Scene: Spinward Transport Regional Headquarters

[wbnc]

thought I'd put some of those new designs I have to use, and work on my scene building. this took more time and tweaking than you would think considering getting everything to rough scale, getting rid of render artifacts, and the pitch back shadows Blender tends to generate...significantly more difficult that a simple Matte Painting style background The good news is that can remove or insert new objects with great ease now that the base environment is created...

Spinward transport and RHI transport are two companies I use in my campaigns. They Supply logistics, freight, and charter services from their base of operations On Jewel. to show off a few of my creations I went head and created this scene of the Spinward Transport headquarters adjacent to the starport on Jewel. It has offices,workshops, parking for smaller starships and company small craft, as well as lodgings, for crewmen, employees,clients, and guests.

The company rus several large 200o ton freighters, as well as many lighter freighters including the Subsidized merchant, and the two Light duty Packet traders next to the far trader.

Other craft on the scene are two Akula Class armed escorts, 100 ton jump capable high-speed escorts fitted with a single particle barbette as a fixed centerline gun. They aren't designed for a defensive fight, their only purpose is to scare off a casual attack with their heavy weapons, and get between the ship they are escorting and deal damage while the cargo ship makes a retreat, or provide support fire with their turret weapons.

The Light Freighter/Packet ship was a designed I created a while back. It has a crew of two, a single stateroom for the crew, and the rest is cargo space, engines, and fuel tankage. I decided to use the far trader illustration I created as the new look of the previous box-shaped deign. It carries small cargo in a similar fashion to "Hot-Shot" trucking companies. these provide unscheduled high priority transport for small cargos on a per trip basis. Other uses would be for logistics support, mail runs, and supply transport

The small shuttle looking craft are personal transports they carry a small number of passengers either planetside, or from surface to orbit. They are basically liaison aircraft or fast transport for executives who need to travel on a moments notice.

Neat the cargo containers you can see a couple of loader bots getting ready to load cargo onto the Privately owned Far Trader in center screen.

The ships are to scale, as best i can manage considering the odd shapes of a few of them and the new far trader image is designed using the available deck plans for it's dimensions. it is fully compatible with existing deck plans

You can see a larger version Here. http://sta.sh/01dmg68w4684

 

[fusor]

It's neat, but it does kinda look like a scene from an isometric computer game

 

[wbnc]

It's neat, but it does kinda look like a scene from an isometric computer game

I did say I needed to work on my scene building.
considering I am using about the same assets as an Isometric game I expect it to look very similar. I m using higher complexity models, one of those ships would cause some easily Iso games to melt down trying ot handle all the poly..

this is about as good as it gets Until I can start using the really heavy tools int he Blender bucket.At some point, I can set it up to fly the camera through the scene ad give a street view of the starport.

 

[Hopeless]

Anyone tried comparing this to a scene from the Thunderbirds series?

For example the Fireflash episode or any dealing with seeing the airport before their usually oversized aircraft taking off... does that look more like what the above should be?

 

[phavoc]

IT's very good. Far better than my meager graphical skills could ever do!

Something you might want to consider - treat starships as you would helicopters. In that each one would have it's own numbered / marked landing pad to use. And each should have a safety zone around it to allow it to vertically ascend/descend, with clearance to do a 360 spin. And you'd want to have the space outside the landing area to support access vehicles - wheeled or grav - to be staged awaiting the ship to land.

Quonset huts are practical, but at higher TL, you'd be using regular warehouse style buildings to fully be able to use all the square footage. Warehouses are kind of boring, being all right-angles. But very efficient. You could easily make one image and have it double as a hangar bay. Which is something you might want, as you'd want to load/unload ships out of the weather. Being a ramp worker in the rain or snow sucks, no matter what century you are in.

Keep up the good work!

 

[wbnc]

Anyone tried comparing this to a scene from the Thunderbirds series?

For example the Fireflash episode or any dealing with seeing the airport before their usually oversized aircraft taking off... does that look more like what the above should be?

Believe it or not I've never seen more than a few clips of Thunderbirds this hole in my geek resume shames me greatly.

IT's very good. Far better than my meager graphical skills could ever do!

Something you might want to consider - treat starships as you would helicopters. In that each one would have it's own numbered / marked landing pad to use. And each should have a safety zone around it to allow it to vertically ascend/descend, with clearance to do a 360 spin. And you'd want to have the space outside the landing area to support access vehicles - wheeled or grav - to be staged awaiting the ship to land.

Quonset huts are practical, but at higher TL, you'd be using regular warehouse style buildings to fully be able to use all the square footage. Warehouses are kind of boring, being all right-angles. But very efficient. You could easily make one image and have it double as a hangar bay. Which is something you might want, as you'd want to load/unload ships out of the weather. Being a ramp worker in the rain or snow sucks, no matter what century you are in.

Keep up the good work!

I'll see if I can get the proper ground markings on the next version of the landing field. I am basically building a series of modules with various sections of a starpot to stage scenes in. this area is just the beginning. I have a rural remote site finished but it is a real mess since I have learned a lot since I put it together.

As someone who has worked loading docks and stock yards, any sort of roof is a blessing. even a rickety tin roof held up by a few 4x4s.

I have a collection of structures I plan on using some of them are domes, others are slab sided structures, and a some are Quonset based.

