This is something I started WAY back in 2008-2009 in 2.49 when I was really first learning how to model. I took it upon myself to try and recreate this fine, shiny vessel from a famous online tutorial done by a gentleman named Treybor over on the Lightwave forums (I don't believe you can find the material for the tutorial online any longer, but Google it for more details).
The final version of this is lost to The Black, unfortunately, as the file became unreadable somehow. This is the closest version I could reconstruct from those older versions into a 2.6 .blend file. I am planning on a new version of this beauty with Blender 2.6 and the new modeling tools available. I will be releasing a finalized version of this in the near future, hopefully recovering the missing elements (landing legs, shuttles, CRUDE interior) or quickly remodeling them for a finished Serenity. Until then, I've been "Badger"ed to release this, so I shall, under CC (CC-BY-SA of course, I spent literally a year of my life on this thing, so hey... credit). If used, you must credit the model to me, or if modified and/or re-distributed under CC-BY-SA, original credit for the model to yours truly.
The file contains the ship as you see it in the image(s). 2.5 million verts, about 2 million faces, so you need some power for this. The ship components are on seperate layers, and I'm not sure if I set and labeled a naming convention for the individual objects. Feel free to texture, modify and use the model, it does constitute "fan art," it is not an exact duplicate of Serenity, but it is big-damn-heroes close. So don't push it by trying to use it for anything "commercial" where you and I would end up getting sued by FOX, Ok? In fact I'd like to see what some ol' fashioned Browncoat will do with this, if you'd like to share your images with me for a compilation, I'll include my contact info in the .zip archive.
Contact:
Blender Artists Forum
Trager
(Update: Cleaned up and ordered the layers, object names and parented everything so it is less confusing, anyway)
You may be right LOL. Even the movie version was pretty low poly. My pleasure to share with my fellow BlendHeads!
Wow, I must be getting old... I totally remember when that show came out:) But good chance you're right about the polycount. My understanding is they had a less-than-stellar budget to work with, even back then.
That is very much appreciated, I've seen your work, so that is a compliment to be sure!
Thanks... I actually tried to do this back in the day... but I got really frustrated with it:) Even with good blueprints, it was driving me nuts. But looking at this now... I feel inspired to re-attempt it:)
Firefly has always been my most favorite TV show of all time. Many times I have considered trying to recreate Serenity, but get lost when trying to find descent blueprints. Have you considered trying to do the inside with as much detail as the outside?
Absolutely, I'm reworking the missing pieces of the ship now - landing legs, interior, and shuttles. The old interior wasn't as detailed as the exterior, but I plan on expanding that to an accurate "set-worthy" interior of her too. It takes a looooooongggg time, but the new modelling tools means I don't have to all of it by hand this time.
I don't think there are any "official" blueprints anywhere, but I have a pretty extensive stash of orthogonal shots from ZOIC (who did the original and movie versions).
You've inspired me... my version is currently under construction here:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.525624987525630.1073741863.345392525548878&type=1
(I'm doing the TV version for mine, rather than the movie)
great model!! i loved that show and am just getting into 3d modeling this is going to help me so much! now, off to rip this thing to pieces and then see if i can put it back together!
Great model and ive been looking for a detailed Serenity. Did you ever get around to finishing her and texturing her.
Just started learning GUI CAD from years of coding with OpenSCAD and wanted to learn Blender and found your model. Amazing work @Trager. And super thanks for sharing!
The Firefly series is so old that I'm sure this model has more verts than the original models they used in the show lol.
I'm a big Firefly fan, great job and thanks for the share :D