I went through that thread yesterday and through Xfoz's 'Not a Reboot' thread. (Really like the Archer class in that latter one.)
This ended up being bigger than I'd intended, and not quite as compact as I was aiming for. Still, I like how some of the ideas have played out. Can't decide yet whether to call her Majestic or Mutara Class. Both feel right. I'm thinking late TNG/Dom War for the time frame. Still need to figure out what to do for the nacelles.
I would guess that it's around 4-5 hours work on this.
I haven't had much time today, so decided to tinker with this a little more, trying to work out an impulse system. I'm not a fan of putting them on the pylons but thought I'd give it a try anyway.
This is just my opinion, but everything looks so round and smooth which is great. Then you have the nacelles which look out of place with them being so boxy and all. This is your design and should do it the way you want, so take my feedback with a grain of salt. I do love everything else though.
I like the impulse engines on the back of the saucer. Like you, I'm not a fan of them on the pylons. It seems to me that it would be too easy for an enemy to shear off both nacelle pylons and leave you with only thrusters for propulsion.
This is just my opinion, but everything looks so round and smooth which is great. Then you have the nacelles which look out of place with them being so boxy and all. This is your design and should do it the way you want, so take my feedback with a grain of salt. I do love everything else though.
Thanks for the comment. Those nacelles are just temporary until I figure out what to do with them. They just help me to get a feel for the ship.
I like the impulse engines on the back of the saucer. Like you, I'm not a fan of them on the pylons. It seems to me that it would be too easy for an enemy to shear off both nacelle pylons and leave you with only thrusters for propulsion.
In order to try and push my boundaries on modelling, I've decreed that weekends shall be non-Trek. I've decided to take on an interior as that poses a lot to model, interiors etc. I'm not basing it on anything specific, it's all from my noggin'.
Work on my NX-Class is progressing rather slowly at the minute. I've been stuck in a rut over the last few weeks. What a wonderful gift 12 years of depression can be. xD
Never mind, as I slowly chip away at that, I decided I had to get something done this weekend. I wanted to do something quick and fun but also stick with my No-Trek weekend rule. So here is what I've dubbed the "Aero-Pod". It's still a rough piece.
That's cute. How big is it? I get the feeling it might be a one-man craft, and it's actually a little close to something I had in my head for an old one-man escort vessel... especially the bubble up front! Mine was a whole mini habitat in there, with a treadmill on the floor, a little food station, that sort of thing (hey, you could be in that thing for months!)
Modelling has been going a little slow, but I've spent a little time today playing around with materials. A definite improvement, though I think I need to look into how to use a noise texture to add detailing to it. Too smooth at the minute.
The reflections definitely look great. What I like to do for these is add a bit of a "brushed metal" texture to the bump map, I think it adds a lot of detail without taking away from the smooth look that lightsaber hilts have.
Here's another one. The grenade grip is from an older mesh as I couldn't figure out how to do it again. It wasn't a modelling issue, I knew how to model it, I just couldn't work out how to get it into six equal parts again. That was annoying.
Anyway, no materials on this as of yet. The grip is also the only part with subsurf at the minute.
I'm rather pleased with the model over all, though. It feels solid. I couldn't have managed this a year ago.
I like his Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones 'sabers. I hated how different his 'saber from Revenge of the Sith looked from his one in the original film. To me, it showed a lack of attention to detail on the part of the prop makers and everyone who signed off on it (including George Lucas.) There are sites where you can buy components identical to what they used 38 years ago to make the original 'sabers. Instead of doing that, I'm sure some overzealous prop maker decided to fab everything and they screwed it up. Anakin's was a bit better, though both had incorrect belt connectors. They had those Covertec clips that they used for the first two prequel films, as opposed to the D-rings they used in the original trilogy.
The TPM/AotC saber is ace. I always loved the pommel on that one.
