3D interiors in Blender

[Matthew Raymond]

Your point does raise an issue I've always had in having the head of security and senior weapons officer being one and the same, when there are numerous circumstances when you'd need to have them both in different locations for the different aspects of their jobs.

I'm currently working on the design for a non-Trek bridge where there are stations for four tactical officers, one for each quadrant of the ship. Security Officer is a separate position, and there's also an officer for planetside operations who commands the ship's marines.

 

[cardinal biggles]

@Michael and @cardinal biggles: Mmm, interesting that you both didn't see the dedication plaque easily. On the latest renders I had changed its colors to better match the Ent-B plaque, making it darker. I've reverted its colors back to what I was using before, from the Merced bridge, do you think this is better?

Much better!

Been experimenting with some red alert indicators for the bridge. I want it to have clear red bars instead of just changing the overhead lighting, so I decided to add them to the empty space above the console keyboards. I'll add a similar indicator to the top of the helm console once I finish the LCARS for that element.

I like the Red Alert indicators; they look a lot cleaner than the infamous "random blinking light bars" they slapped on the helm for the battle in The Undiscovered Country. ;p

Your point does raise an issue I've always had in having the head of security and senior weapons officer being one and the same, when there are numerous circumstances when you'd need to have them both in different locations for the different aspects of their jobs.

While it was a recurring issue throughout numerous series, the example that stands out the most for me is in a TNG episode where Yar actually asks Picard whether she should go with a security team or stay on the bridge. (It's a legitimate question, but I think it takes away from the drama.)

 

[Rekkert]

Good to see the dedication plaque change works!

There are definitely issues with the Trek always handled things such as department heads or people with dual roles on board ships. I do like taking them account and doubling down on them, even if from a logical standpoint they don't always make sense. They're one of the many quirks of designing something that feels like it belongs inside the universe rather than something that "corrects" it and in doing so feels like it doesn't belong.


Finished the LCARS for the helm console, which is a custom layout to better match the standing consoles rather than going for a 1:1 copy of what was in any of the movies. I've also heavily reworked the top view Constellation graphic placed below the helm, and did the necessary modifications for the tactical and engineering consoles.

I've tweaked the lighting as well, adding Enterprise-B style sconces to the side walls (not the same I used on the Merced, those were inaccurate as they were just reuses of the 24th Century style ones) and changing the color temperature of most sources to better match the Ent-B warmer lights. The light in front of the helm; the one above the turbolift door; the spotlights by the ceiling; and the large overhead light are all still cold light, again just as on the Ent-B.

Finally, the red alert lighting is also finished (I think), with not only the helm console but also the little overhead spotlight at the center of the bridge going red. I tried a few different effects such as changing more of the lighting or adding alert indicators on the little screens above the viewscreen, but I didn't like how those alternatives looked like.

I think I'm ready to call this one done, unless I'm missing something. What do you think?

 

[Matthew Raymond]

@Rekkert, not trying to make work for you, but I think red alert lights on the two side screens and the tactical station would put this over the top.

 

[Rekkert]

@Matthew Raymond: I did test both of those alternatives. For the side screens at the side of the viewscreen, I didn't find a place where they would fit in naturally.

As for the tactical station, I just didn't like how it looked, cascading over the helm red alert light. I feel like the other 3 consoles work because they're right up to the walls or viewscreen, and this one just doesn't. What do you think?

 

[Matthew Raymond]

@Rekkert: Actually, the rendering looks fine to me. I think that's Red-Alerty enough. Of course, if the client hates it, what I think doesn't matter.

 

[cardinal biggles]

I think the red alert lights on the Tactical station look good. I agree with you about lights flanking the viewscreen. You could try and put them in that black border around the displays, kind of like the one-off time they did that to the display in the Observation Lounge, but I don't know if there's the right amount of room to make them the same thickness as the lights on the consoles.

 

[Matthew Raymond]

@cardinal biggles, yeah, he hit the law of diminishing returns after he put the red alert on the tactical console. I think the lights on the console are just enough. Red borders might help a little, buy they're not necessary.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

@Bry_Sinclair: Those screens certainly aren't very user friendly, they are directly lifted from the TMP bridge (and TNG battle bridge, etc.). Kirk and Spock use the upper one in TWoK, and my back hurts from just looking at them. I gather they are for displaying info rather than actual use, and I'll be replacing the graphic on the bottom ones to just some schematics just like they had on the Enterprise-A behind Kirk.

