More TOS engine room pics

[lewisniven]

Hi thanks for advice I am modelling in 3ds max I have done the shading in substance painter and the rendering is in the unreal engine. You say I should use sunlight for the space scenes?
I'm not very well into unreal engine i.e shading tricks for fake rooms ect to be honest I'm still learning 3ds max still after 2 years 8 months
I will tweak the windows and include the Enterprise model to try and work out the scale and post some updates.

Thanks guys for your continued help.

Well a space station might be out in deep space where realistically there would be essentially no light. That said obviously these things have to be a bit stylistic but a strong key light fro one direction with one or two very soft fill lights to bring the shadows up will look better than a very even diffuse around the whole thing. I have no experience rendering in unreal though so can't help there much.

 

[MGagen]

If that was really on the K-7 studio miniature, I say thank the Great Bird it was murdered in matte; it looks like a Quidditch goalpost.

Visible in an uncomposited image from Star Trek Magazine:

The little antennae on the main section look like rabbit ears. The one on the pod is a loop antenna. For those old enough to get the joke: K-7 got both VHF and UHF channels...

M.

 

[Henoch]

The little antennae on the main section look like rabbit ears. The one on the pod is a loop antenna. For those old enough to get the joke: K-7 got both VHF and UHF channels...

Mine seemed to get the best signal only while my hands were on the aluminum foil flags we attached the antennas.

 

[Maurice]

Visible in an uncomposited image from Star Trek Magazine:

The little antennae on the main section look like rabbit ears. The one on the pod is a loop antenna. For those old enough to get the joke: K-7 got both VHF and UHF channels...

M.

Looks like a photographic defect, nothing more. It's not even centered above the spine or the silo. And there's no sign of any such thing on clearer photos of the model.

 

[Henoch]

You don't think the loop antenna is coming out of the side of the center cone in the first photo, and is only hidden behind the center cone in the next photo?

<edit. I've looked through several photos of the station and find no evidence of the loop antenna, so, I think the loop is some kind of false artifact as suggested by @Maurice.>

 

[Mytran]

Either that or the additional pod has fallen off in the first pic

 

[137th Gebirg]

Foreshortening and perspective distortion make it difficult to get a good idea of what it is and how it relates to the model at that angle.

 

[Donny]

Ian, overall your efforts are fantastic for your second exterior model. Well done! A couple of notes:
1) I'm not sold on the hexagons. The reference images I'm looking at clearly show sotfly beveled squares. I also don't
2) For your last batch of renders, I'd focus on lighting your scene to get some dramatic lighting going. They're overall too dark and there is almost no contrast in lighting. Lighting should never be an afterthought and is just as important as your model! Look up some tutorials on lighting scenes for Unreal. I'm not sure what your lighting setup is like right now, but I tend to favor directional lights when lighting space scenes, usually a bright primary one and then a much dimmer secondary light coming from the opposite direction with a slight bluish hue for some nice back-lighting. I attach the secondary light to the primary, and then rotate the primary on different axes until I get the desired look, and then tweak the secondary light's angles a bit.
3) I'd also work on the material you're using across the model a bit, or UV it differently in places. It looks good mapped to the scalloped structures, but look odd on the core cylinder where the spokes meet the station. Perhaps use a different hull pattern all together there?
4) I'd also use a better skydome for the stars. One that you're currently using looks like it's got some stretched UVs and looks rather unnatural, and the other is far too busy. I'd look around the Unreal Marketplace and see what you can find that might work better.

Overall, the model is showing a lot of promise, I just think you need to keep pushing it and working at cleaning it up a bit! Keep up the good work!

 

[Ian Simpson]

Ian, overall your efforts are fantastic for your second exterior model. Well done! A couple of notes:
1) I'm not sold on the hexagons. The reference images I'm looking at clearly show sotfly beveled squares. I also don't
2) For your last batch of renders, I'd focus on lighting your scene to get some dramatic lighting going. They're overall too dark and there is almost no contrast in lighting. Lighting should never be an afterthought and is just as important as your model! Look up some tutorials on lighting scenes for Unreal. I'm not sure what your lighting setup is like right now, but I tend to favor directional lights when lighting space scenes, usually a bright primary one and then a much dimmer secondary light coming from the opposite direction with a slight bluish hue for some nice back-lighting. I attach the secondary light to the primary, and then rotate the primary on different axes until I get the desired look, and then tweak the secondary light's angles a bit.
3) I'd also work on the material you're using across the model a bit, or UV it differently in places. It looks good mapped to the scalloped structures, but look odd on the core cylinder where the spokes meet the station. Perhaps use a different hull pattern all together there?
4) I'd also use a better skydome for the stars. One that you're currently using looks like it's got some stretched UVs and looks rather unnatural, and the other is far too busy. I'd look around the Unreal Marketplace and see what you can find that might work better.

Overall, the model is showing a lot of promise, I just think you need to keep pushing it and working at cleaning it up a bit! Keep up the good work!

Thanks Donny.

Actually I have been playing with the caravan for the last two weeks and have been doing some winter camping, certainly felt like it when going for walks in the cold wind, so I haven't done anything for a good few days.

