WIP of TheUnknown - The Akula (mk II)

[Morgan]

Looking great.

[Captain_Licard]

I like it, try modeling in some sort of canon assembly on the wings for the positron beams. As for the naccele texturing, I would make the bussards green and the grill a blueish-purple.

Also, I would give her a darker texturing more on the grey side than tan. maybe even a kessok logo on the wings.

[King Class Scout]

Licard: have a look at his other takes on the kessok at bcfiles.  the man seems to allready have the feel of the Kessok style.  besides, it looks like the Kessok weren't designed to have a "badge" or device, for some reason.

[X_TheUnknown_X]

try modeling in some sort of canon assembly on the wings for the positron beams. As for the naccele texturing, I would make the bussards green and the grill a blueish-purple.
I would give her a darker texturing more on the grey side than tan. maybe even a kessok logo on the wings.

You make some interesting comments here, Captain_Licard. I've taken your idea in mind and have modelled in some weapons ports. The nacelles, however, already have their established colours from the stock game, namely purple bussards (which I changed to red to blue fade in my retexture) and green grilles. Finally, I did darken the colours of the Kessok hull for my retextue, so that will be staying  ;) . Although, my Kessok Destroyer did feature some simple painted motifs, and those will no doubt be carried over.

The ship model is nearly complete now and, so long as everyone seems happy with the current design, I will move onto the strenuous task of UV unwrapping the model ready for texturing  . Here's some pics...

[Morgan]

Awesome work. I never thought I'd see the day the Kessok got an overhaul. Glad to see I was proven wrong. 

[King Class Scout]

wonder what your take on the deflector skin is gonna be.  i thought that was nearly the oddest part of the actuall mapping.

[Captain_D]

Man she looks awesome. 

I can't see a thing that I don't like myself.

As far as the deflector, and the texturing all together, you should definitely go with the destroyer/re-texture pack you did. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it ".

 The "organic" look to those look great to me for this race. If BC could only do bump or displacement, that kind of effect would look wild with these textures.

Keep up the great work.

[metalnick]

I never liked the Kessok. But this just might make me a convert. Great job man. 

[MarkyD]

Good job 

[X_TheUnknown_X]

Thanks, everyone  . I've now got much to report other than the whole ship has, at last, been UV mapped and I can now take her in for texturing. It seems it's going to be about 5 or 6 textures; if I thought about it I could squeeze it into a 2048x2048 map, but I think I'll stick to 1024's and lower, it's a little more flexible.

Other than that, here's a little render I posted on the art forum; I thought it would go well here as it showcases one of my models, and shows off some of Blender's true capabilities ;) (all post-processing was done within Blender). It's fairly big, at 720p.

[Captain_D]

Helllooo beutiful,,,

That looks great. Clouds, models and all.

[X_TheUnknown_X]

Thanks  .

I think I've come to a decision on what the basic bacground materials of the new Kessok Light (and subsequently, all other Kessok ships I will produce). The problem I'm having now is how to continue. One thing I'm delibertaing is: hull plating? Perhaps similar to how it looks on the Intrepid or Sovereign. I want the hull to look a more detailed than my previous retextures, so the ship looks as if it has been constructed - not textured. Which is why I ask everyone: is there anything you would like to see / suggest adding onto the basic material I have now (pictured below); do you have any thoughts on what I might add; and what do you think about hull plating? Any comments or suggestions will be more than welcome.

[EDD_7]

Which is why I ask everyone: is there anything you would like to see / suggest adding onto the basic material I have now (pictured below); do you have any thoughts on what I might add; and what do you think about hull plating? Any comments or suggestions will be more than welcome.

Well conventional hull plating on Starfleet ships make them look like the've been constructed by humans, Every race has a different look. For the kessok my idea is Hexagonal plating as a base..


But i don't know how it could be implamented into the design to make it look constructed. Just an idea 

By the way i'm really enjoying watching you revamp the kessok..

[Psyco Diver]

Well thier a silicon based race, so maybe their ships maybe silicon based, but what would that look like?

[X_TheUnknown_X]

Well thier a silicon based race, so maybe their ships maybe silicon based, but what would that look like?

Hmm, silicon on it's own wouldn't be the best idea for ship construction (has other, more useful properties), however various silicon alloys exist that are used in the automotive industry _{[thanks to Wikipedia for that lil' nugget]}. Silicon alloys, then, wouldn't look too different from the materials used to construct starfleet ships. I guess, for when I get round to the Kessok Heavy, their ablative armour plating could be made from a form of silicon; that could look interesting.

I like the idea of hexagonal hull plating, though - all the current races in Trek use square plating. A completely different shape would look more alien. I'll have a go and see what it looks like.

[Dalek]

I always got the impression that the Kessok were a very advanced species (their torpedoes are murderous) so maybe it could be a blend of metal and organic technology? The hexagonal plating really does look alien and in some ways, alive.

[King Class Scout]

Edd_7 has a point.  hexagonal style plating seems to go with the shapes designed for Kessok originally.  also, the three stock ships (including the sun buster) sport these round sombrero like spots on them in clusters.

Psycho:that's why I approved the hexagonal shapes.  i believe natural silicon shapes ARE hexagonals, but don't quote me on that.

[X_TheUnknown_X]

Here's my experiment so far with the hexagonal hull plating. I've divided to plating into larger, curved segments (incorperating the idea of malleable silicon alloys) and those are made up of hexagonal tiles. The effect, I think, looks quite good.

Edit: For King Class Scout, silicon forms a diamond cubic crystal structure [Wikipedia, again], basically a diamond layout inside a large cube :angel

[Locke]

Perhaps try keeping the hexagonal plating within the lines of those curves, and increase the visibility of the curves.  Perhaps that gray color for the curves?

[EDD_7]

For King Class Scout, silicon forms a diamond cubic crystal structure [Wikipedia, again], basically a diamond layout inside a large cube :angel

Indeed unless its a silicon hexafluoride ion in which case its a berfect equal hexagon.  

Here's my experiment so far with the hexagonal hull plating. I've divided to plating into larger, curved segments (incorperating the idea of malleable silicon alloys) and those are made up of hexagonal tiles. The effect, I think, looks quite good.

Looks very kessok to me. I Love it.   Have you thought about Escape pods on the kessok hull? because they couls easily be Hexagons aswell