Well I guess that depends on the era and area on the ship. We didn't see it so much in TNG, but in the TOS and TNG films Red Alert did all sorts of fun things with the lighting. Really though, this was just a manual thing on my part. I could absolutely leave the regular lights at normal levels when it kicks over to Red Alert.
Took MattyManx's Holodeck door and archway and built my own version. Went through and glued all of the corridors together and exported. So what you're seeing above is the final look for the Engineering Lobby in the Secondary Hull. The Main Engineering doors are closed because, well, I haven't modeled Engineering yet. :P Just a long utility corridor in the Secondary Hull with lots of plates to pull off and fix the stuff behind them. Because even Engineers need to get from here or there.
All right, last part of the Secondary Hull corridors I'm going to bore everyone with. This corridor connects the bottom portion of the Engineering Lobby, the part furthest from Main Engineering to the long Utility Corridor. There's an ODN wall full of access panels at the far end that goes into a GNDN corridor that you could have someone come in and out of but it goes out into the void otherwise. I ended up completely restructuring the Primary Hull corridors and did it up as one big U shape with the wider 'lobby' in the middle connecting the two curved halves. Looking down from above, Corridor 1 is the East corridor and this shot is looking back towards the lobby, but the junction you see at the end isn't the lobby, it's the radial corridor for this concentric section.
The slightly re-tooled Engineering Lobby doubles as a Holodeck Lobby in the Saucer, with the main entrances to the two biggest Holodecks facing off against each other. Against the Captain's wishes, the CMO and Councilor have decided a nice rotation of plants from the Arboretum in the corridor will help with morale, especially given how often the Holodeck gets used and abused by the crew. Basically, the plants are optional here. I just thought it'd be a fun addition This is a much shorter version of the Engineering Utility Corridor except that it's in the Saucer and is missing several segments. There are two of these types of corridors built into the set at the mid-point of the concentric corridor pieces. You'd find your Jefferies Tube access and entrance to the Transporter Room off a corridor like this one along with a turbolift at both ends. Side note: I need to model a turbolift. >_< Wanted to see Red Alert in action, so made an animated gif between two images. Let's face it, if the TNG or DS9 crew were visiting the ship, this is more than likely what they'd be walking into... Last render of these corridors for awhile, well unless there are characters walking their ship anyway. I ended up completely restructuring the Primary Hull corridors and did it up as one big U shape with the wider 'lobby' in the middle connecting the two curved halves. Looking down from above, Corridor 2 is the West corridor and this shot is looking back towards the lobby a little bit before the radial corridor junction at the halfway point. The plants down the corridor are the same ones from the Holodeck Lobby. While there's currently no windows for this on the front of the Probert Ambassador mesh I'm using, I'm going to texture them in, because I want a forward lounge dammit. This is loosely based off of Nine Forward off the 3D warehouse from Aryh Peixoto Filho but every piece is getting almost completely rebuilt before I'm done. It is very like Ten-Forward, except it's on Deck Nine on the D. This would be on the Aurora (Probert Ambassador) around Deck 8 I think? Not entirely sure. Either way, on the Aurora it's called the Forecastle and I'm building it to attach on the Lobby portion of the saucer corridor.
The basics of the lounge are in place. I'm working on some wall decorations, a floor centerpiece, and lanterns for the tables to give it a nautical feel I wanted to check and make sure this was going to work lighting wise. I think I MIGHT need to add some ceiling lights, but I'm going to drop the tables and chairs in with their lights first, but this is definitely feeling dark and moody. I might be changing up how I do the Navigation thing based off of the one in Star Trek V I was planning on the floor and turn it into a light source.
Loving this in total, but although I didn't comment on it before, I really do love what you've done with the corridors. Very Star Trek, but also extremely unique from everything I've seen before. Far better than my "what if" attempt a while back.
