The OFFICIAL STNG-R general discussion thread!

[mswood]

Re: The OFFICIAL STNG-R discussion thread!

Cinefantastique had a lot of Trek issues and often they would go in depth on the work the digital painting and animation that would go into all the various shots. I loved that magazine.

There are still many episodes that I just hate the model shots, but I also do understand that one they were on both a time and financial budget.

I also am going to be very curious to see how jarring the 4 ft model is going to appear.

I mean I actually preferred the 4 ft model on tv when it aired because the ship actually had heightened detail (the 6ft model often looked completely washed out because we couldn't see the more realistic level of detail that was done). But now my god that 4 ft model might look really jarring (and that doesn't even get into the fact that shape of the ship isn't the same).

 

[mswood]

Re: The OFFICIAL STNG-R discussion thread!

The video I remember was a fly-by of the Enterprise-D, so would be really relevant to this thread if I could find it (it was on a TV show, maybe one of those "how-do-they-do-that" types, that's all I can remember). It's been about 15-20 years since I saw it, but I still think of it whenever someone talks about compositing

interesting the only oner i remember was the one filmed for the pilot episode of DS9 (which I would love, love, love to see in HD).

I wish I would had saved the copy I had made of it.

I found it on youtube. Movie Magic.

The internet is good for something. It does show you some examples of the different passes that have to be done for motion control, and you can also clearly see the film camera's being used.

 

[Ghostface1701]

Re: The OFFICIAL STNG-R discussion thread!

I also am going to be very curious to see how jarring the 4 ft model is going to appear.

I mean I actually preferred the 4 ft model on tv when it aired because the ship actually had heightened detail (the 6ft model often looked completely washed out because we couldn't see the more realistic level of detail that was done). But now my god that 4 ft model might look really jarring (and that doesn't even get into the fact that shape of the ship isn't the same).

Yeah, that could be frightening! They never would've bothered with the 4-footer if we could've seen this new level of detail all along...

 

[mswood]

Re: The OFFICIAL STNG-R discussion thread!

Yeah, the model was well crafted (by ILM) but it didn't work for tv broadcast. The 4ft (defects and all) actually made the ship come alive for me, but now I am very scared.

 

[Sho]

Re: The OFFICIAL STNG-R discussion thread!

I just can't get over how ugly the deflector dish on the 4ft is.

 

[Ghostface1701]

Re: The OFFICIAL STNG-R discussion thread!

I just can't get over how ugly the deflector dish on the 4ft is.

Indeed. Bloody thing looked like a toy at times.

 

[mswood]

Re: The OFFICIAL STNG-R discussion thread!

The video I remember was a fly-by of the Enterprise-D, so would be really relevant to this thread if I could find it (it was on a TV show, maybe one of those "how-do-they-do-that" types, that's all I can remember). It's been about 15-20 years since I saw it, but I still think of it whenever someone talks about compositing

Well I just watched Movie Magic Models and Miniatures on you tube. And it's focus is the Deep Space Nine Pilot, but the shots they show to highlight the typical five pass shot used by Legato is a scene from TNG. So perhaps that is the video you were looking for.

 

[mswood]

Re: The OFFICIAL STNG-R discussion thread!

I just can't get over how ugly the deflector dish on the 4ft is.

It's actually ugly on all the models, It's the one design aspect of the ship I just never, ever liked.

It's is worse on the 4 footer, as is the depth of the saucer section.

But on tv I always felt the 6ft looked like a toy. Like it wasn't a real structure.

 

[Sho]

Re: The OFFICIAL STNG-R discussion thread!

I actually really like the dish on the 6ft, it has an interesting sort of organic feel to it that works far better than it should on a machine.

Edit: Hey RAMA, how about replacing that shot of Gabe's Galaxy in the first post now?

 

[Captrek]

Re: The OFFICIAL STNG-R discussion thread!

Similar to the reason why the TMP DE was not released on BluRay: its new effects were not done in HD resolution. They would have to do new effects for a Blu release.

TMP was simply lack of funds - the cgi could have been rendered in HD, but it was a cash-strapped DVD project a decade ago.

Assuming they haven’t discarded the models, I would expect it to be relatively easy to re-render them in HD. That technology has come a long way in 10 years.

 

[trekfan_1]

Re: The OFFICIAL STNG-R discussion thread!

Can't they just use the original 4 foot model but add in some CGI detailing?

 

[Destructor]

Re: The OFFICIAL STNG-R discussion thread!

