Donny's TOS Enterprise Interiors

[DrCorby]

Here's a rare shot before I start painting. The game-model is only 30,000 polygons (which is far less than I thought it would be). I've baked detail information from the high-poly model, which is just over a million polygons. Here I have the windows and decals masked in black.

You know, even in these basically black-and-white pictures, the Enterprise is still quite a dramatic ship! I especially like the second shot. An interesting look, to be sure...

 

[Ian Simpson]

Absolutely gorgeous work Donny and its not even finished. I was wondering how a sci-fi ship designed in the 60's can look so impressive today, from any angle it looks awesome.

 

[publiusr]

That's rare to get a ship that looks good from any vantage point.

great work.

 

[StarCruiser]

I've said it before - and here it goes again:

Matt Jefferies knew his job!

 

[Firebird]

Forget Mr. Scott - I think Donny is the real miracle worker.

 

[STEPhon IT]

First night of painting was a success.

Here's a somewhat eerie preview.


Unfortunately, I noticed that the curvature of the underside of the saucer is a bit off towards the edges, so I'll have to take some time to correct that before continuing, as that will require tweaking of the model and re-baking a few textures. But otherwise, I'm happy with the results thus far.

I'm dying to see where you're going to take this Enterprise? A black hole, orbiting a rogue planet, a super Earth, a Rigel star? I just love what you're doing, Donny, this looks fun.

 

[Donny]

My goal is to be done on July 4th. I think I can do it.

Paying super close attention to the colors. It's so weird how everything looks under lighting compared to what I think it's going to look like. The hull is actually painted much more green than it appears, with heavy tinges of a rust color here and there. The key is being super subtle. It's really quite magical how all the different layers of color and light information blend to form the images you see below.

And I made sure to make the deflector extra coppery. There's something so fascinating about a giant deflector made from a heavy metal, instead of just the glowy ones we see TMP onward.

Tonight's progress:

 

[Ian Simpson]

My goal is to be done on July 4th. I think I can do it.

Paying super close attention to the colors. It's so weird how everything looks under lighting compared to what I think it's going to look like. The hull is actually painted much more green than it appears, with heavy tinges of a rust color here and there. The key is being super subtle. It's really quite magical how all the different layers of color and light information blend to form the images you see below.

And I made sure to make the deflector extra coppery. There's something so fascinating about a giant metal deflector made from a heavy metal, instead of just the glowy ones we see TMP onward.

Tonight's progress:

I can't imagine why your not working for the film industry . If your model was used in the rework of the original series it would have been far far better. I don't think ILM couldn't be doing a better job, and so fast. I was wondering are you going to match up part of the interior with the exterior for example the shuttle bay?

 

[Psion]

Donny, this is amazing. Could you post a few wire frame views of your model?

 

[Norsehound]

I can't imagine why your not working for the film industry . If your model was used in the rework of the original series it would have been far far better. I don't think ILM couldn't be doing a better job, and so fast. I was wondering are you going to match up part of the interior with the exterior for example the shuttle bay?

I think Donny said he wasn't doing that.

Donny, good will the model be for animation? If you've got some good video editing software you could show off by replacing some stock footage from TOS with your connie.

 

[Donny]

I can't imagine why your not working for the film industry . If your model was used in the rework of the original series it would have been far far better. I don't think ILM couldn't be doing a better job, and so fast. I was wondering are you going to match up part of the interior with the exterior for example the shuttle bay?

I do plan on matching up the shuttlebay set I eventually build with the exterior, yes. And I will try to provide some moments where you look out a viewport window and can see parts of the ship. But as far as actually making sure the entirety of the the interior resides inside the exterior, no, as it's pretty unecessary for what I'm doing. But I will also try to keep the illusion, wherever possible, that you are inside the exterior. Make sense?

Donny, this is amazing. Could you post a few wire frame views of your model?

I'll try and post some wireframe shots sometime this week!

Donny, good will the model be for animation? If you've got some good video editing software you could show off by replacing some stock footage from TOS with your connie.

I was actually thinking last night how it would be great practice for me to try and compose a cutscene of the opening credits of Star Trek with my new model. This, of course, will come after the model is complete, and won't rely on video composition. I'll do it all within the game engine through it's powerful cutscene tools. Remember, this is all built so that it can be rendered in real-time and not have to rely on pre-rendered scenes.