I prefer the ROTS over the ANH. I've always figured that Obi-Wan tinkered with them over the years, making sure they worked etc for the day that he did pass the lightsaber on to Luke and begin training him. And as a precaution.
The covertec clips probably work better in the war. Those D-rings always look as if the saber's could fall off easily. Like when Luke was taken by the Wampa. Obi-Wan's and Ani's would have stayed on their belts no problem.
I'm pretty sure them staying on the belts better is the reasoning behind using the Covertec clips in the newer trilogy. The D-Rings were definitely less stable and most likely the cause of many a reshoot during the filming of the original trilogy. However, the fact is that Obi-Wan's and Anakin's 'sabers had D-Rings originally, so they should have in Revenge of the Sith also. (probably Vader's also, but we didn't really see that very well at the end of the film) While I'll grant that Obi-Wan may have tinkered with his own weapon over the years of his exile, I find it difficult to swallow that he was so bored that he went and changed the way they attached to their belts, especially if the Covertec clips really were better. I think the makers of ROTS were more worried about making things easier from a filming standpoint than worrying about keeping them consistent.
As far as I know, due to the way they're constructed, there's no reason for the weapons to need to be maintained. In at least some SW tales, we've seen or read about someone picking up an ancient lightsaber from a tomb or something and it fires right up.
As for what looks better, I just hate the pisspoor job they did of recreating Obi-Wan's classic weapon for ROTS. It's close to the original movie version, but a lot of the details are wrong. I'm a little more lenient about Anakin's hilt, since it's not even consistent between Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. Neither is Vader's. Both were built using similar but slightly different components for the second film. Then Vader's might have even been different in Return of the Jedi. There might actually be 4 different variations of his weapon, counting the end of Revenge of the Sith. But, that may have been an availability of parts issue. Before people started reproducing the parts originally used, (for the purposes of making lightsabers, of course) they got pretty scarce.
None of the lightsabers are consistent between movies. Even Obi-Wan's saber in Clones differs slightly to the one in TPM. Heck, they don't even have consistency within their own movies. There's at least three different version of Luke's ROTJ saber, depending on which scene you're on.
During the duel against Dooku in AotC, Obi is clearly using his saber in one shot. The emitter gives that away, but it is mostly hidden. Ani uses that same saber, you can clearly see it if you pause just as the green saber gets sliced by Dooku. It's odd that such things are overlooked when it comes to continuity. If I was the actor I'd make sure it was right. xD
Those are just fleeting in frames, though. The one I have never been able to forgive for saber muck ups is Revenge of the Sith.
Palpatine uses Anakin's hilt whilst fighting Mace. And the Grievous on Utapau. The idea has always been that Jedi construct their own lightsabers as a personal reflection of themselves, so no two are alike. Makes sense, it's really their only personal possession. I know time is money etc, but a couple of cylinders with a little detailing? How hard is that? They could even have recreated some of the secondary sabers used for other Jedi, but they didn't. Grievous has Obi-Wan and Anakin styled hilts. Not only could they not keep track of which was in which hand, but they couldn't match the blade colours shot for shot. xD
Yeah, I know, they're inconsistent. I just think they could have done a more faithful recreation of Obi-Wan's original hero hilt, and I'll keep thinking that. At least I'm not one of those people that harps on the colors they used. I figure 18 years in a desert can change the color of something. (I know, I've spent time in deserts)
The thing about the stunt 'sabers is that they were all pretty much built the same. They only had a few variations. That's why Obi-Wan is clearly using his "normal" weapon in a lot of fight scenes. Hell, a lot of the stunt 'sabers for the later films were modeled after Qui-Gon's hilt, clearly they used the same molds as they did in The Phantom Menace. I don't bother criticizing stunt hilts at all, since they just use whatever. I only criticize the hero hilts. Hero hilts are designed for closeups and should remain consistent between scenes, thought that doesn't happen.
