Sat, Mar 6, 2021 at 3:01 PM
Ignatz,
It's easy to belabor this aspect of the vessels. I'm pretty-much okay with anything you decide. One of the problems with having weapon pods of the right size and configuration (I actually think they could be 1/4 of the current size, even after shrinking them down this time), is that they'll no longer be discernible as anything other than random equipment in an image file, when it comes time.
I could argue for or against various aspects of the weapons, but in the end, how it appears probably trumps how it would work. I'm just grateful for all your time, work, and enthusiasm.
-David
Sat, Mar 6, 2021 at 3:07 PM
David,
Again, you are right.
Shrinking this down too much would make it disappear in the graphic sense (a big naughty, that).
I can still play with it a bit and see what happens.
-Ignatz
Sun, Mar 7, 2021 at 5:57 AM
David,
Honey! I shrunk the kids... er, I mean, weapons pods!
I've down-sized the weapons pod turret yet again. Also cut down the number of missile tubes to eight. In the process it lost the access hatch. No need for that thing any more, leave it to a few discrete panels in the housing. Boy! You should have heard the pissing and moaning from the techs in the weapons department about the cost overruns connected to this refit.
If you look at the attached renders you may agree that we have reached what I believe to be a reasonable 'smallest size' for this weapons pod. Any smaller than this and I'm not sure that it will be noticeable in the graphic. In the second render you can compare the now-reduced weapons pod to the size of the airlock hatch.
Technical notes: I'm thinking that the missiles are not necessarily full-length in those launch tube modules, the rear portion of same being taken up by some of the charging, power and/or magnetic launch circuitry. This weapons pod is now of size that it could be re-used in other locations and/or situations. We could install a second unit on the fore deck, but consider instead that this same weapons pod is fixed onto the back of a small drone platform. That way the captain has an easy way to distribute the weaponry. It seems to me that an extra two of these drones would be standard for the cargo hauler.
When flying on its own, the two weapons pod drones would probably be fixed to the support platform pads, fore and aft. When the cargo hauler is fixed to a container, then the two drones would be fixed onto locations on the sides of the cargo container, say front and rear. Now that doesn't cover all the sides of the container and especially with larger containers that might leave a blind spot. However, since there are always at least two cargo haulers working in tandem, the second cargo hauler sends its drones to the two sides of the container not covered by those of the first hauler. Ultimately all six sides of the cargo container have at least one weapons pod for protection, this on top of additional charpac drones and lantern gun drones. Watch out, pirates!
Gave a listen your latest audio diary instalment, "Iterative". Thank you for the kind words.
An observation is in order. I wouldn't quite refer to these renders as 'low poly'... well perhaps the first few. The first 'junk test' was comprised of something like 22,000 polygons. Compare that to the current state of the ship model which has something around 1,300,000 polygons. Not exactly 'low poly' any more. Nevertheless, we both know the model is still lacking detail and also doesn't display proper material and/or lighting. But I'm nit-picking so don't bother taking time to read out a corrective statement online (ha! ha!).
[Historical note: the first commercial 3D computer animation system I worked on had a hard limit of no more than 2,048 polygons per object. Any more than that and you had an instant computer system crash. Sometimes even coming close to that number would kill the system. Boy was that thing unstable! So many wasted nights sleeping in front of the system monitor to make certain it was still running. But that's a story for another time.]
As I look at the evolution of this ship model I find myself waxing thoughtful about how these spaceship models come into existence in the first place. There are always different schools of development, depending upon the ideas of the writers/scenarists as well as the graphics departments, animators, model builders and/or special effects crew working on any particular project, that coupled with the current and popular cultural expectations. When I was young the classic idea of a space ship was the sleek, cigar shaped rocket - usually with three or four Cadillac-style fins. Moving on we find the Star Trek smooth 'n' sleek look. When Star Wars made its appearance we were into the age of vessels festooned with an odd array of boxes and conduits and 'you-name-it'. [you know that the Star Wars model builders freely mixed and matched bits and pieces from plastic model kits to 'enrich' the look of those space ship surfaces] And then I examine my own approach to creating a space vessel where I'm constantly trying to justify the addition of surface detail, confronting myself with the question: "How does this work and is it valid in this situation?".
My feeling is that genuine detail actually arises from the physical requirements of any vehicle or vessel. Only sometimes do we allow ourselves to play with the shape or surface of said transport once the other requirements have been satisfied. This is rather more introspective and to a degree makes the creative process a bit more deliberate - not to mention 'slower'. Not perfect nor necessarily correct or even better, just deliberate - and slower.
Obviously, I'm not knocking my head on each and every form, but the thoughts are running under the surface all the time. The flip side of this space ship creative thing would be something like a Borg Cube from Star Trek. Those things resemble nothing quite so much as a few million metric tons of metal at the scrap yard having been subjected to a loose run through a compactor. No need to justify anything on that vessel, just paste it in place and you're golden. I can almost imagine the guys setting up for the interior shots in the Borg Cube(s) from the series - the producer picks up the phone, calls the nearest metal recycling center, "Hey, Manny, send me maybe four containers of whatever you've got. Yeah, aluminium, stainless steel, even some of that rusted stuff. You got, maybe, a couple of miles of that old ventilation tubing? Yeah, I know the stuff looks like sh*t, but with some mood lighting, smoke and camera soft focus, nobody gon'na know the difference."
Time to put a sock in it and get back to work. What will it be for today? Sensors? Drones? We shall see.
As usual, feel free to comment or suggest changes. The techs might complain, but most of them are only spec three or lower, so take no notice.
Until the next missive...
-Ignatz