In a trekkie kind of mood

[pixeltek]

Waiting for the movie got me into a modeling mood. The model of the Enterprise NCC-1701-A is available as a download, as well as the little workerbee, which is part of the drydock scene, on the downloads page of my website:
http://cosmic-pearl.com/

Karl

[steamthunk]

I predict a wave of incoming Trek images across the 3Dverse. Guess it's better than the naked Spartans after 300 hit. :D

This was always my favourite of the various Enterprises. Good job!

[pixeltek]

Haha! Or the naked glowing Doctor Manhattan from Watchmen. Yes, I think you are right on the expected Tsunami of Trek-inspired works. And we get to admire yet one more variant of the original Starship Enterprise. I'm looking forward to all of the hubbub, though.

Thanks,
Karl

[adrian]

Very nice work. A bigger render would have been good though!

[pixeltek]

I only rendered them at 1366, but here they are.

[adrian]

Brilliant! Something so well modelled should be shown off properly :)

Did you do the planet too?

[pixeltek]

Thanks, flattery will get you anywhere (almost).

Nope! It condensed about 4.5 billion years ago from a planetary nebula around a young G-type star and was subsequently imaged by NASA personnel between working on the ISS :-D.
I link to those images from my space page, but you can get there from anywhere.


Karl
___________________
The term 'moderate Taliban' is an oxymoron

[pixeltek]

Hi Adrian

I visited your website at http://www.bakersvideo.com/CGI-new.htm

My favorite is the phone booth. Just kidding. The Falcon is amazing in its detail. I only managed the X-wing and have an lengthy X-Wing tutorial (not that you need that) on my website, but also some reference images that might prove useful, and links, here:
http://www.cosmic-pearl.com/LW_XW8.htm
and here:
http://www.cosmic-pearl.com/3dLW64.htm

After I had posted my X-Wing tutorial with the reference photos on the large-scale model shown at Siggraph in LA, where I also had the opportunity to take pictures of G. Lucas, I was contacted by the builders of that model.

BTW, G.L., when asked what his favorite Star War vehicle was answered without hesitation, "the X-Wing".

Karl

[pixeltek]

Ok, a final Star Trek render. I am attaching the 1. F-prime and 2. the LW (both Monte Carlo) images - there is a difference, and a little snap of how I set this up.
A larger version can be seen here: http://cosmic-pearl.com/3dLW82C.htm

Karl

[adrian]

Hi Adrian

I visited your website at http://www.bakersvideo.com/CGI-new.htm

My favorite is the phone booth. Just kidding. The Falcon is amazing in its detail. I only managed the X-wing and have an lengthy X-Wing tutorial (not that you need that) on my website, but also some reference images that might prove useful, and links, here:
http://www.cosmic-pearl.com/LW_XW8.htm
and here:
http://www.cosmic-pearl.com/3dLW64.htm

Karl

Hey Karl,

Thanks for the kind words! It's ironic you should mention the X-wing, because at the moment I'm modelling an..... X-Wing!! Actually the modelling is almost done (it's a complete sub-patch object, including the nurnies - don't ask why, probably just wanted to see if I could) - I didn't know about your excellent tut until just now though.

I'm off to see the new Star Trek movie tonight so looking at your great renders has got me in the mood.

Nice work once again, I'm positively drooling over the latest render! :thumbsup:

[pixeltek]

Thanks Adrian, but it was more about getting the references to you and not so much the tutorial. That's not for your level of competence. Saw the Trek movie yesterday, and there is much to like there. Looking very much forward to your X-wing.

Karl

[adrian]

Yep the new Trek film was a lot of fun, and in many ways ties in very nicely with the original series (in terms how the characters came to know each other).

Did you know that Andrew Kramer of Videocopilot.net fame did the end title sequence?

[pixeltek]

There was an end title sequence? What the hell is an end title sequence? When the movie is over, I walk. :D I assume it is something playing with all of the credits at the end of the flick? Didn't wait around for that.

The time travel thing seems to have been written just to get Nimoy into the movie. Be that as it may, the movie was good and the sequels, hopefully without time paradoxes, etc., I expect to be as good or better. The crew is well picked and fun to watch. :thumbsup:

Karl

[pixeltek]

Just one more that tickled my fancy. And now it's on to other things.

[SAHiN]

This last image tells me you havent put as much time in it as you did to others ?
Lighting could use bit of tweaking pixeltek :)

[pixeltek]

No kidding. Once the model was done, the hardest thing was getting the lighting set up. I simply can't get the interior lighting and the Sun's lighting combination right.

[SAHiN]

Ok.. I think you should change the location of sun.. Place it to a point where it will cast lots of strong shadows. Right now your scene is evenly lit.
Shuttle at the background is lit the same way Enterprise in the dock.
turn off all lights. Just leave Sun. From camera's point of direction place sun to right top side of the camera somewhere. Right now its lighting from the same place as your fill light is (which should be earth).

At this point I would create a huge sphere called space. Single sided polys all black. this way camera will not see the actual LW BG .
Then I would use a light blueish BG color and turn on BG radiosity, say about 25% to start with. This would give you a fill light. Once we have dark shadows inside the dock, point lights we place will have more effect. Depending on your grid size you would have to turn on your intensity falloff settings to limit the range of the point lights.

That would be your starting point on lighting.. Then we can tweak lights to get perfect results. Your models deserve it.

