Detailing the Excalibur

[Josh]

Detailing the Excalibur by Josh (aka Executioner DE)

The original Excalibur, designed Steven Davis, is a widely recognised fan design which focuses on the carrier aspect of the ship as well as the “Transwarp” capability which the ship was supposed to have. As we developed our ideas for the Excalibur in this game the ships character began to change, with less of a focus on being a large carrier and more focus on fleet command.

With this in mind the original design began to feel cumbersome and in many ways over the top. A new design was put together by Luiz Cordova in discussion with the rest of the team; I am currently modelling the very high detail “CGI” version of the ship which will eventually be used to create the in game version.

This blog entry looks at various parts of the CG Excalibur and explains the ideas behind their design. Details are based primarily on designs of the next generation movies, linked with details of the V3 Excalibur from Steven Davis, all following pictures are taken from the work in progress model.

Bridge Module

The Bridge changed a lot since the V3 version with the original taking more inspiration from TMP era ships, the updated design one has large panorama windows for the ready room which is actually one of the largest windows of the whole ship.  In addition the roof has changed from its previous spherical design to reflect the design style of more modern ships such as the Intrepid and Sovereign class vessels.

Bridge Module Shuttle Doors

Positioned inside the end of the bridge section is a secondary shuttle bay, it is designed to hold smaller spacecraft such as type 9 shuttles and transport pods. Bigger ships of such as the Type 11, the Danube, and fighters are held in different bays. Visually this bay has a lot in common with the aft shuttle bay doors of the Akira class.

Panorama Windows

Large panoramic windows have been a feature on many ships since the Enterprise D in “Star Trek: The Next Generation”. The new Excalibur design also includes such windows on the upper structure of the ship; these are the quarters for the command crew (the only personnel rooms with these large windows) and they offer a grand view out of the ship.

Escape Pods

The design of the Escape Pods should be instantly recognisable to many of you, for those of you who haven’t recognised them however the Excalibur uses the same escape pods as the Sovereign class Starships. The CGI model features very high levels of detail on these escape hatches for close ups of the ship; you never know...

Bussard Collectors

The warp nacelles on the V3 Excalibur design seemed excessively hefty even considering the huge mass they would have to propel, this was to hint at the transwarp capability of the ship. Since this isn’t a feature for our design we have slimmed the nacelles down to bring them back into balance, but otherwise the details remain similar.
The bussard collectors themselves retain some of the look of the originals but now appear more streamlined. We have also put in additional details such as the grills on the side which pay homage the modern design on the sovereign class.

Please feel free to ask any questions here, I will hopefully be writing up a second of these items as the model nears completion.

[sman789]

Looks great - my laptop literally overheated when I tried to reply to it (not kidding)

Shame there's no view of the whole ship, but I'm sure there's a good reason for that

When you launch an escape pod or a shuttle - assuming you actually can - will the model animate? I suppose that would be much harder for escape pods, but shuttles at least?

[Aresius]

Love the nacelles.

Those "windows" on either side of the bridge, are they ready-rooms? Or one ready-room, one conference room? If it's a ready-room, they're rather big. If it's a conference room, both/either are rather small.

Else I certainly am looking forward. Overall, I'd say it is basically the Excalibur we know, however with modifications.  Just like there's the Miranda-class (USS Reliant), but it has various subgroups (like the Lantree/Saratoga-version, without rollbar, or the Sojuz-version, with those fancy additions). Mayhap, the same use we have here.

[MR_7]

Please feel free to ask any questions here, I will hopefully be writing up a second of these items as the model nears completion.

Yes, How much do i pay you guys to see the whole ship , you've just made me more impatient than when i saw the last sneak peek..... and the Pool Table design on the main page.    Bravo she looks beautiful at the moment.

Just 4 questions:

Will the Excalibur have her own style of shuttle?

How many Polies is this CGI version at the moment?

How many hours have you put into this model?

How big in metres is this the Excalibur?

Otherwise..... just wow.

[begolf00]

Does this Excalibur have anything to do with the old one posted on the old website? I believe it was a render showing the Excalibur in a shipyard.

If anyone has it on their computer it would be neat to see the differences between the two models.

Looks great by the way, what size is the ship going to be (Meters). Cause the old one was huge, curious if your going to stay close to the original in size or make it a lot smaller.

[Aresius]

Does this Excalibur have anything to do with the old one posted on the old website? I believe it was a render showing the Excalibur in a shipyard.

I remember that thread, had the same question back then. If I recall, that was te Excalibur we know from throughout the internet, which will not be the Excalibur of this game.

[hpsandwich]

Does this Excalibur have anything to do with the old one posted on the old website? I believe it was a render showing the Excalibur in a shipyard.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't that just a bit of PR work made to promote the game?, i never really thought that that picture was rendered in the engine.

[begolf00]

No they wouldn't of used the game engine to render that old Excalibur pic. Would of been rendered with like vray or something or the million other renders out there.

[phongbong]

Thank you so much for this Josh, I feel like our star player isn't getting enough attention. 

