This is perhaps the most viewed image I have posted on Renderosity. It seems warships are more popular than explorers. Ah, well . . . THE SHIP In the "Action" scene shown above, the Variant 1 / "General's Gambit" space battleship is shown firing its main weapons. This variant exists in a conflict filled SF universe akin to that of the "Babylon 5" TV show. The vessel is not equipped with faster-than-light propulsion and must use a jump gate to cross interstellar distances. It is armed with missile launchers and a particle beam cannon for offense and laser turrets for defense. The vessel carries numerous small fighters as well as shuttles for personnel and cargo transfer. "General's Gambit" is inspired by the "Star Destroyer" of the Star Wars universe but is a much smaller and less powerful ship. As the only Variant to have registration markings in English, it represents my dismay at the current state of human international relations. THE PROJECT The Starship Variants project involves taking one basic hull design and creating six distinct variations on it. The variants differ from each other in a number of ways. They have contrasting functions and missions. Each ship is set in its own distinct science fiction universe. The vessels represent different levels of space-faring technology and social development on the part of their users. The ships are alike in that they not only share the same rough shape, but also are about the same size. They are all intended to be occupied by humans and possibly by other sentient beings as well. As a humorous touch, the versions all have whimsical names that follow the same basic naming convention. The contrasting fictional universes the ships exist in vary from the predictably violent where space warfare is common to the serene where humans as a species have advanced beyond the need or desire to attempt to control tracts for space for political or economic purposes. In a way, the six starship variants and their respective universe can be seen as alternatives in how we chose to envision our future in space. The designs are ordered deliberately as a progression from a relatively low level of star travel technology and human interstellar social development to a quite high level of the same. The Starship Variants project was done over a period of about fours months and took over fifty hours to complete. You can see many more images from the Starship Variants project, as well as from numerous other 3D CGI projects I have done, on my personal website: www.dcmstarships.com.