3D interiors in Blender

[Rekkert]

@publiusr: I'm thinking of doing a transporter arranged like that for Fontana Station in the future

Continued to update the renders on my site as time allows and converting the ships to the new format. I took the chance to do a slight redesign I've been thinking about for a while on the Cerberus bridge. Originally the bridge featured 6 consoles in a row at each side, which in retrospect I never quite liked, it ended up looking too much like overkill IMO. So I simply swapped the 3 aft consoles with the exit alcoves, meaning that while the number of stations remains the same, they are more distributed around the bridge, helping it look more balanced. I also changed the registry number from NCC-74915 to NCC-75110, which was the registry given for Cerberus on the Star Trek Adventures Utopia Planitia sourcebook.

I was happy with that change and that was gonna be the end of it, but when I was gonna update the site I realized something, this would be the third ship with the exact (or almost exact) same "Enterprise-E" aesthetic, alongside both the Yeager and Ross. So I tested out some different colors and ended up swapping the style for a mix of Enterprise-E and Voyager greys. I think this works better for the role intended for Cerberus, and it better differentiates it from the other ships I already have.

Old version (which I'm sure you'll all prefer ):

New version:

 

[publiusr]

New version. It pops

 

[Mage]

100% the new version!

 

[Finn]

New one, but the old one could be during red alert

 

[TOMFAN]

Love both versions, but I think the new one just edges it, the new wall colours really go well with the LCARS.

I do wonder if the seats might suit being a dark blue/grey to go with the carpet, or perhaps a dark red to match the doors?

 

[The Librarian]

I like the new layout and I think the colors work well, it feels a bit brighter and livelier.

 

[Lt. Washburn]

Ooh, thatsa nice.

 

[Rekkert]

I'm happy you all liked the color change on the Cerberus bridge!

On another forum an interesting discussion started regarding that bridge, as it has a huge number of consoles (17, plus 2 guest seats) for a medium-sized ship. Prometheus in contrast had 7 stations total in "Message in a Bottle". I go back and forth on this myself, so I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts, if it even matters .

Cerberus was mentioned in several novels as Admiral Ross' flagship, so when I designed this bridge back in 2020, I imagined it was a larger one-off with extra consoles because it's intended role is in command of a fleet. That being said, I often regretted making this large bridge for such a small ship, and when I was doing this latest redesign I considered renaming it as USS Musashi, which was mentioned in DS9 and finally appeared as a Sovereign-class ship in Picard.

So yeah, I'm torn on it myself, and I wouldn't mind either changing it to another ship, or tweaking the design to have less seats, if folks think it would be more fitting.


I went ahead and updated the Emmett Till bridge to the new format as well. A while back I had swapped the carpet colors on that bridge so that the colors would pop a bit more, and I think I never mentioned it over here, so here's a before and after of that; plus some of the new changes I did this time around, like LCARS falloff, and some material tweaks, and a new dedication plaque mixing in the Enterprise-E and Picard styles, given the ship's timeframe of 2395.

This was the last ship I was planning to bring over to the new format. The remaining personal projects I did are so old at this point and were superseded by other projects that I don't feel like ever updating them. It might change in the future of course, but for now I intend for them to stay where they are indefinitely.

 

[The Librarian]

That lighter tan really does make a big difference.

On another forum an interesting discussion started regarding that bridge, as it has a huge number of consoles (17, plus 2 guest seats) for a medium-sized ship. Prometheus in contrast had 7 stations total in "Message in a Bottle". I go back and forth on this myself, so I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts, if it even matters .

Cerberus was mentioned in several novels as Admiral Ross' flagship, so when I designed this bridge back in 2020, I imagined it was a larger one-off with extra consoles because it's intended role is in command of a fleet. That being said, I often regretted making this large bridge for such a small ship, and when I was doing this latest redesign I considered renaming it as USS Musashi, which was mentioned in DS9 and finally appeared as a Sovereign-class ship in Picard.

I think it could definitely work as a larger ship. At the same time, I also don't think it's out of line for the Prometheus, especially one being used as a flagship. It's a very complicated ship intended for battle, so I'd expect a lot of people to coordinate with other segments and ships, especially since the ship seems to be highly automated. In some cases it can make sense for small to midsized ships to have a fairly expansive bridge crew simply because functions that would be located elsewhere on a bigger ship have to be centralized.

 

[Rekkert]

@The Librarian: Yeah, that's a really good point. For the time being, Cerberus will remain as it stands.


Work's been crazy lately, so I haven't have much time to do personal projects, however I have been letting my PC re-render stuff when I'm not using it to take advantage of some further changes I did to my workflow. With Blender 3.5 changing how spotlights work, I made pretty much all light sources at least a bit brighter to address the ever present issue of dark rooms; plus I removed the subtle chromatic aberration I used to put on renders, so they look a bit sharper and with more visible details such as carpet textures or text on displays. To make up for the increased lighting, I added a subtle ambient occlusion pass, so there's a bit more contrast now between brighter and dimmer areas of a set, and more subtle paneling is now easier to read. Oh, and I also increased the LCARS falloff effect, so they look more like backlit panels now.

