How long I've been waiting for this moment! After countless hours, tests, designing and re-designing (things simply doesn't always work out as planned) - my big "Prometheus-Class Refit"-Project is now close be finished!
I knew it would be a hard piece of work. My experience with building the Daedalus showed me that building large-dimensioned, curved mesh structures isn't exactly a simple task.
Actually it was quite
megalomaniac, nuts, insane ambitios to do it. And indeed, building it demanded a lot of patience from me.
Well I kept hanging on. With some interruptions spent on building things I wanted to have done for quite a while now. You simply need to get your mind free from time to time.
What you see now on these charming little pictures is the Prometheus as I did envision it right away. A huge, but at the same time pretty sleek and elegant vessel. There are countless things you simply can't do with prims and building the original about a year ago taught me the lesson that if I wanted to get ahead with building, I had to do the step and make meshes.
The refitted Prometheus is the result of my experiences in building more and more complex (and larger) structures. I started with my Steampunk Grammophone about a year ago. A very good project to learn the foundation of creating shapes, UV-mapps and all these things. Then I went on building more and more complex things like the Kestrel Biplane and eventually the already pretty big Daedalus-Class Airship. Every build was a challenge on its own and I did learn a lot from each.
Also building in large sizes means furthermost that every little detail counts. Everything will be enlarged and the slightest blunder will be visible eventually. There is very, very little tolerance for cheating, believe me.
The happier am I that I did succeed with my quite ambitious goal of building not only a very decent looking ship, but also one which has a very reasonable Primcount. The Prometheus as you see it on the pictures has a land impact of less than 60! Of course this number will grow with more elements added, but I think 60 for a body shell of this scale is already a nice landmark!
Speaking of size: The ship got its name from the titan of Greek mythology, who wasn't only pretty... titanic - but also a bright and inspirational mind. A real inventor, who taught the humans how to use fire. If you ask me its quite a fitting name for a - as I already said - quite ambitioned project I learned a lot from.
Oh, and a word about its design: It has definitely a stronger bias towards Dieselpunk now (just look at these fins!), which I find quite suiting to my Airplane designs. I will however include a more steampunk-oriented variant too. The ship will be quite customizable with different texture- and layout-options, including a glamorous ballroom-variant!
The next days will see further improvements on the mesh (some things you can't see before you haven't rezzed your build inworld and stepped into it) and uploading and adding of the rest of the ship's parts.
I set up a construction-site at
Shoregate where I'm assembling it. Yes, it looks a bit like the space-dock in Star Trek where they did refit Kirk's Enterprise. No, thats not a concidence.
Be welcome to visit the site, but keep in mind its still work-in-progress: I don't garantee for your safety from falling polygons, also the textures at some parts still need to dry, so be careful what to touch!
As usual I will keep you updated about my progress on this blog. Hell, I can't wait to see this thing in all its gorgeousness!
