In order to travel across space Alice would need a ship and a ship she has, Alice’s ship is a reflection of her personality, she strives to explore the unexplored and she isn’t afraid to do so.
For the ship, I wanted to create something with a bit of flare, something non-conventional with some sci-fi/futuristic aspects. On looking through different sources I created a small collage of references that I would use to base my design on. I needed to pay attention to the shapes, materials, colours, and textures used in these designs in order to improve my own. In order to create a good design I would need to make clear some certain design points I should follow. For one it’s important to know what the spaceship is intended for, such as for short or long trips, a cargo vessel or a luxury cruiser. this will be important as the purpose and function of the spaceship will influence its design. I chose to go with a one-man cruiser intended for heavy amounts of travel with a bit of flair from the driver’s personal interests. To make the spaceship look futuristic I would want to incorporate advanced technologies that aren’t real but do make sense to a certain extent, furthermore I would want to think about how these technologies would affect the shape and design of the spaceship. In my case, this included new propulsion systems and gadgets. While it is important to focus on aesthetics, it would also be important to consider the ergonomics and functionality of the spaceship. If I don’t Make sure that the spaceship is designed with the comfort and safety of the driver in mind, then it will lack some realism and that will in turn take away from the user’s immersion.
My first iteration of the ship had a box-like look to it. The front panels would be made from a glass texture and act as the windows the driver would look through, I noted that at the time having these panels curve may create problems with reflections when it came to rendering. Additionally, on the top, I added some intakes and fins, these add an additional layer of detail making the design look more like an actual ship. By giving the ship a large width it allows for a good amount of internal space for the driver’s cockpit. However, I wasn’t personally pleased with the shape as I found that it didn’t look very aerodynamic or appropriate for a single-seat cockpit.
Nevertheless, I carried on with the design to get a better idea of what the finished look would be.
To complete the ship’s design I added a large wing that would serve as the main device for propulsion and movement. Influenced by the reference images the design features engines on either end of the wing, followed by a large intake in the centre acting as balance. At this stage I didn’t feel fully confident with this complete design, although the look was definitely a big part, the main reason was due to poly count and subdivision. Polycount (polygon count), refers to the number of polygons or triangles that make up a 3D model. In Blender, 3D models are constructed by connecting points in 3D space to form polygons which define the shape of the object. The more polygons a model has, the more detailed it can be, but also the more resource-intensive it is to render and display. Subdivision is the process of dividing a polygonal mesh into smaller and more detailed parts by adding new vertices, edges, and faces. This technique is used to refine the shape and smoothness of a model’s surface, adding detail. In Blender, you can use a subdivision modifier to apply different levels of subdivision to an asset. For this asset in order to make the shape not appear low poly or blocky, I applied various levels of subdivision to the different objects it was made of. I should note that the method in which I went about subdividing was not the most suitable and therefore I required excessive amounts of polygons to make the ship look polished, due to the large poly count it would be difficult to render this model, especially with good lighting. I came to the decision to scrap this model as it would create a lot of problems further on in development. From this problem, although I would suffer a time loss, I was now better prepared when it came to creating assets for the scene.
I eventually came to create a new design for the ship after some further planning.
The theme for this design is ‘Hot rod’. A hot rod is a type of car that has been modified for high-performance and racing purposes. Hot rods are typically old American cars that have been extensively modified to improve their speed, power, and appearance. Sticking with this theme this ship can be seen as several separate components welded together, the main cylinder vessel can be used to represent the original old car, while the other attachments can be seen as the modifications including two big ‘engines’ in the front much like many Hot rods that have a largely replaced engine. From a story perspective, the vehicle tells a story of the driver wanting to create something for themselves, much like the greater story, the captain strives to break boundaries. One aspect of the design that I questioned at first was the addition of exhaust pipes on the propulsion blocks, this being set in space it doesn’t make much scientific sense, however referring back to an earlier point this is futuristic in nature and therefore the purpose of these exhausts may likely not be as simple as it seems.
Although by coincidence, this design also resembled ‘podracers’ from the Star Wars franchise. I didn’t notice this during the design process, however, if I was to go back I think it would be useful to use this as more reference material as I could incorporate those concepts, especially technology, to improve my design further.
One main thing I wanted to change before applying the finishing touches to this design was changing the thrusters. This was to be expected as the thrusters I made at first were mostly just placeholders, meant to eventually be changed. The plan was to create thrusters similar to that of an aircraft, featuring moving parts that adjust its power, this would of course be more complex than most other parts of the ship and therefore require some trial and error.
After completing the thruster redesign I was at a stage where I was satisfied with the external look of my ship, so now I would move to design the exterior.