Grand Space Opera 3D Entry: Jayden Morris

#1

Jayden Morris has entered the Grand Space Opera 3D.

#2

Hello everyone, my first post at cgtalk. The finished artwork this contest will make will be mindblowing!

Just a quick sketch to get me started.
I like the ship I have conceptualised, but the layout will probably change to fit the ā€˜think bigā€™ quote better, and have a lot more happening.

I will be using Maya, but I am still pretty much in the middle of learning it. Not shure if I could actually make that smoke and make it look good.

#3

Welcome, this is my first ā€œanythingā€ at CGTalk as well. Iā€™m very excited about this contest as good old fashioned space scenes have been out of style for a while it seems.

Anyway, good lookin concept. Lookā€™s like youā€™ve got your work cut out for you.

#4

Already into modeling. I will have to come back to the scene layout concept. I wanted to get my feature ship done to see how it looked before I refine all my ideas into something.

My Sci-fi world:
Background:
The Balor Heavy Attack Ship:
There are no energy sheilds - a bit of a cliche im currently tired of.
Space Superiority fighters can quite easily go head to head with larger vessels, a single hit from their primary weapons is enough to shatter titanium armour plating. For this reason combat has reached an unprecedented level of tactical expertise. Multiple sensor-banks over starships continually scan heat, multi-level light-shift and gravitational forces to pinpoint enemy craft millions of kilometers beyond visual range. When a battle is inevitable, no amount of pilot skill can guarantee survival, it usually comes down to speed, maneuverability and the precision of automated targeting systems.

The ship above is a USD-HH7-1 ā€˜Balorā€™ Heavy attack fighter. It was originally used to oblitirate planetary defence positions with its massive twin Fusion gatling cannons and nuclear torpedos for the Directorate, but after the planet Arkatanis IV was captured, hundreds were left abandoned intact on the surface while wars were fought elsewhere with cheaper and more modern starfighters.

50 years later the Nexus Defence fleets retro-fitted the Balors with updated computer systems and high-grade ceramic armour making them stronger than the modern fighters but much harder to manuever due to their weight.

The Balor is powered by 4 Titandrive Mk 3 Ethogen Combustion engines, giving it a tremendous power output well above what is considered a safe operating level. Balor pilots are certainly respected among the stars for their skill in keeping the ship from destroying itself let alone from enemy fire.

What made the Balor attractive to the Nexus was its weapon loadout. No other combat ship of its size has ever had more destructive power onboard, it is for this main reason that the Directorate stopped using them: at full load the Balor was a 6 million dollar ship. With a limited loadout there were much more efficient options such as interceptors.
Standard weaponry on the Balor consists of the following:

Twin Empire-Arms 20foot Fusion Gatling Cannons - unparalleled firing capacity. When they fire, everyone knows about it and nothing is safe.
They have a very long range but lose a lot of accuracy, something pilots can use to their advantage however, especially when multiple targets approach head-on.

Eight ā€˜A44ā€™ Ordinance Slots - Can be used for any ā€˜A44ā€™ compatible missile or torpedo, but most commonly Empire-Arms class 1668 heat tracking missiles for starship targets and Rexon United Military A44 Nuclear ā€˜dumbfireā€™ torpedos for ground targets.

Six Advanced-Electrical BPRL-12 Bolt cannons - Situated beneath the atmospheric intakes. Used as backup weapons on the Balor, these weapons used to be standard primary weapons on many Directorate light-fighters. They are completely unpowered while the fusion cannons are operational.

AVTronic Ion1 Ioncannon - situated beneath the gunnery cabin. The Ion1 is not designed to destroy ships but instead disable them by short-circuting their power permanently. The energy transfer can sometimes destroy unprotected ships with Ion or Volatile propulsion drives.

Two Advanced-Electrical Twin pulse cannon turrets - Situated on the side of the gunnery cabin. They have a limited horizontal pivotal capacity but can rotate 90 degrees downwards to shoot at ground-based targets.

Empire-Arms MKII Medium Power Light Laser Turret - The laser can critically damage any ship within its sight-range giving the Balor the chance it needs when not in an ideal attack position. The turret is always switched to full automation by the gunner. With the computer in control a hair folicle can be tracked and annhiliated in one shot while the pilot is busy keeping ahead of a missile.

Yet with all this, there is no doubt that enemy craft can give as good as they get on many occasions. The newer directorate starfighters are lighter and more maneuverable and unlike the Balor they are built for a single purpose - to kill other starfighters and protect dedicated bombers which provide the heavier destructive capability over larger targets.

wow. I wrote that? :slight_smile:
till next time - enjoy

#5

Cripes, Jayden, you sound like an arms dealer! :wink: Seriously, though, thatā€™s one stunning piece of modeling. As for the smoke ā€¦ well, there are certainly plenty of options, as compositing and post fx are allowed in the contest. Good luck!

#6

Damn!

AWESOME!

Need I say moreā€¦

lol, truely stunning concept art, and modelling. I didnā€™t read through all of the stuff below the model (thatā€™s a hell of a lot of detailed text, and Iā€™m too tired at the mo.), but the concept seems very cool, and the craft is a sweet design, and very well modelled.

Good luck with the contest, Iā€™m looking forward to watching this idea develop.

#7

Okee, i will order a squadron of those, they come with ground equipment and staff i presume?

#8

I found one of them in my cornflakes and the armour cracked a filling :slight_smile: They must have watched a very early ā€œI love Lucyā€ t.v. show and, seeing us as an easy prey, hurtled across the universe with fire in their bellies, only to find that scale had them beat. :thumbsup:

A great model there :smiley: Jealous, jealous.

#9

I really like the look of the ship. Too much to read though. :slight_smile:

#10

one of the best ships I`ve seen so far in all entries, good work!

#11

Hi Jayden. Thatā€™s a fantastic ship. Am being inspired by seeing such great modelling that all you guys are doing. Am going to have to try harder but hope to learn much. Good luck. :thumbsup: Claireabella.

#12

dude that ship looks like it has every weapon known to man on itā€¦ nice one :wink:

#13

Wow. Just wow. One of the finest models I have ever seen. Period. Damn you- now I must work twice as hard on my own modelsā€¦

May we see some WIP shots please? Iā€™d like to see the steps that went into creating this.

Also- maybe some renders from other angles?

#14

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