3DSurak w Warp Sled

vfxart

A few wip shots of the current labor of love hopeful portfolio piece, currently in UV and then materials soon.

Starship

Looks great!
It´s rare to see the warp sled.

vfxart

Starship wrote: »

Looks great!
It´s rare to see the warp sled.

Thank you. It's been fun, a couple of re-starts as I worked out the donor parts (and had to wait for the kits to arrive etc) and sussed out her dimensions a time or three, then off to the races. One of my three or four favorite ships of the film series. Also my first time back with Trek love in a while, so a lot to remember ;-)

Thanks again.

vfxart

Today an old friend asked what I meant about some of the parts to acquire and model, so I sent him a shot of about 1/3 of what's on the ship.

Nayslayer

Really great work. Love the modeled model kit parts. I recognize some that were used on Star Wars models as well.

japetus

Great work! Haha oh man those same greebles are on my bsg ships!

vfxart

japetus wrote: »

Great work! Haha oh man those same greebles are on my bsg ships!

Oh yeah, I know alllll about them ;-)
Thank you! Dig your work.

Tallguy

Really lovely. I built one almost 20 years ago. I often think I need to revisit it. A really unique design in Star Trek.

vfxart

Before getting into her next steps, the paint job, I've got to review everything I think I've got nailed about this, so was doing some other shots for fun while trying not to stress over her (him?). Substance Designer and Painter await. So so many masks on top of the 40 or so graphics I've already created, and reproduced the font used for both Starfleet and Vulcan registries.

scifieric

Excellent work! It is a pleasure to watch as you advance.

Starship

Looks great! The little greebles and details really brings it to the life.

vfxart

Thanks for the replies. 45 graphics so far, and just getting to the nacelles. More masks created for shape and placement, not color and material separation, pretty binary right now, then a second layer for the earlier paint job where it shows through, and much more... crazy times.

vfxart

For reasons (good, I assure you) I took V1 of this work and built a V2, which necessitated the building of a V3 for myself. I also got a new bit of ref from a long-established old-school model builder and in one shot was able to get enough insight to rebuild about 70% of the two elements (tightening up proportions, adjusting angles, etc). This became a nights/weekends project over the last 6 weeks or so. The ripple effect from that carried over to texture of course. The texture and material work is done, but updates in Unreal Engine and/or Octane/Unreal where I'd been finishing her off previously (and looking nice) have taken a complete crap on me, lots of functionality issues that I can't yet wrap my head around (if you've experienced it, drop me a note???). Frustrated doesn't even start to cover it. For now, some funky shots of the updated mesh. ;-)

/D




*Ah, heh, after a chat with someone who knows such things- you'd probably have to have renders of the two from the same angles and flip back and forth to pick up on most differences, we're talking about shifting things by mm in some areas, though to me of *course* they're obvious ;-) This is a 'real world scale' model, the shuttle is about a foot long, so 6mm is nearly 1/4" and yeah, that's perceivable. Those minor shifts begin to add up as they flow across a surface, dialing not only what looks right but *feels* right. Onward!

evil_genius_180

That looks great. I've always liked that design and you're doing a fantastic job on the model.

vfxart

Tallguy

I have to say that this just look gorgeous. I built one of these once. I'm afraid to go look at it now. Not. Worthy.

vfxart

Tallguy wrote: »

I have to say that this just look gorgeous. I built one of these once. I'm afraid to go look at it now. Not. Worthy.

Thank you, I always try to push up against the edge of what is known and what I can find out about these ships... longer to solve maybe, but I hope they really evoke the feel as much as 'look like'... the accuracy is important to me. I hope that it gets across to viewers and especially other fans and pros.

Tallguy

Does anyone know if the original model still exists?

vfxart

It does, but I don't pry...

Tallguy

vfxart wrote: »

It does, but I don't pry...

You have it, don't you?

vfxart

I wish. Based on a shot, she's showing a bit of age but has done reasonably well over the last 45 years... doubtful that a lot on her that is recent will turn up, which is a shame as she has some incredibly funky stuff going on.

My Unreal/Octane build that I had used for the Surak has gone completely sideways and I'm not getting any insight from Epic or OTOY, so will likely have to drop back to a basic UE scene build and then get images out here. That'll have to be from scratch, and I'm still moving between two vers of the SDT and the Merchantman is calling for some attention as well (another one with no ref worth a damn, esp before the hatchet job done on it)

Onward!

vfxart

Rolling along. keeping a few inaccuracies as bits that were changed on the original during rework I kind of like.

publiusr

How about a smaller warp sled with Star Trek V type nacelles for a shorter range?

Tallguy

Oooh I wondered if you were going to go with Probert's original pink. Good show!

vfxart

Tallguy wrote: »

Oooh I wondered if you were going to go with Probert's original pink. Good show!

Thank you. Never a thought to do otherwise. ie that's her coloration, so yeah, that's been the goal. Damn tricky to get the proper balance. I may do a Starfleet version of the shuttle, but that has to be after a few more projects.

SCE2Aux

Pretty ship, (like everything built for TMP.) The model and texture look great!

vfxart

SCE2Aux wrote: »

Pretty ship, (like everything built for TMP.) The model and texture look great!

Thanks- definitely one of my top 5 Trek ships. I need to learn and work on upping my texture and lighting game. I was in fabric/technical materials etc for so long, such a long while away from this sort of thing, and it's been tough to find great info and input on creating them.

ashleytinger

I'm just now realizing that shuttle is probably where they got the color for the Vulcan ship in First Contact and Enterprise *head desk*

vfxart

ashleytinger wrote: »

I'm just now realizing that shuttle is probably where they got the color for the Vulcan ship in First Contact and Enterprise *head desk*

There was direction given at the onset of the films that there is no blue on Vulcan, to paraphrase... that guided a few choices. (Look at Sarek's jewels and stones in his outfits, etc) Also, it was thought that the coloration, at least APs choices for this model, would look incredible when hit by Vulcan sunlight at certain times of day, all those intense reds etc...

ashleytinger

vfxart wrote: »

ashleytinger wrote: »

I'm just now realizing that shuttle is probably where they got the color for the Vulcan ship in First Contact and Enterprise *head desk*

There was direction given at the onset of the films that there is no blue on Vulcan, to paraphrase... that guided a few choices. (Look at Sarek's jewels and stones in his outfits, etc) Also, it was thought that the coloration, at least APs choices for this model, would look incredible when hit by Vulcan sunlight at certain times of day, all those intense reds etc...

Not only that but given the wear and tear on this shuttle, it'd have to have been in use for a number of years which puts the design into the end of the TOS era if it's newer, well depending on source. Interesting...

evil_genius_180

ashleytinger wrote: »

I'm just now realizing that shuttle is probably where they got the color for the Vulcan ship in First Contact and Enterprise *head desk*

Damn. That never occurred to me, but it makes perfect sense.