 

[Donny]

Ok, time for some help/feedback on a couple of things

1) The spinning nacelle caps. Pulling this off is going to require great attention. Does anyone have any great references of the nacelle caps that I'm missing? More specifically, are there any online studies on the blinking patterns and the colors inside?

2) As confirmed before, faint grid lines were present on the primary hull, but were not present on the secondary hull or the nacelles, as they were added during the 92 restoration and then removed for the latest restoration. However, my model is screaming for some additional detail on the secondary hull and nacelles. Should I add the commonly "accepted" grid lines, very subtly like I've done with the primary hull, for consistencies sake? Or should I keep it as it was in the 60s, smooth and featureless other than the windows and decals?

3) The "ion pod" near the hangar. Anyone have any good info on it? It seems during some shots of non-remastered Trek, this light appears to be blinking erratically. Is the light a bulbous one? Or is it flat, recessed into the hull, as depicted in the latest restoration?


4) There are dome-like structures (perhaps running lights?) on top of each nacelle, just aft of the nacelle domes themselves. However, I don't ever think we see them lit up. Can anyone confirm this? If I were to light them up and make them blink with the primary hull running lights, would anyone wish death upon me?


Thanks for anyone that can help with these questions

 

[Tallguy]

I'm against grid lines. Especially the ones that weren't there.

I usually do some kind of "simulation" where I build a frosted dome and build Christmas lights behind it. This has worked better over the years as rendering tech has improved.

OTOH, I was looking the other day at Vektor's Constitution mesh from the early oughts. He actually just used a material over the dome and it worked out pretty well.

I'm not sure what options are available to you.

I wouldn't wish death on you. But I might shake my head sadly.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Donny, there's this thread over at HobbyTalk from someone who did the same thing you're working on, but with a Polar Lights 1/350 TOS-E model. He provided circuit and timing schematics along with finished videos that may help you with the bussard animation effect you're looking for. Looks pretty dead-on to me, anyway.

 

[Redfern]

I'm often wrong about these things, but it's my understanding that the original engine dome lighting array used typical "teardrop" shaped blinking holiday lights common in the 60s. You know the ones, about 2 inches long, having a vague diamond shape and using the same "thread" gauge as nightlight bulbs. They just randomly blinked; no control board governing their flashing rate.

Supposedly, the film crew didn't always replace a burnt bulb with the same color, so each time the model was filmed, the color pattern was not necessarily the same.

 

[Tallguy]

On the real model there were bits of broken mirrors inside that gave you lots of cool random flashes.

 

[BK613]

@Donny The ion pod was a flashing light (ironically, and IIRC, you can see it blinking in the original FX for Court Martial). The Air and Space X-ray photo found here shows this as well.

 

[Michael]

Regarding the innards of the nacelle caps, this article over at Memory Alpha features this photo and some notes:

Nacelles: Half balls added to the rear of the nacelles; Solid wood "power nodules" with spikes replaced with frosted Plexiglas domes with inner surface painted transparent orange, plus motorized vanes and blinking Christmas lights added behind the dome, being ten bulbs of different coloring, blue, yellow, red and green. Colored mirror shards were also added for reflective purposes. The whole assembly was powered by a van motor.

 

[Donny]

Regarding the innards of the nacelle caps, this article over at Memory Alpha features this photo and some notes:

AHHH...I have this photo but that article has some interesting info! Thanks, @Michael!

I'm tempted to actually model the mirror shards and place a highly reflective material on them for extra accuracy! I'm going to attempt to do the nacelle cap effect with an actual "physical simulation" in the game engine rather than a material, but my concern is whether Unreal's translucent materials can properly blend the lights I'll place behind it. I'll be doing tests, hopefully tomorrow. If that fails, I can instead do it all with a material mapped over the domes, no doubt.

 

[Michael]

I'm very curious as well if you'll be able to replicate the effect within the gaming reality, complete with simulated mirror shards, Christmas lights and translucent domes.

Am I understanding the original model's effect correctly: the lights and shards didn't actually spin, but a painted dome inside an orange dome?