FX/editing wishlist/technical/related discussion for STNG-R

[RAMA]

Re: What new FX/editing do you want to see in the STNG-R?

Does anyone know how the early season planets were created? Unless they can make them sharper when they recomposit them, it's going to look substandard for HD. They're so blurry, even on the DVDs, that I imagine they'll be forced to create brand new ones.

I'd love to see new matte paintings too. The ones made for TOS-R were beautiful and very faithful to the originals.

As for the ship models: I wonder, since the 4-foot model doesn't appear until the later seasons, if they'll have enough time to perfect a CGI replacement by then, one that closer resembles the 6-footer?

They used Quantel Mirage to wrap an image into a flat, ball shape and added shading with the Starlight software to make it look like a sphere with a terminator.

"I like to do a mixture of low-tech and high-tech," says Curry. "When we have a low-tech option, like a planet texture, I'll do a macro shot (with a camcorder ) of a rock in my garden or some unusual texture and then wrap that here in the Mirage to create the planet surface. Then I'll paint the cloud pattern and we'll move that around. Sometimes a planet can be one layer, sometimes it can be ten or twelve layers if we're trying to create a complex weather pattern."

A selection of "Planet Bitmaps":

http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/inconsistencies/tng_planets.htm

RAMA

 

[JJohnson]

Re: What new FX/editing do you want to see in the STNG-R?

Would be nice to upgrade the planets as in TOS, and maybe spruce up a few other select episodes. TNG didn't tend to be about space battles as much as DS9 and Voyager though.

Just a thought - do The Inner Light and Sins of the Father use any unique shots of the Enterprise, or is it all the ILM stock from the pilot?

Agreed. The new planet shots in TOS-R were amazing to me, especially after those fuzzy beach balls we used to have in the original version.

 

[gaghyogi49]

Damn, that article brings back memories... I also hope they will replace the planets and add some variety. "Planet with continents #1" was seen way too often, I guess because it is one of the more convincing examples of an M class planet. They will definitely have to replace the planets in the Detrian system from "Ship in a bottle", as they were computer generated and created by Digital Magic.

http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Detrian_system
http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/database/cgi.htm#use

This again shows, however, how easily new CG planets can be mixed with old footage of the models. it worked nicely back in 1993, as can be seen.

Jörg

 

[NewHorizon]

Damn, that article brings back memories... I also hope they will replace the planets and add some variety. "Planet with continents #1" was seen way too often, I guess because it is one of the more convincing examples of an M class planet.

Oh, I have no doubt they'll have to replace the planets since they were probably all old nineties CGI. CBS should be able to go to their collection of CGI planets from the TOSR project, make adjustments to their project files and slip those in during the recompositing process with the cleaned up original ship model footage. Best of both worlds...no pun intended.

 

[gaghyogi49]

Here are four more shots of the Enterprise-D from "Encounter at Farpoint" that contain lighting errors that need to be corrected for the HD release:

The Bussard collectors glow blue instead of red here.

The starboard Bussard collector is not lit in this shot.

The Bussard collectors glow purple here (like the engine glow of the alien ship).

The nacelles glow white instead of blue here. Also, the energy beam is emitted from the wrong place, as has been said before.

Jörg

 

[ATimson]

Here are four more shots of the Enterprise-D from "Encounter at Farpoint" that contain lighting errors that need to be corrected for the HD release:

If they have the original lighting elements, I will be very surprised if they're corrected for the HD release.

 

[Dac]

Here are four more shots of the Enterprise-D from "Encounter at Farpoint" that contain lighting errors that need to be corrected for the HD release:

If they have the original lighting elements, I will be very surprised if they're corrected for the HD release.

Why not? All the lighting in those shots were done on a different plate anyway, all they'd have to do is delete the crap and add in a glow effect in After Effects, a 5 minute job nowadays.

 

[Tosk]

If they have the original lighting elements, I will be very surprised if they're corrected for the HD release.

