Temporal Threads - A Uniform Database

[TemporalBeard]

Hi all! I am Temporal Beard, or Kyle, whichever suits better. I am relatively new to the forums but loving what I've seen so far!

I have always loved the uniforms in Star Trek, the structure, the ranks etc, and as such have decided to embark on a project that I feel is quite large and ambitious,

It is my intention to create a website that outlines the uniforms from each Star Trek Property, including both those seen in canon, those that can be considered conjecture and some of my own designs based upon existing. There is also the want to expand to other IP, such as Stargate and Battlestar, as well as real world uniforms from the Military.

I have labelled this venture as Temporal Threads:

Now I have been working on this on my own, but am at a point where I require assistance and advice.

To properly catalogue and track progress for different uniforms I need something better than an Excel spreadsheet, preferably a Database that allows me to update information as I go through the numerous uniforms. If anyone has a lead on this could they message me please. (Mods, please advise if that is an unsuitable request).

As well as design choices for how the uniforms are displayed, should they all be the same stance as above, or with heads? What do people want to see. Once again I would appreciate suggestions.

The Monster maroons from The Wrath of Khan onwards are the most daunting, with over 200 different individual uniforms, to produce as images.

I will provide examples of work I have done so far if people are interested. Thanks for reading my essay.

 

[Finn]

Welcome. I look forward to seeing your work.

 

[BorgMan]

Welcome to the boards! What you could do is display the uniform a la Encyclopedia, no heads, but also include a screencap of where the uniform was seen on-screen / in-game. That way, the viewer gets a better idea of how it was worn.

So, basically what you're doing is making a DITL variant for uniforms. Am I correct in that? That's not such a bad idea, really...

 

[Rekkert]

Welcome! Looking forward to this.

I agree with having no heads, though I never quite liked the pose they had on the Fact Files, as you can't clearly read the uniform sleeves, thus any detail located there is not visible.

 

[BorgMan]

I agree with having no heads, though I never quite liked the pose they had on the Fact Files, as you can't clearly read the uniform sleeves, thus any detail located there is not visible.

Maybe one sleeve in front and the other behind?

 

[TemporalBeard]

Thank you all for the welcoming words! I will be posting some examples of what I am calling 1st Gen work, as I intend on working toward a 2nd (Next) Gen with some different techniques I have picked up.

I will admit I am a big proponent for the Starfleet Marines (and other unseen/hinted at divisions), and I feel I have a unique head canon that I wish to explore, but also create uniforms that could have been seen on screen using the other designs as a guide. And to a lesser extent emulating equipment that would have been available at the time, example is body armour developments from the 1960's on-wards.

Welcome. I look forward to seeing your work.

Thanks, I look forward to having them in a cohesive package for everyone to view.

Welcome to the boards! What you could do is display the uniform a la Encyclopedia, no heads, but also include a screencap of where the uniform was seen on-screen / in-game. That way, the viewer gets a better idea of how it was worn.

So, basically what you're doing is making a DITL variant for uniforms. Am I correct in that? That's not such a bad idea, really...

Screenshots are a nice idea, I would have to be very nice to TrekCore for that. That might work for some of the articles I want to write.

And I am not familiar with the acronym DITL sorry.

I would like to have each uniform example provided, and expand on the uniforms we may have never gotten to see, such as more of the 'Federation Forces' from ST5: The Final Frontier, I'm just going to call them Marines.

Welcome! Looking forward to this.

I agree with having no heads, though I never quite liked the pose they had on the Fact Files, as you can't clearly read the uniform sleeves, thus any detail located there is not visible.

Maybe one sleeve in front and the other behind?

Thanks, that was one of my concerns starting out was not providing a good pose for the uniforms to be displayed, I might do a poll with some options soon enough. Alternate option would be to add accompanying images highlighting certain details. Would also like in the future to do some 'Candid/Action' images of people in unifor m doing Starfleet-y stuff.

Lots to do! Bitten off more than I can chew, probably.

 

[BorgMan]

And I am not familiar with the acronym DITL sorry.

Ah. That's the Daystrom Institute Technical Library. They have a pretty large collection of data about almost every starship in Trek existence, and they're the go to resource if you need dimensions and capabilities of ships. If you're interested, you can find them at www.ditl.org!

