Having fun with an iconic Sci-Fi Design: An alternate USS Enterprise

USS Enterprise thumbnailIts been a long time since I lasted posted (over a year in fact) so I decided to show something I’ve been working on in my spare time. I guess you could call me  a fairweather Star Trek fan. I grew up watching The Next Generation as a kid as well as the six films starring the original cast. I don’t know the ins and outs of the show or how transporters, warp drives, or the reverse tachyon side split burst array influx emitters work but I knew episodes like “Darmok” or “Best of Both Worlds” were damn good television.

One thing I liked more about the original series, and the movies as well, was the design of the Enterprise. Simple shapes were combined into an aesthetically pleasing design which suggested it could be repaired or maintained by Scotty and his underlings in the far reaches of the galaxy without retreating to any (space)ports, like sailing vessels of long ago. Yet when I first saw the new Enterprise design for 2009 re-boot film, I thought it was extremely ugly and jarring, despite sharing the same basic design features and principles as it’s 1960’s predecessor.

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Spitfire Part 2

spitfire thumbnailWork continues at a slow, deliberate pace on my 3D spitfire. I am focusing this entry on changes I made to the aircraft’s fuselage to correct the profile. I find one should always re-examine one’s work. Just because a mesh “looks right” does not mean it is accurate. The changes I made to the mesh make it a far superior recreation of a Spitfire MK. 1 then the one shown in the previous entry. More details after the break. Read More

3D Supermarine Spitfire

illustrator spitfireThe Supermarine Spitfire is arguably the most attractive warplane ever built. The plane, in many incarnations, served throughout World War II. I am currently building one in 3ds Max, based on the early versions of the plane. The early versions, especially the Mk I, were the planes that fought the Luftwaffe (German Air Force) during the Battle of Britain in 1940. Other versions were developed during the war with many body modifications, such as clipped rather then elliptical wings and bubble cockpits, and improved engines. Read More

3D Missiles

hellfireI have added some new images in the gallery section. These images are renders of three different missiles constructed in Cinema 4D. The missiles were created for a project depicting a desert combat animation. The rest of the animation used models built by other people so I have not included them in the gallery. The three type of missiles I modeled are a Hellfire, a TOW 2B, and a Tomahawk.

I also modeled interiors for the missiles to showcase during animations. In television shows about military hardware, such as tanks or planes, the animation switches from a fairly realistic style to a draft style while information about the weapon or object is displayed. After the information is displayed the animation reverts back to the realistic style. The following is a brief animation I created emulating this approach. Read More