Really the AO pass is the biggest change here, I should've add them ages ago. It was only after comparing notes with fellow Roddenberry Archive artist and Blender user Falke that I realized what I was missing :joy:

Here's a selection of before/after images (make sure to open them in different tabs to compare), but feel free to go through the site, all 29 interiors on the ships/stations listed on the left menu were updated.

Potemkin shuttlebay: Here's the before render. the Type-15 shuttlepods on the left now have much more prominent detailing, especially at the back hatches, thanks to the AO pass.

Appalachia ready room: Here's the before render. you can see much more finer detail without the chromatic aberration blurring the edges; and the details on the small chair in front of the desk comes across much better now thanks to the AO.

Thunderchild bridge access corridor: Here's the before render. The AO once again helps a lot here to make the panels near the floor a lot more noticeable.

 

[Finn]

I'd love to see the D's Main Shuttlebay. But I suppose @Rekkert is too busy for that big of a project

 

[Howard Day]

Oh, awesome! I love the added detail. How's it affect the render times?

 

[Rekkert]

@Finn: Would love to tackle that one, but yeah, it's a big time commitment!

@Howard Day: Just one or two seconds more, as it's all done in post.

Well, spoilers for Picard's ending if you haven't seen the episodes yet!

Spoiler

I'm happy to say I was contacted almost two years ago by Dave Blass to help out researching the D bridge, I provided my season 7 version mesh as reference, and my renders were used to help guide the crew during the drafting phase. It's crazy to have been involved, in a very tiny way, to all this. It's also crazy to have had to keep a secret for almost two years hahahah.

Also, at one point a render of the Constellation bridge was gonna be used as background for a photo of young Picard and Crusher, seen in the post-credit scene on Jack's quarters, but it was eventually replaced with an IRL photo of Patrick Steward and Gates McFadden at a gala.

 

[cardinal biggles]

Well, spoilers for Picard's ending if you haven't seen the episodes yet!

Spoiler

I'm happy to say I was contacted almost two years ago by Dave Blass to help out researching the D bridge, I provided my season 7 version mesh as reference, and my renders were used to help guide the crew during the drafting phase. It's crazy to have been involved, in a very tiny way, to all this. It's also crazy to have had to keep a secret for almost two years hahahah.

Also, at one point a render of the Constellation bridge was gonna be used as background for a photo of young Picard and Crusher, seen in the post-credit scene on Jack's quarters, but it was eventually replaced with an IRL photo of Patrick Steward and Gates McFadden at a gala.

Thank you. It was amazing.

 

[137th Gebirg]

@Finn: Would love to tackle that one, but yeah, it's a big time commitment!

@Howard Day: Just one or two seconds more, as it's all done in post.

Well, spoilers for Picard's ending if you haven't seen the episodes yet!

Spoiler

I'm happy to say I was contacted almost two years ago by Dave Blass to help out researching the D bridge, I provided my season 7 version mesh as reference, and my renders were used to help guide the crew during the drafting phase. It's crazy to have been involved, in a very tiny way, to all this. It's also crazy to have had to keep a secret for almost two years hahahah.

Also, at one point a render of the Constellation bridge was gonna be used as background for a photo of young Picard and Crusher, seen in the post-credit scene on Jack's quarters, but it was eventually replaced with an IRL photo of Patrick Steward and Gates McFadden at a gala.

That is freakin' awesome! Between this, STO ships and Bill Krauss' designs being used in the show, this has been the most significant stream of fan involvement in all of Trek canonical history. There are probably other things out there that we don't even know about yet. Very gratifying to see that fan efforts are finally being recognized and used by TPTB after all these decades.

 

[Lt. Washburn]

I've only seen some images, so they built a physical bridge, instead of like a virtual set? The seats reminded me a lot of the inaccurate Experience bridges, so I thought maybe they used that as a foundation (one example is owned by a fan).

 

[blssdwlf]

I've only seen some images, so they built a physical bridge, instead of like a virtual set? The seats reminded me a lot of the inaccurate Experience bridges, so I thought maybe they used that as a foundation (one example is owned by a fan).

Spoiler: Spoiler

Variety article on Enterprise-D bridge

 

[Lt. Washburn]

Interesting read. They suggest it was all scratch-built, but I still think those command chairs look oddly like the ones from the Experience. Cool, nonetheless.

 

[LongHauler]

I'd love to see the D's Main Shuttlebay. But I suppose @Rekkert is too busy for that big of a project

The Stage 9 virtual Enterprise D had a very detailed look at the main shuttlebay. You might be able to find a working download link for it here. [Link removed by moderator, just to be on the safe side.]

 

[valkyrie013]

Sweet! Congrats!!
Lots of Fan love this season.

Yeah, and AO pass helps with the shadows and details. Taking good renders and making them Better!!