Depicting Starships...

[Rigel Stardin]

I am aware Life Support Systems (LSS) are not apart of Traveller designs, yet somewhere in CT or MT there is a cost assocated for recharging the LSS.

My Design Theory: I started adding the LSS to round out the interiors of the ship. There are two parts to the LSS atmosphere and water. Both are depicted using circles (Spherical tanks) they are either in seperate rooms or in one large room. Each tank is 1 ton (Powder Blue for atmosphere, Dark Blue for water and Brown for solid waste.) These systems are closed systems and recycle the water and atmosphere on the ship. Most of smaller ships have 24 tons allocated for these systems. So it works out to about 1/8 the total design.

Avionics do appear in some designs for Traveller.

My Designs Theory: The avionics bay is usually in the bow of the ship. When I started laying out the avionic's bay in my designs I took a hint from the real world aircraft and began placing them underneath the cockpit. Both the actual bridge and the avionic's bay make up the total weight of the bridge component under my rules for design. I also use a computer network system onboard my designs. The computer (CPU) is connected to the bridge, avionics and engineering. The CPU is in control and acts as central hub for onboard systems, data bank and storage systems for all systems connected to the CPU. This distribute the computer throughout the ship. Each system can work independent of each other lessing the load on the CPU as well or if the Network is damaged.

Hope this helps...

 

[Rigel Stardin]

Just posted my version of the Serpant class Scout.

I would have posted sooner, but I have a tendacy to wait a few days after someone posts a new image in the art gallery.

 

[77topaz]

Just posted my version of the Serpant class Scout.

I would have posted sooner, but I have a tendacy to wait a few days after someone posts a new image in the art gallery.

Why? (referring to your tendency to wait a few days etc.)

 

[Rigel Stardin]

There are a bunch of talented artists here and they deserve time in the spotlight. I have two more ships nearly ready to post and if I put my mind to it, they could be up tonight. Why should I hog the art gallery because I can whip out a floor plan a week if I wantd too?

 

[far-trader]

Dammit! He's nobly intentioned and humble too!



I figured it was a "sense of fair play and sharing the spotlight" sentiment... bravo sir, bravo!

 

[77topaz]

There are a bunch of talented artists here and they deserve time in the spotlight. I have two more ships nearly ready to post and if I put my mind to it, they could be up tonight. Why should I hog the art gallery because I can whip out a floor plan a week if I wantd too?

I might create some deckplans for you people... but I don't have any special software. What would you recommend? The only application I know with special features for deckplan design is Cosmographer. What other programs are out there?

 

[Rigel Stardin]

http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Discuss/showthread.php?t=25396

Here is the program I use, but you can do what I do in MS Paint.

http://www.travellerrpg.com/CotI/Gallery/index.php?n=1228

Here are some stamps to start with. It is a simple matter of cut and paste. These stamps are all to the same scale and will allow you to maintain your design perspective. All you'll need to figure out is your hull shape and size.

Remember one other thing, I'v been drawing starships for 10 years, you're not going to accomplish what I have overnight. Designing rooms and equipment is going to take time. So just relax and take it slow. Start off simple and go from there.

 

[Rigel Stardin]

I just posted one of my oldest drawings. It's quite simplistic and childish if you ask me.

The point of me posting it is this: We all have to start somewhere.

No phallus jokes please or I'll have to bump Far-Trader's thread...

 

[77topaz]

Is that supposed to be a streamlined ship...?

 

[Rigel Stardin]

It was suppose to be a small intersystem patrol boat.

 

[DangerousThing]

Rigel,

I think even your early work is great.

My only objection is the small size of the drawing: if you ever wanted to print one or to enlarge it for miniatures, it would be a major undertaking. However, it's a perfect size for the web, and I suppose it wouldn't take you too long to redo this if somebody offered to pay you.

I want to do mine at least at 1200 dpi (which doesn't matter at all for computers, but does for printing purposes). I'll probably do larger once I get the hang of this, or use a purely vector format.

But I know I'm strange. I'm willing to put old creations on CD to preserve them until CDs go out of style and I'm wondering what *is* this, and my old stuff is pure crap, if I do say so myself.

On the other hand, if I wasn't willing to put put pure crap and have people comment on objects I've ripped from my heart so that my failings would be seen and shown to be failing by all, especially by me, I wouldn't be attempting this.

For I've found out the hard way that praise teaches me nothing, it is only thoughtful and sometimes cruel criticism that teaches me where my weaknesses are.

I know longer post my 3d stuff at one place because everybody is so *nice* and one won't get a critical comment.

 

[Rigel Stardin]

My current dpi setting is 96 by 96. I working with an 11 by 11 inch picture at the moment.

I store my files in PCX format and only transfer them to Jpeg for posting. The DOS verison of Neopaint was deceptive because they were saving my files basically at 1.5 by 1.5 inches. Viewing them in Neopaint was no problem but posting them to the web or sending them to another person it became apparent how small they really were.

I have created so many stamps using a 15 by 15 pixel square that to change them over to a high res would be an effort. Besides, I don't think there a reason to do so since the drawings should print out to size?

The other thing you have to understand is this, I'm a welder by profession. I took art and drafting classes in school. I was rebuffed by my art teachers for having no skill what so ever. And they were right to an extent, but mechanical drawing I can do. If I have to I can whip out a blueprint in several hours.

