Scifi Meshes is holding a contest, to determine the coolest-looking Scifi shipping crates designed by it's membership. You can vote if you become a member (which is free): voting closes in about seven days.
The voting booth is at: http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=32
The Backstory to these Crates:
(found here: http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1231 )
Submissions as 3D Works in Progress (WIPs) - with commentary by the artist and the peanut gallery, are at:
http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=36
(You may need to become a member to see these images. I recommend membership, simply to have access to the website and look at pretty pictures of spaceships. I admit, Star Wars/Star Trek is quite popular, but there are some other schools of ship design out there. Perhaps the 3D artists among us can show them a thing or two from the Traveller Universe!
...and...
PLEASE do not steal these images! RPG players have a bad rep for stealing images for their games, without giving due credit or getting permission. So, show some respect for the talent out there, OK?
We want these people to be happy, because we rely on the talent of artists to bring our scifi visions alive to the world. It will take a long time to change our bad reputation - so let's get working on it now.)
******************************************
Now, to the fun part: my personal, completely amateur commentary on the crates, containers, boxes - and one padded envelope - that interests me.
Sphynx - His crate is nice and big, designed for handling COLD stuff. (Great render & 3D modelling, BTW) Perhaps an Ancient relic, which must be kept at Zero-G so it *STAYS* inactive?
Psycho - Cool-looking Pyramid packaging. Strictly IMTU, pyramid crates are used exclusively by the Zhodani. (Something about a 'better psionic footprint'....)
This particular crate is built for Psion-active/reactive materials: the Zhodani's are the masters of this science (and are very secretive about it, too!) Imperials who get their grubby hands on such stuff tend not to know what they are doing, with predictably messy results.
Basajaun - Standard "limited hazard" canister. Not necessary for dangerous material IMO, but certainly for IMPORTANT stuff - perhaps a precious gas, or a specimen container.
Forcemaster2000 - Nice, handy canister. It looks a bit dangerous, but more for regular stuff (like commonly handled "liquid explosives" in a lunar mining camp) than for ultra-exotic substances from The Great Beyond.
Tinukedaya - This crate looks to me like something a Vilani Research Institute might require: a rounded, odd, complex design with a strong feel of stability and efficency.
Crook - you know those oddball systems, out beyond the Imperial borders? Guys who never heard of Vilani standardization, or Imperial Data Packs? Well, if they have enough tech - say, in the TL 13-15 range - they'll come up with this Rube Goldberg device. If I was a merchant Free Trader captain, I'd be afraid to even touch the thing!
Panzer - his submission doesn't even look like a crate to me: it looks like one of those themal detonators in "Return of the Jedi", some kind of controlled explosive device you use on airless, dimly-lit moons.
OhWillow - "Not entirely stable? NOW he tells me!" Looks like a heavily used TL 10-12 Solomani design for compressed, hazardous liquids. Cheap and plentiful, but with the abuse they get, failure tends to be complete and castrophic.
Aszazeroth - "The pirates can't believe their luck - they found a derelic ship, with some ancient and surely valuable crates still intact!" Serious issues kick in when they start OPENING these long-lost crates.
TheGreatRaja - "Now THIS is Pod-racing! ... er, I mean 'cargo-handling'. " I'm interested why the cargo needed it's own massive, build-in artigrav propulsion instead of just using an off-the-shelf antigrav sled. I can definitely see the Solomani Confederation worlds go for this teched-up, flashy rig for hazardous materials.
(It reminds me of a 40-year-old joke: The Americans wanted to write in zero-G, so they spent hundreds of thousands to develop a amazing pen, costing $2,000 each, professionally machined using cutting-edge materials & techniques, capable of even ink flow under extreme conditions and exotic circumstances.
The Russians bought pencils.)
dadoes - This isn't so much a crate as it is a mobile environmental installation. If this ever gets onboard a Free Trader, it's going to have it's own dedicated technician.... The design philosophy seems more 'corporate Imperial Solomani' than anything else, to my eyes.
