United States Space Force Light Cruiser - LC14 Sacramento
The USSF Sacramento is a light cruiser designed to patrol, escort, and protect US and allied assets and shipping in the Earth-Moon System, as well as parts of the inner Solar System.
The vessel is powered by a magnetically confined fusion torch drive with liquid droplet radiators for heat management. She carries a compliment of VLS-type rack-launched kinetic kill vehicles and missiles, as well as a pair of electromagnetic railgun turrets.
Beyond the main munitions, there are also cargo hard points for standardized container cells and laser/kinetic point defense turrets to protect the ship.
Interactive Presentation (Made for Desktop Viewing):
Idea:
Work on the Sacramento started some time after I wrapped up work on the ICT Horizon Clipper. Both ships exist in the same thematic setting that started with my work on the Cargo Lunar Lander a long while back. After having worked on a logistics vehicle, I was keen on returning to work on something more military in nature. Having tackled something similar with the Shenandoah years ago, I wanted to focus more on furthering realism this time, and spent more time doing some research. Also with my proficiency in Blender having improved, I felt it was time to give something similar a try.
Process:
The process to make the Sacramento began much like the Horrizon clipper and made use of very similar techniques. Some new inclusions this time was more use of UV mapping and textures in the model. Following making the model, I also spent some time focused on animation, with a focus on the missiles and the railgun turrets.
Interactive Presentation and UX:
As a way to showcase the model and explore the associated world that it exists in, I used Figma to build an interactive presentation. This was done in the form of a prototype that allowed users to click on various areas of the ship. User would then be taken to different renders that included animated pop-up elements that explained different parts and their functions.
Some of the components created for the prototype. The animation effect in many of the pop-ups are created through the use of transitioning between differing variants.
To achieve this, I delved into Figma and learned more about Component construction in the software to build different UI elements for the prototype. I also established a unified design theme around the prototype to give the presentation a cohesive look that was reminiscent of retro-type computer interfaces.
With the initial components and interactive slides/pages completed, I asked several friends to test the prototype. They tried their hands at the prototype and provided feedback on how differing elements with the user experiences should be altered and improved.
The overall laid-out prototype logic in the interactive presentation.
Conclusion:
This project was a nice continuation and gave me a chance to delve further into both the setting and its aesthetics, as well as honing my skillset and knowledge in Blender 3D. I plan on continuing with this setting and building out more vehicles and objects in the world.
