Self illumination experiment
- Thread starter Redfern
- Start date
Hi Redfern,
To me, the retracted light images look a lot better.
There is the issue of how you resolve illuminating the name and registry - one which the TMP model tries to do with some success. It was one of the reasons why I decided to create my own model, so I could get a proper line of sight between the intended spotlight positions and the rest of the saucer.
I don't have much experience of the TOS model, so I can't say if there are any spotlights or if they are just windows. Hasn't Vektor gots some posts on this in one of his threads - might be a good source of information? Another person who's had a crack at the TOS model is Deg.
If you do try to add spotlights, one tip is to use a camera and place it at various points on the hull where you can see the registry or name. If you find a good line of sight and it's in an artistically pleasing or logical position on the hull, replace it with a spotlight.
It's getting there!
Cheers,
S.O.
To me, the retracted light images look a lot better.
There is the issue of how you resolve illuminating the name and registry - one which the TMP model tries to do with some success. It was one of the reasons why I decided to create my own model, so I could get a proper line of sight between the intended spotlight positions and the rest of the saucer.
I don't have much experience of the TOS model, so I can't say if there are any spotlights or if they are just windows. Hasn't Vektor gots some posts on this in one of his threads - might be a good source of information? Another person who's had a crack at the TOS model is Deg.
If you do try to add spotlights, one tip is to use a camera and place it at various points on the hull where you can see the registry or name. If you find a good line of sight and it's in an artistically pleasing or logical position on the hull, replace it with a spotlight.
It's getting there!
Cheers,
S.O.
I'm not gonna' bother with "vanity" lights aimed at the hull.
I've (more or less) achieved the results I wanted. I merely wanted to see how much of the vessel would be illuminated with nothing more than the light sources the ship already had in the original series. And as I admitted in earlier posts, I'm well aware one can not factor in all the additional variables with Poser that more robust suites can achieve.
I certainly welcome examples done by others with more sophisticated programs. Just consider my meager efforts as that first tumbling pebble that results in a full fledged rockslide.
Sincerely,
Bill
I've (more or less) achieved the results I wanted. I merely wanted to see how much of the vessel would be illuminated with nothing more than the light sources the ship already had in the original series. And as I admitted in earlier posts, I'm well aware one can not factor in all the additional variables with Poser that more robust suites can achieve.
I certainly welcome examples done by others with more sophisticated programs. Just consider my meager efforts as that first tumbling pebble that results in a full fledged rockslide.
Sincerely,
Bill
If any of you want to try it, I wondered if those two round lights on the front of the deck three area might not be spotlights rather than windows or torpedo launchers. If they were, do you suppose they might be able to through some light on at least the registry?
--Alex
--Alex
That's an interesting idea...never thought of that one. If I ever get around to building another Enterprise model (real model, not CG) I'll investigate adding that to the lighting scheme.
You got me all inspired to run my own test in Lightwave, not using any lights and instead having the actual incandescent geometry cast rays. That gives a more physically accurate illumination and falloff. The only thing this doesn't take into account are any focused light sources, like spotlights, that wouldn't be subject to an inverse-square falloff.
Alas, the results are not quite as dramatic as faking it. Rendered with 5 bounces and a 1300% radiosity intensity:
The most surprising thing to me is how brightly the windows on the neck light the underside of the saucer compared to everything else.
I could have pushed the radiosity intensity even higher to make it brighter, but i think this is pushing it for realism as it is; for example, the bussards are already illuminating the beveled end of the nacelle they're mounted on so brightly that it looks as luminous as the bussards themselves. In a real-world scenario, getting the light to look that bright or brighter would probably require an exposure setting that would blow out the lit surfaces.
Alas, the results are not quite as dramatic as faking it. Rendered with 5 bounces and a 1300% radiosity intensity:
The most surprising thing to me is how brightly the windows on the neck light the underside of the saucer compared to everything else.
I could have pushed the radiosity intensity even higher to make it brighter, but i think this is pushing it for realism as it is; for example, the bussards are already illuminating the beveled end of the nacelle they're mounted on so brightly that it looks as luminous as the bussards themselves. In a real-world scenario, getting the light to look that bright or brighter would probably require an exposure setting that would blow out the lit surfaces.
YARN
Fleet Captain
Looks good. Gives the ship a mysterious look. It would have been nice to see these ships lit a bit more realistically, especially when in interstellar space.
I've always been curious as to how this would look after reading Proberts pitch on the subject for TMP et al. It does look much more realistic, but probably not the best direction to go for a film or tv show where you want the audience to see whats going on.
Gep Malakai, out of curiosity, are those windows set to self-illuminate or are the window geometry transparent and you have interior panels self-illuminating for the lighting? On the primary hull it might make a difference in how the light is cast out from the windows. (I'm going to have to give that a try to see
)But yeah, yours looks good - what a ship would look like in pitch black space.
To be fair, most action that we've seen has been within a star system, so the ships will be lit up by the local star. But it is cool to see the E illuminated like this!
Pretty much the case. I think that ST:TMP was a good attempt at showing the different space environments and the need for extra lights. All started to unravel with ST:TWOK when it went for a more comic book feel.
The lack of hull illumination in deep space wouldn't be a problem from just an audience pov. I'd imagine if we ever do start exploring the outer reaches of our own solar system, we would need to light the hull. The darkness would probably become suffocating over time, hence to keep a crew sane, you would need bright colourful interiors and hull illumination. So seemingly unneccessary (or artistic) lighting would be quite neccessary.
Cheers,
S.O.
I imagine a real life ship designed to explore the solar system would have a very minimal amount of windows anyway. And those windows that were there, would likely not be in positions to see a lot of the hull. Unless they were inspection windows specifically to see some item of importance out there, but then, i think there would be a light switch right there so you only keep it on when you need to check out the whatsits on the outside of this ship...
--Alex
YARN
Fleet Captain
Given what we've learned about cosmic bakrground radiation, not only would there be no windows, but the crew would be housed in the core of ship.
Gep Malakai, out of curiosity, are those windows set to self-illuminate or are the window geometry transparent and you have interior panels self-illuminating for the lighting? On the primary hull it might make a difference in how the light is cast out from the windows. (I'm going to have to give that a try to see
But yeah, yours looks good - what a ship would look like in pitch black space.
The "glass" of the windows is the incandescent part, yeah. I don't have any interiors on the model. If anything, I'd expect doing it more realistically would reduce the amount of cast light even further.
I did another version with some TMP-style spotlights. It helps a bit:
^^ Looks great! Fantastic, in fact!
Two questions and one suggestion.
The dome above the hangar? The caps on the nacelles? Would like to see what those add.
The upper and lower surfaces of the cut-throughs on the secondary hull where the pennants are could house vanity lights as well. as opposed to a distant spot.
Two questions and one suggestion.
The dome above the hangar? The caps on the nacelles? Would like to see what those add.
The upper and lower surfaces of the cut-throughs on the secondary hull where the pennants are could house vanity lights as well. as opposed to a distant spot.
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