Meshes galore!

[Overmind5000]

Anyone ever wanted to make a sci-fi ship but couldn't think of what shape, size, or couldn't make the ship mesh? Here's the link. Reply if you find it helpful.
http://www.scifi-meshes.com/

:beach:

 

[Coolhand]

Moved to off topic discussion.

SFM is a great site, i'm on staff there... we do have a free model download section, but most if not all would be unsuitable for orbiter as they're high poly meshes. and if you do want to put them into orbiter you should probably ask the artists permission first. It's also a great place for education and inspiration for all 3d artists.

 

[tgep]

This IS a good sight for getting ideas from. I've had it in my refeance links folder for a few months now.
I've played around with a few ideas I've gotten there and have some Pre-TOS Battlestar Galactica ships on the back burner.

 

[ryan]

Moved to off topic discussion.

SFM is a great site, i'm on staff there... we do have a free model download section, but most if not all would be unsuitable for orbiter as they're high poly meshes. and if you do want to put them into orbiter you should probably ask the artists permission first. It's also a great place for education and inspiration for all 3d artists.

Lol coolhand like your avatar, i love all the alien movies i specially like AVP1, i dont AVP2 to much violence no real movie plot.

 

[ar81]

For some reason all these scifi shows show massive vessels. That is not fuel efficient. You do not need an armored frigate in space. Even today's sea vessels are made of aluminium, not steel.

 

[Coolhand]

Lol coolhand like your avatar, i love all the alien movies i specially like AVP1, i dont AVP2 to much violence no real movie plot.

i just think H R Giger's xenomorph design is one of the greatest things ever... in fact pretty much everything he does is amazing. Check out the first three alien movies are some great films, the AVP's pale in comparision imo.. sad thing is that there's not much you can do with the franchise now, since those couple of films you mentioned did so much to water it down.

That alien in my avatar is a model i'm building, if you sign up and search the WIP's for my thread you can follow the progress.

 

[Biscuit]

For some reason all these scifi shows show massive vessels. That is not fuel efficient. You do not need an armored frigate in space. Even today's sea vessels are made of aluminium, not steel.

If you are only talking military vessels, yeah, there is a lot of aluminum used in the superstructure, deckhousing, etc ... but I believe the actual hull/armor plating itself is a steel alloy of some sort.

That would only make sense really ... light on top, heavy on bottom (so it stays upright), steel is much stronger than aluminum in case of attack.

But, who is to say all these gigantic sci-fi battleships aren't made of some extremely light exotic alloy?

... then again, if you are building in space, you'll use what materials are available ... especially during wartime. Got a lot of iron/nickel asteroids handy? Need a ship quick? Then steel would probably be used quite a bit.

Plus, whispy, fragile looking dreadnaughts don't look as impressive on the screen (and I would guess most movie people don't know any better anyway).

 

[TSPenguin]

It is science fiction after all...
And it is more about art than realistic design. I just think to myself that all those ships have some exotic drive where mass is irrelevant.

 

[ar81]

steel is much stronger than aluminum in case of attack.

In case of attack, nowadays naval battles are decided by missiles.
Your cannon, planes, SAMs and antisubmarine ops are your armor, for if the missile passes that armor, it does not matter if your vessel is made of steel or aluminium.

General Belgrano lost 15 meters of it bow with a british torpedo and it was made of thick steel. HMS Sheffield was made of aluminium and was rendered unusable because of flamable materials and damage control problems, not because it was made of aluminium.

Steel armor is even less cost effective in space, for it would require lots of fuel.

 

[n122vu]

It is science fiction after all...
And it is more about art than realistic design. I just think to myself that all those ships have some exotic drive where mass is irrelevant.

Like the gravity drive in the Event Horizon from the movie of the same name



"Liberate tu-temet ex inferis"

 

[Biscuit]

Oh, I totally agree that in space steel armor would be less cost effective.

Mass is everything.

But, like TSPenguin said, it's art.

People are used to seeing surface ships, and people like seeing what is familiar. Hence, battleships in space.

 

[Coolhand]

simple thing is that people like to see a couple of big bad battleships slugging it out side by side, you can see this from starwars to the new BSG. so a couple of heavily armoured leviathans make this all the more plausible. It just looks good on screen and makes for an exciting effects scene rather than one ship being totally destroyed in one volley. Blame George lucas, it's all his fault.