Oyslot - this is what I voted for - a rugged crate that seems to be holding an antimatter explosion in stasis! Naturally, I wouldn't have this anywhere on my ship - but I'd love to plug it into YOUR ship's jump drive, just to see what happens....
Ramiel - Now, THIS looks like an "Imperial Data Pack" hazard container. A solid, rugged, simple, modular design, capable of being produced on a thousand Imperial worlds. When it comes to standardized equipment, Imperials simply radiate competence. (Especially in comparison to the Solomani, whom I will pass over in silence.)
Backstep - solid, competent, boring... obviously the child of a Vilani megacorp. They probably drew up the design spec's back when the Indians were crossing the land bridge to the Americas - and saw no reason to change a thing since then.
Scorndrake - Picard lives! Well, it's actually a nice looking and sleek canister - the kind of thing I'd see from those TL G systems, being shipped to various Imperial Navy projects or cutting-edge research facilities. It does seem a bit fragile, however...
Prime_8 - Yes, the Vargr have to ship hazardous, unpredicable, and just plain weird stuff around as well. I *do* like their sense of style, I really do!
Pleiades - Oh, the joys of cheap, low tech (TL 9-B) containment spheres. Natually, it's filled with some experimental nerve gas. (sigh)
Malach - I like this big boy 'shipping container'. But rinky-dinky free traders need not apply: this baby needs tender loving care, and is going straight to the major lines.
DarthMaya - this isn't a shipping crate: it's a shipping vault.
Gothic_Goatboy - I love the Mad Science spherical container he made - Tech Level 5-6, here we come!
(Note: if you go to his WIP thread, you'll find a crate with a really nice militay feel. Just change the stensilling from "United States Colonial Marines" to "Imperial Marines", and you're all set!
I wonder what's IN it - the Marines aren't known for their scientific abilities, but they are fascinated with Things That Go Boom...) Perhaps some really bizarre and delicate explosives are contained herein...
Smeagol - a badly taped cardboard box, with a cutout plastic window showing some plastic peanuts. For all those slacker TL7-8 worlds out there.
ortuzero - Niceee! Suitable for transporting micro-scale "pocket universes" from one University lab to another.
digidamn - actually, this large container looks built for transporting "specialized human property", like initial specimens for a artifically designed human species, clones used as source material for organs, prototype cyborgs "who still need some work", etc.
Bemeup - retro containment! A realistic (as opposed to 'mad science') large TL 4-6 containment/shipping tank. I can see a free trader crew having fun with this!
Korborak - an odd, high-tech design. Perhaps the Zhodani use it for non-psionic hazardous materials...
G'kan - A beautiful, jewelled design. Pure Imperial Core, if you ask me. Of course, the only people who have the cash and the inclination to blow it on a beautiful and elegant containment unit are nobles....
(..and WHY they would have something so dangerous kept in their reception hall as a conversation piece (!) a very good question... )
Ketkiller - another pyramid design, but in my eyes it looks more like a ceremonial/religious container from the Consulate than anything scientific.
NickatNite - A good, TL-7-9 spherical containment unit. Maybe the low-tech locals found something... surprising... on their Moon, and want to ship it to an Imperial university for further study (after being paid a nice fee, of course.)
Nell 3D - an oddly-shaped container, perhaps a specialized First Imperium supply crate. I wonder though, why is it still powered up after 3,500 years...?
JeffrySG - a really nice scifi pyramid crate, shipped from a Zhodani Research Facility.
Andrew Boulton - Just for your information, it is illegal in the Imperium to just physically *mail* biohazard material in a padded paper envelope (across interstellar space: planeteary laws differ, naturally.)
3DTEKO6 - a nice container for shipping VERY active material - perhaps superdense material from a star or an Ancient relic? A part of a heart of a small, dying white dwarf?
Melak - not truly dangerous material, as much as it is valuable. IMTU, the K'kree would use this to ship valuable, sweet-smelling liquids. (The 'handles' I would reinterpret as aerial dispensers for the 'perfume'.)