There were a few things in TNG that used early CGI which will need to be remade from scratch.

That's assuming they don't have the old Lightwave files that they can just re-render. loljk.

 

[Maxwell Everett]

Re: The OFFICIAL STNG-R discussion thread!

The video I remember was a fly-by of the Enterprise-D, so would be really relevant to this thread if I could find it (it was on a TV show, maybe one of those "how-do-they-do-that" types, that's all I can remember). It's been about 15-20 years since I saw it, but I still think of it whenever someone talks about compositing

Here's the relevant part from Movie Magic that mswood mentioned (go to 8:05 in the video):

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UtI582NjiU[/yt]

And of course, who can forget Reading Rainbow:

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR4AzMfcnjU[/yt]

 

[Tomalak]

Re: The OFFICIAL STNG-R discussion thread!

Similar to the reason why the TMP DE was not released on BluRay: its new effects were not done in HD resolution. They would have to do new effects for a Blu release.

TMP was simply lack of funds - the cgi could have been rendered in HD, but it was a cash-strapped DVD project a decade ago.

Assuming they haven’t discarded the models, I would expect it to be relatively easy to re-render them in HD. That technology has come a long way in 10 years.

As I understand it they weren't really detailed enough for HD anyway. All the new mattes and models were explicitly built for an SD version.

I think Doug Drexler said the Enterprise Foundation built got lost at some point too.

 

[Ghostface1701]

Re: The OFFICIAL STNG-R discussion thread!

Here's the relevant part from Movie Magic that mswood mentioned (go to 8:05 in the video):

That's the shot, thanks for finding it I remember seeing that Saratoga shot too, so this must've been the show I saw.

 

[TheSeeker]

Re: The OFFICIAL STNG-R discussion thread!

I don't know how anyone can prefer the 4 footer. I never understood how something that was supposed to be so big could have such obvious raised hull plating. It would have to be pretty shoddy workmanship. The smoother lines of the 6 footer make a lot more sense to me and I've always liked it better.

 

[FalTorPan]

Re: The OFFICIAL STNG-R discussion thread!

I don't know how anyone can prefer the 4 footer. I never understood how something that was supposed to be so big could have such obvious raised hull plating. It would have to be pretty shoddy workmanship. The smoother lines of the 6 footer make a lot more sense to me and I've always like it better.

Agreed.

 

[JWD75]

Re: The OFFICIAL STNG-R discussion thread!

I had a nerdgasm watching HD trailer. I'm very glad that they are using the original model work because the Enterprise looks great - much more realistic than the cg version of the 1701 in TOS(R). Though I'm wondering how they are going to reconcile the footage of the majestic 6-footer with the crappy horribly over-detailed 4-footer. I wouldn't mind if they decided to use a cg Enterprise to expand the limited number of stock shots that were reused countless times.

Worf's make-up may not hold up well in HD. As a kid I had a poster of Worf in my bedroom and the flaws in the make-up were very apparent. It was obvious that the make-up was designed for SD because the seams in the latex prosthetics, the mesh underlaying his wig and facial hair, and the ridiculously overdone airbrushed shading of his features were easily visible. I've seen people in better klingon make-up at Star Trek conventions.

Well, at any rate this is exciting news and almost can't believe that it's happening. I held off on buying the DVD's in the hope of getting this and I finally have an excuse to get a blueray player.

 

[TheSeeker]

Re: The OFFICIAL STNG-R discussion thread!

Worf may not look as bad as you think. Lighting conditions when filming are pretty harsh so the overdone shading was probably done that way so that it didn't get washed out by the bright lights. Similar to the paint scheme used on the Enterprise. They used lots of blues and greens because when filming it the colours got washed out quite a bit.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Entire series to be remastered for Blu-Ray

Link

In order to create true HD masters, CBS is going back to the original uncut film negative – all 25,000 plus film reels of it – and cutting the episodes together exactly the way they originally aired. The visual effects were all shot on film and will be painstakingly recompositioned, not upconverted from videotape. The newly cut film will then be transferred to true high-definition with 7.1 DTS Master Audio. Denise and Mike Okuda are consulting on the project

Maybe Mike Okuda might drop around and clarify, but I'm dubious of the statement that the visual effects were all shot on film. OTOH, this does seem to confirm that they intend to use the original model photography rather than recreating it all in CG. That would have been quite a formidable task - the number of effects shots in episodes of modern Trek are quite a bit greater than in TOS.