 

[ar81]

Yes, you can create a practical skyscrapper with economy of materials.
But if you want real luxury, you could make it massive, like an egyptian pyramid.
So if it is about showing luxury, an armored spaceship is the way to go.
A juggernaut in space sends a message: No matter how expensive fuel is, we have the money to pay for it.

 

[Native Son]

For some reason all these scifi shows show massive vessels. That is not fuel efficient. You do not need an armored frigate in space. Even today's sea vessels are made of aluminium, not steel.

A man's imagination does not have to be fuel efficient.

 

[jedidia]

It just looks good on screen and makes for an exciting effects scene rather than one ship being totally destroyed in one volley.

Yeah, imagine BGS like this:

"detected cylon basestar at 5 million kilometers trying to match vector for intercept. Will get within radar range in one week."

"Oh, that's really annoying currently, with the repairs and all. How long can we delay the encounter?"

"With proper manouvering, about two months..."

"make it so!" (oops, wrong show...)

Six months later:

"Cylon Battlestar now on direct intercept vector, entering missile range in 15 hours".

"Ok, as soon as he's in range, fire a volley of 10 nukes!"

15 hours later: "Missiles away, eta about 4 hours."

4 hours later: "missile 2, 3 and 5, direct hits. Enemy disabled."

"Ok, let's have a cup of tea..."

doesn't make for much action in a movie (allthough there could be quite some suspension in the maner of "Das Boot"...)

 

[ar81]

"Incoming missile, captain"
"Drop that asteroid we had in the storage bay and blow it in pieces. Debris would confuse it."

 

[spcefrk]

Actually, it seems less likely to me that you would have small military vessels in space (other than those vehicles that will transit space from one point to another on the ground). It takes a lot to support a crew (let's say about 6-10 people), and then to allow multiple maneuvers and carry a large enough array of weapons to be effective. That's going to take something roughly the size of a medium-sized submarine if you ask me.

 

[Coolhand]

Yeah, imagine BGS like this:

"detected cylon basestar at 5 million kilometers trying to match vector for intercept. Will get within radar range in one week."

"Oh, that's really annoying currently, with the repairs and all. How long can we delay the encounter?"

"With proper manouvering, about two months..."

"make it so!" (oops, wrong show...)

Six months later:

"Cylon Battlestar now on direct intercept vector, entering missile range in 15 hours".

"Ok, as soon as he's in range, fire a volley of 10 nukes!"

15 hours later: "Missiles away, eta about 4 hours."

4 hours later: "missile 2, 3 and 5, direct hits. Enemy disabled."

"Ok, let's have a cup of tea..."

doesn't make for much action in a movie (allthough there could be quite some suspension in the maner of "Das Boot"...)

yeah lol. a realistic space battle would probably be conducted on the order of hours, days, weeks, perhaps more... at immense range with drones/missiles. I'm not saying it couldn't make for good tv or movie but it would be different and hollywood in particular doesn't really like 'different'. Though if you give ships crazy propulsion systems like in startrek then you might have to get close just to be able to hit them with anything since they could just dodge out of the way so easily.. they seem to be able to go from nothing to 1/4 speed of light in an instant... and thats not even using warp drive.

Das Boot is a great comparison for a realistic scifi battle... but how would you script it and direct it to keep the audience interested? I think thats a big problem.

 

[Biscuit]

I want to think it was one of Niven's novels where he was describing what sounded like realistic space combat.

The weaponry was usually lasers ... and combat was taking place at ranges of light-seconds or better.

The ships try to make unpredictable maneuvers as to not be where the beam is going to be, while trying to predict where the enemy will be when their beam reaches it. You don't know when your enemy is going to fire, so you don't want to keep on a straight predictable path ... and, you don't want to evade in a predictable pattern.

Lots of tension, frantic random maneuvering ...

I think it could be made to look good on the screen, and be realistic.

... modern aircraft can battle it out before they even get in visual range ... even modern tanks don't get right on top of each other these days ... It looks good on the screen, I enjoy the effects, but it does get a bit bothersome when advanced future spacecraft have to get almost in each others pants before they can start fighting.

... maybe one of these days someone in Hollywood will have the guts to try putting a Niven story on the screen ... and the integrity to do it right.

 

[jedidia]

Actually, it seems less likely to me that you would have small military vessels in space

Yes, they wouldn't be small. But, they wouldn't be massive. That's a difference there. They probably would look pretty fragile.