Thank you! Yeah I was really trying to keep it Trek but at the same time make something different but that would work in that era. Glad I succeeded on some level
Imported the furniture and lighted tables and I think we'll be ok with the lighting. I need to do a test for when the ship would be around a bright anomaly or planet yet. Still working on some of the wall decor and 'gas' lights for the tables. I am still going to include the floor navigation design but I am going to make it lighted.
A minor comment, if I may...right now those tabletops have no definition, whatsoever. They kinda look like compositing masks right now. If I remember right, even the tables in TNG and other white-lit panels had some definition and gave the appearance of translucent plastic. I know you want them to help light your scene, but perhaps if you could bring down the luminosity slightly and give the tops some reflectivity it might help sell your scene. Otherwise these sets are looking great!
The bar I can't really do that with, or the smaller floor tables, but the main seating tables themselves are hollow (yay pre-planning!) so I can lower the illumination a bit on the surface, make them glass, then I can either drop a full lit-plate or put lights in underneath the glass Modeling is the easy part, lighting is a PITA.
The Aurora, an Ambassador class refit, has a forward lounge dubbed by the crew as The Forecastle. With glass lanterns on the tables, large ship wheels on the walls, and a dimmer atmosphere to serve better as a lounge, it's a popular spot on the ship when you're off shift. I've got this set up off the saucer corridor set and I'm going to have two groups to toggle this on and off with a standard reinforced door and wall so different parts of the ship can be depicted with the 'flip' of a switch. I'm contemplating a flat wall with some wall sconces and a chair there as well for variety. I may still add more to this later, but for what I want to use it for right now, it'll do.
Really loving the lower light of the lounge. I'd recommend adding some of that lighting contrast into your hallways as well. Keep up the good work!
Thanks! Yeah even on cruise ships things are rarely completely symmetrical. Thank you Thanks very much! Yeah I'm planning on adjusting the lighting a bit when I start throwing characters into it. I have a feeling the lounge might be too dark and the corridors a bit too bright.
^^Yes, even if the normal lighting is low, there should be a set of brighter lights for servicing and cleaning.
I am nowhere done detailing this yet. I did want to see how this would work out in DAZ though, and I already found a few chunks I'm going to have to fix. Not sure on the pressure door sealing off Engineering. I admit that was my first idea, and they finally went back to that in the Sovereign after letting just anyone waltz through Engineering for almost a decade. The Warp Core room part of Engineering is actually based around the TNG set in size and shape for the outer walls. I'm doing an office off to one side with a little corridor to get there and a monitor room opposite the Chief Engineer's office that'll have access to the Jefferies Tubes. No, I haven't designed those yet either. :P The bottom image would be when there's a 'coolant leak! everyone out!' I went with my initial inspiration with the Ambassador Engineering for this to add on to my Secondary Hull corridors. I deviated a bit from my initial sketch both to fit my corridor set and to put in some new ideas. So checklist for this to finish: Engineer's Office and Window to Core Monitor Room and Window to Core Warp Core Room Wall Paneling Warp Core panel details Engineering Console LCARS Jefferies Tube Access
I worked on detailing the warp core itself, the plasma conduits in the back and some floor and ceiling 'bracing' for the conduits. This is a two deck or story installation with a little bit going below the floor. I'm also going to import the warp core back into DAZ separately for those that feel the need to simulate Engineering without it's core, or say you wanted a different look to the warp core that would be easier to do. Model and swap. So this is what it currently looks like rendered in Truespace. This isn't the DAZ style rendering.
Spent some time detailing in between story edits today. I feel comfortable with the detail level in the 'Warp Core' room. These test renders aren't complete. It's only about half-complete, hence the graininess but it gets the idea across wonderfully. I think I'm going to use different material on the two wall brace rings that run around the upper portion of the room. It just doesn't come across the way I thought it would. So checklist for Engineering to be finished: Engineer's Office Monitor Room and Jefferies Tube Access Engineering Console LCARS