 

[TemporalBeard]

Whoah, thats immense! Thanks for linking that for me!

 

[TemporalBeard]

I did say I was going to put up some work I've done so far, so I have an example of work.

The Federation Naval Patrol exist in canon and yet are never seen, I put together this example of their Uniform from 'The Cage/TOS' Era as an example, and this could be one of the more interesting projects given that they have not been seen before. But it does also count on whether people are interested of course, keen for opinions or comments. Thanks

 

[NervousEnergy]

Absolutely love it, you're a really talented designer.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Agreed. These look very nice. I have a particular affinity for uniform decorations and rank devices.

Interestingly, some of these NuBSG devices were re-used on MU uniforms in Enterprise's "In a Mirror, Darkly" 2-parter:

 

[TemporalBeard]

Thanks! I appreciate it, I still have a lot to learn but I am enjoying the process.

BSG is also on my list of Uniforms to do. I didn't realize they used those in ENT! That will save a bit of time not having to create brand new assets..

 

[TemporalBeard]

Been a little quiet lately, have also been working on some other things.

Ship Mission patches for a couple of Starships currently Simming with. Keen to hear peoples thoughts

 

[TemporalBeard]

And as much as I hate being that guy, replying to his own post... I have been meaning to post this for some time.

This is my first run at the 'TWOK' or The Wrath of Khan, Monster Maroon uniforms. I am calling these my Version 1's and I fully intend on giving these another go, using just Illustrator for a cleaner result.

The Idea was to have the Marines have their own uniform to differentiate them from Starfleet. The Blues used for on Marine Bases and Starbases, and the Maroons used for Marines assigned to a Starship. I prefer the Blue jackets over the Black versions I have seen on the Web. As a Marine officer gets to a certain Rank (around Major or upwards) they would change division undershirt to White, just like the Naval equivalent for Captain. The issue I had was having a Blue rank strap, on a blue uniform with a blue collar, hence the change to a Black rank strap. I will still be working on an adequate solution for this.

 

[fireproof78]

I feel bad for missing this thread. I really love all the design work.

The Idea was to have the Marines have their own uniform to differentiate them from Starfleet. The Blues used for on Marine Bases and Starbases, and the Maroons used for Marines assigned to a Starship. I prefer the Blue jackets over the Black versions I have seen on the Web. As a Marine officer gets to a certain Rank (around Major or upwards) they would change division undershirt to White, just like the Naval equivalent for Captain. The issue I had was having a Blue rank strap, on a blue uniform with a blue collar, hence the change to a Black rank strap. I will still be working on an adequate solution for this.

Ok, so I had to do a further inspection of the uniform colors. I do like the Navy color for the Marines, rather than other fan designs that utilize for the body color of the uniform. I am wondering about the Marines in the Maroon color, since the officer appears to have a division stripe of red, like the cadet. Are the Marines in the Fleet uniform going to keep the red striped pants like the Blue version?

I love all of this!

I did say I was going to put up some work I've done so far, so I have an example of work.

The Federation Naval Patrol exist in canon and yet are never seen, I put together this example of their Uniform from 'The Cage/TOS' Era as an example, and this could be one of the more interesting projects given that they have not been seen before. But it does also count on whether people are interested of course, keen for opinions or comments. Thanks

I love the uniform and the rank insignia, but I am not convinced of the logo, per se. Not that it is bad, but it just feels odd to me. Overall, this is an awesome uniform. Are the stripes supposed to be safety stripes?

 

[137th Gebirg]

And as much as I hate being that guy, replying to his own post... I have been meaning to post this for some time.

This is my first run at the 'TWOK' or The Wrath of Khan, Monster Maroon uniforms. I am calling these my Version 1's and I fully intend on giving these another go, using just Illustrator for a cleaner result.

The Idea was to have the Marines have their own uniform to differentiate them from Starfleet. The Blues used for on Marine Bases and Starbases, and the Maroons used for Marines assigned to a Starship. I prefer the Blue jackets over the Black versions I have seen on the Web. As a Marine officer gets to a certain Rank (around Major or upwards) they would change division undershirt to White, just like the Naval equivalent for Captain. The issue I had was having a Blue rank strap, on a blue uniform with a blue collar, hence the change to a Black rank strap. I will still be working on an adequate solution for this.

