Donny's TOS Enterprise Interiors

The big long thing with the rotating red blinky tubes is over thirty years old. It was in TWOK, on the Regula One space station.

 

And in Airplane 2.

 

Just an update: I've submitted my art test to the game company and am waiting to hear back with the results and whether they wanna move forward. It's out of my hands at this point! Keeping my fingers crossed.

I've resumed work on my Trek project for now. I've begun modeling the tricorder prop first seen in TSFS. Although it wasn't seen in TWOK, it would only make sense that they have some on board, seeing that Sulu used one after beaming down from the Enterprise during the final scene of the movie. And don't worry: I have plans to model the "heavy duty" version seen in TWOK on Ceti Alpha V and the Regula station.

 

Just once, I would have mounted it upside down cand called it Intrared-lighting--since it looks like a like of overhead tube lighting.

 

Here's some WIP shots of the STIII tricorder. I'm using a new program called Substance Painter to paint textures now. Things like edge wear, dirt, etc are easy to apply and modify. I think you can see the difference it makes in the screenshots below. I still have to add some blinkies and such.

 

That's amazing Donny, I thought your first pic was of the actual prop for a moment.

 

Indeed, that program gives things a wonderfully "lived in" feel

Ive never seen the back of this tricorder before - is that little cubic hood at the rear where the viewscreen is?

 

Here's some photos of an accurate prop replica I bought this year at the Vegas convention, which has proved an invaluable reference:







I'm leaving out that raised grid from the scope in the back, and am going to have a more traditional viewscreen instead.

 

Fantastic stuff!

 

I've thought about that too, about its similarity to the shape of the TMP Tricorder. But as far as I know, the Tricorder was a completely new prop built by ILM. Whether or not they used the shape of the TMP Tricorder as a guide is unknown. There is very little info on this prop at all, and almost no production photos exist of the actual prop used in the films. However, slightly modified versions of the TSFS Tricorder end up in both TFF ("Hold your horse, Captain") and TUC (Bones Operates).

 

Donny, I've been following your thread for a few months, and I must say that I'm impressed. Even more impressive is that you're achieving photo-real results with game LOD. I do hope you'll release your sets to the public. I'd love to walk around on them!

I'm interested in the texturing app you've come up with there. I need to ask, what version of Max are you using? If I'm reading this right, Substance Designer requires Max 2013, correct? I hope I'm wrong, but that's what I'm coming up with. I won't be able to upgrade before they get rid of permanent licenses, and I was moronic enough not to get the subscription membership when I purchased it. I'm stuck on the version I have until I can afford the monthly lease for the newest version.

Very cool results on your tricorder there. I'm sure you'll do just as well on the other props.

 

I'm using Substance Painter, mostly. I create the textures then export them for use in the Unreal Engine 4. I've used Substance Designer very little so far. Not sure how compatible it is with Max. I'm using 3ds Max 2013, but I never bring textures into Max since I basically just use it as a modeller. I'm all about some real-time rendering, so I use Unreal Engine 4 as my renderer.

However, these shots of the tricorder are just screenshots from Painter.

 

Here's a beauty shot of the finished tricorder:



And here's how it looks in-game, as if the player is holding it:

 

Thank you for taking the time to answer, Donny.

I use Max for rendering, so I'm not sure how much use this app would be for me yet. However, I'm still loving your images!

 

Now I really want one!

BTW, I just noticed that there's "operating instructions" on the engine conduit! What on earth do they say?

 

In other news, I just got word back that I did not receive the job that I applied for. Which is okay. After that second interview went poorly, I mentally prepared myself for the possibility of not getting it.

And since the process is over, I'll tell you all the story. A starship modeler for Star Trek: Online at Cryptic Studios recommended me to their team as a candidate for an open spot for both an Environment Artist and Starship Modeler. I was very excited at the opportunity, and he assured me that having no industry experience or formal education wouldn't be a problem. I sent in my resume and portfolio, and went through a series of interviews and took an art test. The first interview went great; it was a very friendly, general chat with someone in HR. After this first interview, I was so sure I was going to get the job that my hopes got TOO high, and I started mentally checking out of my current job and my life here in my home town.

The second interview went poorly. It was with two members of the Environment team and their skepticism of my abilities as an outsider of the industry was very apparent to me, and the entire interview was over far too soon. I became nervous and was having difficulty communicating effectively with them. This was probably the most damaging part of the process, and I wish they'd have been a little more focused on my work rather than their skepticism. But I get it. I probably would've done the same (and I do the exact same thing when interviewing people at my restaurant job). I suffered a huge blow to my self-esteem after this interview, and I realized the importance of not getting my hopes up too high in situations like this. I started considering that I may not get the job, and I also started looking at what I needed to do to sharpen my skills as a 3D modeler. I bought new programs and engaged in tutorial-based training in order to be fully prepared for the art test that I was still unsure if I was going to receive.

Despite the poor second interview, I was given an art test where I had to create a hero prop (a highly detailed model) and feature it in an environment built from existing assets included in a set package of assets that they recommended. The only thing I was allowed to build was the prop itself; everything else had to be used from the existing asset package. I performed this test to the best of my abilities and sent it in(I created a sword and displayed it with some medieval assets I was allowed to use; there are a few photos of it on my Flickr page). About 5 days later, I received an e-mail stating that they position has already been filled and that they'd keep my information on file.

Not a big deal. To be honest, I'm not very impressed with the work of Cryptic (especially that featured in Star Trek: Online environments) and some of the things I've read about the company in this quest have really turned me off. However, I was most looking forward to getting some real industry experience so that I could get into the industry.

I want to thank all of you here for your words of encouragement during this process. It meant a lot to me!

 

Sorry to hear that, man. All they needed to see was what you've accomplished here. Their loss.

 

Their loss Donny, your work speaks for itself.

 

My commiserations, although from what you said about the company maybe this is not such a bad thing? Thanks for sharing the whole story

Also, your name is now out there, even if only a little bit for now. Your time will come