Surprisingly elegant, for the K'kree - but the K'kree have always loved and greatly valued sweet smells....
The voting booth is at: http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=32
The Backstory to these Crates:
(found here: http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1231 )
The clean, offical 3D submissions are here: http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1834
Submissions as 3D Works in Progress (WIPs) - with commentary by the artist and the peanut gallery, are at:
http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=36
(You may need to become a member to see these images. I recommend membership, simply to have access to the website and look at pretty pictures of spaceships. I admit, Star Wars/Star Trek is quite popular, but there are some other schools of ship design out there. Perhaps the 3D artists among us can show them a thing or two from the Traveller Universe!
...and...
PLEASE do not steal these images! RPG players have a bad rep for stealing images for their games, without giving due credit or getting permission. So, show some respect for the talent out there, OK?
We want these people to be happy, because we rely on the talent of artists to bring our scifi visions alive to the world. It will take a long time to change our bad reputation - so let's get working on it now.)
******************************************
Now, to the fun part: my personal, completely amateur commentary on the crates, containers, boxes - and one padded envelope - that interests me.
Sphynx - His crate is nice and big, designed for handling COLD stuff. (Great render & 3D modelling, BTW) Perhaps an Ancient relic, which must be kept at Zero-G so it *STAYS* inactive?
Psycho - Cool-looking Pyramid packaging. Strictly IMTU, pyramid crates are used exclusively by the Zhodani. (Something about a 'better psionic footprint'....)
This particular crate is built for Psion-active/reactive materials: the Zhodani's are the masters of this science (and are very secretive about it, too!) Imperials who get their grubby hands on such stuff tend not to know what they are doing, with predictably messy results.
Basajaun - Standard "limited hazard" canister. Not necessary for dangerous material IMO, but certainly for IMPORTANT stuff - perhaps a precious gas, or a specimen container.
Forcemaster2000 - Nice, handy canister. It looks a bit dangerous, but more for regular stuff (like commonly handled "liquid explosives" in a lunar mining camp) than for ultra-exotic substances from The Great Beyond.
Tinukedaya - This crate looks to me like something a Vilani Research Institute might require: a rounded, odd, complex design with a strong feel of stability and efficency.
Crook - you know those oddball systems, out beyond the Imperial borders? Guys who never heard of Vilani standardization, or Imperial Data Packs? Well, if they have enough tech - say, in the TL 13-15 range - they'll come up with this Rube Goldberg device. If I was a merchant Free Trader captain, I'd be afraid to even touch the thing!
Panzer - his submission doesn't even look like a crate to me: it looks like one of those themal detonators in "Return of the Jedi", some kind of controlled explosive device you use on airless, dimly-lit moons.
OhWillow - "Not entirely stable? NOW he tells me!" Looks like a heavily used TL 10-12 Solomani design for compressed, hazardous liquids. Cheap and plentiful, but with the abuse they get, failure tends to be complete and castrophic.
Aszazeroth - "The pirates can't believe their luck - they found a derelic ship, with some ancient and surely valuable crates still intact!" Serious issues kick in when they start OPENING these long-lost crates.
TheGreatRaja - "Now THIS is Pod-racing! ... er, I mean 'cargo-handling'. " I'm interested why the cargo needed it's own massive, build-in artigrav propulsion instead of just using an off-the-shelf antigrav sled. I can definitely see the Solomani Confederation worlds go for this teched-up, flashy rig for hazardous materials.
(It reminds me of a 40-year-old joke: The Americans wanted to write in zero-G, so they spent hundreds of thousands to develop a amazing pen, costing $2,000 each, professionally machined using cutting-edge materials & techniques, capable of even ink flow under extreme conditions and exotic circumstances.
The Russians bought pencils.)
dadoes - This isn't so much a crate as it is a mobile environmental installation. If this ever gets onboard a Free Trader, it's going to have it's own dedicated technician.... The design philosophy seems more 'corporate Imperial Solomani' than anything else, to my eyes.
