Work In Progress: Starship Corridor

[Matthew Raymond]

I've been learning to use SketchUp recently, and I'm using it to do some set design for a starship corridor. Thought I'd get everyone's opinion. Yes, I'm aware that the floor is floating in mid air. It's a placeholder. I'm thinking of having floor grates that you can lift up to access ship's systems underneath, and I might also want to have some lighting from below. However, I may just leave that save that idea for a later production, in which case I'd just use 4' x 10' flats instead of 4' x 12' and just lower everything down two feet to the sound stage floor.

I've observed that most starship corridors in science fiction are long geometric prisms that are periodically interrupted by a structural support that pushes out from the walls and ceiling into the space of the corridor. The Enterprise NX-01 corridors are a classic example of this:

https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.ne...ision/latest?cb=20160703175852&path-prefix=en

So are the corridors from the Destiny in Stargate Universe:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/8b/0e/f6/8b0ef6ca2835a8e645bacc4e1998d806.jpg

My concept was to reverse this: have a corridor where structures push into the corridor space for most of the corridor, but have it periodically have short spaces where it opens up wider.

Well, let me know what you think.

UPDATE: Removed direct links to comply with board guidelines.

 

[ashleytinger]

I really like the idea you've got here as an actual set. I've been working on different corridors over the past year or so and having the option for grating to pull up (you don't have to have it at every piece) is a bonus. Plus with the crawlspace as an actual set you can have a faux ladder going down and up kind of like they did in Alien with the Nostromo sets and fake it with camera angles.

This feels a bit like the Rebel Blockade Runner corridor from Star Wars. That's not a bad thing.

 

[Matthew Raymond]

I really like the idea you've got here as an actual set. I've been working on different corridors over the past year or so and having the option for grating to pull up (you don't have to have it at every piece) is a bonus. Plus with the crawlspace as an actual set you can have a faux ladder going down and up kind of like they did in Alien with the Nostromo sets and fake it with camera angles.

I like the faux ladder idea, though I'm not sure two feet is enough. Might need more like four feet, which would probably mean using a custom structure. My current design uses my idea of a standard 4' x 12' television-style flat, with a standard ceiling flat that's technically 4' x 12', but is designed to span 10 feet rather than 12. I felt some overlap would be a good idea to prevent leaky edges.

However, if I want to raise things up higher, either I raise the floor and effectively lower the ceiling by leaving it in place, or I'll have to create sort of a raised platform for everything to sit on. One thing we could do is put a fake floor and a few feet of fake walls suspended at the top of a ladder, so you're actually shooting down into the set of the lower deck, but there isn't actually an upper set. So you shoot the normal corridor with a faux ladder top for the establishing shot as they're just putting their foot on the first rung, then you switch to your lower deck set that has the full ladder and the faux corridor at the top.

Now that I think of it, though, it may make more sense to have a separate room connected to the corridor for the ladder. It makes more sense if you assume that corridors tend to be directly above each other, and it doesn't require the entire corridor be raised up or compromised in some way.

This feels a bit like the Rebel Blockade Runner corridor from Star Wars. That's not a bad thing.

I can kinda see that, especially the corners. Could also have lighting in the rounded corner bits. That would help differentiate it with the Blockade Runner quite a bit.

Also, I haven't picked a color scheme and left it default white, which isn't necessarily what it will look like when I'm finished. Grating on the floor would also make it look a lot less like the Rebel Blockade Runner. Any suggestions on the colors? I'm playing with the idea of a neutral color as a base, but having a deck-specific or division-specific color. Also, I'm thinking of having a small plate on the walls with the deck number.

Even though I haven't finished the top part, I'm not sure I'm happy with it. It's supposed to house most of the lighting, but I'm not sure it goes with the more geometric sides. One thing I could do is make the sides more curved, but I kinda like them as they are (although I might add some mild curved bevels). What I could also do is basically make the top part look more like the sides. Then, if I make the grating the same size as those panels, it creates a sort of radial symmetry. I don't know, though, part of me kinda likes the curved ceiling. Maybe do a rounded concave cut-out in the middle?

 

[ashleytinger]

I like the ceiling but I think it would depend on how you want the lights. If you want it starkly lit, you could have small lights on the side, but if you want them brightly lit then use most of those domes.

Going neutral, you'd want flat colors that aren't too bright or flashy. White would definitely be out, stick with more muted greys. Tans, middle ground blues and browns would work too.

I like your idea about the ladder as either a separate part of the set or as an overhead going into this one. Makes sense, especially if you don't have a pit handy on the sound stage to have the ladder go into.

 

[Matthew Raymond]

Added slits to the corner pieces are supposed to be light sources. (SketchUp doesn't support light sources.) I put in a full floor with removable grating, but it's simple geometry, not quite adequate to build from. Made it clearer where the lighting is in the ceiling sections. Finally, I colored most of it. It's not the final colors, and suggestions are welcome.

 

[Matthew Raymond]

Added detail to the ceiling and split the floor grating into two separate rows. There's now much more space of equipment under the floor.

 

[Sibyl]

Most sci-fi corridors get this wrong that I've seen, but I have a problem with pipes running along the middle of walls. Eventually, there will a door interrupting the pipes. I prefer to see conduits in the floor and ceiling.

Otherwise, I love what you have here. I especially appreciate that you're building as a filming set.

 

[Matthew Raymond]

Okay, I hid the wall pipes (rather than removing them, because we might want them for some corridors) and added pipes under the floor.

I'm still not super happy with the ceiling, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

 

[BorgMan]

SketchUp doesn't support lightsources, no. But if you paint them with a material you can identify easily enough (White_L, for example) you can set it up in Kerkythea pretty easily. Check out the SketchUp Tutorials thread for more handy tips 'n tricks.