[pixeltek]

Great advice, Sahin, I will toy with this soon. I am on a different thing right now. However, I did come to the conclusion to start from scratch with my lights, but appreciate your thoughts on this, on how to go from there. Changing the sun's direction will be interesting in itself, because I really like the harsh shadows space gives us. Having just looked at Nemac4's Hotwheel here, where he used something called polylighting, I thought that maybe there is something, other than point light fillers for the inside of the dock, i.e. turning all (or some) of the dock lights into real light-emitting polygons. After all, part of my problems came from realizing that the inside of the dock would be fairly evenly lighted from all directions and what that would do to shadows caused by sunlight, or conversely, washing out where the lightsources illuminate the same surfaces.

[Jim_C]

aaaumm... ahem.. it's Trecker, thank you.....


;)

[pixeltek]

SAHiN - couldn't help myself and quickly dumped my lights and rebuilt them, largely following your advice, and have to say, I like what I see. The image is much more dramatic, because of the changed sun position, and the lighting less confusing and much 'calmer', evenly distributed. I did a quick F-prime of it and will do more later. You can tell already that we are on the right track here. All I have now is the Sun, one Earthlight, five points inside of the dock, all with the effective range selected to minimize their overlap. Thanks, more soon.

[SAHiN]

No Problem pixeltek.. I hope I was some help.
After I do the shot from Voyager's opening sequence, I may try parking my Voyagerr in a space dock :)

Good look and keep up the good work.

[pixeltek]

Well, here it is. I think it is, thanks to SAHiN's suggestions vastly improved. I turned everything off, except for the sunlight (not counting the lights behind the windows of the vessel). Moved the sun position within reason (given the illumination of the background) until I got some intersting shadows, then moved six fill lights into the interior of the station and tuned their range and intensity as best as possible. I know there is always more that can be done, but I am pretty happy with the result.

[SAHiN]

Yes its definately gaining some depth now..
At least now when I look at the yellow shuttle, I can see its entering the dock from the shaows cast on front section of the shuttle..
Our lumigons are light source, so it would be good idea to add some glow to them so they dont look like white poligons only..
Maybe we should also try soft filter.. Since nothing in real life looks so clean and sharp ?
And colour correct, I would pull back saturation and overall gamma a little bit..

But its definately starting to look good.. well done my friend..
keep up the good work

[pixeltek]

Thanks, Sahin, and always good to hear your advice and opinion. While I am from the science side of the house, I do know that there is something called 'artisitic license". As a former science teacher (a third career) I used to often say:"In space no one can hear you scream." From the Alien poster, you know. I point out that in the Star Wars movies, the battles in space were accompanied by sound. Doesn't happen, you already know why. Likewise, in space there is no 'softening' of any image. Everything is harsh and sharp, lacking atmosphere. Likewise, there is no glow, unless there is something particular (real particles) being emitted. It takes an atmosphere for that as well. Didn't mean to burst your bubble there, my accomplished friend. :devil:
You are a Lightwave master, IMO, and an artist as well. Me, you already know my realistic self assessment, stand in awe of much of what I see produced by you artist types. But, being a bit squarer minded to some extent, I think these things out less imaginatively, for better or for worse. Lastly, it's just a hobby, after all, to keep my involved, entertained, and interested in my retirement, between my travels. BTW, if I remember, next time I find myself in Istanbul, I'd love to stop by and chat over a cup of something.
Keep that enthusiasm going. :thumbsup:

[SAHiN]

:))))))))

ok.. Let's expand on your theory of what happens or doesnt happen in space..
You cant have explosions in space either due to lack of oxygen..but in every space movie we watch explosions.. no ? :)

So why do we watch explosions if they can't happen ? Because my friend we are in the business of illusion (unless of cours you are working for NASA) ..

Looking with your eyes things may look sharp in space ( I never went to space and looked at spaceships myself) but the medium you record the vision on, which most likely would be film, will have noise and grain.. Thats of course is my humble opinion..

In this industry we are paid to make things look bigger or better than they actually are every day. So I look at it from a filmmaker's perspective.

...and your're on for coffee.. I am Australian.. So you may be up for a coffee even in Awe Straw Lia as we'd pronounce it :)

[pixeltek]

Yes, I totally understand that and have no problem with that. It's just my own mind and what I know and have seen. Just look at the pictures our guys brought back from the Moon or even from in-orbit. But I concede that point to you easily. That's what you do as a filmmaker in the VFX business. You enhance the images and hope that they look good enough that no one complains, even it they do know better.

I am trying, btw, to find my way to Australia this fall some time. I'd fly in with the USAF from Hickam AFB, HI. Being in military retired status, I have that one outstanding benefit and intend to take fully advantage of it. Of course, that's AU, you're in Turkey. I spent some time there and truly enjoyed the visit. Went as far as Selchuk to see Ephesus. All very cool stuff. Before I'll head to either place, I'll touch base with you and see where you might be at that time.

[SAHiN]

Most likely in Istanbul..
Just let me know whenever you coming down and we'll have some good time :)

[LW_Will]

:))))))))

ok.. Let's expand on your theory of what happens or doesnt happen in space..
You cant have explosions in space either due to lack of oxygen..but in every space movie we watch explosions.. no ? :)


Actually in STAR TREK the explosions were made to look like they expanded with the gasses leaving the ship, and when they were exhausted, ran back into the ship. Very cool.