Dusting off this old thing - Akira-Trek

[Kenny_Z]

Hey everyone, long time no see.

Most of you probably don't recognize me but you may know one of my meshes. The NX-01 was my baby waaaay back. Shortly afterwards I started this mesh, the Akira. It was my 3rd version of the ship. I ended up going back to college and getting a demanding but awesome job as a network admin so my 3d skills have slacked for the past few years. Just recently I've been trying to rediscover my roots and get back to modelling. I pulled her out of storage to finish her off.

http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/53.jpg

http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/50.jpg
http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/51.jpg
http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/52.jpg
http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/53.jpg
http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/54.jpg
http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/55.jpg

Any comments or suggestions?

(Also, if I screwed up the message format don't kill me ;))

[SDGreywolf]

Kenny,
The Akira looks sweet but needs name, registry and pennants on the hull.

[Eoraptor]

yesh. very great work indeed... been waiting for someone to do an akira that was accurate, all the ones I see are not to scale, or grossly deformed

Kenny,
The Akira looks sweet but needs name, registry and pennants on the hull. Myabe it is just so new from the yards, like the USS Odessy, that it hasn't been pimped out yet :D

[Freak]

:eek: man that is one sweet looking ship! SDGreywolf is right you need to put a name on this baby!:thumb:

[Aresius]

nice baby...
But I would put some more details on the ship's nacelles...

[Ozylot]

She's a fine ship... one of my favorites for sure.

one small crit: the azteching dosen't seem quite right IMO

[MadKoiFish]

I do wonder how many relise this is a WIP. . . .

[Martocticvs]

I was just wondering that myself. Nice to see you back at work on this kenny!

[Starship]

Welcome back Kenny ! ;)

[Trip]

Kenny GREAT Akira we hope you share it like your NX-01

[Guerrilla]

Welcome back. :)

[black campbell]

Absolutely lovely...I always liked the look of this ship.

[Kenny_Z]

Thanks for the replies and the welcome backs :)

Yeah, the aztecing is off because there isn't any. It's just my preference I guess, but the aztecing seemed out of place on the Akira. I think you're right about the nacelles Aresius, I'll work on that.

Don't worry, there will be a name and feddy markings as I progress.

I will be releasing this ship to everyone after it's finished. It's common practice for me ;)

[evil_genius_180]

Yeah, the aztecing is off because there isn't any. It's just my preference I guess, but the aztecing seemed out of place on the Akira.

Good call. The filming CGI model didn't have an aztec pattern on its hull, I have the Star Trek The Magazine issue with pics of the actual model. In fact, the only ship they built for FC that had aztec was the Enterprise.

It's good to see you back in the meshing business. Your NX-01 and Ambassador-class meshes are awesome. :thumb:

[Kenny_Z]

Only had less than an hour to work on it today so I focused on the under side of the saucer. Don't worry about pointing out the secondary's ridge line, that's only there until I weld the halves together.

http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/57.jpg

http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/56.jpg

[evil_genius_180]

Looks great. I've always been a fan of this design and it's great to see another beautiful mesh of it.

[Freak]

one of the best meshes of this I have seen.

[Aresius]

looks very good, yes...

[Kenny_Z]

Sorry about the lack of updates over the weekend. I was busy turning 27 and closing on a house ;)

If you scroll up to my last post you'll see the other wip images for this update, I accidently copied over some previous ones.

http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/58.jpg

Not much progress tonight.

[The_Maestro]

Outstanding! Always been a massive fan of the Akira - one of Trek's better designs. :) You're definately doing her justice man!

[Ozylot]

not bad....not bad at all. Love it!

[Freak]

Loving it!

[Kenny_Z]

I finally got some more work done on this mesh. Between work and the new house I haven't had much in the way of free time.

I textured a few minor pieces...
http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/59.jpg

and then built the deflector.
http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/60.jpg
http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/61.jpg

[Ozylot]

WOW... that looks beautiful! Truly great stuff!

