They all look really good, Mark. Excellent work, as always. I wish I had a knack for drafting and drawing.
I really like the Science ship bridge. It is very compact and the layout is interesting. I like the ledge that seems to be formed under the MSD by the two science stations. That's a very interesting idea, and I guess on specific missions the MSD could be converted to a sector scan or other science-type monitor. The Mission Ops station curving behind the command chair is cool, and I like the engineering and tactical stations positioned off to the sides. Very cool. Plus, if you squint at it, you can see a "smilie face."
The Explorer bridge is pretty nice. It's nice and roomy. I'm not sure if I would have placed those stations where you did. I would have swung the Environmental station over to the Engineering side of the bridge, but that's still a wonderful design. The Cruiser bridge is rocking, too. You've got the Conn and Ops stations connected again to hint at the earlier ship bridges. The small Mission Ops stations flanking the command chair are cool. The overall design has a nice shape.
Excellent work!
Posted by that english guy (Member # 727) on :
Nice to see u back, Mark ! Now all I need to make this a perfect day is to find the link for STAR TREK: TOKYO and discover that the season finale is online !
Favourite Bridge of these two ? Mmmmm, definitely the latest SCIENCE bridge ; there;s just something smooth and slinky about it. I'd deffo like to have that Bridge on my ship !
What classes do you see these Bridge's belonging to ?
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :
Pleh Mark, trying to steal my thunder away from my Pioneer! Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
It's purely coincidental, I assure you. I scan my stuff in, check out the creative forum for the first time in weeks, and BAM! There's your way more detailed bridge design for the Pioneer, not to mantion the ass-kicking Pioneer herself. Who's stealing whose thunder!
Anyway, to answer questions: Sieg, that "ledge" at the back of the science bridge is supposed to be a sort of workspace akin to the Defiant's aft table, a litle more spread out to allow standing people to gather around. There isn't a display on the table proper, but there could be. The M.Ops station on a Science vessel would typically be used to run the mission-specific payloads, and thus is part of the science station "cluster" aft. I imagine this to be a larger science vessel type than a Nova, given its dedicated tactical station and auxilliary stations.
The cruiser bridge would be used for smaller ships... Perhaps Norways, or patrol-oriented ships. The M.Ops stations would probably be used for scientific duties, and as auxilliary tactical/operations stations in combat times.
The explorer bridge is my favorite - I like using multiple levels like that. The conn/ops stations are only slanted towards the operator on the front and side segments. The aft segment is flat-topped and bidirectional, such that a crewman can walk down the stairs and use the console directly in front of him, and work in conjuction with the conn/ops officer with it. The aft stations would be pullout chairs as on the E-D, and can be switched around at the Captain's (Siegfried's) discretion. Oh, and that's a railing between the two tactical stations.
Mark
[ October 29, 2001: Message edited by: Mark Nguyen ]
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :
I know, I was just kidding around... Suppose maybe I should of used a better smiley.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
No, it's more than fitting for me. The research in my Masters degree involves composting and waste management.
Mark
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Just finishing off this particular batch of sketches. Comments welcome.
I like the cruiser bridge ; never really liked the idea of two people on tactical - I mean, it's not going to be very effective and will probably be bad for the defense of the ship to have two people getting in each others way. Otherwise, it's a cool one ...
Escort is good too ! I imagine it as being on a Sabre class ship and it looks cool.
Loving the designs as always ; how about working on a uniform design too ? I'm interested to see what you'll come up with.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
I usually like to have two tacticl positions, as that would give the first officer somewhere to sit and something to do. While I appreciate the idea of having the first officer being an independent position in the TNG era, him just sitting in a chair is pretty boring. We often see Riker hop up to the Tactical console to help Worf out; in my bridge designs, I keep the XO there. In smaller ships (like the escorts and science vessels, etc.) the first officer proabably would be a department head as well; I usually place him at Tactical or Operations.
Uniforms? But that involves more than two dimensions! How can I possibly draw that?!
Mark
Posted by Ace (Member # 389) on :
Cool bridges. One comment: Most seem heavy on the angles. I think it would be neat to see a circular bridge like in the TOS movies and original series, but updated with TNG/DS9/VOY features.
Just a thought. Great work!
Posted by akb1979 (Member # 557) on :
Mark: Please check your private messages.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Done. No problem, man!
Mark
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
I made some bridge sketches which incorporated the holo communicator from "For the Uniform" (was that the ep!?!) good idea?
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
Let's see 'em first.
Mark
Posted by akb1979 (Member # 557) on :
Ooooh! The holo communicator! What ever happened to that? It was used in only one episode, but was a damn cool idea! (I plan on using such a device in my sci-fi novels - if they ever get written!). Bring the pics on AndrewR, I'd love to see them!
Mark - same again! But this time, with email too! Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
The holo-communicator was only really *in* style because it was a useful dramatic device. They invented it because they didn't want to have Sisko and Eddington exchange dialogue over the viewscreen all the time. They only brought it back so that some Admiral's final speech would have more emotional impact on the audience when Bashir's dad's sentence was read. I believe they took it out because they'd otherwise have to be explaining it all the time, and couldn't justify the time and expense of doing so, or providing special effects to provide a visual cue that the guy was a hologram, a la Star Wars.
As for the in-Trek explanation, I'd say that the holocomm was an experimental device that didn't offer any really useful advantage over the standard comm systems, and had no real practical advantage other than making it more "personal" for people to be talking to each other. While in practice the technology was proabably sound, it just didn't make sense to equip every ship in the fleet with it - especially since the war started up a few months later. However, since the war ended they no longer had any excuse...
In related history, I once came up with a nifty idea for a fanfic involving a holo-conference some time before the holocomm came up. Every ship in a fleet with a holodeck would create an identical conference room with enough seats for the captain and XO of everyone in the fleet. Then, the images of each officer would be transmitted to every other ship as a practical hologram, effectively creating a conference room filled with a bunch of people who could fully interact without anyone beaming over. I used this gimmick in a story that would have filled in the battle with the Borg in "First Contact", with Worf beaming to the USS Bozeman to sit in on the holo-conference briefing of Admiral Hayes' fleet with Captain Bateson and his XO.
Mark
Posted by Mr. Christopher (Member # 71) on :
Actually, in the Gateways novel series, they had a holoconference to advise everyone about the gateways.
Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :
