Modern Spacecraft concepts

[flakmonkey]

Heres some ideas I have for some spacecraft designs.

Tos tart this off, I've made a Sikorsky ATC-010 Attack Transport Craft, a craft used for transporting up to 12 units, plus 2 flight crew. Armed with light machine guns and two missile pods.

The crew would enter/exit through the back airlock. with an emergency airlock on the side.

[flakmonkey]

that blob on the left was my side profile i used to define the general shape..and went perspective from there.

[johanerik]

could you make the right side a little lighter? it kind of blurrs in to the drop shadow

[Star Eater]

Indeed, that shadow is overwhelming.

[flakmonkey]

Done! That better?

[Falchion]

Two observations: It appears that the tail fins are not on the same plane with each other. Secondly, how/where does it store its powerplant and troops? Am I correct to assume that "unit" means an individual infantryman?

Although I must say, you've done an excellent job in translating the nose of the Sikorsky S-70.

[Artfix]

Hey. I think the title of your post is giving me the most confusion. The word modern to me means that it could be developed and built today. Well, this craft would never escape our gravity given current technology.

So either it is using super strong future engines, so it is a craft of the future. Or it is a craft of the skies, not space. And if it is a modern design for flight, then I don't see how it would do that either. But I'm no expert in ID.

Whats the deal?

[JeffX99]

Good effort - I love this kind of thing so would like to offer a few thoughts.

Much better after getting rid of the heavy shadow.
I assume this is a space and atmospheric transport? But if atmospheric how does it generate lift? Vectored thrust (like a Harrier VTOL), anti-grav tech (where are they?) or conventional wings?
The windows indicate scale so I think you have too many for a two-person cockpit.
Entering from the rear also looks like it would be a long ass walk up to the cockpit for the flight crew.
Size wise it feels more like a transport for 40.
The missile pods aren't symmetrical/in proper perspective.

Basically I would do a redesign keeping in mind scale, dimensions, functionality of lift, powerplant, access, weapons, etc. Maybe work this one over as a larger transport and develop a smaller, lighter transport. Consider all three main views - front, side, top plus isometric/perspective. Right now it looks a little too much like a conventional large copter with rotors removed.

Keep it up though, looking forward to any further work!

[flakmonkey]

Did a bit of an update to the concept, taking in mind some of the points you guys shared. I usually am very Industrial Design minded...so we'll see how realistic i can make this. I think once this 2d stage is complete, i'll make a basic 3d model...

Also, added a little dude for scale. it's meant to be a small transport. A pilot, a copilot, and the rest of the crew is soldiers or personnel.

[Foxtrot Wolfwhistle]

Is this thing going to interact with the atmosphere at all or is it always goig to be in space? If it's the former, this thing will get WRECKED. If you look at our current spacecraft and spacePlanes you will see that these are very aerodynamic. This is not only to make it more efficient to get more speed, but also because more wind resistance=more friction=EVERYONE DYING IN A HORRIFIC FIREBALL!!! If this is going to be built in space and used only in space, you don't need that aerodynamic design.

Function over form! Remember that!

[flakmonkey]

I do agree with function over form.

In this case..don't open those side hatches in space.

[flakmonkey]

oops. apparently you can see my outlines of a former engine concept. oh well. ill take it out next time. its time for sleep.

[Invertedvantage]

Cool lines; definitely looks military and believable. Some color in unexpected places would make it pop, I think; either something on their by the pilot, or maybe some brightly colored squadron markings. Up to you though.

[flakmonkey]

yeah, color is the next objective.

[Strato]

I like this design. However, from the second I saw that you built it off of a grey blob, I knew that you were going to have lots of technical problems. Here's how you should be doing highly constructed industrial designs:

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=126817

If you look really carefully you can see that you're not QUITE aligning everything on the same planes. If you were to go through this tutorial with your spaceship, you'd have a good knowledge of where everything falls in relationship with each other and that'll help fix things like how the fuselage isn't perpendicular to the wings. Or how the wingtips are both tilting the same direction. Or how lots of the lines that define the plates on the body aren't parallel but slightly converging or diverging. Or how the connector between the hatch and the hatch...hole doesn't connect in the middle of the hatch. Snapping to a gird will fix all of that.

The thing that bugs me a LOT more though is that huge blurry blobby black shadow. It actually hurts my eyes to look at your picture because they're constantly trying to refocus.

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=121815

Here's how to construct shadows. I also don't know what that cylinder thing is behind the back engine. It sorta looks like a Dalek that's playing hide and go seek with the spacecraft =P. And there are a couple of oddball lines under the engine on the right that make it look like the engine needs to shave.

[flakmonkey]

i accidentlly forgot to hid some of my other layers, thats the extra stuff youre seeing. lol

thanks for the tips. I'm checking those tuts out.

[flakmonkey]

after studying that tutorial, i came up with this. now...it may just be me, but it feels off somehow...maybe it's all the round shapes.

[flakmonkey]

cleaning it up a bit..and changed the nose lines a bit. now they look better.