None of my designs lately work. They all look terrible the day after, and I'm so tired of coming up with new nacelles and saucers all the time. There's only so many things you can do with them, and they've ALL been done before. Basically, ever since I did the fandom ships, I haven't come up with anything remotely interesting myself.
So, my silly question is... does anyone have tips/ideas for making new designs? Something that stands out at least a little bit? What are your inspirations?
Yikes, that sounds desperate ... Starship Designers Anonymous anyone?
posted
You should do the accurate version of the Federation-class dreadnought. (One that doesn't use simply two Connie saucers joined together, but rather the much larger and thinner version of Joseph's manual.)
It would also be superlatively cool if you were to do the rest of the TAS shuttles that Rev and Masao are so loathe to do. (The Copernicus from "The Slaver Weapon" and the shuttle from "Mudd's Passion.") The scouter-gig from "The Ambergris Element" would be cool too.
-MMoM
P.S. Season's Greetings, BTW!
-------------------- The flaws we find most objectionable in others are often those we recognize in ourselves.
Registered: Jun 2001
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posted
Or move away from Federation ship designs and go for a Tholian or Bolian design. Something for fandom that isn't the same old stuff may give you a new perspective...
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
Registered: Sep 2000
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Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
Harry, a lot of times I just..play. I sketch randomly, frethink, look at clouds...& sometimes things come form the oddest places. My Canberra-class desing came from thinking about the streamlining of seaQuest & about how throwing nacelles out on pylons all the time was boring after a while. Thus, compaction, streamlining, & the manta ray-like shape was born. Sometimes it's thinking about civilian designs, alien designs, or stepping away from capital ships for a while & heading for support vessels. Some of my best ideas have come up in freighter & tanker classes.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
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posted
Like Shik, I spend a lot of my time just looking around. I get ideas from a lot of different places: insects, airplanes, subs, trains, cars, household appliances, seafood, plants, etc. Early jets are a particularly good source for unusual ideas.
I also spend a lot of time sketching, usually just studies of masses without worrying about surface details. I also try to sketch in perspective to avoid designs that look good only from one direction.
Sometimes I abandon the sketch pad and do "physical sketching" with clay, dishes, pencils, and rolled up papers, holding them in different positions and looking at them from different angles.
If you want to continue with pre-TOS Fed designs, try greatly varying the size and shape of the elements. For example, try a ship wih an extremely small or non circular saucer. For example, for Paris, I pushed the bridge to the very front of a pointed primary hull. Vary the number and placement of the nacelles: they don't always have to be long, paired, supported on long sticks, and at the back of the ship.
-------------------- When you're in the Sol system, come visit the Starfleet Museum
Registered: Oct 1999
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Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
My roommates back in CT would hide remote controls from me because they looked like starships to me. Currently, I'm obsessed with the shape of my roommate's phone. It's Masao shuttle-like.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
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The design ideal of a saucer and two nacelles can only be taken so far.... I have designed a ship based on a shuttle, it gives a lot of volume for all sorts of stuff, made it a through deck carrier in one study model. If I can find the CD I burned it on to when cleaning off my HDD I will post it... My first design posting come to think of it...
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
I usually get my ideas while I'm already drawing. In most cases I don't even "waste" my time and paper with pencil sketches but start directly in CAD. But aside from that, I have no tips - I'm suffering from a lack of ideas myself...
-------------------- Bernd Schneider
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I'm with Bernd on this one, I usually just start mucking about in PSP and usually inspiration will strike, sending me off on a weird tangent. The EVAPs are a prime example of this, they started out as a reverse engineered version of one of Masao's early fighter concepts that he showed me and it ended up becoming a NASA maintenance pod. The best advice I can give is to not think to much about what your doing and just see where your imagination takes you. When that doesn't work I always have more than enough half finished projects - (enough to open a half finished gallery with) - to keep me occupied until something else comes along.
posted
I don't know about guidelines for sketches. It sounds rather frustrating It's a sketch after all, it doesn't really matter if perspective is off a bit.
And I just sketched up a TOS era ship with a big MIDAS-like sensor (communications?) dish at the back. But I forgot the nacelles ... and I don't know where to put them Perhaps I'll corel something up.
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
Registered: Sep 2000
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![[Smile]](smile.gif)
... Starship Designers Anonymous anyone?![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Embarrassed]](redface.gif)
... and I don't know where to put them ![[Cool]](cool.gif)
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