[NickatNite]

very nice! She is quite the sleek looking ship. I noticed the ring extution around the bottom of the saucer is a little jaged looking. Maby add some more segments to it to smoth it up? I would love to see some pics of your NX if posabil. I am working on one now and like to see other peoples versions.

[Kenny_Z]

Yeah, the jaggedness of that ring on the secondary has been bugging me for awhile. I tried to fix it but it just wasn't happenning. I deleted it and made a new one. Then the jaggedness of the upper ring started to bug me...I deleted it too. I did recreate them both though :)

http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/62.jpg

Adding windows to this section. They took forever to clean up :\
http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/63.jpg
http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/64.jpg

I stopped in your Nx-01 thread Nick (I'd actually been in that thread several times ;)) The ship's looking terrific, tons better than mine. I haven't rendered an image of my Nx in probably over a year. There's a couple in the SFM gallery and a few in the MCGI gallery if you want to take a look.

[Freak]

Very nice you are really going for the little details.

[Kenny_Z]

Think its detailed now, I haven't showed you what's behind the rear hanger bay doors ;)

Very little work tonight. Mostly I focused on the bussard textures. I really don't like these at all now I that I step back and take a look.

http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/65.jpg
http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/66.jpg

Here's some views I usually make when I want to step back. Since this update is kinda sparce I included these. The nacelles seem kinda big from the side view to me. Think they are?

http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/67.jpg
http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/68.jpg
http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/69.jpg
http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/70.jpg

[Freak]

I just love this more and more!

[Braxton]

man kenny, its been a while :)

good to see you back at cg stuff!

cheers
brax

[Nevets]

Welcome back Kenny_Z.

Nice to see the Akira again. Far superior to the Akira-prise (Enterprise NX-01).

[Kenny_Z]

Hey Brax, very long time no see. It's great to be back :)

Here's that side view I forgot to post that really needs to be seen to get the question in my last post.

http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/71.jpg

[black campbell]

Love this ship.

[Kenny_Z]

I did some work on the nacelles. Tapering them a bit to match the rest of the ship. Also worked on those bussards that I didn't like. I think I like this version alot more. Nacelle detail is kinda low at this point.

http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/72.jpg
http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/73.jpg

[Ozylot]

fabulous!

[admiral horton]

i like hows this ship is coming however and maybe its me but the side view the saucer were the deflector is looks a little to thick or tall however you want to put it but like i said it maybe just me but great work so far

[Beowulf]

SWEET!!
but the profile shot, makes it look a little pregnant!! LOL

[Kenny_Z]

Sorry about the long delay between updates. At least this time it wasn't two years ;)

Got some minor texture tweaks done and some detail modelling. I did slightly compress the secondary hull to lessen the pregnant look.

Window test:
http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/75.jpg

Name and number:
http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/76.jpg

Got those little pipey looking things on the struts:
http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/77.jpg

Lighting test:
http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/78.jpg

[Freak]

looks great but the reg and name does not look right. I think it the colour you have used. change the blue outline to red and that should do it.

[Ozylot]

Wow! Thats amazing!

[BEMEUP]

Wooo that's fantastic work! Yea, I agree with Freak, either the font or style on the registry look off. Doesn't take away from the workmanship, nice job!

[EBOLII]

Hey who is that guy??????????

[Roliba]

Great texture on the hull there. Yep[, registry color needs tweaking, IMHO anyway.

[seanr]

Totally wrong fonts for the hull lettering. Do a search for "Federation Wide" and "Starfleet Bold Extended". Usually Federation Wide is only used for the smaller lettering, but you'll have to check your refs for specific locations.

[Kenny_Z]

Thanks Seanr, I found the fonts to use. I don't actually have many reference shots that show the lettering in any detail to see what the font looks like. ;)

Hey Ebolii! Long time no see :)

And while I'm a fan of the blue I'll change it over to red. I knew it was red but I wanted blue. I see looks too much like movie era insignias now. :)

Look for updates later on...3am emergency network maintenance calls to me tonight :\

[Kenny_Z]

New insignia thanks to Seanr's font suggestions.

http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/79.jpg

http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/80.jpg


Shuttlebay shot:
http://www.kservers.net/wipimages/akirav3/81.jpg

[Freak]

The ships reg looks far better now!
You just keep knocking me out of my chair with each update! :D

[homerpalooza67]

Looks Great! Awesome work!!!

[exodus2310]

Looks nice.

[sovrane]

Nice to have u back Kenny. I know some of yor work an u are still awesome

[Ozylot]

Love it!

[Kenny_Z]

Necropost from beyond the grave here but it's legit because I've FINALLY got some updates. Anyone even remember me? :D

My longest running mesh is finally finished...I think.

http://uploads.m-cgi.com/kennyz/akirav3/01.jpg
http://uploads.m-cgi.com/kennyz/akirav3/02.jpg
http://uploads.m-cgi.com/kennyz/akirav3/03.jpg
http://uploads.m-cgi.com/kennyz/akirav3/04.jpg
http://uploads.m-cgi.com/kennyz/akirav3/05.jpg
http://uploads.m-cgi.com/kennyz/akirav3/06.jpg
http://uploads.m-cgi.com/kennyz/akirav3/07.jpg

I got it into my head to work on her today and I finally finished about 2am. By today's standards I feel she's weak. I started this mesh...3 years back, longer? Who knows. College, a new career, and one fun Chevy Nova restoration took priority.

As with all of my previous meshes, she'll be a public release soon.

[XRaiderV1.7]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/ace1701e/Emoticons/clap-1.gif
nice, an akira class, about time too.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/ace1701e/Emoticons/clap-1.gif

[Wilson359]

Sweet. This has to be one of my favourite Star Trek ships. Excellent work.

[Aresius]

Nice. I love the work on the lower bulges' front. That's sweet.

[Starship]

Necropost from beyond the grave here but it's legit because I've FINALLY got some updates. Anyone even remember me? :D


Yes, I do remember. :D How the life is going? Career is a time consuming, no doubt. If my memory serves you're a network admin, right? My work is about IT too. Sometimes it drives me crazy, but it's funny other times.:lol:
Welcome back Kenny.

[Dark Saber]

very nice.

[XRaiderV1.7]

Yes, I do remember. :D How the life is going? Career is a time consuming, no doubt. If my memory serves you're a network admin, right? My work is about IT too. Sometimes it drives me crazy, but it's funny other times.:lol:
Welcome back Kenny.




I do some freelance IT work, mostly end user type stuff, e.g. getting computers back up and running, clearing malware.

this Xmas just past was totally crazy, lets just leave it at that.

and you're right starship, at times it drives me to the verge of the cuckoo's nest, and at other times, it can be most funny.

xmas 3 years ago, I pulled some 5000 pieces of malware off my stepsister's computer, and I swear, when ad-aware finished scanning, and it totaled 5000 pieces, I fell out of the chair laughing, half the family came running, and I had a bunch of are you ok's and whats soo damn funny's, and all I could do is point at the screen and start laughing all over again. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/ace1701e/Emoticons/th1dad769a.gif

until 6 months later, that was the worst infestation I'd ever seen on any one computer.

the current record holder a, laptop, takes the golden taco at 25,000, I kid you not.
that day it was not funny. it lost its charm after the third uncommanded shutdown, I wound up running ad-aware a nice dozen times, scanning and removing chunks between uncommanded shutdowns.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v106/ace1701e/Emoticons/hijacked.gif

I love every second I'm working on a computer, trying to fix it, that much never changes. :cool:

[Kenny_Z]

Thanks everyone :D So, anything that needs to be changed or looked at? This is the last chance to get some nitpicking in before I pack her up for public release ;)

Yeah, I'm a network admin of sorts. Technically I'm a 3 level escalation technician now for my NOC group. Basically that means if I can't fix it it's either broke so bad it needs to be replaced or I escalate to the engineering group. It's fun, I see all sorts of interesting problems. Back when I was also the IT guy before we were bought out I'd see all sorts of weird problems. Once the spyware got to 800 units my solution was to erase the PC and start over ;)

[Starship]

