Howdy! I'm Kixum, Coordinator for the Carrara Raydream forum here at Renderosity. Member Since 4/22/01 Roles I have played at Renderosity.
Carrara/Raydream Coordinator January 23, 2011, (used to be Moderator 3/17/2002 to 11/17/2006 but work required I take a break)
Carrara/Raydream Resource CD Manager (a long time ago in a dream world long gone).
Amapi Moderator here and there.BIOIn real life I'm an engineer who hasn't decided yet to quit his day job to become a computer 3D artist. My work here at Renderosity started when I began the Carrara Raydream Resource CD project. That was around October 2001. I've been a member since April 2001. My life in computer 3D artwork started a long time ago when I purchased the Corel Draw 6 package which contained Corel Dream 3D. This was a poor mans version of Raydream. As time progressed, Raydream picked up more features which I followed. Eventually Carrara entered the scene and finally, after a long dry stint, Eovia got it's hands on it and now we're swimming through the package while in the care and feeding of DAZ.Â
DAZ has been pushing the software but mostly in the direction of DAZ figures (people) etc. (what a shock). Not to say that DAZ hasn't added some other pretty cool stuff (like bullet physics etc.) but in general, Carrara's advancement has been focused on Poser type features since Daz took it.
I think it's a natural evolution for the software as it was needed to bolster it's value and viability. What will be next? I don't know but I can certainly think up a list of things that could take into the next category of proffessional high end packages. We'll see if that happens!
Renderosity has pushed me quite a bit as a Carrara user plus, the users here are very cool, helpful and insightful. Maybe someday I'll graduate to having models of people in my work but I haven't broken down to that part of 3D art just yet. Star Wars and Star Trek stuff are clearly two favorite things I like to work on. I'm also moving more into organics but very slowly. The Carrara texture engine is very powerful but also challenging to learn and master. My images are taking on more life and depth as time progresses. I've stuck my foot into the animation waters and have had reasonable success. If I ever get my first big major animation project completed, it will be very cool and a personal triumph. My love of photography also continues to grow and I enjoy it more and more as I go photograph some of the incredible places in the world.
With the death of Amapi (mostly), I've decided to delve into Rhino. As a general rule, I'm really a modeler. Carrara is actually a pretty good tool for modeling (better than people think) but there are a few limitations which require me to work with other stuff. Rhino will be a big learning curve and a departure from my comfort zone. We'll see how that goes!
Thanks for stopping by and I hope to see you around!
-Kix
Comments (13)
Nod
I remember this one from the manual. Excellent work.
intro
Don't you wonder what they needed with a pair of parabolic dishes, five stories high? I mean, haven't these guys heard of micro electronics? Seriously, though it's a coll rendering in all three cases.
pakled
Well, it's actually from a 'war game' done in the early 70's..some of these were 'concept' ships done by Bob Justaman (I think). There was also a destroyer (1 nacelle). They were plastic models about 2" long, stood on clear plastic stands. Later on, they came up with a code for 'canon' ships, which 'eliminated' a lot of models like this (1 rule- even numbers of nacelles )yet, in the final episode, what did they show up with?..;) great work, very detailed. Keep it up.
paladin2020
Ah the old Federation Class dreadnaught I remember it very well.:) Great work man if you are going to do a movie update version the third pylon is still in the same place but the two outboard nacells are attached by a pylon that is at a straight 90 degrees level.
Odessey
Isn't it great to have your own Federation construction kit excellent modeling.
ShawnDriscoll
Franz Joseph would be proud! You do make the best Star Trek vessels of anybody her at Renderosity.
tallpindo
I am disappointed that spacecraft are going back from shirtsleeve and walking about to the chaise lounge in real life. Fictitious craft have even more incentive to pull the imagination into a lively creative spring.
vorpalbunny
I remember this one from the Tech Manual, too. Nice job. I don't remember the shuttle bay doors being up front on this one, but it has probably been 20 years since I looked at the original Tech Manual, too. Great modelling!
WPL2
Nice model.
micaelito
Excellent Kix ;) Cool light !
sfdex
Very nice, indeed. I remember thinking how goofy the secondary hull looked on the dreadnaught, no swooping curve toward the rear like the elegant indent in the Enterprise. You've duplicated the design, as best as I remember, and it makes sense that the details would be similar to the Constitution class ship. Very cool, indeed.
DavidEMartin
"Franz Joseph Designs" was the civilian hobby of a man who was one of the designers of the FB-111 swingwing jet. His kids were into STAR TREK and he got drawn into it, using his engineering design skills to recreate the "reality" of the series. His first project was "The Star Trek Blueprints", a groundbreakiing project that detailed ever single floor of the USS Enterprise. His followup was the trade paperback STARFLEET ACADEMY TECHNICAL MANUAL, which covers everything from basic uniform designs to multi-layer chess sets to additional starship designs. Franz Joseph kept his designs simple, basically re-arranging the components of the Enterprise class to make single engine frigates, twin-engine tugs, and of course the heavily armed, heavily powered Dreadnaught. Apparently Roddenberry detested the Dreadnaught ("Star Fleet is a SCIENTIFIC organization, not a military one!" he reportedly yelled) and probably pressured Rick Sternbach to include in his STAR TREK STAR FLIGHT CHRONOLOGY the ill-fated Tritium, the first and only three-engine starship andn the comment that three engines cannot work because of problems with engine harmonics. Hwoever, the editors of the TREK paperbnack series were more open-minded and gave this ship the title role in DREADNAUGHT, in which the Federation's newest, most powerful weapon has just been hijacked. The Dreadnaught and other Franz Joseph designs were incorporated into the Trek tactical war game STAR FLEET BATTLES, which in turn led to the lead minatures Pakled refered to.
Raymar3d
http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/index-bp.html Full deck plans of the Dreadnought. I for one, loved the Tech Manual, and all the designs in it. And even though I really am gratefull to Gene Rodenberry for creating Star Trek, if he didn't like the Dreadnought, or the destroyers, he shouldn't have signed the blueprints on them, or the tech manual. Next Gen guys came along and decided to be revisionist and change all the NCC numbers, but as far as I'm concerned this book is canon. Ships from it are seen onscreen in Star Trek II and are mentioned at Epsilon 9, in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. This Dreadnought ROCKS! And, is extremely accurate! Excellent work!