Bridge Commander Central
BC Forums => BC Bridge Modding => Topic started by: DJ Curtis on April 03, 2008, 04:05:21 PM
-
I've been meaning to get to this for a long time. I don't really know how to do bridges, but I will learn as I go. I've started by doing what I know, the mesh. As you can see, I've got the general layout finished, though there's still lots of work and detail to do.
The design is based off a bridge schematic done by a good friend of mine, Mark Nguyen, so credit goes to him for that. I've taken some artistic liberties here and there to improve the ergonomics and sight-lines.
More updates soon. Please offer and comments or suggestions, as at this early stage I can implement any good ideas you guys have.
-
wow cool work dude.
cookie time.
-
Looks good sofar.
Though, were you playing with perspective when you took those screenshots?
Sometimes (screenshot 2) looks like the bridge is deep, and in the others if it's really wide.
-
The pillars actually take away a lot from an otherwise cool looking design. Not saying it looks bad, just think the amount of pillars look excessive, and a bit big. Perhaps make them less, and narrower? Cool to see you getting your feet wet in this modelling field as well. :D
-
yeah, I was playing with perspective to try and show as much as I could. as for the pillars, there's lots of work to be done to them still.
-
wow, very interesting!
But I have a question referring to the thread title:
are you planing to do a battle bridge variant or why do you say main bridge?
I mean the century class isnt mvam capable so, I'm a bit confused :?
-
wow, very interesting!
But I have a question referring to the thread title:
are you planing to do a battle bridge variant or why do you say main bridge?
I mean the century class isnt mvam capable so, I'm a bit confused :?
Who says it has to be MVAM capable to have a separate "Battle Bridge" ? On Voyager, they had to do extensive modifications to basically run Voyager from Main Engineering when their bridge became un-usuable in "Deadlock". Maybe a backup-bridge for similar situations?
-
hmm ok, right
my mind was too fixed with the ent-d battlebridge.
plausible explained
-
So, tactical is still missing a chair by the time the Ent-F is around eh?
lol
Not sure about this one though. I'll wait untill its updated a little more.
-
Magnificant. I have a couple ideas, if I may...
1.The ceiling looks really blank, like it's missing something. If you're not planning to place a window there (as seen on the galaxy), might I suggest a lighting fixture similar to that of the Intrepid class, perhaps a little cleaner and more stream-lined? if you did, I think all you'd really need to do is extend the pillar connections on the ceiling forward to a centralized location and do it that way... I think that would flow nicely. :)
2.Wall displays & consoles? I'm not seeing many areas for that, but perhaps it's too early in the construction phase to mention...
Oh, also, where might you place an MSD? Or are you not going to? Just a question...
These're just some thoughts, since you're open for them. ;) As I said, this is magnificant. I'm very glad you're making a bridge for your Century. I look forward to future updates.
~Aeries.
-
what you're thinking is tactical isn't tactical. The tactical station will be on of the two immediately in front of the captain.
also, I put main bridge in the title to distinguish between this thread and lukerobin's thread.
aeries, all that stuff is in the works, just a really early wip right now. thanks for the ideas tho.
-
Ah, right. :)
-
Wow Dj, just wow. Another wonderful bridge to add to my collection.
-
with the beginnings of chairs.
-
Oh, now I see where possible wall consoles will go. Nice start on the chairs. Hah, that poor guy's gonna have some major back problems soon enough. :P
~Aeries.
-
to close out the evening. I've done more work to the chairs, and done up a proper captain's chair. I also added a platform under the forward consoles. DT, I also took your advise and reduced the width of the columns to half their original size. Also built some wall consoles into the forward port and starboard alcoves.
-
also, here are the original plans by Mark Nguyen.
-
Well done, DJ. :)
-
First of all, a great bridge you got there DJ.
But a minor suggestion: If you compare the size of the viewscreen ot the rest of the bridge, it's kinda small. I would suggest making it a little bit bigger.
Just a minor thing, anyway looks superb. :P
-
an excellent start DJ. though i think it would benefit from the addition of an XO's chair and a 2nd Officers chair
-
Could be better.... NOT!
Really nice work DJ :D
(- whats the current poly count?)
-
wow, this is really a nice bridge, and she fits perfectly to the century class :D
only thing I have to agree with the others is that the viewscreen is very small, but otherwise
excellent job!
cookie!
-
an excellent start DJ. though i think it would benefit from the addition of an XO's chair and a 2nd Officers chair
What if DJ feels that the XO and 2nd should work for a living like the good ole' days :P.
It seems rather redundant to have an XO and 2nd just sitting around like Troi and Riker did. With the exception of Voyager (with Chacohtay or however you spell it) all the other shows had the XO and 2nd having a responsibility at one of the stations. Trip at Engineering, Spock at Science, Kira at Tactical/Ops, etc.
