More…
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Very Cool.
I would like, though, a render where the ship is fully lit, so we can have a closer look at it. 
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I am currently working on a highly modular deep core asteroid mining vessel as fan art for I-Novae. I want it to be as thought through as possible without making it too realistic. The ship is meant only for space travel, no atmospheric flights.
It’s made primarily for long solo operations and only for safe space areas (it does not have a single weapon) with a crew of up to 16 people (depending on the quantity of modules and escape pods).
The ship is about 200m long in the standard configuration. It’s build on the following sections…
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Front part: Life support section, sleeping rooms, social areas and kitchen for the crew, main cockpit, sensors, short distance emergency thrusters, 8 escape pods, small engine room for energy and thrusters.
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Middle part (main part): Deep core drill, secondary cockpit for mining controls and observations, material processor, material tanks (8-24), engine room for the whole mechanism
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2nd middle part: Small hangar can hold supplies and small ATVs for hull repairs or other external activities, works as a lifting platform with a ramp, 8 escape pods
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End part: Main thruster section, can hold up to 2 fuel-tanks on each sode
Each part can be seperated in case of an emergancy, the front part can work autonomously as a escape shuttle for short distances, in very desperate situations the crew can leave the ship through the personal escape pods.
I made a rough 3D mock-up with SketchUp and will proceed to paint it over soon
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So here is a rendering. I can’t figure out a fitting name… I need something that sounds mighty, big, industrial(?)
Maybe you guys can help me?
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I too have decided to test my artistic skill and create some fan art. 
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Second rendering with a close up view of the hangar while the ship is on an asteroid to harvest minerals.
Any feedback?
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That’s a nice render! Is it painted over or textured?
A paint-over with lots of textures.
Cool render. Nice paintover. Some nice details in the hangar and on the building on the right.
The first thing I noticed was the connection of the station to the ground. The one in the front is quite ok. But all have too straight lines where they touch the ground. The mass of the Station or other commotion would have surely moved the ground at the connection points a little.
Instead of having truck-sized vehicles unloading, how about making the ship itself the surface miner? That is, the ship just settles over the deposit and starting mining, a bit like lowering an oil rig over an oil field. If the ship is suspended some distance above the surface (e.g. 10% of the ship length), then that leaves lots of room for nice complex mining machinery to be exposed.
There could be a strip mining ship as well as a shaft/seam mining ship. They would differ in the interesting bits under the ship. Such a ship could have a hangar (likely on top) for small ships that are used to fly around for various errands.
I mention doing it that way in part so that the crew never has to leave the ship. Instead, they stay in the nice, comfy, noisy, smelly industrial interior, and only the mining bits are exposed to the elements.
I’m not sure how much it would be noticed. A vehicle would want to spread its mass out as much as possible to avoid sinking into loose surface material, especially if the landing jacks were supposed to support the mining as I’ve suggested above. On firm ground, like rock, likely nothing would be visible.
As soon as the Kickstarter launch date was announced I’ve been working on a little something to celebrate it. Barely managed to finish it 2 hours before the internet will explode…
I am planing to share the link to the KS campaign alongside this piece, that okay?
16 Likes
Hype Craft ready to launch! 
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