# USS Columbia



## Shaw (Jan 9, 2005)

After watching a number of threads of people building 3D models of starships, I finally got curious about seeing what was involved in making stuff like this. So a few weeks ago I set out on an attempt to build a scout class ship from Franz Joseph's _Star Fleet Technical Manual_. I picked a scout because I had always liked them and also because it seemed less daunting than trying something like the Enterprise on my first endeavor.

It should also be pointed out that I was working on this as part of another thread in a Mac forum (entitled _Does anyone here use pre-G3 laptops regularly?_). So this was built using my old PowerBook 3400c (from 1997) using _Strata Vision 3D 4.0_ (from 1994). I've always felt that software makers tend to bloat their products to force people to buy new hardware. I've seen reports by people saying that building 3D models requires gigahertz of processor speed and gigabytes of memory. My 3400c uses a PowerPC 603e at 200 MHz with 80 MB of memory... which is definitely not the top of the line by any stretch of the imagination.

The principle drawback that I seemed to face with _Vision 3D_ was not being able to bring shapes into the application. I had hoped to create some shapes in Illustrator and import them to help, but wasn't able to do it. So right off the bat I had to eyeball a lot of the shapes and sizes.

Well, I haven't completely finished with it, but I reached a good resting point. This is what I have so far...


_Click to enlarge_​
There are definite _pros_ and _cons_ to building models this way. The main advantage is being able to try things and then undo them if you aren't happy with the result (not an easy thing to do with a real model). And while rendering can seem like waiting for paint to dry... it really isn't anywhere near as long a process. The drawbacks are not working with your hands and not having a real model in the end.


On a side note, the reason I picked the Columbia was that it was the ship that I used to pretend I commanded back in the 70's when my friends and I were playing _Star Trek_ as kids. We each picked a ship from the _Technical Manual_ and we built models of our ships and designed insignias. The insignia I designed back then was based on the shape of the Starfleet pendant and was sorta like the insignia for the Exeter (which I really liked a lot). The idea of using the pendant must have been a pretty good one as the designers of _Star Trek Enterprise_ used a similar design for the insignia for the Defiant (I still liked my take on it better though  ).

At any rate, this was really fun. I'll have to learn more about this type of stuff in the future. The one thing that I have gotten from this is a huge amount of respect for all the work that people have been putting into these 3D models.


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## m5multitronic (May 27, 2005)

Neat. I like it. Take that for what it's worth, though. You could print everything I know about CG modeling in billboard-sized letters on the back of your hand-- with room left over for some advertising.  

I'm just going by what I think looks good. And your _Columbia_ looks pretty cool to me.


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## Griffworks (Jun 24, 2002)

Sweet job, Shaw! I like the job you did on that one.


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

Awesome model building! No complaints from me!


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## StarshipClass (Aug 13, 2003)

WOW! Incredible work! You definitely have an eye for this work :thumbsup:


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Looks great!


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## TGel63 (Mar 26, 2004)

That is excellent! Wish I had the skill like that.


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## Shaw (Jan 9, 2005)

Thanks for all the encouragement guys!

It is a fun medium to play in. And this is a great way of learning a new skill.



Plus it doesn't make as much of a mess so my wife is happier too!


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## CaptFrank (Jan 29, 2005)

*Shaw* wrote:


> Plus it doesn't make as much of a mess so my wife is happier too!


And the children won't smear peanut butter all over it.

Or break it.

Or see if it floats.


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## uss_columbia (Jul 15, 2003)

Looks sweet!
The light panel shading looks cool.
(I don't care for the heavy "weathering" rings on the nacelle, though. To each his own.)


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## Shaw (Jan 9, 2005)

uss_columbia said:


> (I don't care for the heavy "weathering" rings on the nacelle, though. To each his own.)


Actually I've already lighten them up since these images... they were a little stronger looking than I had expected when finally rendered... which was one of the cool things about doing stuff this way. On a real model I most likely would have just left it that way.


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## Dr. Brad (Oct 5, 1999)

I like it. Very nice. Very nice indeed...

Brad.


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## Shaw (Jan 9, 2005)

I made some more changes/refinements to the Columbia. I'm still learning how to make objects and still don't have concrete guides within the app for sizes and shapes... so a lot of this stuff is done by hand from memory (I say this just so that people don't expect _Four Mad Men_'s quality of workmanship).

First change... I rebuilt the navigational deflector. In the image below I had also tested the idea of adding a sensor spike to the warp nacelle, but ended up not liking it.








Next I did additional work on the warp engine. The indented area that is usually on the inside of a Constitution class warp nacelle is on the underside of the Hermes class. The main challenge was adding that indentation shape to the existing nacelle (which isn't long enough now that I look at it).








Lastly, I finally got around to attempting an animation. This is my _second_ attempt... sadly, my first attempt had the ship moving backwards. :tongue: In the clip I decided to have the Columbia moving along a parallel course to the Galactic Barrier (seemed like an interesting scientific survey mission for such a ship).


_click to view clip_
_Duration: 4 sec._​
Once I get past this early learning stage, I'll attempt to try using Blender on better hardware. There are versions for both Mac OS X and IRIX, so I'll give it a go on either my PowerMac G4 or the SGI Indigo2 workstation I just got last month (which should handle Blender better than my SGI Indy would have).

For now, I'm still learning what can be done... and how to go about doing it. After about three weeks I'm still a _noobie_ at all this stuff.


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## Lloyd Collins (Sep 25, 2004)

You are really getting better, keep up the good work!


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## TGel63 (Mar 26, 2004)

You can't get any better than that! Excellent again! :thumbsup:


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## davecfprez (Dec 21, 2005)

FANTASTIC !!! 

this right here:










is subtle and so very ties in the original series !! wow ! if it was up to *ME* I would have all of Starfleet's ships changed to incorporate the azteking 

dave


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## Shaw (Jan 9, 2005)

I took a little more time to play with areas of the warp nacelle. As I get better at making shapes, I've been going back and addressing things I wasn't completely happy with the first time around.








I've also been reading up on how to make animation a little bit more. As a test case, I've animated the dome of the warp nacelle.


_Click to view clip_
_Duration: 17 sec._​
And a slightly different version...


_Click to view clip_
_Duration: 8 sec._​
I've also been working on a Constitution class secondary hull, but by the time I have made all the modifications to the primary surface the shape no longer renders as smooth... I'll have to work out where the problem lies with that one. Once I get that shape to render nicely, I should have enough of the main parts to make a Constitution class ship.


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## Shaw (Jan 9, 2005)

This is most likely my last up date on this project for the rest of the year. 

This clip is the approach of the Columbia to a planet.


_Click to view clip_
_Duration: 23 sec._​


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