Favorite Transporter Visual Effect
- Thread starter Vger23
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So I voted TMP Cylinder, just because I feel like a lot of TOS movie fans are going to vote TWOK-TUC.
But really I like how sinister the TWOK effect was, with its artificial lens flares and more industrial-sounding hum. TWOK had transporters that looked like they could really take you apart if not calibrated properly.
The remaining TOS movies, their transporter beams to me appear to be based off the TMP cylinder (Just like the production designs seemed to go back to TMP after they returned whatever generic props Nick Meyer used to give TWOK its more analogue look). With the exception that they realized a cylinder might look ridiculous from the vantage point of materializing off-site. Not to mention "TMP, only cheaper" seems like the guiding mentality behind the TOS movie warp-outs, In which the TMP effect got composited/cleaned-up for TWOK, reproduced more cheaply from scratch the second time in TWOK, and then cheapened again for the remaining films.
Seems to me VOY's effect was also based off TMP, similar with with the warp core which was definitely TMP-influenced.
TNG movies, honestly seem to use more refined versions of their TV series effect -- with the exception of whatever the hell they were doing in Generations. FC had the healthiest take one TNG effect, Nemesis had the leanest and meanest, Insurrection had the most anemic (the effect really looked awful in Insurrection, like an SD television effect blown up for the big screen).
But really I like how sinister the TWOK effect was, with its artificial lens flares and more industrial-sounding hum. TWOK had transporters that looked like they could really take you apart if not calibrated properly.
The remaining TOS movies, their transporter beams to me appear to be based off the TMP cylinder (Just like the production designs seemed to go back to TMP after they returned whatever generic props Nick Meyer used to give TWOK its more analogue look). With the exception that they realized a cylinder might look ridiculous from the vantage point of materializing off-site. Not to mention "TMP, only cheaper" seems like the guiding mentality behind the TOS movie warp-outs, In which the TMP effect got composited/cleaned-up for TWOK, reproduced more cheaply from scratch the second time in TWOK, and then cheapened again for the remaining films.
Seems to me VOY's effect was also based off TMP, similar with with the warp core which was definitely TMP-influenced.
TNG movies, honestly seem to use more refined versions of their TV series effect -- with the exception of whatever the hell they were doing in Generations. FC had the healthiest take one TNG effect, Nemesis had the leanest and meanest, Insurrection had the most anemic (the effect really looked awful in Insurrection, like an SD television effect blown up for the big screen).
TOS sparkles. Just get it done.
I'm That Person who voted Other, as I really dig the effect used in Picard.
This might help with the Transporter VFX visualization.
I like a combination of Voyager & TNG "All Good Things" Future Timeline version of the Transporter VFX
Traditional Transporter VFX takes about 3 seconds for DeMaterialization or ReMaterialization.
ST:Picard takes 9/24 frames of video ~⅓ second.
Jeebus! ST:TMP took nearly 10 seconds to ReMaterialize!
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I always liked the Klingon transporter from TNG's "The Mind's Eye".
It's red, and has a cool sound effect. What's not to love?
It's red, and has a cool sound effect. What's not to love?
Most of these transporters were supposed to work on the same general principle, right ? (at least, the Federation transporters). Astonishing how each one of them produced such radically different visual effects 
Personally, I like the Voyager transporter effect. A small touch I do like is that generally, the more advanced the transporter tech is supposed to be, the faster the materialisation sequence seems to become. (though there are of course exceptions). For example, it's faster in the 'All Good Things' future.
Personally, I like the Voyager transporter effect. A small touch I do like is that generally, the more advanced the transporter tech is supposed to be, the faster the materialisation sequence seems to become. (though there are of course exceptions). For example, it's faster in the 'All Good Things' future.
TOS sparkles makes sense, if want to call it that, because the effect doesn't appear from any certain direction or have different kinds of flashes bouncing around. It just looks like the entire body or object is disappearing "evenly".
It's not even close for me. TOS.
TOS looks like TV static mixed and overlaid.
TMP looked great, until one sees the silly flower motif patterns.
TWOK-TUC is almost overly-done
TNG TV was decent
TV movies meh
VOY has a very nice look, if not overproduced
Kelvin/DSC/PIC overproduced, albeit a logical extension as the technology is enhanced, refined, and improved
My vote's for the flaming TWOK/TUC effect. It's the best of both worlds.
TMP looked great, until one sees the silly flower motif patterns.
TWOK-TUC is almost overly-done
TNG TV was decent
TV movies meh
VOY has a very nice look, if not overproduced
Kelvin/DSC/PIC overproduced, albeit a logical extension as the technology is enhanced, refined, and improved
My vote's for the flaming TWOK/TUC effect. It's the best of both worlds.
I like the Kelvin swirls. Especially in Beyond (seen at the very start), where Kirk doesn't vanish all at once, the beam goes top down on him so his legs are still there after his head and torso are in transit to the Enterprise.
I guess because Voyager was the first show I watched regularly, that effect is kind of the "default" one in my head (as are the Voyager sound effects). But I am not a big fan of it; both it and the TNG effect seem kind of... cheap to me. I do really like the original series movie effect; it feels powerful, as one imagines punching a matter stream through space ought to.
I like the effect from TNG the most.
Not sure about it, but i always had the impression that the transporter effect was more detailed and slower during the first seasons than later.
If that's true, i like how it was at the beginning more than what was later.
Not sure about it, but i always had the impression that the transporter effect was more detailed and slower during the first seasons than later.
If that's true, i like how it was at the beginning more than what was later.
You are correct in a general sense, althought your time table is a bit off.
Watch the YT videos I linked above.
ST:TOS Movies had a Transporter effect that took 10 seconds for De-Materialization VFX or Re-Materialization VFX
ST:TNG era had ~ 3 seconds for De-Materialization VFX or Re-Materialization VFX
ST:PIC era has ~1/3 second for for De-Materialization VFX or Re-Materialization VFX
Either way, Transporter is far faster and beats taking the Shuttle from Planet-side, to Space, and docking/parking.
Same with taking a Rocket Launch into Space and meeting up with the ISS for docking.
The amount of time needed and prep just to get into Orbit is several Orders of magnitude in time difference, even at the slow 10 seconds for De-Materialization VFX or Re-Materialization VFX.
I mean i had the impression that there were differences in lenght for the transporter effect between early TNG and the later seasons of that show.
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