With all I've just said it's just a hobby. I've learn my craft by looking at the old house planning (DOS) software and based my furnishings on those designs. Second, when I start doing this we were still dealing with 40 and 80 Megabite harddrives and graphic files ate up a lot of space. My newest computer has over a hundred gigbit harddrive and I think on fifteen percent of it is filled. I'd have to look but my gaphics file is probably the large set of files and folder on the drive now. Finally I'm not ready to go to high res, most people who use my files will show them to their players as a handout for thier game. And most people will want to print out one sheet with the way ink prices are. So it's a catch 22 even now that I have gone over to the size of file I'm working with...

 

[DangerousThing]

The other thing you have to understand is this, I'm a welder by profession. I took art and drafting classes in school. I was rebuffed by my art teachers for having no skill what so ever. And they were right to an extent, but mechanical drawing I can do. If I have to I can whip out a blueprint in several hours.

*Never* believe art teachers. Most of them that works in the public school systems are idiots. If they say that you aren't an artist, ask to see where *their* works are hanging.

Your works *are* art. You show them proudly for us to both see and use.

With all I've just said it's just a hobby. I've learn my craft by looking at the old house planning (DOS) software and based my furnishings on those designs.

Depending on which house designs you looked at, they could be great source material. Good house plans allow a maximum usable space from a fixed area. Unfortunately the one who drew up our plans wasn't so great. There are rooms we don't use and a kitchen that's too small. Some of this will change when I finish unpacking (it's only been three years, after all), but still the design is wrong. My fault because I couldn't visualize the house from the plans.

Second, when I start doing this we were still dealing with 40 and 80 Megabite harddrives and graphic files ate up a lot of space. My newest computer has over a hundred gigbit harddrive and I think on fifteen percent of it is filled. I'd have to look but my gaphics file is probably the large set of files and folder on the drive now. Finally I'm not ready to go to high res, most people who use my files will show them to their players as a handout for thier game. And most people will want to print out one sheet with the way ink prices are. So it's a catch 22 even now that I have gone over to the size of file I'm working with...

I remember those days. Back then I didn't work with graphics. I save stuff to CD-ROM or alternate hard drives if I must.

We are drawing plans for perhaps different reasons.

I want to plan for printing for miniature use. I agree that plans small enough to be comprehensible are needed. However, if you're doing miniature play, there are at least two standards, 1" and 15mm. In college we used what large plans were printed or else we redrew them on graph paper to 1". I remember the few of us that did that had plans with carefully taped together graph paper. Note, these were not artistic, we merely redrew the official plans.

3d graphics are usually not tied tightly to printing units. I usually do my graphics such that I try to keep to 1 meter is one internal graphics unit, but that is very different from the printing unit which I don't care about right now. Eventually when 3d printers become more available, maybe I'll care more.

What you're doing (and what I hope to be doing) is to create the physical representation of a star ship from some suggestions (the ship creation rules). I sometimes think that somebody made a drawing of a star ship first, and then the official Traveller people made the plan around it, not really caring to get it that accurate.

I *hope* to be able to get an idea of how to use a deck plan to make a properly-sized 3d model. I use Modo for most of my modeling. It isn't quite as easy as Sketchup (which I've also used a while ago), but Modo is probably the easiest of the mid-range graphics programs to learn (at least for me, YMMV).

I really did think of skipping the floor-plan step and making 3d models starting from the inside out, but that has its problems also.

Have a nice day.

 

[Rigel Stardin]

Dangerous: First off, Thanks for the compliment.

As to what you’re doing, it is completely different than drawing deckplans. Where mine are intended to depict rooms, you’re trying to scale for use for miniatures. Scale is important for both of us however, I can fudge a little bit. Case in point is my staterooms, the beds appear to be larger than they need to be. Then when you factor in the size of the room you see the disconnect. There should be more detail and furnishings. But because it’s a depiction, people’s minds identify the symbol for the bed and know exactly what it is. The players and GM can figure out the details from there.

 

[Rigel Stardin]

Just posted my study of the Subsidized Merchant. The drawing is based on the March Harrier from the Spinward Marches Campaign. I updated the engines to a newer design from the original drawing. The only difference between this drawing and the Harrier is I bunted the nose. Unless someone request me to post it then, It will collect electrons on my harddrives.

 

[77topaz]

Just posted my study of the Subsidized Merchant. The drawing is based on the March Harrier from the Spinward Marches Campaign. I updated the engines to a newer design from the original drawing. The only difference between this drawing and the Harrier is I bunted the nose. Unless someone request me to post it then, It will collect electrons on my harddrives.

It's collecting electrons??!? That's dangerous, Mr Stardin!...

 

[Rigel Stardin]

I just use them to warming up the cyclotron...

 

[77topaz]

I just use them to warming up the cyclotron...

You use your deckplans for spaceships for that? Surely, there must be hundreds of spam emails and the like better suited to that purpose...

 

[Rigel Stardin]

Naw, I'm collect all the letters from Liberia in order to create a fascinating family history about my cousins and relatives I knew nothing about. The rest of the spam goes into the Mister Fusion to power the cyclotron...

 

[77topaz]

Naw, I'm collect all the letters from Liberia in order to create a fascinating family history about my cousins and relatives I knew nothing about. The rest of the spam goes into the Mister Fusion to power the cyclotron...

Cyclotrons can just be powered with normal electricity, you know... if you have enough.
So, how's your family history looking?