When I saw the renders in the first post, I was "WTF" but now with the colors, it looks rather good. Small bridge, too.
-
Ok, I've taken all your advice on the viewscreen and made it a lot bigger. the area above it will eventually display an msd. I also experimented with adding a second and third chair to the command area, and it didn't look good, so I'm gonna leave it as is. As far as the size goes, Barihawk, it's actually bigger than it looks. Probably about the size of the Enterprise D.
-
it looks great so far!! and i agree in that an XO and Guest chairs might have made the bridge overall look a bit too cluttered...
-
Ahhhh, much better viewscreen. With that MSD there it almost reminds me of TMP bridges in some ways. :) Cool.
-
I'm actually going to redo that msd area to make in fit better with the rest of the design. It looks out of place to me.
-
Maybe have it a little more rounded? Perhaps wider rather than square-ish... Hmm... :)
-
i know exactly what i'm gonna do with it. It'll look good. pix late tonite, though any suggestions are welcome.
-
Hi everyone, I'm the mook whose work DJ is graciously turning into polygonistic poetry. If you wanna see more of my ancient sketches, feel free to check the site in the sig. :)
I wholeheartedly approve of the work DJ's done so far! Making a lot of good choices which, among things, help open up the bridge a lot more than the original sketch. I really look forward to future pics, especially of those sexy consoles.
Regarding the XO chair, I took a page from an idea in "Yesterday's Enterprise", which had Riker assisting the tactical officer at the horseshow station. Even Sternbach noted that the horseshoe was really designed for security AND tactical, and it was mostly Work who was JUST THAT GOOD so he could handle both at the same time. Anyway, I always thought that a big starship should have more than one person handling all the tactical duties AND pulling the trigger on the guns, regardles of how automated the TNG era is. So, in most of my designs there IS a place for the XO to sit or stand when he's on the bridge, at a station which would allow him to monitor ship's status, have access to the information that would let him deliver typical Riker-esque lines, and to do it within earshot of the Captain. In this case, it's a second tactical station, but sometimes it's a second ops or mission ops station
Mark
-
Thanks for popping your head up, Mark.
I've done a pile of work to this tonight, mostly in terms of changing and refining what already exists. I decided that the bridge was just too crowded and the sight-lines were inadequate, so I removed the inner set of pillars. That's helped a lot. I also redid the entire ceiling to be a lot smoother, and raised it up about 30%, to also help with opening up the room. I think it worked.
I also made some small alterations to the floor plan, making the rear alcoves symmetrical and lengthening while narrowing the captain's platform. I also adjusted the steps all around to be smoother and more proportional.
The two middle consoles have also been given their own stands, instead of being connected to the pillars that no longer exist. The big station behind the captain's chair has also changed a lot. It used to connect two pillars, but now is free-standing with two posts wrapped around the captain's chair. It makes the chair seem less stuck in the middle of nowhere.
I'm also trying to nail down a rough color scheme. I really like the idea of a red carpet, I don't think that's been done before, and here at least, I think it looks really spiffy. Also added the egress doors and the aft alcove stations. Viewscreen is bigger again too.
Suggestions?
(btw, Aeries, I wasn't trying to tell you to shut up :D)
-
Observers chairs, and auxiliary stations? Security station? Replicator, emergency gear locker, first aid station.
-
:shock:
Mightily impressive. Removing the inner columns made a huge difference to the bridge. Keep up the good work.
-
Personally, I liked the inner columns. The general concept was that a battle-ready starship should have more holding up the ceiling than the scaffolding around the set. :) Also, the columns are partially obscuring te "outer" stations on purpose, to give a sense of depth since you can't plainly see all point on the bridge. In practice, the perimeter stations would only have ND extras there, of course.
For gaming use, I agree however that the main POV should be able to see all the stations possible. I might ask DJ to have a version of the finished bridge with the columns, fo the sake of this old goat. :) Keep it up, man!
Mark
-
Personally, I liked the inner columns. The general concept was that a battle-ready starship should have more holding up the ceiling than the scaffolding around the set. :) Also, the columns are partially obscuring te "outer" stations on purpose, to give a sense of depth since you can't plainly see all point on the bridge. In practice, the perimeter stations would only have ND extras there, of course.
For gaming use, I agree however that the main POV should be able to see all the stations possible. I might ask DJ to have a version of the finished bridge with the columns, fo the sake of this old goat. :) Keep it up, man!
Mark
I agree with you on that one, the Columns did add some of it's own style, just like the Century class is a unique ship, it needs an unique bridge.
You could also add some mini-consoles to the columns making them less useless. 8)
As Mark said you could do 2 versions.
