Long Time Coming

Strider arrives new assignment, Starstation India

The Strider being moored at Starstation India.

Took a break from modeling this weekend so I could try and get a nice image I’ve been craving since I began my attempt at the Strider: seeing her docked at my own Starstation India.  This scene’s perspective is from some rather large viewports in this pier’s B side (probably an administrative office of some kind) corresponding directly to that uppermost trio of  darkened elongated viewports visible on the mirrored A side, just a bit left of center.

Once again, I am rather amazed at just how small this little scout is.  Granted, she doesn’t look particularly tiny in this shot, rather stocky in fact.  But perceptions can be a little deceiving,  especially considering how far I had to extend the gangway to reach her airlock, and her center line isn’t even positioned halfway across this fairly wide berth.  She’s actually closer to the other side, but by no means snug.  Both the Enterprise and Phobos, in the few docking scenes I’ve planted them, dock at exactly the same gangway and stretch beyond the length of the pier itself, whereas the Strider‘s nacelles just manage to reach the heart of those largest observation lounge viewports on the main level.  Turns out, I could possibly squeeze two of her class in one of these enclosed piers, though I’m not sure how enthused I am about that prospect just yet.

Despite how much more I have to complete on the Strider herself, I really just wanted to get a feel for how the ship would look nestled up to the station.  Of course, I realize just how much more detailing on the station itself I’ve yet to complete when I look at this shot!  Ugh.

In addition to station details, sooner or later I’m going to have to nail down the source of all that freaky purple light I tend to have the station constantly bathed in.  Is it a nearby lavender nebula, a second amethyst star in the system, or is the station in close proximity to some exotic plum hued planet?  I’m too noncommittal.  I just love purple dammit.

This is a post render blending of 2 different render attempts and 3 different exposure levels.  Both renders took an average of 3.5 hours, and I only had to render it multiple times because I accidentally left out a major feature of the station in the first attempt.  However, both the different renders had some interesting light effects I wanted incorporated, so I was able to do a little fudging of the two to bring them both to viability.  Since this is a relative close-up of the pier I was able (forced actually) to clear almost the entire remainder of the station from the scene since, when combined with the detailed interior model (which is a separate file),  it is now big enough to cause memory crashes and such.

I have another angle render I’ve chalked up as a total fail, but it gives a good example of that large stretch between the pier and this little scout.  I might try and post it later in an update.
Update:  Here is that image.

Different POV better reveals scout’s diminutive scale.

From this perspective things are slightly more revealing, athough the lens is a bit more wide-angled.  Even more remarkable still, the ship model as it appears here is just a wee percentage bigger than the one in the final image. I had to alter it a bit after examining the gangway and airlock hatches more closely, and realizing my scales were slightly out of sync. The main failures of this image however, were the total lack of interior spaces in the “B” side pier, and a rather gaping absence of the pier’s central section, which should be obscuring a significant portion of the left side of this shot. Initially I knew something was afoul, but I didn’t even realize the entire structure was missing until I rendered my first attempt at the final angle.  For the time it took to render, I wasn’t touching it again for a while. Still it makes for a decent study.

~ by starstation on July 1, 2013.