Star Trek Builders Unite 7: The Continuing Mission
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What I find sometimes happens is that in trying to find special items for crew members I often trip across interesting backstories; many "souvenirs" often spawn completely new stories worth telling.
-- Walt Sterdan
This is true. When I started Nova Trek, I placed a big old book on a coffee table in the Command Suite, At the time it was just "Set Dressing", then when I started writting "Treasures", it became the lost copy of the "Complete Works of Kahless"- and the center for most of the story.
Work has continued on Engineering. I came up with a pressure door variant that's a lot like the ones on Regula only sized and shaped for a ship. There are actual walls with panels up around the third floor, we have a ladder that runs from third to first floor, I added railings and supports, and I modeled a 'desk' that doubles as console as well as a Master Systems Console and a few displays for the wall in the Chief Engineer's Office. I did end up modeling the Phase II style chairs and you can see them parked right by the desk. I think I initially meant for this to be a simple straightforward set based off the blueprints,but it's gotten quite complicated. I need to work on the railing around the intermix chamber on decks 1 and 2 and model up a few consoles that are more TMP style than what we got scattered around with flashing lights.
That is coming along beautifully!
Thanks! I guess I'm not over-doing it then lol
I received the updated chair today from Shapeways - I think this is 'it', but I still need to get it home and compare it to the ones from the kit to make sure it's not too small.
I've also started on modifying the workstations - I sanded the upper display area completely smooth, in prep for cutting out the correct shape for the lighter area, and then the plan is to insert a flat sheet of styrene with the screen cut to match the photoetched trim and the backlit screen image. The control console isn't deep enough, either, so I've started cutting back into the area underneath it, with the idea to move the upper edge back about 1/8". Also, all of the 8 smaller displays need to be sanded smooth, not an easy task given where they're located. (BTW, no, I did NOT paint that station - it was from a 'junkyard' kit I bought on eBay that was partially painted and assembled ;) )
After looking at all the work that will be needed to update the workstation, I'm also considering having 1 piece printed, then casting it in translucent plastic and using the photoetched pieces on it. I modeled the basic workstation last night, hopefully getting the measurements correct, and I'm going to print it on my FlashForge printer for a size check - if it's good, then I'll probably have a clean print made and cast that.
With any luck, this will yield the most accurate version so far of the bridge at this scale; there are still some compromises so the photoetched brass pieces can still be used, but it still might be significant enough that I can continue casting and create 'upgrade kits' for sale - even though they'll be pretty much everything in the kit that's not currently available as an upgrade, anyway ;).
Just recieved a copy of this It has some nice pics in it
http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/ngs/product/books/science-and-space/space/star-trek:-the-official-guide-to-our-universe?npd&npd&
Also available at Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Official-Guide-Universe/dp/1426216521
Yup, got my copy this weekend, too - very nice tome! Much heftier than I expected - nice quality and content.
So while not necessarily part of the Engineering set, more of an aside, I got bit by another building bug. We never saw these in TMP but we did see them in TFF. I made them a bit more cramped than they were in the film. If you're under 5 ft you won't have to duck the pipes, but otherwise you'll be walking through here hunched over. I haven't built the vertical version but it's going to be similar to this.
Just as I had gotten rid of the memory of Scotty knocking himself out cold...
Awesome job so far!
Now I'm half tempted to re-render it with that standee I built laid out on the floor LOL
Don't forget to place a bottle of Saurian Brandy nearby.
A poor substitute for good scotch!
To be fair, by the time they shot that scene, Shatner could only afford the empty Saurian brandy bottle prop...
</end>TFF_Bashing_mode
While I don't necessarily like the tone, plot, etc of the film, the one thing they did get right as bringing in the designer for Next Gen for the sets. The bridge especially looks great in that film.
Trying to do something with one of the TOS components to Engineering by making it part of another design here. The idea is that it's some kind fo coolant regulator for the feed into the intermix and warp core, kind of like a radiator in a car. The coolant is circulated around and brought back through and has to be monitored and occasionally adjusted to be viable to use. The TOS component is situated between two tanks and it feeds directly into the floor into a part of the warp engine we won't see and connects the two. I think I'm going to add a few more details to it and shore up where it drops through the floor a little bit. This is pretty close to where I went with it in my head and my little doodle I did earlier yesterday though.