But besides all that it's a great bridge. :mrgreen:
-
I liked the columns, too, but I agree that they made the room look way too crowded. Hmm... OH! A quick thought. Maybe have the smaller, sovereign-style columns that had the lights in theM? They were closer to the wall and didn't really clutter the bridge that much, imo. Of course the columns here would be very different, but... I think something similar could very well work...
Hell, even if it doesn't work out, this bridge is coming along beautifully. Awesome work so far, I'm totally stoked.
~Aeries.
Edit: Nevermind, I had a closer look at the pics. Not sure any more pillars would really add to this without cluttering it all up... Eh, it's up to you. :P
-
Mind if I make a radical suggestion? Make the displays on the consoles be three-dimensional; floating above the consoles like in Mass Effect, since it was implied in that DS9 episode partially set in the future that flat displays were going out of fashion by the early 25th Century.
-
You blatantly stole my idea, I saw you do it! I was also going to suggest holographic displays.
-
I like the ideas so far :)
-
I've been trying hard to open the bridge up a bit, but maintain a strong sense of battle ready rigidity that Mark originally intended for this bridge. As you can see, I've rebuilt the lateral columns so that they are strong arches that go directly to the center. In doing both these things, I ended up making the floor plan a lot rounder than was originally intended, by moving and stretching the forward p/s work areas, and pushing the doors out away from the center.
Obviously, there are still tons of details left to do, but I think I'm getting closer to a layout that will really work well for the Century. I even took this whole bridge and plunked it into the top of a century mesh to see how it would fit, and it fits really well. (remember that on the century, there is a corridor that runs on either side of the bridge, so the actually bridge itself needn't fit the exterior shape of the hull.
I've started work on the roof, in combination with the aforementioned pillars, but it's still a work in progress. In stretching the forward wok areas, I also wanted to make room for more people to work on the bridge. As it was, there were only eight stations, whereas I imagined the bridge would be a busier place than that.
Like I said, still a lot to do. Keep the ideas coming. Mark, any direction you want to give?
-
The areas closer to the doors on either side might fit more wall-mounted consoles, if you're looking to fit in more work areas. :)
-
Its a shame you have the triangular bit of wall at the back between those two wall mounted stations. You could of either put the MSD on the wall there or which would of made it unique a pool table type that they have in engineering on the enterprise d and e.
Other than that it looks amazing so far. What colour were you going to do the doors?
have a cookie :lol:
-
If I am brutally honest the chairs are too round, too smooth, I'd go and make them slightly more sharp, take the 3rd Era Nemesis Bridge Chairs for example in their edges.
-
I would also suggest making the captains chair different from others
-
If I am brutally honest the chairs are too round, too smooth, I'd go and make them slightly more sharp, take the 3rd Era Nemesis Bridge Chairs for example in their edges.
i couldnt disagree more...i love the rounded look...looks much more comfortable...and appears as though it's a natural progression from the nemesis era..
-
If I am brutally honest the chairs are too round, too smooth, I'd go and make them slightly more sharp, take the 3rd Era Nemesis Bridge Chairs for example in their edges.
i couldnt disagree more...i love the rounded look...looks much more comfortable...and appears as though it's a natural progression from the nemesis era..
A few corners yes, right now though I feel they look like a lounge chair more than a formal starship. They look like the sort of chair I'd expect in the crew quarters.
-
they're actually modeled after my wife's high-back leather office chair that she's currently sitting in. :) And I really like them! Though it's still a WIP, so there are still changes to come.
-
Really? Dude. She has nice taste in furniture! :D
Personally, I loves the chairs. No changin' the chaiirrrzzzzz!
-
Personally, I loves the chairs. No changin' the chaiirrrzzzzz!
Agreed, there is no fault on comfortable chairs for the Bridge Crew!
awsome Bridge so far :D
-
*AHEM* Whats the current poly count?
-
i don't know yet. everything is separated.
-
Rounded chairs give it that nice retro TMP flair. I love the modified pillars.
-
I like how it's going so far. The core idea of the bridge layout, that being the forward, CO, horseshoe, and tactical stations, are intact. I like that the aft stations are intact, and that there ISN'T a huge MSD diagram. No one really uses those anyway, and is the E-D can get along fine for eight years without one, I see no reason to need a huge one now. :) If you want, you can pop a smaller screen forward (flanking the main viewers) as I originally envisioned it, without taking too much space.
The only thing I'm looking at now is the supports for the twin tactical stations, which look a little flimsy. I don't care how strong space-aged material is, if you have a console, you need to hold it up with more than a thin support arch. I suggest beefing them up a bit to match the supports on the forward consoles and/or horseshoe.
Still going strong, man! I like.