I´m not a network admin or a support for PC´s and users, but already did this in the past. :D
Now I´m involved with ITIL, planning and performance. A lot of reports to do, Corporative applications with troubles and enviroment to manage with my team. Sometimes I got myself tired of this... When I was a technician, was to much easy than as it is in my actual function. Pressure is a constant. Anyway, I love IT, and it can be funny sometimes. Next week I´ll have a break. Vacation is coming :D :D

Back on topic, here it goes the requested nipticks:
- The blue is to much uniform for the warp engines
- Add a blue light to the main sensor
Just these small ones.;)

[floodcasso2]

holy crap! hey kenny! i just got back here too. the akira looks awesome :)

[medjai]

You are making an excellent work Kenny_Z. Akira is really a beautiful ship. Keep that:thumb:

[Kenny_Z]

Hey Flood, long time no see :D

You're absolutely right Starship. I've corrected those errors and while doing that I remembered what extras I had built into this ship.

Corrected Deflector - It had a dim blue light. I added some glow effects.
http://uploads.m-cgi.com/kennyz/akirav3/09.jpg

Gave the bussards some glows and fixed the nacelle vents.
http://uploads.m-cgi.com/kennyz/akirav3/10.jpg

Then I remembered I had front hanger bays...
http://uploads.m-cgi.com/kennyz/akirav3/11.jpg
http://uploads.m-cgi.com/kennyz/akirav3/12.jpg

And rear bays...
http://uploads.m-cgi.com/kennyz/akirav3/13.jpg
http://uploads.m-cgi.com/kennyz/akirav3/14.jpg

[Starship]

Great additions!
The dim blue light looks perfect!
Excuse me to be a pain, but the blue things still remains to much uniform.;) Are they made with gradient or textured ones?

[Kenny_Z]

Actually they are modeled. The glow covered up the darker grid lines at this angle. Tonight I'll render a better angle.

[DerekDRP]

Nice work Kenny

[EBOLII]

who? have we met?................What have you been doing? R U well? so much time yeah?..........

[Kenny_Z]

Ebolii, very long time no see :D

I've been with a different hobby that I love much more than 3d. My 66 Mustang and 66 Nova keep me pretty busy off the PC. I'm doing very well, how about you?

No new updates, I haven't had the chance to render that nacelle side view yet :\

[Hellsgate]

Beauty!!

[REL777]

Some reference.

Akira Class renders - Resin Illuminati (http://www.resinilluminati.com/showthread.php?t=1005)

[Aresius]

That's absolutely sweet.

[XRaiderV1.7]

I agree, outstanding!

[mattc]

Some reference.

Akira Class renders - Resin Illuminati (http://www.resinilluminati.com/showthread.php?t=1005)

Amazing what one can do with 10000 polygons...

[Nutsy]

JESUS... Thats the offical model used in the show and First contact film? o.O It looks fluffing awful. The Akira I made I was planning to be along the same specs of the show based on the very small avalible references I had at the time... And mine still came out better looking :p

Tbh im a little shocked that, that level of quality got onto the show and film.

[Nutsy]

Amazing what one can do with 10000 polygons...

Was going to say... It looks like a game model.

[iOSYS]

And yet first contact manages to have nicer effects than most more modern movies.

[mattc]

Was going to say... It looks like a game model.

It's worse. You should see the Steamrunner and Saber models.

[Nutsy]

Yeah ive seen closeups of those... Good thing they where background models...

[homerpalooza67]

Whoa! FC had amazing effects (even if the story was a little lame..:shiner:) But if that was the caliber model they had....Thank G-d it was only in the background...:p

Sovvy looked great in the movie tho...

[Martocticvs]

Well, the Sovvy was a hunking great 10 foot physical model :p

[mattc]

Most of those are perfectly good for background shots. You'd be surprised how low-res the geometry in Insurrection was as well.

M.

[BorgMan]

It's a bit late, I know, but I think I know what's bothering you with the nacelles: they are indeed a bit big, but if I recall correctly the end of the nacelles don't go past the end of the pylons much, while in your case they do. Litteraly cutting of the back end of the nacelles should give you the effect you desire :)