IIRC, those screens weren't meant for the station operator but rather for the captain. From the captain's chair, Kirk was eye-level or thereabout with those screens so he could get quick information, such as damage, etc.

@Matthew Raymond: I did test both of those alternatives. For the side screens at the side of the viewscreen, I didn't find a place where they would fit in naturally.

As for the tactical station, I just didn't like how it looked, cascading over the helm red alert light. I feel like the other 3 consoles work because they're right up to the walls or viewscreen, and this one just doesn't. What do you think?

I really love this bridge, especially the bronze trimming and red alert lights. It really does bridge the gap between the movie aesthetic and early TNG. (Yes, I meant that pun.)

 

[The Librarian]

I think the current level of alert lights is better for this small of a bridge.

 

[Rekkert]

Yeah, as stated before, this is a personal project of mine, and I don't like those red alert indicator at Tactical, so I removed them.

@Ryan Thomas Riddle: Yeah, that makes perfect sense for those little screens, but by TVH when they were placed behind the Captain's chair that's no longer plausible, and TNG carried this over for the battle bridge and the USS Stargazer.

Here's the finished Victory bridge. I ended up doing a couple more modifications, though very minor. First, I added a subtle ribbed texture to the black risers on the platforms for the Captain's chair and helm, and on the continued vertical black trim all along the edge of the top level. This is to mimic how the area around the pit looks like on the Enterprise-B.

Second, for the first time I exported the LCARS textures into 8k files rather than 4k as I did up to this point. This was due to noticed pixelation whenever I placed the camera too close to the consoles, and it was detrimental to the immersion on the images. This WIP render was what prompted this, as the Captain's chair buttons were heavily pixelated. Overall the new 8k images helped get brighter and sharper graphics all over, particularly whenever there were diagonal lines (such as on the Constellation top view graphic on the helm), that didn't have that big a resolution at 4k. So this had a far greater impact than I anticipated, and all for just a couple extra Mb for each exported image.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

I like this bridge a great deal. This would've been a better Stargazer bridge... had TUC come out before TNG.

 

[Jedman67]

nice!

 

[Nays]

Stunning!

 

[Rekkert]

Got a few ideas for other Victory interiors (specifically the briefing room and sickbay), and while I'm not sure I'll be able to work on these any more for now, I did start modeling work on the sickbay and wanted to get your feedback on it.

Essentially I realized I could reuse the circular bridge walls for sickbay, thus avoiding the ubiquitous sickbay design used from TMP to Voyager. With the walls extended so that more of the whole circumference from the TMP bridge is used, the room ends up having space for 3 beds on each side of a central entrance, with a nurse station directly in the center of the room.

At the back, behind a glass window (which can be frosted when necessary for privacy) there's the exam room, which likewise follows the circumference of the TMP bridge. I modeled a new biobed for this section, from an original piece of concept art for TMP that went unused. It's not identical though, it's meant to be a 20 years newer model after all.

That's as far as I got so far, there's no lighting on the room and barely any details, only the shell and reused elements. Thus rather than renders here are just some screenshots of the Blender viewport, plus one very crudely annotated with how I'm imagining the rest of the room to look like, whenever I can get to it. What are your thoughts?

 

[cardinal biggles]

I like where you're going with this.

One thought: if you're going to use the bridge walls like that, you could maybe experiment with dispensing with the small bio-monitor at the head of the bed, and instead have a display actually built into the wall.

 

[Mage]

Would the CMO's office be where people go for a talk with the doctor? Because you might want to add a door between the office and waiting area.

Some ensign: Yeah doc, peeing really stings after I had sex with ensign Whomever
people in the waiting room:

 

[Bernard Guignard]

Looking very good

 

[cardinal biggles]

Would the CMO's office be where people go for a talk with the doctor? Because you might want to add a door between the office and waiting area.

Some ensign: Yeah doc, peeing really stings after I had sex with ensign Whomever
people in the waiting room:

You'd think that, but we never saw one in any iteration of the sickbays that used that area of Stage 9 (Ent-refit, Ent-D, Voyager); it always had an open doorway.

 

[valkyrie013]

I'm sure there is an ability for a "Privacy Screen" for the Doc's office where the windows frost and a opaque field on the doors if needed.. ( Hmm.. be an interesting thing to model.. the docs office in Privacy Mode..)

maybe add some Discovery med bay elements in? like a transformable bed from a seat to a bed?
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/af/5b/0b/af5b0b6f1b49e53977a78dc95da4960a.jpg

abit more visual interest..