I was not sure about the end connectors (hexagons) but it's a quick fix to change them.
When you mention direct light do you mean spots?

I am still in a very experimental stage with external model materials however I was quite happy with the clam style bases but not so much on the rest, I also want to create some interest in the windows eventually to make it look like you can see in the rooms plus I have no idea when I'm going to put in the base.

Thanks again Donny

 

[Ian Simpson]

So here is updated renders on the lighting and clam material.

HighresScreenshot00022 by Ian Simpson, on Flickr
HighresScreenshot00021 by Ian Simpson, on Flickr
HighresScreenshot00020 by Ian Simpson, on Flickr

I mentioned my caravan in my responce to Donny. If anyone is interested I did model it whilst waiting for its delivery it can be seen here https://www.flickr.com/photos/153723703@N08/

 

[Donny]

No, a spot light is not a directional light. A directional light casts light infinitely from a specified angle, and are commonly utilized for sunlight in game engines. In Unreal there are three types of lights: Point (light emits in all directions from a specified radius from the light object), Spot (light emits in a specified cone in a specified radius from the light object), and Directional (light emits infinitely from a specified angle from the light object).

Although the batch of renders you just posted are an improvement, notice that you contrast is still pretty low. You'll benefit from brighter brights against darker darks so that the station is no longer a monotone grey, and have a much more dramatic presentation as a result.

 

[Professor Moriarty]

Looks like a photographic defect, nothing more. It's not even centered above the spine or the silo. And there's no sign of any such thing on clearer photos of the model.

That's because when I saw the photo posted by @MGagen I called up my friend Rick, borrowed his portal gun, went back to 1967, and ripped the damn thing off the studio miniature. (Sadly, the time travel caused my iPhone to stop working, and I couldn't get any clearer photos of the model. Sorry.)

I tend to favor directional lights when lighting space scenes, usually a bright primary one and then a much dimmer secondary light coming from the opposite direction with a slight bluish hue for some nice back-lighting. I attach the secondary light to the primary, and then rotate the primary on different axes until I get the desired look, and then tweak the secondary light's angles a bit.

 

[Ian Simpson]

No, a spot light is not a directional light. A directional light casts light infinitely from a specified angle, and are commonly utilized for sunlight in game engines. In Unreal there are three types of lights: Point (light emits in all directions from a specified radius from the light object), Spot (light emits in a specified cone in a specified radius from the light object), and Directional (light emits infinitely from a specified angle from the light object).

Although the batch of renders you just posted are an improvement, notice that you contrast is still pretty low. You'll benefit from brighter brights against darker darks so that the station is no longer a monotone grey, and have a much more dramatic presentation as a result.

I have never used the directional light in unreal, and I cant seem to get it to do anything

I'll look up some tutorials on how to use it.

Thanks again Donny

 

[Ian Simpson]

Hi all
about a month ago I got a nice 60 inch LG Oled TV Amazing picture, then I started looking through my old work on Star Trek TOS and I got a bit inspired I have been updating materials and diving deeper into UE4 I will be posting a video soon on YouTube. Hope you like the pics. I will post a link to the video in the next few days.

HighresScreenshot00007 by Ian Simpson, on Flickr
HighresScreenshot00015 by Ian Simpson, on Flickr
HighresScreenshot00002 by Ian Simpson, on Flickr
HighresScreenshot00017 by Ian Simpson, on Flickr

 

[Ian Simpson]

Video link if anyone want to have a look

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[Mytran]

Hi all
about a month ago I got a nice 60 inch LG Oled TV Amazing picture, then I started looking through my old work on Star Trek TOS and I got a bit inspired I have been updating materials and diving deeper into UE4 I will be posting a video soon on YouTube. Hope you like the pics. I will post a link to the video in the next few days.

HighresScreenshot00007 by Ian Simpson, on Flickr
HighresScreenshot00002 by Ian Simpson, on Flickr

Great to have you back! Love your design of the Bypass Room, especially the addition of the door at the back. I wonder where it leads...?

 

[Ian Simpson]

Great to have you back! Love your design of the Bypass Room, especially the addition of the door at the back. I wonder where it leads...?

Great to have you back! Love your design of the Bypass Room, especially the addition of the door at the back. I wonder where it leads...?

Thanks Mytran. Have you seen the video?

Great to have you back! Love your design of the Bypass Room, especially the addition of the door at the back. I wonder where it leads...?

 

[Mytran]

Thanks Mytran. Have you seen the video?

It's on my watch list, I plan to watch it after dinner (UK time)

 

[Michael]

Thanks Mytran. Have you seen the video?

Just watched it. Awesome progress! I love that you implemented nice touches like sitting down in the captain's chair (who wouldn't?) and opening the dilithium chamber. Very cool!

 

[Ian Simpson]

Just watched it. Awesome progress! I love that you implemented nice touches like sitting down in the captain's chair (who wouldn't?) and opening the dilithium chamber. Very cool!

Thanks Michael. lots of work to do yet though, I've just started the crew quarters.