Mark
-
Actually the Ent-D did have a huge MSD... it was in engineering but yes i get your point
and to go on topic, it shaping up really nicely, the larger viewscreen helps but a frame wud be nice on it, ala nem-sov sorta thing
DJ are you in the market for ppl cooking up bridge plans for your ships cos i have a few ideas tht cud suit another of yours
-
this is looking more and more awesome!
cant wait to see first LCARS on this beauty :)
-
Ooo, very nice bridge you got there. Excellent. :D
-
Actually the Ent-D did have a huge MSD... it was in engineering but yes i get your point
and to go on topic, it shaping up really nicely, the larger viewscreen helps but a frame wud be nice on it, ala nem-sov sorta thing
DJ are you in the market for ppl cooking up bridge plans for your ships cos i have a few ideas tht cud suit another of yours
Glad you like it, but I'm actually not. Mark is a very good friend of mine, and I chose one of his bridges as a base for what I wanted to do because he does a heck of a job, and it' about time someone put one to good use. :D
-
Wow, maybe I should look at the bridges more often, looks great DJ. Are you still gonna put the MSD above the viewscreen?
-
not sure yet, thb.
-
Well, it may just be me, but I think that that would be a better place for it than behind everyone. After all, it is called a "Master Situation Display". It'd be easier for the cap & bridge crew to see that something's wrong if it shows up on that if the display is front and center. Of course, the problem there is making it seem like part of the design, and not an afterthought.
-
Great work, DJ! I had no idea you were doing this till now. It's eerie how much this looks like the bridge layout I had in mind for the Star Trek: Century fan fiction. As for the MSD, I'd suggest making it a little smaller and placing it on the engineering station. Never did figure out why a large diagram of ship systems was always in plain view to anyone communicating with the ships via the viewscreen. Pretty dumb, in light of how Lursa and B'Etor destroyed the D in Generations. The chairs look just fine, but I agree that the captain's chair should be more elaborate. When you get to the colors, I would suggest either Royal Blue with grey or silver. Or dark maroon with gold. Also, a different LCARS, not just different colors, but different shapes. The Federation appears to update their core software less frequently than Bill Gates, and that's bad. I was thinking maybe a starburst-type pattern for the controls. Kinda like a many-pointed star with the "rays" being different controls. If ya want, I can send you a sort of example diagram.
Dude, I'm beginning to think there is no part of BC you can't mod well. You should seriously check into getting on the Excalibur team, I think you could add a lot.
-
Dude, I'm beginning to think there is no part of BC you can't mod well. You should seriously check into getting on the Excalibur team, I think you could add a lot.
Somebody needs to check the excalibur site a little more often... ;)
-
Pretty dumb, in light of how Lursa and B'Etor destroyed the D in Generations.
They used a small screen in the engineering section to find the shield frequency, to destroy the Ent-D. :wink: Although, I am tempted to agree that a MSD may not be right for this bridge.
DJ, I am more than content to sit back and watch this bridge unfold, with, or without my suggestions
-
can you guys not bump threads that haven't been active for over a month. When there is an update the author will post one
-
I needed a break from scripting the Galaxy pack, so I picked this up and worked a bit more.
Some pix and a couple vids, sorry one of them is kinda dark.
Some of the changes you'll will notice:
-changes the forward console supports to match the rest.
-removed stair structure in favor of ramps
-added railings
-modified the station behind the captain's chair to meld with the ramps
-added a ceiling dome
-added forward ceiling pillar supports
-changed pillars to start half way up the wall instead of at the floor
-angled first officer and engineering panels
-
Very nice, I look forward to the mesh's completion and the texturing process.
-
Sweet :D I like the layout.
-
That's hot. ;]
-
The angle on the tactical console doesn't looks very aesthetically pleasing, but it's looking good on the whole.
-
One word: Wow! I'll be sure to have this bridge when it pops up on BCF (Which I guess is a long long long long long long while away)!
-
Two words: LOVE IT! :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
-
wow, that's great.
I didn't even know that there's such a bridge in production. Very nice
-
Hey, DJ! Just curious, but is it all going to stay one level, or will you be raising/lowering sections? I will admit I liked the full pillars better, but the new ones look okay, too. Hopefully it won't have that red carpeting. Red is something I subconsciously attach to Klingons. lol.
-
Now that is a very nice looking bridge. I cannot wait to see this finished.
-
Gah, hate bumped topics... Here I thought it was something new and interesting being posted.
-
Looking awesome, dude. :)
Mark
-
Is it to late to add Defiant style captain chair conceals to the captain chair?
-
Gah, hate bumped topics... Here I thought it was something new and interesting being posted.
-
grrrr.....i thought something new was added!!!!
I'm really excited for this to come out!!
-
*thread locked until further notice*
DJ - lemme know when/if ever youd like it reopened...