Piers Are Dark At Night
I gotta remember how dark every other monitor in the universe is compared to my render monitor at home.
Working in a dark room with a deliciously bright monitor is a totally different effect from looking at an image on a dark monitor at work under retina searing fluorescent lighting. š
I added another dome light to my scene and tuned some spotlights off, figuring I would try a version where the Enterprise’s extended panel maintenance area would glow under it’s own light source rather than being fully lit from outside.Ā It could probably use some more interior lighting in that area, which I will add when I complete its detailing.
Though the new dome light was not very bright, it managed to improve things substantially.Ā I adjusted the white and black point settings and it was actually looking rather fantastic with some very crisp contrast; It was just bright enough where it needed to be and delightfully shadowy in all the right places. Then, I saved it…Ā As a standard JPG. Oops. Failing to save the image as an exposure, I totally lost that improved image quality. I went into “d’oh!” mode. Ā After I peeled my head off my desk, I played around with it a little on Pixelmator, adjusting brightness and contrast, but that doesn’t quite compare and this is the best I could manage. I think it may have counteracted some of the anti-aliasing too, leaving any bright glowing surface a little wonky around the edges. I did happen to save the entire render in .rla format (a rarity), but I can’t quite remember how to use the Lightwave image editor to the same effect, so I will either have to experiment with that tonight or re-render the shot (which took almost 2 hours to render). I will now proceed to bang my head on my desk again. Good day to you all.
Starstation Computer Art 
Much better.:) Say, you going to model the spotlight units themselves Basill?
Thanks!
I haven’t given the spotlights that much thought, though I have considered it before. Currently I’ve just presumed that they are built in structures that fall in with some of the greeblie work already sprinkled around the pier, but a few chosen angles might require less ambiguous units. š They would be very simple structures however, pushing the poly count as I am currently. š
She looks excellent Basill!
on the other posts (yes I do need to check in more often!) the McCook and Phobos looks excellent as well! I have the Phobos model as well, but importing it in to Maya .. well nearly destroys it š¦ might import it in and fix it one of these days ( probably a total rebuild)
Thanks!
I once considered a Phobos rebuild, but my texture skills lacking as they are, I figured it would be a vain effort trying to compare it to Kevin Riley’s masterpiece. In addition to the interior models and “docking details” I built for her, I did have a little fun improving a few structures that I thought needed to be a little more scrutiny-proof for close-up shots (since that is why I built the interiors and additional detailing in the first place). š Most notable was a “refit” of the impulse engine housings. The overall shape and design was identical, but I rebuilt it with a more polygons and played with the grill details a little. I also began some other detail work involving visible external tanks and access panels, especially those large panels on the interior of the so-called “catamaran” segments. They were just begging to be large open hatches for some sort of alcove housing large modular equipment. š Unfortunately I ran into some minor conflicts with my interior layout, and I may have given up in frustration for a time.
I’m not sure if I ever posted images of those (very minor) changes to the impulse engines, or even all the docking details I managed to complete. But if I could manage to finish more of those exterior details (not a far off task) it might make for another interesting shot of the Phobos in port. š