Donny's Late TNG Era Interiors

[Donny]

Took me a couple of days, but got the corner free-standing consoles modeled and textured. This shape was rather difficult to get just right, especially how the "legs" meet and curve together. But it's pretty close to the mark, and I'm quite happy with how it turned out.
The First Contact version (now with black stripe):



The Insurrection version:


I also upped the saturation and brightness on all the console graphics for the Insurrection version, to match those brighter, more colorful displays in that film. Every little detail counts!

The bridge as a whole, as of now:

 

[BK613]

@Donny amazing job. Egads from a crewperson's perspective though on those wing consoles where the button direction and seat direction are mismatched. That is, the natural inclination would be to sit with the chair squared up with the bottom edge but the buttons are aligned with the top edge. See the third image above.

 

[cardinal biggles]

As much as I love the conn/ops consoles and their visual nod back to the joined helm/nav console from TOS and its movies, it does result in one major design flaw: nowhere for Riker to put his leg up.

 

[Donny]

@Donny amazing job. Egads from a crewperson's perspective though on those wing consoles where the button direction and seat direction are mismatched. That is, the natural inclination would be to sit with the chair squared up with the bottom edge but the buttons are aligned with the top edge. See the third image above.

Ah, yeah. I see what you're saying. The chairs are aligned as I've depicted them in the Captain's Chair "VR" file, which I assume was the "default" position of these chairs, which aligns with the center of the viewscreen better when aligned with the top edge of the console. In any case, a crewmember can simply rotate the chair to face any direction they wish, and indeed crewmembers are normally rotated more to the secondary panel on these consoles when seated in the films. Anyway, I agree with your preference being the more natural

As much as I love the conn/ops consoles and their visual nod back to the joined helm/nav console from TOS and its movies, it does result in one major design flaw: nowhere for Riker to put his leg up.

I haven't modeled the manual steering column yet, which this behind-the-scenes photos shows he used the pedestal for all that the foot-resting it provided

Also note that the column doesn't retract all the way into the floor; it looks like the pedestal only allows it to retract about a foot and a half and was only brought out for filming this scene specifically. I'll be modeling it in a way to allow it to retract more fully.

 

[Lt. Washburn]

I still don't get how that joystick idea survived all the way to production. Was there no meeting where someone said, "Uh...won't this be....stupid?"

 

[cardinal biggles]

I'm probably the only person who likes that thing.

 

[Mytran]

I haven't modeled the manual steering column yet, which this behind-the-scenes photos shows he used the pedestal for all that the foot-resting it provided

Also note that the column doesn't retract all the way into the floor; it looks like the pedestal only allows it to retract about a foot and a half and was only brought out for filming this scene specifically. I'll be modeling it in a way to allow it to retract more fully.

Wow, I don't think I've ever seen the column in all its glory before!
I imagine this worked better conceptually than in execution, hence why Frakes shot around it the way he did.

 

[cardinal biggles]

This is definitely one of those "you don't want to see how the sausage was made" moments. Totally ruins the illusion

 

[ashleytinger]

I'm reminded that Picard didn't need a joystick to pilot the Enterprise D out of danger. LCARS keypad for the win.

 

[DEWLine]

No, he didn't. But redundancy of backup options wins in its own way.

 

[Donny]

I'm probably the only person who likes that thing.

It's grown on me over the years. I've never been one of those people that disliked Insurrection. I actually enjoy it every time I watch it. It's got its problems, that's for sure. But it's just...fun. And that fun combined with our beloved TNG crew generates a certain comfort. And if you watch it with realizing it's just supposed to be a fun, lighter, comfortable TNG movie, the joystick fits right in.

Nemesis, on the other hand....I'll semi-quote everyone's favorite TSFS bar alien....
"NEMESIS!! Nemesis allowed is NOT! IS MOVIE FORBIDDEN!"

Can someone make a gif of that for me?

(Actually, Nemesis has some good stuff in it. But overall I feel it's the weakest of the all the pre-2009 films)

 

[ashleytinger]

I don't mind the idea of the joystick, it's just... it pops up in this climatic battle and just... *shrugs* I mean I get it, they needed some visual indicator of Riker taking the reigns but it just fell flat for me.

I definitely don't hold it against people who like it though.

 

[cardinal biggles]

It seemed kind of silly and basic back in 1998, and only looks even more low-tech now with all the floaty holographic tech and programmable matter controls they introduced on Discovery last season.

 

[David cgc]

It seemed kind of silly and basic back in 1998, and only looks even more low-tech now with all the floaty holographic tech and programmable matter controls they introduced on Discovery last season.

Oh, no, I just realized; in the 31st century, doing the same "manual steering" gag would probably be like the hologram weapons pod from "Legends of the Rangers."

 

[UssGlenn]

I wonder if something like a "Flight of the Navigator" style control would have been better received, being seen as suitably futuristic.

 

[cardinal biggles]

Or maybe having one of those silver dome things from the TUC helm (what were they for, anyway?) pop up and replace the "spinner" on Riker's console.

 

[blssdwlf]

I remember when I saw the joystick used in Insurrection I was surprised that it didn't popup from one of the helm stations. Having it by itself in a standing position and away from important controls (like throttle, 3D translation, etc) and only having a couple of buttons (trigger and maybe some thumb or hat switches?) seems to make this joystick feel like a bad design choice. Even the touchpad controls on the captain's chair arms might've been more useful, IMHO

Nevertheless, that is phenomenal artwork Donny

 

[Tallguy]

Not to pile on here, but why not? Is there any vehicle that can be controlled with just a joystick? Was he controlling yaw with a hat? I mean, if you're going to commit, commit! Give than man some pedals! And maybe a throttle! Which will still be sending commands that will all be coordinated together by the computer! (Overthinking it? Yeah, overthinking it.)

Donny, this is fun. You're doing an inspiring work on an uninspiring design. You building this is breaking down for me why I don't care about this bridge: It feels like a big room with some Star Trek TNG set pieces put into it. There's no "ship" to this design. (I feel.) It's a testament to what an extraordinary design the TNG bridge was in that we never even saw a variation of it anyplace else.

I'm probably the only person who likes that thing.

Everything is someone's favorite, right? But you and the other people who like it should get together for coffee sometime.

My wife keeps convincing me that Nemesis isn't that bad. OTOH we stand united on Star Trek V.

 

[cardinal biggles]

Trek V for all its faults at least had heart, tried to be about something, and more or less got the Kirk/Spock/McCoy friendship right. Nemesis was just... there. But I digress; I suppose if you insist, we could continue this tangent in the Trek Movies forum (where I burned out on such conversations after several years as mod), but otherwise, let's hand this back over to Donny before Michael says something.

 

[BK613]

Agree about the moving of the joystick convo but I will quickly add that it didn't help ST Insurrection's case that I owned a version of that Gravis joystick.