Cloudier versions, attempting to emulate TMP.
After comparing more screen shots this weekend, I noticed that the wedges in the first film don’t exactly match those in seen in the second. Not only are the colors altered and switched around in their order, but the thick Lucite type plastic that they are presumably crafted from, appears to have a more cloudy translucent quality in TMP than the more crystalline clear versions seen in TWOK. Continue reading ‘Clear or Foggy?’
Working with color filtration to get the colorful transparency I seek.
Using the Surface Preset panel, I started sampling various transparent surfaces in an attempt to get better results for the colorful crystalline wedges staggered across the lighted control surface. I’m making progress, but haven’t had a lot of time to devote to it.
They look really great in the side shots.
I decided to take one of the wedgies and apply a preset glass surface, tweaking the color and transparency to my liking. I made the 2nd blue wedgie from the left my sacrificial test subject! Continue reading ‘On To Something…’
The glowing comm console.
Brain fried. Not many words to spew, but I managed to model a new communications console as seen in TMP and TWOK. Also got the entry foyer’s mechanical wall panels in place. This was fun, and I’m looking forward to trying the TWOK communications setup which fits in where the TMP view screen is currently located, but again… my brain is officially fried from this weekend. Continue reading ‘Cove’s Comm Console’
Cove’s curved walls are not so similar after all.
Been working this thing like a puzzle, with tons of pictures, but with very few plans with any meaningful measurements. It seems every time I put in some new panel detailing, I find how horribly off course I am with some fundamental element of the overall design. Continue reading ‘Changes, Both Subtle & Gross…’
New cushions finally “feel” right.
As much as I liked my early cushion efforts, I knew at the time they were only temporary fill ins. I attempted a new effort to refine the seam elements using Subpatch, but I was very disappointed with the render results. Continue reading ‘Upholstery: Take Two’
Cushions and panel details moving ahead.
I began adding some details to the structures this weekend and kept on through a special day off from work yesterday. I started with the cushions for the main berth and moved on to some early panel work. I’ll state up front that I am not good at modeling organics (damn carbon-units), and cushions are certainly not my forté. Still, I must admit I am liking this first attempt at the cushions in the bunk area. Continue reading ‘Getting Cushy’
Curvy walls in the office area. Rumor has it, this area is called the “cove.”
After a long procrastination of any such similar project, I finally decided I would start working on the movie style officer’s quarters. Naturally, it’ll be based on the original TMP design structure, but will incorporate style elements from its subsequent TWOK and TSFS appearances. This is because there were so many significant changes between the first and later films, as well as demonstrable redressings of the set to serve as multiple locations in those first three films alone: Continue reading ‘A Place to Park It’
From bald spot to spotlight.
Although my model of the Ranger class scout USS Strider already has two Starfleet pennants on its ventral side, those two large “fin” structures on the dorsal side, which help tie the nacelle pylons into the main hull, stood out as a tad bland to me. Given their flat and widely exposed surface areas, I just felt they needed something more. Continue reading ‘The Magic Of Dental Mirrors?’
Meaningful results kicking in.
Though I myself can stare at a cloudless starry night for hours, my renders seem a little tired. I was wanting to break up some of the sheer monotony of employing a singular image for nearly every space render I’ve produced for over a year and half. Instead of my backdrops being empty blackness faintly peppered with dim distant stars (always in the exact same position as every other render), I wanted to work with something that would raise the visual interest as well as adapt to changes in render perspective. Continue reading ‘Variety: The Spice of the Galaxy’
Was forced to shrink the shuttle and the inner bay’s large corridor access hatch.
(Quick synopsis- I learned to diagnose and fix a problem with incompatibly scaled models. Read no further unless sleep is your objective. 😉 )
My self imposed procrastination bit back the other day, and I had to make some minor size adjustments so everything was more accurate in scale. I tend to be a throw-it-together-and-measure-later kinda person (in my art anyway). Although I’ve always tried to match and follow proportions, I’ve never truly concerned myself with knowing the exact dimensions of a thing (especially since I rarely have those on hand). I’m quite used to shrinking or enlarging objects in order to fit them together only after it’s been necessitated, whether it be in Modeler layers or Layout scenes. Often I’ll simply use one “universal” object or geometry to help match different models to a compatible scale. Continue reading ‘Oooops, I Need a Yardstick…’
Starstation Computer Art 