My daughter got Paramount + for me so I could watch all of the Star Trek that's on there and, since I've had it I find myself watching all sorts of cool, fun things as I render, simulate or wait for some other lengthy compute.

Well, I've been avoiding this one because I didn't think I'd really care for it. Why? I have no idea.

Watching another show, I saw a trailer for Season 2 and... well lets just say that it turned my head - I had to check out the pilot.

Since then I've watched through both seasons twice and have begun my third run through yesterday - it's So Good!!!

But moreso, it Totally inspires me to animate! 

To include some animation examples with the upcoming Starry Sky Iray, I built a little star ship quickly using primitives and shaders (DS).

After watching it back, I'm thinking... Oh no. The last thing I want is to have an Editorial License slapped on it just for a simple demo!

So on Wednesday, I slapped a Saturday Sphere into Carrara's vertex room and made me a nice little ship, I think! LOL

This was a concept I tried after working with and editing video from a physical 360 camera. This is three spherical layer stills with the star field and starship layers rotating around the interior layer.. Spherical imaging forces you consider the entire environment not just the stage in front of the camera. I think we all know what behind the camera looks like sometimes. The next thing I intended to try was rendering a spherical 360 environment and using it as an HDRI to get the right light for animating individual layers and composting them together. I may try it again if I hear how this concept looks from a VR headset user perspective..

Dartanbeck said:

CoXComics said:

Has anyone experimented with spherical cameras to create 360 environment animations? I created this one with three spherical layers, the two external spheres counter rotating. (Force highest 4k resolution or best available for best results).

That is Really Cool!!!

Redfern said:

A speculative scenario...  What if Desilu Studios had been able to acquire the Gort costume and props (the bust with the lighting rig, the 8 foot tall fiberglass 'statue", etc.) for use in a Star Trek episode?  I tried building a corridor/tunnel arrangement like we we occasionally saw in the show, taking heavy inspiration from the hallways depicted in the first pilot

Apologies for overlooking this. Great concept, Bill!

I do have to wonder if that could have been a prototype for the Ruk android? 

"Still superior to Brown" 

(still said in Ted Cassidy's voice)

vectorinus said:

We will learn from AI how to render beautifully and become better. In fact, there is nothing impossible about this. For a long time this was called post-processing rendering. We should take care of this so as not to be left behind.

i am already sick and tired of this AI-look.
(Video has NOT killed the radio star) 

My daughter just got Paramount +, which gives me access to the rest of Star Trek - Discovery and the rest of them. 

I have to say, Strange New Worlds is looking Really Cool!!! I'm still at the beginning of the first season and am looking forward to this! 

I also had no idea that The Lower Decks was an adult cartoon. Looking forward to trying that!

Something else that really grabbed me from that channel is the two season (so far) live-action Halo series! Wow is that ever cool! 

I wonder why they have all of the Star Trek except for the movies (aside from the awesome new ones, which I already own). Perhaps they show them from time to time?

Oh well. One day I'm planning to just buy them all so I always have them.

I was in Texas in the total eclipse path.  Cloudy day, but had enough breaks in the clouds to enjoy the eclipse.  Was most impressed with the temperature drop.  RE: England and Texas,  When I was young, I toured around England and Scotland.  At that time, there was still a connection between Texas and the former western textile manufacturing areas of England.  I think it was in Chester that I got a Lone Star beer and fried potato planks correctly labeled 'fries.'  

...yeah, this new "uniform" seems about on par with the old Touchdown Star and Touchdown Baby ones for Gen 4.

There used to be a realistic baseball uni here for M3 many years ago, but it was expensive, something like 44$ and has since been discontinued. . Don't know why someone can't come out with a realistic but generic one like the Big Game Outfit for G8M.

Yeah, to Omens. LOL, we are all going to die. LOL

Comets, eclipses, and earthquakes have been interpreted as omens, often portending significant events such as wars, natural disasters, and other essential changes. 

Comets, with their glowing tails and unpredictable appearances, were often seen as harbingers of doom and destruction. In ancient times, they were believed to embody a god or goddess, and their appearance was seen as a sign of impending disaster. In more recent times, astronomers have studied comets to learn more about the solar system's formation.

Eclipses, both solar and lunar, were also seen as significant events by many cultures. Solar eclipses were often interpreted as a sign of impending war or disaster, while lunar eclipses were associated with changes in the weather and other natural phenomena. Today, scientists carefully observe and study eclipses to learn more about the workings of the solar system.

