Donny's TOS Enterprise Interiors

[Robert Comsol]

Re: TOS Enterprise Interiors -- Unreal 3 Engine

I'm just back from vacation myself, take it easy Donny!

The one thing in the med lab that bugged me for a long time was the table below the console. I presume you found some good screenshots to determine its actual shape?

Bob

 

[Donny]

Re: TOS Enterprise Interiors -- Unreal 3 Engine

The one thing in the med lab that bugged me for a long time was the table below the console. I presume you found some good screenshots to determine its actual shape?

Bob

I did not. Even Matt Jefferies cardboard Stage 9 mock-up had an incorrect representation of the table (it appears inverted). I had to make a "best guess" and use the aid of checking against different angles from different screen caps to get an estimate.

 

[TheSeeker]

Re: TOS Enterprise Interiors -- Unreal 3 Engine

I am suddenly reminded of this exchange from Star Trek IV.



Kirk: Mr. Spock, have you accounted for the variable mass of whales and water in your time re-entry program?
Spock: Mr. Scott cannot give me exact figures, Admiral, so... I will make a guess.
Kirk: A guess? You, Spock? That's extraordinary.
Spock: [to Dr. McCoy] I don't think he understands.
McCoy: No, Spock. He means that he feels safer about your guesses than most other people's facts.
Spock: Then you're saying,
[pause]
Spock: It is a compliment?
McCoy: It is.
Spock: Ah. Then, I will try to make the best guess I can.




I would say in this scenario you are Spock Donny.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Re: TOS Enterprise Interiors -- Unreal 3 Engine

^^^ This.

Especially since, Donny, you're probably the only other person on the face of the Earth, who has studied the set layout to the same level of detail that would likely rival that of Mr. Jefferies himself and no other.

Perhaps even more so, as I doubt MJ ever built every wall, every door and every button on the bridge to the detail that you are doing in the digital realm. He had a small army of set designers and construction contractors to do the actual building for the most part and had overreaching managerial input on how to put it all together. Unless someone can cite equal or greater level of detail in this or any other medium elsewhere, I would say that you have, quite possibly, the greatest amount of active experience and precise knowledge with this set of anyone who has ever lived.

 

[GSchnitzer]

Re: TOS Enterprise Interiors -- Unreal 3 Engine

The one thing in the med lab that bugged me for a long time was the table below the console. I presume you found some good screenshots to determine its actual shape?

Bob

I did not. Even Matt Jefferies cardboard Stage 9 mock-up had an incorrect representation of the table (it appears inverted). I had to make a "best guess" and use the aid of checking against different angles from different screen caps to get an estimate.

My hunch is that Jefferies' Stage 9 diorama was basically a doll house--and the furnishings could be moved around a bit. It looks like that little underlying table top beneath that rear console in the lab had been pulled out and simply put back in "backwards" with the narrow end on the right, instead of with the narrow end on the left. (If the little doll house model had a desk that could be "flip-around-able," perhaps the actual table on the set was equally "flip-around-able" as needed.)

Also, for what it's worth, that back table had a small extension (I guess it's called "a return") over at the door end when it first appeared in "Operation Annihilate!" (The portable electron microscope is sitting on it.) Maybe that extension was removable, too.)

In fact, with that odd lttle angle that McCoy is sitting at, it looks like the two tables--the one under the console and the freestanding one--were not only flip-around-able, but were also interchangeable. The "return" seen in the background shows up on the freestanding table in later episodes--way over at the other end. At the funny litle diagonal that McCoy is sitting at, shows up on that back table.

So it looks like the tables could be interchanged and flipped as needed for the shot.

 

[Donny]

Re: TOS Enterprise Interiors -- Unreal 3 Engine

I am suddenly reminded of this exchange from Star Trek IV.



Kirk: Mr. Spock, have you accounted for the variable mass of whales and water in your time re-entry program?
Spock: Mr. Scott cannot give me exact figures, Admiral, so... I will make a guess.
Kirk: A guess? You, Spock? That's extraordinary.
Spock: [to Dr. McCoy] I don't think he understands.
McCoy: No, Spock. He means that he feels safer about your guesses than most other people's facts.
Spock: Then you're saying,
[pause]
Spock: It is a compliment?
McCoy: It is.
Spock: Ah. Then, I will try to make the best guess I can.




I would say in this scenario you are Spock Donny.

That's exactly the scene that played in my head when I typed "best guess" last night

Donny[/B], you're probably the only other person on the face of the Earth, who has studied the set layout to the same level of detail that would likely rival that of Mr. Jefferies himself and no other.

Thanks for the compliment. I did my first 3D rendition of some of the TOS sets way back in 2001, so my research started there (I'm 29, so I was 17 when I started). Over those 17 years, I rendered these sets in some form of another, each time building it with more detail, four times with this newest build being the fifth. So yeah, I have studied the sets immensley!

However, it should be noted, that I have had tons of help from all of you here! GSchnitzer, feek61, Robert Comsol, Mytran, blssdwlf, and others have all contributed with the research they too have done, so this is feeling more like a collaborated research effort and I'm just the one constructing it in 3D.

Also, for what it's worth, that back table had a small extension (I guess it's called "a return") over at the door end when it first appeared in "Operation Annihilate!" (The portable electron microscope is sitting on it.) Maybe that extension was removable, too.)

