THE TMP 1701: or, What HAVE I GOTTEN MYSELF INTO!!

[Roliba]

Hey Everybody.

You know, when I said I'd whip together a tutorial for JediLaw, someone should have slapped me. This is a little more complicated than some people make it seem.

However, a promise is a promise so *hikes up pants, rubs hands together, and takes a biiig drink of something alcoholic*...

As per request, I'm going to start with the naccles. Now bear in mind that I'm working in Max, so the specific ways that I'm using may not, shall we say, cross platform boarders. That being said, I'm not going to get all wrappped up in the exact way I did this or that; what I'm going to be keeping things more open. Those of you using Max, I hope you understand the program reasonbly well by now, because I will not be showing or telling you what button to push. Instead, I'm just going to tell what I did. Those not using Max, I'm sorry, but hopfully your app's have simliar features and for those that don't, just follow along with concept of have each componant is created and then combined with other parts to make the whole.

After spending a few hours searching the net for ref's, I finally found some lovely ortho's. Now, I haven't asked for permission to use them, so I won't be showing them in any images. But don't fret, all you Trek heads will recognise each peice as its presented.

When first looking at the Gracefull lady of the Movie's, one might feel intimidated by its long compound curves. To not fret. The real trick to this ship (and for that fact, any modeling job) is to break it apart. We'll start with the forward section of the nacclle, where the Bussard (did you catch that Eric?) intakes are.




My first step (after a few false starts) was to create a spline cage following the major contours of the shape. you will note that I've only done one side; Don't panic, I'm not forgetting anything, I'm just lazy and Max enables me to stay that way .




After that It's a simple matter of aplying a surface modifier, kick the steps up to a sufficient number to avoid those pesky segmants, and then using a symmetry modifier (told ya.)



And Rendered out with crappy lights and color... a start.



Well that's it for the first step (Man, I'm a long winded freak aren't I).

I'll carry on when it's not late, so stay tuned.

Oh, and I promise not to be so long winded in the future.

[Tallguy]

Well I love the concept, but your links need some work, mate. (i.e. they're not there)

[Oovebei]

Yep I am having the same issue here

[Jedilaw]

Wow, thanks for the quick turnaround on the tutorial. I'd love to be able to see the screenshots, though.

I have been considering using the spline cage method for the nacelles, but haven't fooled around with that approach yet (I've been using NURMs on boxes and cylinders). That's mainly because I suck at laying out an accurate spline curve.

[Roliba]

Originally Posted by Tallguy

Well I love the concept, but your links need some work, mate. (i.e. they're not there)

Oh God, I am desperatly trying to figure it out. I'll get back to you in a bit.

[Roliba]

Okay. fixed the attached images. Whew, that's a load off!

[Roliba]

Originally Posted by Jedilaw

Wow, thanks for the quick turnaround on the tutorial. I'd love to be able to see the screenshots, though.

I have been considering using the spline cage method for the nacelles, but haven't fooled around with that approach yet (I've been using NURMs on boxes and cylinders). That's mainly because I suck at laying out an accurate spline curve.

you can do the same thing with nurms and what not. Like I said, how you make your shape is not the important part, just the way the shapes are brought together.

[USS Mariner]

I think I can actually do this now. I've always been able to make templates in Autocad, but I've ben confused on what I actually need to "spline in." This helps a lot. Thanks!

[PiperTheGreat]

Great! i was going to be looknig out for a refit tutorial, and now you're producing one, brilliant! great work, should be easy enough to translate over to truespace...

[Roliba]

Now we're working on the second main shape of the naccelle



Again, I make a spline cage. The bueaty of this mehtod is that I only have to make two cross section shapes (the front and mid are the same) and then connect the vertices with only some minor curve adjustment. In fact, I've spent more time writing the tut section and saving the files .



Apply the surface and symmetry mods...



...and render.



Now we combine the two and you can already see that it's recognizably a nacclle.



*Yayy. I figured out how to attach my images!*