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3DAlternate Ambassador Class bridge reconversion (tS->LW->Blender)
seanr
1034
Brooklyn, NYPosts: 567Member
Updated render:
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This is a set I originally created in trueSpace a bit over fifteen years ago. At the time, I'd exported to OBJ so someone could do a Lightwave conversion for a fan film. I was able to get the LW files from him and export to FBX (after some cleanup in LW using the trial version) and pull it into Blender. This is the current state and I will be working toward a render of the set as it was but in Blender, followed possibly by some partial rebuilds and a style/detail update to match my TFF corridor plans.
Everything you don't see here has made its way into a collection in Blender (all of which are arranged in a properly labeled hierarchy). In addition, all polygon groups that should have been a single object within those collections have been merged (though not truly joined - they can still be separated again for now, but I intend to make them whole solids).
This is essentially the inverse of the prior screenshot (not counting discards), with Blenders outliner expanded to show all nested collections (but not their child objects). I don't like to do deep nesting - just enough to be able to select discrete logical "modules" (collections of parts) that should be able to be moved, rotated, etc. as a group.
My immediate next step is setting light emitting materials on the parts that should have it (or at least some of them for now) and a test render of that.
I will update this post with a credit for the original LW conversion when I hear back from him on what he wants here (I have his real name, but not a username). He'll also be getting at least an FBX export back out of Blender, though I may keep the Blender file for a while to protect my "secret sauce" a little longer.
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This is a set I originally created in trueSpace a bit over fifteen years ago. At the time, I'd exported to OBJ so someone could do a Lightwave conversion for a fan film. I was able to get the LW files from him and export to FBX (after some cleanup in LW using the trial version) and pull it into Blender. This is the current state and I will be working toward a render of the set as it was but in Blender, followed possibly by some partial rebuilds and a style/detail update to match my TFF corridor plans.
Everything you don't see here has made its way into a collection in Blender (all of which are arranged in a properly labeled hierarchy). In addition, all polygon groups that should have been a single object within those collections have been merged (though not truly joined - they can still be separated again for now, but I intend to make them whole solids).
This is essentially the inverse of the prior screenshot (not counting discards), with Blenders outliner expanded to show all nested collections (but not their child objects). I don't like to do deep nesting - just enough to be able to select discrete logical "modules" (collections of parts) that should be able to be moved, rotated, etc. as a group.
My immediate next step is setting light emitting materials on the parts that should have it (or at least some of them for now) and a test render of that.
I will update this post with a credit for the original LW conversion when I hear back from him on what he wants here (I have his real name, but not a username). He'll also be getting at least an FBX export back out of Blender, though I may keep the Blender file for a while to protect my "secret sauce" a little longer.
Post edited by seanr on
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Damn, that level of organization... I named every object and neatly did collections like that for like... 3 projects, and then never again (unless it was something which I had to deliver to someone else). All my rooms just have one collection named 'bridge', 'sickbay' or whatever with hundreds of 'cube.001,002,003...'
Do you still happen to have any of them?
Damn, way to make me feel old! (I'm going on 42, actually)
LOL, I don't go all the way down to naming individual objects except for ones I deem significant, but other than that, they have to be organized or it's a nightmare to hide and show stuff as I'm working (which is absolutely necessary for dealing with object selection, sometimes). The great thing about Blender is it can leave collections visible while making them unselectable. You can also set visibility for viewport and full renders independently of each other (which has bit me in the ass a couple times - finding a reference object hiding out in an hours-long render is fucking annoying!).
If it makes anyone feel any better, my digital world is far more organized than my physical spaces with the notable exceptions of my books and my spice shelf (I took up cooking after COVID hit and I don't do anything half-assed).
Materials are coming together now, though there's plenty to do. Lighting is currently 100% emissive materials. There are no actual lights anywhere in the scene (except for the default one which I think is still hanging out outside the set
No, unfortunately. That was too long ago and too many computers ago.
For those glitched faces, I'd try removing doubled vertices (in edit vertex mode, select all vertices with 'A', then press 'M'->'Merge by distance'), or just deleting the faces and then refiling that space (delete the face, then in edit edge mode select all the border edges and press 'F' to fill them with a new face).
https://forums.scifi-meshes.com/uploads/editor/2s/oynmucgoqber.png
I selected one so you can see that they are really there - just simple triangles in this case.
LOL, I don't even remember which one that is anymore, though I do remember the name - I'm sure that was a commission, because I'd never name anything after that person, at least not now. 🤣 Unfortunately, I'm having trouble with my old external hard drive (I think the drive itself is fine, but my Mac stopped recognizing it), so I'm unable to access all of the old stuff at the moment.
Additionally in the object data properties menu, under Normals > Check the box for Auto smooth if the angle is still greyed out go into Geometry Data and click 'Clear Custom Split Normals Data'
Also welcome back! I too used to follow your work when I first started teaching myself blender. Glad to see you back at it!
You could try downloading a free Linux distribution and running that off of a USB stick on the Mac. Using that, you can access the drive and use it to copy files to the Mac partitions, assuming Apple allows that kind of access to the partitions. (I know very little about Macs, but I had an iPhone and I know how that drive was locked) Or at least copy them to something that the Mac can read. There are probably very few (if any) partition types that Linux can't read, since it intentionally tries to be compatible.
No worries... it’s this bridge here. 😁
https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulbhartzog/28239001870/in/photostream/lightbox/
First real render, though still a lot of issues to fix:
Love what you're doing with that brushed aluminum on the consoles. Also, is that a Churchill MSD?
Aside from all of that, it's just way more elegant. It looks more like what you'd expect for a ship named Enterprise. Like Wishbone_Ash said, it's reminiscent of the Enterprise refit bridge. I also like the Enterpise-D influences with the consoles and turbolift alcoves. It really looks like a transitional design that could exist between the time of the first six movies and TNG. Also, the materials and lighting are looking great.
TNG had two battle bridge sets though, the first was a redress of the movie Enterprise bridge, the second was only used for The Best of Both Worlds and never seen again as the battle bridge. That set was a redress of the set used for the Enterprise C bridge, but also various science labs, and even a courtroom.
Leaving the Spacedock, out from under the mushroom as Probert intended. Since this actually looks newer than Ent-D, though it harkens back to the refit, the time period would be post Nemesis.
I really don't know how one could ever really tell where the set was built and if it was of identical size. What's the story of the TFF bridge set? Was that 100% new?
I think they were able to salvage the turbolift alcoves, but the rest was ruined in the weather while it was dismantled and being stored outside. So pretty much everything else was new for TFF.