I used the Quonset hut style as a very basic very easy to construct prefab structure. Since they are a series of self-supporting arches joined together they are easy to knock together, move about, and cheap to produce. Curiously the are also highly storm resistant, and can handle strong winds and blasts better than a slab sided structure. a shock wave/wind gust hitting the slab side of a box type structure applies it's full force across the entire surface. While some of the force will be deflected by the sloped side of a Quonset hut...asuming the shock wave/ wind comes in from the right direction that is.

I am working on a concept I saw at more modern mines I worked. Since they have to remove all structures when they shut down a mine they started building modular sites using shipping containers fitted with changing rooms, bath facilities, workshops and offices. They pour a slab, set up the containers around the edge and build a light roof to cover the entire set up. when it's time to move they come in haul the containers to the next site, and disassemble and reuse the material fromt eh roof..all they have to do is dig up the slab and then level and seed the ground where it was. I thin that would be a very likely approach to building orks sitesfor prospectors and miners on frontier worlds.

 

[phavoc]

If you are going to be looking at Thunderbirds episodes on Youtube, check out UFO and Space:1999 while you are at it. All very good places to steal, err, find inspiration!

Quonset huts are indeed very weather-resistant due to their design. And cheap. But don't forget this is the miracle 52nd century. A tin quonset hut works great, but once you get concrete/ceramacrete or it's future alternative, 'cheap' and functional start to merge more. But it really depends on where it's going to be. Local craphole spaceports on backwater worlds are going to be all over the spectrum. But for the illustrations you are working on, for real working spaceports, you are going to have more permanent and structurally integrated facilities. Modern metal hangars today can take quite a pounding from the weather.

 

[wbnc]

If you are going to be looking at Thunderbirds episodes on Youtube, check out UFO and Space:1999 while you are at it. All very good places to steal, err, find inspiration!

Quonset huts are indeed very weather-resistant due to their design. And cheap. But don't forget this is the miracle 52nd century. A tin quonset hut works great, but once you get concrete/ceramacrete or it's future alternative, 'cheap' and functional start to merge more. But it really depends on where it's going to be. Local craphole spaceports on backwater worlds are going to be all over the spectrum. But for the illustrations you are working on, for real working spaceports, you are going to have more permanent and structurally integrated facilities. Modern metal hangars today can take quite a pounding from the weather.

UFO and Space 1999 were what I cut my teeth on back in the good ol days. Watching first run episodes of Space 1999 with my dad is a fond memory, He also handed me his copies of John Carter as soon as he finished them I'm a Second generation Geek third if ya count my Grandma who listened to The shadow, Buck Rodgers and went to see serials every weekend.She also was a writer when she was younger so I guess I get it honest. If i ever learn to read brail I may have to go through some of the stuff tucked away in the attic.


I mmay modernize the look a bit. and find better shelters for future projects. I have been looking at a few thing
I am working on other structures. I have been looking at the reinforced hangers used to house military aircraft and such. part bunker part hanger Then there are some shotcrete structures I like the look of....very out of place in a contemporary setting but look rather sci-fi ish I also want to do a modernized version of a Zeppelin hanger
Soeof he structures I have already on file.

 

[rust2]

Your Spinward Transport Regional Headquarters looks very good indeed, but it is perhaps a bit too orderly (ships arranged in perfect line, etc,) and also a bit too clean. In my view a naval base expecting the new commodore might look like this, but a part of a commercial starport would likely look a tad more chaotic.

 

[Hopeless]

Ooh have you watched Stingray by any chance?

Just remembering their opening sequence and their habit of having their base descend underground when under threat of an attack! 8)

Fireflash Launch Comparison!

 

[Tenacious-Techhunter]

I am working on a concept I saw at more modern mines I worked. Since they have to remove all structures when they shut down a mine they started building modular sites using shipping containers fitted with changing rooms, bath facilities, workshops and offices. They pour a slab, set up the containers around the edge and build a light roof to cover the entire set up. when it's time to move they come in haul the containers to the next site, and disassemble and reuse the material fromt eh roof..all they have to do is dig up the slab and then level and seed the ground where it was. I thin that would be a very likely approach to building orks sitesfor prospectors and miners on frontier worlds.

Don’t forget temporary Merc bases.

Drop 4-7 highly containerized Cutter Modules (one in the middle, the rest around the perimeter); Company Office, Barracks, Company Mess, Infirmary, Motor Pool, and firing positions in each module for perimeter security.

 

[Tenacious-Techhunter]

Quonset huts are indeed very weather-resistant due to their design. And cheap. But don't forget this is the miracle 52nd century. A tin quonset hut works great, but once you get concrete/ceramacrete or it's future alternative, 'cheap' and functional start to merge more. But it really depends on where it's going to be. Local craphole spaceports on backwater worlds are going to be all over the spectrum. But for the illustrations you are working on, for real working spaceports, you are going to have more permanent and structurally integrated facilities. Modern metal hangars today can take quite a pounding from the weather.

“More futuristic” doesn’t necessarily mean “better”. It could also mean cheaper... a lot cheaper. The primary driver for Quonset hut type construction is the low cost; the structural considerations are already acceptable; so, if we take the Quonset hut, and we apply 32 centuries of pure cost reduction, what do we get?

 

[-Daniel-]

I like the overall look of the original image. Now all I would like to see is some more weathering to give it a slightly more "realistic" feel.