;
I've droped/changed a few things for what will be the "Mark 2" version - or "refit" of this ship. The cutaway on the forward part of the hull is now gone. The lower part of the hull has been re-designed. The way the nacelles connect to the ship has been revised, and changed (and in fact the nacelles have changed shape - I think, but I'm still playing with those ideas). The impulse engines are going to be something more in keeping with the feel of the ship, and sit on the trailing edge of the hull. The "deflector" bays are now different sizes, and only one will have a navigational deflector
- not sure about the other yet. I want to keep the landing ability - but not if it wont work with the redesign of the ship. Everything else - well, that's the point of this thread. Why spoil what's to come? (IF I can make what I've drawn...)
Anyhow, managed to get some more work done on the "Mark 2" version of the mesh today;
The shape of the hull is pretty final - as is the shuttle bay. The rest, well, that's still up in the air and is subject to change at the moment
The two bays may well go, or change shape, or something...
As for scale:
I've managed it this time - 15 decks works fine with this mesh, and with the curve restored at the front of the ship it comes out as being 318 meters long. Which is what I pegged it as on my rough sketches (which hopefully I'll get scanned at some point and add to this thread).
More on this as and when - C&C always welcome
** Images from this post have been removed to save on web-space. See latest posts for images.