The thing with Grievous and the hilts he has doesn't sit well with me, since they clearly just copied other hilts. Like you said, these are personal weapons. Grievous was CGI, so that's a bit less forgivable than the real props. The problem with the "personalization" of weapons with so many real life "Jedi" walking around is that it's a movie and they only made so many molds. If you watch the Jedi Temple scenes, you'll see a lot of same hilts on various Jedi belts. They're the "generic" background hilts that they made for those scenes. I guess you're not supposed ot look too closely at those. The thing with Palpatine is actually funny, I'll have to watch the movie again to see that.
Even Obi-Wan's saber in Clones differs slightly to the one in TPM.
Well, he did kind of have to build a new one, since I doubt he was going to the bottom of that shaft into which Darth Maul kicked it to retrieve it.
Funny story: I used to work with this moron who couldn't understand why Obi-Wan didn't continue using Qui-Gon's lightsaber after his own was lost and he used Qui-Gon's to finish off Darth Maul. Another guy and I tried to explain it to him, but he just didn't get it. So, I think it's safe to assume that only 'saber and Star Wars nuts like us even worry about this kind of thing.
They could certainly have been more faithful, but I like what they went with. Though the choke always seemed to long and thin. The colouring I like.
They did try to explain the copies as having Jedi "Clans" and calling them clan sabers. I remember seeing in a behind the scenes video for Phantom Menace that there was a huge rack full of those hilts with blades attached. I think it was a case of they used whatever prop was closest to them on set at the time.
Palpatine using Ani's saber was due to the way George makes movies. It was filmed as scripted; Ani was in the sequence from the beginning, Palpatine knocked him out and used his lightsaber. Then it was changed in post, which meant digitally removing Anakin's saber when Mace won the fight and adding Palpatine's saber falling out of the window.
Similar directing choices also explain why Obi-Wan keeps switching between his own and Anakins' saber when he's being choked on the table on Mustafar.
They did try to explain the copies as having Jedi "Clans" and calling them clan sabers. I remember seeing in a behind the scenes video for Phantom Menace that there was a huge rack full of those hilts with blades attached. I think it was a case of they used whatever prop was closest to them on set at the time.
Somebody handed them a hilt and said "Use this."
Unfortunately, Expanded Universe crap doesn't count anymore. I remember the BTS stuff for The Phantom Menace claiming that Adi Galia carried a red bladed lightsaber. Her action figure had that color and she carried that color in comics and games. Then Attack of the Clones came around and she had a blue blade so that casual fans wouldn't think she was a Sith. She was also supposedly a Jedi Knight, not a Master, and was on the Jedi Council. According to BTS info on The Phantom Menace, Knights routinely served on the Council. However, in Revenge of the Sith, Anakin got indignant about not being made a Master and he said that a Knight had never served on the Council.
Well, he did kind of have to build a new one, since I doubt he was going to the bottom of that shaft into which Darth Maul kicked it to retrieve it.
Funny story: I used to work with this moron who couldn't understand why Obi-Wan didn't continue using Qui-Gon's lightsaber after his own was lost and he used Qui-Gon's to finish off Darth Maul. Another guy and I tried to explain it to him, but he just didn't get it. So, I think it's safe to assume that only 'saber and Star Wars nuts like us even worry about this kind of thing.
I wondered the same. There's very little in the OT that describes 'sabers as being very personal, aside from a throwaway line by an old Jedi hermit who'd been living in a backwater desert planet for the better part of 2 decades.
The EU has pretty much been established as being a separate canon as the movies. In the Krytos Trap, Rogue pilot Corran Horn finds himself in a sealed Jedi Museum with a handful of lightsabers next to exhibits of deceased Jedi Masters. Only one actually works, and is well over 30 years old (possibly 50?). You really have to be familiar with the EU to understand the depth and breadth of the Star Wars genre. The prequels, and especially ROTS, felt more like money making than telling a real good story. Which was a damn shame as there was so much potential there that was squandered.
That's looking really good, but maybe a bit too reflective.
ditto!
