I'm happy with how the shading on the body turned out; it gives a good illusion of depth. I also tried an effect to get that gold foil look and it worked out fairly well. If you squint (or, even better, click on the image) you can see the details of my new docking ring. At the suggestion of Robert Davidoff, who has his own blog, Engineer in Progress, I have added an androgynous, universal docking port that will now appear on all of my rockets, and any of the old stuff that appears in future products.
Anyway, that's it for today, see you tomorrow, RocketFans!
I just discovered your site yesterday saw your post about the universal docking port. *Very* late to the party but A few years ago I was thinking about 3D spacecraft models and came up with a docking system I called ILIDS (International Low Impact Docking System) and LIMBS (Low Impact Module Berthing System), based on my research into NASA's LIDS and the Russian APAS. I wanted to design just one docking port for all my spacecraft to save me modeling headaches. Hence in my fictional universe, international space treaty declares that all manned spacecraft must have at least one ILIDS.
ReplyDeleteHere's a screenshot of the model for LIMBS, which has an ILIDS embedded in the door:
http://www.spellflight.com/WIPS/LIMBS14.jpg
Interestingly, NASA also came up with the iLIDS moniker in 2011 and it became the NASA Docking System not long after- about two years after I created my initial design! What trips me out is that they went the same route I did for the hard dock ring and used the Russian APAS. I did that because at the time, I had no clue what else to use, heh.
Anyway, I'm really digging your site (I'm a fan of Atomic Rockets too) and like the realistic take on SF space and the attention to detail.