Actually, Greg, it looks like for "Operation Annihilate!", the position of the two tables were simply switched from how they were laid out in Seasons 2 and 3. Here's a quick rendering to show what I mean:

 

[GSchnitzer]

Re: TOS Enterprise Interiors -- Unreal 3 Engine

Actually, Greg, it looks like for "Operation Annihilate!", the position of the two tables were simply switched from how they were laid out in Seasons 2 and 3.

Right--like I said.

Also, at least for "Operation: Annihilate!" it looks like the edges of the table are the ubiquitous light blue, rather than the plain "wall gray." You're probably trying to give it a Third Season look, but having these blue edges might be worth considering. I think it might make the set "pop" just a tiny bit more.

 

[Ziz]

Re: TOS Enterprise Interiors -- Unreal 3 Engine

^^^ This.

Especially since, Donny, you're probably the only other person on the face of the Earth, who has studied the set layout to the same level of detail that would likely rival that of Mr. Jefferies himself and no other.

Perhaps even more so, as I doubt MJ ever built every wall, every door and every button on the bridge to the detail that you are doing in the digital realm. He had a small army of set designers and construction contractors to do the actual building for the most part and had overreaching managerial input on how to put it all together. Unless someone can cite equal or greater level of detail in this or any other medium elsewhere, I would say that you have, quite possibly, the greatest amount of active experience and precise knowledge with this set of anyone who has ever lived.

You better buy some ChapStik. A man can develop a serious parch kissing that much ass.

 

[Donny]

Re: TOS Enterprise Interiors -- Unreal 3 Engine

Well, I've got a subscription to a top-notch 3D modelling tutorial site, and I'm trying to watch and learn all that I can quickly so that I can cancel my subscription to avoid being charged much longer.

Therefore, I've been learning how to make some game-ready weapons. I'm starting with the Phaser 1. The image below is of the high-poly version, which will have to be condensed in order to appear in-game. Just thought I'd post my progress.

 

[Mytran]

Re: TOS Enterprise Interiors -- Unreal 3 Engine

I've always liked the Phaser-1, the original prop featured some amazing details that were never visible on-screen. Yours is looking very nice, like the texture on the wheel!

 

[blssdwlf]

Re: TOS Enterprise Interiors -- Unreal 3 Engine

Those tables almost looked like they could fit together but alas the top view doesn't seem like they were cut from the same table top.

Nice start on the Phaser-1. I agree with Mytran about the details on it.

Uh-oh - does that mean you're going to make the halls and objects destroyable? (Sorry, had to ask as I just recently got hooked on X-Com Enemy Unknown.)

 

[Donny]

Re: TOS Enterprise Interiors -- Unreal 3 Engine

Here are some shots of the low-poly version of the Phaser 1 unit that is suitable for a real-time gaming engine. Unfortunately, they can't be as high quality as the version I posted in my last post, but they'll have to do. The high-poly version, however, is "projected" onto the low-poly version, so some detail is faked by using normal maps, bump maps, etc.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Re: TOS Enterprise Interiors -- Unreal 3 Engine

Looks pretty damn good - I do notice the poly angle differential on the side body curves towards the front where the silver trim sits on the skin, but other than that, it seems to appear as good as the original.

 

[Donny]

Re: TOS Enterprise Interiors -- Unreal 3 Engine

All right. Got the Phaser 2 high-poly version complete. Rather proud of this one...

 

[Potemkin_Prod]

Re: TOS Enterprise Interiors -- Unreal 3 Engine

I've always liked the Phaser-1, the original prop featured some amazing details that were never visible on-screen. Yours is looking very nice, like the texture on the wheel!

Quite so. The wheel, iirc, raised a targeting grid.

 

[Donny]

Re: TOS Enterprise Interiors -- Unreal 3 Engine

Here's the low-poly version, rendered in game. It's just under 5000 polygons.




Here's a close-up of some of the details:


And here's how it might appear from a first-person shooter kind of perspective.

 

[Ziz]

Re: TOS Enterprise Interiors -- Unreal 3 Engine

side-by-side high vs low

 

[Bernard Guignard]

Re: TOS Enterprise Interiors -- Unreal 3 Engine

Excellent work on those

 

[137th Gebirg]

Re: TOS Enterprise Interiors -- Unreal 3 Engine

Agreed - curious though...I understand how polygonal elements could look cruder in low vs. high res, but I'm not sure I understand why all the satin-like silver parts seem to have more of a chromed look compared to the other with higher specularity, and why the general body color seems to be much darker. Is it the lighting engine used in the game doing that?

 

[Donny]

Re: TOS Enterprise Interiors -- Unreal 3 Engine

Agreed - curious though...I understand how polygonal elements could look cruder in low vs. high res, but I'm not sure I understand why all the satin-like silver parts seem to have more of a chromed look compared to the other with higher specularity, and why the general body color seems to be much darker. Is it the lighting engine used in the game doing that?

Actually, it's because I was using different materials in each shot. For the high poly shots, I was using very basic, temporary materials that were set up in 3ds Max. The low poly shots in Unreal Engine use the complex materials I set up, which contain loads of different settings for color, texture, bump, specularity, opacity, etc.

It should also be noted that I have since gone in and adjusted some of the settings. I toned down the specularity on the metallic surfaces and upped the spec on the black surfaces.