(Above) The image in the SOTL 2010 calendar shows the Aventine a couple of months out of space dock. A slightly updated version will probably show up on a book cover in 2010.

With two previous pages under his belt, Mark Rademaker is a SOTL veteran. Mark came to me through Andy Probert, who, impressed with Mark’s originality, thought I should give him a shot. Later, when Marco Palmieri and Margaret Clark were preparing a new Trek novel series called “Aventine”, they needed a new distinctive starship…  well, Mark was just the guy for the job, and the 2010 calendar was the perfect place to launch her! 

My name is Mark Rademaker, born 1980. I live in the Netherlands in a small and slow town called Silvolde. It’s almost Ba’Ku slow, but we do pay taxes and have fast-food.  Since 2008 I have created images for the the Ships of the Line calendars, I’m rather new to it but it’s great to do! My favorite era is post-Dominion War, my previous entries all show designs from that era. 

After some email traffic, Marco Palmieri, Margaret Clark and Doug gave me green light to design the Aventine for the SOTL2010 calendar. I was happy, all I had to do now was to design the ship… A capital ship, roughly the size of the Enterprise E, in less then 4 months, while having other projects as well…I got slightly intimidated by that idea, but decided to go for it. My only restriction: The pylons and nacelles had to face upwards to avoid being mixed up with the U.S.S. Titan. I sketched 2 choices for the pylons, a third one (bending arc) was drawn by Andrew Probert. It would make the ship longer and more sleek. Some more mail traffic and we decided that Andrew’s suggestion was the way to go.

For me the main purpose of the design was to display speed & strength. Construction speed both “in universe” and as a 3D model came second. After the Dominion war Starfleet probably needed easy to construct, multi-role platforms that could be quickly updated with new technology. I also decided that this “modularity” would go before elegance and grace. The final shape has been heavy influenced by the Enterprise E, Voyager and the fake but useful Starfleet ship Dauntless. I also added some features from my Spirit class Quantum slipstream testbed, from this year’s calendar.

 

Phase 1, Concepting :

I used 4 days to come up with a guideline concept. In my mind I pictured the Aventine as something close to Voyager and Enterprise E. I decided to skip the 2D phase entirely and move directly to 3D, to box out a shape. I normally take some time to create at least a basic drawing of a design, but over the last 3 years I made a dozen doodles in the same direction as the Aventine. (Long, sleek and with a Dauntless hump) so I felt confident enough to start on the baseline.

(Above) Phase 2, Creating a baseline:

In this phase I started with the basic elements of the ship, the secondary hull and the main “saucer”.  It’s important that this phase is checked and checked again. It would be hard to make changes on this level later on in the process, even when using parametric design.

(Above) Phase 3:
Background, light and position for the calendar image:
With the baseline ready I now had a “model” that I could use to pick the light and camera settings for the final image. I had to do this now because of my short time window. This way I could give priority to the parts that would be visible, and do the less visible parts later on.

I used a classic 3/4 view to show as much of the ship as possible. I created the background in Photoshop and matched colors so it would blend in nicely with the rendered image of the ship.

(Above) Phase 4, Detailing/Modeling:

This is where the baseline shape is actually being “filled” with details like windows, airlocks, phaserbanks etc. For this I use a ship checklist to make sure all parts are there from Chroniton sensors to an experimental quantum folding communication device. This checklist is then later converted to a specification sheet. Phase 4 is really taking a lot of time. With ships the size of the Aventine a lot of time is going to object management. (Putting parts in specific layers to keep track of them.)

(Above) Phase 5, Adding shaders and textures:

Colors, materials and textures will greatly affect the realism of a model. Because there was no way I could UVW map (texure) all the 1290 objects within 2 weeks, I had to use procedural shaders as well. Procedurals are not bitmaps but algorithms that don’t require predefined coordinates.

(Above) Phase 6, Rendering:

With all things set, the computer could start rendering. I had to wait about 20 hours till the image was done on the calendar resolution. Then I could assemble it all in Photoshop, do some final checks and sent it to Margaret Clarck.

As I type this I’m starting with Phase 7: optimizing the model for animation and retexture the parts that where procedurals before. One day she will fly! I still have a couple of projects on my “Want To Do” list: For the next SOTL I’m going back to very early Trek. Another one that I would love to do is the Enterprise F, back to smooth, white and with a neck for grace. This might take a while, but eventually I will get around to it!
 
For now I hope everybody enjoys the new calendar and thank you all for the awesome feedback on various websites!

Great job, Mark! rock on!

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