[Vadek]

What kinda of Texturing Job can we expect, Sovereign style or Sleek smooth Intrepid or Somethink original?

[stevie_d]

I like the look!

I think what most people realize with this ship is, i did it over 10 years ago now (1998 or 99 ... i cant remember), and it was literally only the 2nd mesh id *ever* made, so i was literally crap at modelling. So things like the overly large nacelles (with regards to the thin wings), and cumbersome underbelly were par for the course of a 3d beginner

Couple that with the fact that 3ds max wasnt so good back then (3.1!!), and the 3d art community was only just starting to get going, (if a mesh was over 300,000 polys peoples computers died!) and many a time has made me look at that design since and think about properly "updating" it.

I cant wait to see more.

Keep up the great work guys!

Steve D

[Josh]

Thank you all for the great feedback, dont stop questioning 

When you launch an escape pod or a shuttle - assuming you actually can - will the model animate? I suppose that would be much harder for escape pods, but shuttles at least?

When we should decide to do a video, we could animate the doors and the pods, its easy doable.

Those "windows" on either side of the bridge, are they ready-rooms? Or one ready-room, one conference room? If it's a ready-room, they're rather big. If it's a conference room, both/either are rather small.

There the ready room for the captain and the other one is the office of the XO, hes like a mayor for the excalibur.

Will the Excalibur have her own style of shuttle?

How many Polies is this CGI version at the moment?

How many hours have you put into this model?

How big in metres is this the Excalibur?

The excalibur wont have her own shuttles, but will have her own lancelot scouts instead. She weights now arround 650.000 tris modeled in countless houres. I really cant remember how long it took and will take to get her done. The excalibur is arround 1900 meters long.

Does this Excalibur have anything to do with the old one posted on the old website? I believe it was a render showing the Excalibur in a shipyard.

Yes, its partly the same model. Means the saucer of the render was the cg version the rest (not done by this time) of the ship got finished with the game version.

What kinda of Texturing Job can we expect, Sovereign style or Sleek smooth Intrepid or Somethink original?

The overall style will be more in the style of the sovereign class, but not limited to it.

I like the look!

I think what most people realize with this ship is, i did it over 10 years ago now (1998 or 99 ... i cant remember), and it was literally only the 2nd mesh id *ever* made, so i was literally crap at modelling. So things like the overly large nacelles (with regards to the thin wings), and cumbersome underbelly were par for the course of a 3d beginner

Couple that with the fact that 3ds max wasnt so good back then (3.1!!), and the 3d art community was only just starting to get going, (if a mesh was over 300,000 polys peoples computers died!) and many a time has made me look at that design since and think about properly "updating" it.

I cant wait to see more.

Keep up the great work guys!

Steve D

I feel really honored to have the chance to work on this ship. I woulnt have it without you and lc amaral!

[Vadek]

The excalibur is arround 1900 meters long.

That's Big for a Star trek ship. I can imagine this model will be highly detailed dew to the size.

[phongbong]

That's Big for a Star trek ship. I can imagine this model will be highly detailed dew to the size.

I believe you're right.

[begolf00]

Sweet, that's one big ship.

[furswift]

The ready room seems to be a good size for a ship this large. After all, Janeway's ready room was enormous and that was on a dinky Intrepid class ship. I really like the idea of the XO being the "mayor" of the Excalibur; since she's designed for long missions as a fleet command ship, she really needs to be a city in space.

Now for a couple questions:

• On the CG model, will you build the interior that can be seen through the windows like Tobias Richter did for his JJprise?
  
  
• Will the Excalibur be the only ship of her class for the whole game, or will she have sisters?

Beautiful job on the model. Thanks for giving us a glimpse of her.

[Jon Deane]

After all, Janeway's ready room was enormous and that was on a dinky Intrepid class ship.

You know what that means, right?  Ready room size is INVERSLY proportional to size.  All we'll have is a broom closet!

[furswift]

"Captain to XO, report to my locker immediately!"

[Jon]

You know what that means, right?  Ready room size is INVERSLY proportional to size.  All we'll have is a broom closet!

Just make sure you kick Harry Potter out first!

[kitkat27]

That is looking so awesome!!! Great job!
The Excalibur has always been one of my favorite ships and I'm loving the improvements your making to it!
This game is very Impressive! Great Job to everyone working on it!!
I have few question's about the Excalibur, but I'll start with this~
The bridge of Excalibur class starships has been portrayed in numerous different lights. In Elite Force RPG-X the USS Atlantis Mod has a MASSIVE bridge. (it feels more like a starbase OPS than a bridge if you ask me, yet is very cool nevertheless!) Then in BC the Excalibur Bridge is puny!!! It looks cool with the reflective, plexiglassish, MSD....but it is very small square footage (like around that of a defiant bridge!) How are you envisioning the bridge size and layout as you design the ship? Are you taking any ques from past interpretations, such as the two I referenced? And if so, what will you take from each?
Sorry for my Extremely long post lol....and if you prefer to keep the bridge a secret I totally understand