Earthquakes, with their destructive power and unpredictable nature, have also been seen as omens throughout history. In many cultures, earthquakes were believed to be caused by angry gods or spirits, and their occurrence was seen as a sign of impending disaster or upheaval. Today, scientists study earthquakes to learn more about the earth's structure and develop better ways of predicting and preparing for these events.

Overall, while these natural phenomena were once interpreted as omens, today, we have a greater understanding of their causes and effects. While they may still be awe-inspiring and even a little frightening, we can appreciate these events for what they are: natural occurrences that we can learn from and use to improve our understanding of the world around us.

Richard Haseltine said:

If they are conversions of something do the originals allow redistribution?

Since they were conversions of models ripped from games Star Trek Fleet Command and Star Trek Online, I'm wadgering "no" if I'm being objective. 

solarisone said:

FleetAdmiral01 said:

I'd share my own conversions for free, but I don't know how to package up "My Library" Folder directories. No one ever showed me how to do that.

You used to have versions on Google Drive that were ready for import into Daz without modification. But none of the current files on the drive have been fitted to a DAZ figure yet.

True, but those were just the OBJs and textures with out the full preset set up. So they had to be set up manually morph loader pro, transfer utility and so on.

Also it should be worth noting that Renderhub had done a few of the characters from the Star Trek Fleet Command collection that I was too afraid to try. Quark and Rom for example. I saw that they had Shran up briefly. That was another one I hesitated on because the Andorian Antenae has bones. Anyone have a tutorial on how to get an attachment that has bones of it's own onto a Daz figure?

FleetAdmiral01 said:

Well it looks like the Star Trek  Renderhub releases are gone again.

Well here we go again. Wonder if they'll  reappear

Well it looks like the Star Trek  Renderhub releases are gone again.

beregar said:

Sfariah D said:

Harrison Ford looks like an old guy now.  He doesn't look as young as when he was in the first Star Wars or the first three Indiana Jones movies.

That's because they haven't replaced him with an AI actor... yet!

Sort of looks like they did for the first part of Dial of Destiny. He's in pretty good shape for a guy his age, though. Octogenarian!

daveso said:

Robert Freise said:

daveso said:

$122 for the pro bundle? not happening. How low has anyone gotten it for - without coupons as I have none. 

I got it down to $33.69 with some items from the Featured Artist Stores.

Total cart was $39.83

for the Pro bundle? I haven't broken 100 

SilverGirl said:

miladyderyni_173d399f47 said:

Hey, Daz! Cosplayers ARE NOT only cute (read "western cis male fantasy") young Asian women in sailor or maid outfits! Cosplayers come in all demographics and while a number do mostly/only anime, many do other genres.

Signed, Dowager Cosplayer & officer in well-known Star Wars cosplay club. Who has judged cosplay contests. Who will be happy to brag about her cosplayer daughter & son.

Thank you for listening to my TED rant.

THANK YOU!!!!!

"The face of cosplay"... um, no. I know far more cosplayers who DON'T look like (or try to look like) that than those who do.

 The face of cosplay is the face belonging to whomever decided to dress up and have some fun.

Haha! You both speak the truth.

miladyderyni_173d399f47 said:

Hey, Daz! Cosplayers ARE NOT only cute (read "western cis male fantasy") young Asian women in sailor or maid outfits! Cosplayers come in all demographics and while a number do mostly/only anime, many do other genres.

Signed, Dowager Cosplayer & officer in well-known Star Wars cosplay club. Who has judged cosplay contests. Who will be happy to brag about her cosplayer daughter & son.

Thank you for listening to my TED rant.

THANK YOU!!!!!

"The face of cosplay"... um, no. I know far more cosplayers who DON'T look like (or try to look like) that than those who do.

 The face of cosplay is the face belonging to whomever decided to dress up and have some fun.

Sfariah D said:

Harrison Ford looks like an old guy now.  He doesn't look as young as when he was in the first Star Wars or the first three Indiana Jones movies.

That's because they haven't replaced him with an AI actor... yet!

Hey, Daz! Cosplayers ARE NOT only cute (read "western cis male fantasy") young Asian women in sailor or maid outfits! Cosplayers come in all demographics and while a number do mostly/only anime, many do other genres.

Signed, Dowager Cosplayer & officer in well-known Star Wars cosplay club. Who has judged cosplay contests. Who will be happy to brag about her cosplayer daughter & son.

Thank you for listening to my TED rant.

I'm making a Star Trek fan film and following the CBS/Paramount guidelines. It has to be non-commercial and follow some other simple rules, like there's a 30 minute max length, so my 'episode' of TNG will lack a b-story to make it under time.