Love it! I’ve always wanted to see other on-screen versions of this uniform design, particularly in blue, maybe for starbase operations, to distinguish those personnel from starship assignments. Black for Starfleet Marines/SEALs/MACOs, and so forth.

 

[NervousEnergy]

These are just... really good. I'd love to hear your process for designing these? Are you in Illustrator? Using a template?

 

[TemporalBeard]

@fireproof78 Thanks for your comments. With the red stripe on the Marines, the reasoning was to hearken back to the current Marine Corps 'Dress Blues' uniforms, which feature a red stripe down the pant leg. As best as possible I want to use history as a guide. Was also thinking of adding a Sam Browne belt to reference the British military Royal Marines.

With the FNP logo, this version was meant to reflect the first UFP banner that is seen in the Original Series. I do have the intention of continuing the line of uniforms for this organisation with different designs for logos/ranks/uniforms etc. The white stripes are safety stripes yes, it makes sense to me.

@137th Gebirg Thanks! I believe we see personnel in the Maroon uniform whilst on board Starfleet installations. I still like the idea of delineating between Ship and Base/Ground personnel, but that may be done through a patch or lanyard potentially. There are a lot of options with the Monster Maroons!

@NervousEnergy I use a combination of both Illustrator and Photoshop, however looking to base alot more of the colouring in Illustrator, to keep things cleaner. But still retain Photoshop for the detail pass. I do use a starting template to start the base design, then make changes as required. I am thinking of creating some other different stances to change things up a bit.

I start with the template, creating the lineart, then pulling that across to Photoshop for the colouring. Then create the different versions with the divisional colours and shadows. Followed by the details pass adding insignia, rank/comm-badge/accouterments. I may also add textures to give another layer.

I initially attempted to have all the uniforms of one type in one image, however it became very clunky very quickly, so its down to a 'set' as above. There is a similar version done for the female varieties.

 

[fireproof78]

Love it! I’ve always wanted to see other on-screen versions of this uniform design, particularly in blue, maybe for starbase operations, to distinguish those personnel from starship assignments. Black for Starfleet Marines/SEALs/MACOs, and so forth.

You might like this Deviant Artist's multiple takes on the TWOK style. They have a huge variety and didn't want to spam in this thread.

Thanks for your comments. With the red stripe on the Marines, the reasoning was to hearken back to the current Marine Corps 'Dress Blues' uniforms, which feature a red stripe down the pant leg. As best as possible I want to use history as a guide. Was also thinking of adding a Sam Browne belt to reference the British military Royal Marines.

I completely agree with the reference to the Dress Blues of the US Marines. Was kind of curious if there was a hat too?

But, my question regarding the red stripe was if a Marine Officer was in a Monster Maroon would they still have red stripes to still distinguish them as a Marine?

With the FNP logo, this version was meant to reflect the first UFP banner that is seen in the Original Series. I do have the intention of continuing the line of uniforms for this organisation with different designs for logos/ranks/uniforms etc. The white stripes are safety stripes yes, it makes sense to me.

I look forward to it. It's a great design and I look forward to expansion on this concept

 

[TemporalBeard]

Been quiet on here, It has been a crazy few weeks, started a new job and am certainly feeling more inspired to do graphics work! But keep getting distracted with things that aren't uniforms. Feeling like I needed to post something, I am getting back into the swing with a refresh of the TOS Male duty uniforms. This is a (rough) test of the newer methods I have enacted to provide hopefully a cleaner workflow and less bouncing between programs. There is the possibility of adding textures, and I haven't gotten around to the Ranks yet either.

Left to right, USS Herald, USS Intrepid, USS Defiant and 4th (IV) Marine Division. I personally ascribe to the ship mission patch concept.

@fireproof78 I gave the link a go, I like the many variations of uniforms they have. I am still working on different templates for more natural stances.

Hats and other accessories are also on the board to get done, adding another layer to the Monster Maroons!

Hope everyone is doing well!