Modelling and Rendering the TMP Enterprise

[wjaspers]

as to the reference Will mentioned, he's talking about the Kerr plans made for the Polar Lights model.

Sorry Anystar, wasn't talking about the plans

What I meant by looking at the model when it was new, I meant The Motion Picture. They did a movie with it when it was new

So what color would those deflector grids have? from the Christies pictures it is clear they painted them black, can see it clearly by looking at the close ups from the sec.hull, and some of the saucer.
But when the ship was new, looking at TMP and TWOK, I think they were bright, bright as in on of the primary colors used, which could be the darkest one used for the aztecs.
So you both can be right with the color.

 

[Vance]

The panel lines, you mean? If I remember right, ILM treated them as a wash, meaning they weren't painted separately.. it's just where the weathering pass settled in. The more weathering they did to the model overall, the more 'black' settled into place.

 

[wjaspers]

anyway, i'll quit hijacking your thread! i plan to start posting to my old constructing a connie thread in a couple weeks when i get back from vacation!

Nice

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

The discussion in this thread has long since outstripped my capacity for understanding, but the results are astounding, to say the least.

Bravo.

 

[Saquist]

Nice to see Anystar back.
Wjaspers, good CAD work

 

[Science Officer]

Well yesterday, felt really good. Learned a useful modelling tip from Wil, AnyStar's channels are better and so what happens, but the PC starts down the path of SYSTEM SERVICE EXCEPTION blue screens of death! The dam thing's been behaving itself for a while and now it's off again. I can't really use it for the project, because you just don't know when it will happen again. So I've switched to my laptop as that has been ultra-reliable (touch wood).

AnyStar - glad to be of help. I'll try it out myself when I get back onto refining those materials and assigning them to a few more polys. And of course have a good holiday!

Wil - will try out your approach to the nose soon.

To help perk me up, I decided to flex the laptops muscles with a render of everything done to date.

Cheers,
S.O.

 

[Santaman]

Looks fine.

 

[BlobVanDam]

That is a sexy render. I can only hope I can get my ship looking that purdy.

 

[wjaspers]

That's going to be a good looking model.

 

[Vance]

Just needs the underside phasers on the primary hull, from what I can see.

 

[mattpiper]

Perhaps he's going for a more diplomatic, weapons-free approach here...

Looking great.

 

[Science Officer]

Perhaps he's going for a more diplomatic, weapons-free approach here...

Looking great.

Ah yes, the phasers - haven't done them yet! There are lots of small scale bits that need to be done. I'm trying to get the large objects in place, because at least then I'll have something that looks like a starship.

Today I've redone the navigation dome which was the wrong shape. Also made a start on the bottom of the neck. Not quite sure I'm happy with it because the third image suggests the mesh isn't quite smooth enough. But saying that, some of that will end up hidden by the torpedo bay.

Wil is there a proper modellers approach to pulling out that vertical section at the front of the neck. Feels like I'm in the process of making another rookie error!

Cheers,
S.O.

 

[wjaspers]

Wil is there a proper modellers approach to pulling out that vertical section at the front of the neck. Feels like I'm in the process of making another rookie error!

Not that I know off, doing it perfectly right I think.

Carefull using that photo once you do the nacelles, they appear bigger as they are because they are closer to the camera.

 

[Science Officer]

Wil is there a proper modellers approach to pulling out that vertical section at the front of the neck. Feels like I'm in the process of making another rookie error!

Not that I know off, doing it perfectly right I think.

Carefull using that photo once you do the nacelles, they appear bigger as they are because they are closer to the camera.

Phew! That's good to hear. Looking at it again I think I need to have another go. I use a Free Form Deformer (FFD) to pull the section out, and then clean up the points.

The problem with this attempt is that the FFD cage was set to far into the neck. On the physical model, the deformation appears to start in the vertical green strip. The back of the strip appears to following the contours of the neck, whilst the front appears to subtly change direction and straighten up. There are other little things that bug me. So I'll start the 2nd iteration tonight.

Nacelles - fully understand. I'll use images taken from much further back for those and back it up from other sources to get the proportions rel to the rest of the ship correct.

Cheers,
S.O.

 

[wjaspers]

On the physical model, the deformation appears to start in the vertical green strip. The back of the strip appears to following the contours of the neck, whilst the front appears to subtly change direction and straighten up. There are other little things that bug me. So I'll start the 2nd iteration tonight.

That's what I meant with preliminary bitmap on the neck, if you take that green strip and put it on preliminary, you can see if your curve meets the curve of the model.

 

[Science Officer]

On the physical model, the deformation appears to start in the vertical green strip. The back of the strip appears to following the contours of the neck, whilst the front appears to subtly change direction and straighten up. There are other little things that bug me. So I'll start the 2nd iteration tonight.

That's what I meant with preliminary bitmap on the neck, if you take that green strip and put it on preliminary, you can see if your curve meets the curve of the model.

Hi Wil,

I've done the 2nd iteration and it works much better than the first one. I put the green strip in as you suggested and it seems my neck curves a little more than the model or I haven't got that deformation of the lower neck quite right. Either way it's working pretty well. Also put in that line that goes from the curve at the front to the grille at the back. Hopefully I've got that subtle curvature correct.

Anyway here are two images...

Cheers,
S.O.

 

[wjaspers]

Don't change a thing, Perfect as it is !!!

Now go and have a look at TR his model, no curvature on the green strip. Can be you need much more time as TR, but it is going to look better once done

And I think that slight curve above the torpedo deck is as correct as it gets.

 

[Saquist]

who would have thought the neck would have created so much trouble

 

[Science Officer]

who would have thought the neck would have created so much trouble

Certainly not me!

I really didn't think the nose would be such a pain. But whilst you can get the general shapes right, it's more difficult to get the curvature of the surfaces right. The 80/20 rule - you can do 80% of the work in 20% of the time and vice-versa.

Add to this the fact that I'm a crap modeller - not neccessarily using the right tools or constructing a shape in the best way.

I still think the neck needs more work especially around the nose. But for now it is passable.

Started work on the secondary hull last night. I think I've got the basic shape almost right. Amazing what you can do with a couple of sine curves.

Cheers,
S.O.

 

[Science Officer]

Today I've focused on refining the shape of the secondary hull. It's gone well.

It's early days and the images below show the various shapes against a reasonably good side view of the physical model. I may reduce the polygon count to something more managable, but it depends on whether certain objects need the count that high. I'm not looking forward to doing the shuttle bay area - looks an awkward shape.

Images below as usual.

Cheers,
S.O.