I finally finished up Engineering enough to export it to DAZ. Going to work on it floor by floor excepting things that span multiple floors.
Anyone who wants to depict the climatic scene from the first motion picture, here's a rather decent model of the Voyager probe available at the NASA 3D Resource site.
http://nasa3d.arc.nasa.gov/detail/jpl-vtad-voyager
Yes, it's in Blender format, but the program is free and I was able to export it as a .OBJ format mesh with only a single "concave" polygon to be corrected.
It comes with two texture files, an "ambient occlusion" map in .JPG format and a photographic texture as a layered PhotoShop .PSD file.
Here's a simple "sample" render of the converted model.
Sincerely,
Bill
That looks more accurate than their Skylab model. Their Skylab model is as inaccurate as it could possiably be- it was never re-designed after the wing was tore off at launch.
On another note, what is up with the site? here lately, whenever I get an e-bot notice and try to come to the forum, the stupid site not only signs me out, it flips back and forth between sign out and General info. I finally had to go in the "front door" and sign on to the store, before I could get onto the forum.
shoot, i was hoping for a full scale V'ger, all 2 AU of the craft to scale with the Daz figures
I think the "craft" was described in the novel as being roughly the same length as Manhatten Island, but the "power field" was clearly stated on screen as being 82 AUs in diameter, roughly the width of Pluto's orbit.
Sincerely,
Bill
Welcome to the club
I'm glad it's not just me.
yes in the film its said to be 82 AU, but in pretty much all the trek references its stated to be only 2 AU, basically they retconned it after deciding that 82 AU was just too damn big.
Work is progressing yet again on the TMP style Connie Engineering. I didn't bother modeling the corridors that I've added here in DAZ in Truespace because I new I'd just assemble them in Daz. The first floor is assembled and I'm kind of haphazardly assembling the second and third floors at the same time to make sure everything fits right since those are a kind of big open area. I put the small Connie in there so you can get an idea how this would orient inside the ship. The short corridors to the front of Engineering only connect to various turbolifts, but the corridor to the back would head to the cargo bay. When it's connected to the other sets I'm working on it'll just be a 90 degree Radial corridor turn. I am tempted to drop the torpedo bay somewhere off one of these corridors though instead of on the other side of the sets like I'd originally drawn up. I also threw in my usual Victoria 4 stand in so you could get an idea of scale. :)
Started doing some render tests of my Engineering Set from the first floor with what I'd gotten loaded so far. I've got most of the second level built but I'm still importing and arranging the third.
The first render is our Commander heading from the Cargo Bay area up through the corridor to the back of Engineering on the first floor. I was trying to emulate the blue light look from the first film with mixed success although I'm not entirely unhappy with it as it makes it very distinct from the corridors in the other parts of the ship. The second is her heading in through the rear emergency pressure doors. I'm not sure I'm entirely happy with the Intermix control console there. I might be either adding detail or rebuilding it to be a bit closer to the one in the films. The third one I dangled a camera from the top of the Intermix line to get a shot of the Commander looking up at the Vertical Intermix line for the first time. I'm not convinced the lighter railing for the Intermix line is the right way to go. I'm probably going to make them either dark grey or black.
Black is always good. It goes with anything.
Totally Amazing :D
I keep telling people that when I'm picking out shirts and they just roll their eyes. :P
Thanks! I don't think I quite meant them to be as reflective as they are so I think I'll have to tone it down a bit or check my settings.
ashefivekay: beautiful work, really nice to see it rendered out. It'a s very nice and original take on the classic design. Love it!
On on unrelated note, I am about done with the TWOK coat, as best as I can do. Rigging isn't good, it warps around the legs because for G2M there aren't very good templates in the "one click' transfer function rigging - I used the "bathrobe" boilerplate template and it's not perfect. I suppose I need to learn more about rigging, ghost bones, weight maps, etc. Once I share it I suppose if anyone wants to re-rig it better they can.
Here's what it looks like. Not screen perfect, close enough for my needs. The left arm is pretty far off, I screwed up the placement of that piping around the arms and once I realized that it messed up my ability to put the fancy doo-dads on that sleeve I couldnt bring myself to redo the mesh. So it's my own "inspired by" version (see, I converted the flaw into an exotic feature!)