Fans of Star Trek know that the USS Enterprise-D, the ship captained by Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation, is a massive spacecraft with more than 40 decks and enough room to house 1,000-plus crew members and their families. How cool would it be to explore it?
Well, now you can – virtually, at least – thanks to the Enterprise-D Construction Project, a new, Unreal Engine-based attempt to map the massive ship in its entirety. This project is currently being designed by an artist named Jason B, according to Engadget and AV Club reports published Tuesday.
While it’s still a work in progress, Jason B has released a video that allows viewers to embark on a virtual tour of the ship from Shuttlebay 01 to Ten Forward, the lounge where the crew went to kick back after a hard day of negotiating with Ferengi, batting Borg, or putting up with Q’s latest shenanigans. You can also explore the bridge, where Picard so frequently and famously said to “make it so.”
“While it’s not quite photorealistic, the attention to detail in this digital starship is already uncanny – the bridge, shuttle bay and other areas feel like lived-in spaces,” Engadget reported. “Jason is drawing on as much official material as he can to get things pixel-perfect, and he’s only taking creative liberties in those areas where there’s no canonical content.”
Game on the horizon?
While the project in its current state only covers a small portion of the Enterprise-D, Jason told the AV Club that he plans to create a full-scale replica of the entire vessel. Furthermore, he said that he plans to optimize the simulation for virtual reality devices such as the Oculus Rift.
While the project is currently just a hobby, Engadget said that the designer could expand it if things go smoothly. In fact, Jason is reportedly considering offering users the chance to explore the outsides of other Star Trek locations, and could even turn the virtual tour into a full-fledged video game – provided he can get the funding and permission to release his work.
The video currently released by Jason B is 12 minutes long, CNET said, and once he completes the ship itself, he hopes to add a full population of Federation residents and Starfleet members to wander and patrol its corridors and hallways. The project could also eventually include different galaxies and planetary systems, which users would be able to fully explore. We hope this project lives long and prospers.
You can follow the project’s progress on Jason’s official blog.
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Feature Image: Enterprise-D Construction Project
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