Oyslot - this is what I voted for - a rugged crate that seems to be holding an antimatter explosion in stasis! Naturally, I wouldn't have this anywhere on my ship - but I'd love to plug it into YOUR ship's jump drive, just to see what happens....
Ramiel - Now, THIS looks like an "Imperial Data Pack" hazard container. A solid, rugged, simple, modular design, capable of being produced on a thousand Imperial worlds. When it comes to standardized equipment, Imperials simply radiate competence. (Especially in comparison to the Solomani, whom I will pass over in silence.)
Backstep - solid, competent, boring... obviously the child of a Vilani megacorp. They probably drew up the design spec's back when the Indians were crossing the land bridge to the Americas - and saw no reason to change a thing since then.
Scorndrake - Picard lives! Well, it's actually a nice looking and sleek canister - the kind of thing I'd see from those TL G systems, being shipped to various Imperial Navy projects or cutting-edge research facilities. It does seem a bit fragile, however...
Prime_8 - Yes, the Vargr have to ship hazardous, unpredicable, and just plain weird stuff around as well. I *do* like their sense of style, I really do!
Pleiades - Oh, the joys of cheap, low tech (TL 9-B) containment spheres. Natually, it's filled with some experimental nerve gas. (sigh)
Malach - I like this big boy 'shipping container'. But rinky-dinky free traders need not apply: this baby needs tender loving care, and is going straight to the major lines.
DarthMaya - this isn't a shipping crate: it's a shipping vault.
Gothic_Goatboy - I love the Mad Science spherical container he made - Tech Level 5-6, here we come!
(Note: if you go to his WIP thread, you'll find a crate with a really nice militay feel. Just change the stensilling from "United States Colonial Marines" to "Imperial Marines", and you're all set!
I wonder what's IN it - the Marines aren't known for their scientific abilities, but they are fascinated with Things That Go Boom...) Perhaps some really bizarre and delicate explosives are contained herein...
Smeagol - a badly taped cardboard box, with a cutout plastic window showing some plastic peanuts. For all those slacker TL7-8 worlds out there.
ortuzero - Niceee! Suitable for transporting micro-scale "pocket universes" from one University lab to another.
digidamn - actually, this large container looks built for transporting "specialized human property", like initial specimens for a artifically designed human species, clones used as source material for organs, prototype cyborgs "who still need some work", etc.
Bemeup - retro containment! A realistic (as opposed to 'mad science') large TL 4-6 containment/shipping tank. I can see a free trader crew having fun with this!
Korborak - an odd, high-tech design. Perhaps the Zhodani use it for non-psionic hazardous materials...
G'kan - A beautiful, jewelled design. Pure Imperial Core, if you ask me. Of course, the only people who have the cash and the inclination to blow it on a beautiful and elegant containment unit are nobles....
(..and WHY they would have something so dangerous kept in their reception hall as a conversation piece (!) a very good question... )
Ketkiller - another pyramid design, but in my eyes it looks more like a ceremonial/religious container from the Consulate than anything scientific.
NickatNite - A good, TL-7-9 spherical containment unit. Maybe the low-tech locals found something... surprising... on their Moon, and want to ship it to an Imperial university for further study (after being paid a nice fee, of course.)
Nell 3D - an oddly-shaped container, perhaps a specialized First Imperium supply crate. I wonder though, why is it still powered up after 3,500 years...?
JeffrySG - a really nice scifi pyramid crate, shipped from a Zhodani Research Facility.
Andrew Boulton - Just for your information, it is illegal in the Imperium to just physically *mail* biohazard material in a padded paper envelope (across interstellar space: planeteary laws differ, naturally.)
3DTEKO6 - a nice container for shipping VERY active material - perhaps superdense material from a star or an Ancient relic? A part of a heart of a small, dying white dwarf?
Melak - not truly dangerous material, as much as it is valuable. IMTU, the K'kree would use this to ship valuable, sweet-smelling liquids. (The 'handles' I would reinterpret as aerial dispensers for the 'perfume'.)
Surprisingly elegant, for the K'kree - but the K'kree have always loved and greatly valued sweet smells....