Seeing as they added the correct lighting to the Enterprise as she warps away in the trailer, I'd be surprised if they didn't fix little bits and pieces like those examples.

Also, the bussards on the model were not capable of glowing blue or purple, so clearly this is just a compositing error, and would not be present on the original elements.

 

[Sho]

This kind of stuff isn't a compositing error; if I don't misremember, the different lighting rig elements were captured by multiple exposures to the same negative, not as separate plates. More likely it went wrong during transfer or grading or something.

Not that it matters, retinting stuff for TNG-R is still trivial.

 

[Maurice]

The starboard Bussard collector is not lit in this shot.

That's called a shadow.

 

[Eddie Roth]

The starboard Bussard collector is not lit in this shot.

That's called a shadow.

Umm, no. The starboard nacelle (i.e. the right-hand one) is in direct sunlight, so Maurice is correct. Its color should be visible in this shot.

 

[Tosk]

The starboard Bussard collector is not lit in this shot.

That's called a shadow.

Umm, no. The starboard nacelle (i.e. the right-hand one) is in direct sunlight, so Maurice is correct. Its color should be visible in this shot.

Not to mention the fact that the bussard collector is a light source itself. Why would a shadow make it appear to be off?

And I think you meant to say that Gag was correct. Maurice is the one saying "Shadow!"

 

[Destructor]

That's called a shadow.

Umm, no. The starboard nacelle (i.e. the right-hand one) is in direct sunlight, so Maurice is correct. Its color should be visible in this shot.

Not to mention the fact that the bussard collector is a light source itself. Why would a shadow make it appear to be off?

And I think you meant to say that Gag was correct. Maurice is the one saying "Shadow!"

It looks like a shadow to me. Sometimes light sources throw their immediate surroundings into even greater silhouette, which appears to be the case here.

 

[beamMe]

The starboard Bussard collector is not lit in this shot.

That's called a shadow.

Umm, no. The starboard nacelle (i.e. the right-hand one) is in direct sunlight, so Maurice is correct. Its color should be visible in this shot.

Not necessarily. The light-source inside the bussard cap is close to the base of the cap itself (you can see that only a small portion is lit on the port nacelle, and that light doesn't illuminate the whole cap)
The light in the starboard cap is quite probably on, we just can't see it from this perspective

 

[Mark_Nguyen]

Well, the PORTSIDE collector is definitely in shadow, and *it* is lit just fine!

Mark

 

[RAMA]

It occurred to me, don't know if anyone mentioned this before..who wants to hear the STTMP version of the theme music on the remastering?? It was my favorite version...100 piece vs 40 piece orchestra if I recall correctly.

RAMA

 

[ATimson]

It occurred to me, don't know if anyone mentioned this before..who wants to hear the STTMP version of the theme music on the remastering?? It was my favorite version...100 piece vs 40 piece orchestra if I recall correctly.

I'd rather hear the original music than a kitbashed edit; if I want those, I need only watch the Star Wars prequels.

 

[groundhog]

I just hope they clean everything up so it looks razor-sharp. After ages of SD television and ultrafuzzy DVDs this should be like a new series.

 

[TheSeeker]

^Yeah. I've tried to start rewatching TNG a few times in the last couple of years and I just can't get past how crappy it looks on an HDTV. I can't wait to watch the series again in HD!

It occurred to me, don't know if anyone mentioned this before..who wants to hear the STTMP version of the theme music on the remastering?? It was my favorite version...100 piece vs 40 piece orchestra if I recall correctly.

RAMA

I would only support this if the origianl audio was not of sufficient quality to be used in the new release as was the case for the TOS-R opening theme.

 

[RAMA]

I just hope they clean everything up so it looks razor-sharp. After ages of SD television and ultrafuzzy DVDs this should be like a new series.

Well look at the trekcore comparisons...it'll give you a taste of the look at 720p.