Unfortunately, Expanded Universe crap doesn't count anymore. I remember the BTS stuff for The Phantom Menace claiming that Adi Galia carried a red bladed lightsaber. Her action figure had that color and she carried that color in comics and games. Then Attack of the Clones came around and she had a blue blade so that casual fans wouldn't think she was a Sith. She was also supposedly a Jedi Knight, not a Master, and was on the Jedi Council. According to BTS info on The Phantom Menace, Knights routinely served on the Council. However, in Revenge of the Sith, Anakin got indignant about not being made a Master and he said that a Knight had never served on the Council.
That whole plotline didn't make any sense at all.
Someone did a recut of the prequel trilogy, basically condensing AOTC and ROTS into a love story/tragedy (and eliminating much of the annoying extra bits). But even so, the recut couldn't save it from wooden acting and awful dialog - i may have gotten about halfway through, i couldn't finish it.
Posts
I went through that thread yesterday and through Xfoz's 'Not a Reboot' thread. (Really like the Archer class in that latter one.)
This ended up being bigger than I'd intended, and not quite as compact as I was aiming for. Still, I like how some of the ideas have played out. Can't decide yet whether to call her Majestic or Mutara Class. Both feel right. I'm thinking late TNG/Dom War for the time frame. Still need to figure out what to do for the nacelles.
I would guess that it's around 4-5 hours work on this.
Thanks for the comment. Those nacelles are just temporary until I figure out what to do with them. They just help me to get a feel for the ship.
That tends to be my problem with it.
Seriously, this sounds like a cool project. I should really do more stuff like this, but I usually wind up just building ships.
Building ships is fun, so it's understandable.
Never mind, as I slowly chip away at that, I decided I had to get something done this weekend. I wanted to do something quick and fun but also stick with my No-Trek weekend rule. So here is what I've dubbed the "Aero-Pod". It's still a rough piece.
This is a one or two person craft. I think I gave the sphere a radius of 2.5 meters if I recall correctly.
Anyway, no materials on this as of yet. The grip is also the only part with subsurf at the minute.
I'm rather pleased with the model over all, though. It feels solid. I couldn't have managed this a year ago.
I prefer the ROTS over the ANH. I've always figured that Obi-Wan tinkered with them over the years, making sure they worked etc for the day that he did pass the lightsaber on to Luke and begin training him. And as a precaution.
The covertec clips probably work better in the war. Those D-rings always look as if the saber's could fall off easily. Like when Luke was taken by the Wampa. Obi-Wan's and Ani's would have stayed on their belts no problem.
As far as I know, due to the way they're constructed, there's no reason for the weapons to need to be maintained. In at least some SW tales, we've seen or read about someone picking up an ancient lightsaber from a tomb or something and it fires right up.
As for what looks better, I just hate the pisspoor job they did of recreating Obi-Wan's classic weapon for ROTS. It's close to the original movie version, but a lot of the details are wrong. I'm a little more lenient about Anakin's hilt, since it's not even consistent between Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back. Neither is Vader's. Both were built using similar but slightly different components for the second film. Then Vader's might have even been different in Return of the Jedi. There might actually be 4 different variations of his weapon, counting the end of Revenge of the Sith. But, that may have been an availability of parts issue. Before people started reproducing the parts originally used, (for the purposes of making lightsabers, of course) they got pretty scarce.
During the duel against Dooku in AotC, Obi is clearly using his saber in one shot. The emitter gives that away, but it is mostly hidden. Ani uses that same saber, you can clearly see it if you pause just as the green saber gets sliced by Dooku. It's odd that such things are overlooked when it comes to continuity. If I was the actor I'd make sure it was right. xD
Those are just fleeting in frames, though. The one I have never been able to forgive for saber muck ups is Revenge of the Sith.
Palpatine uses Anakin's hilt whilst fighting Mace. And the Grievous on Utapau. The idea has always been that Jedi construct their own lightsabers as a personal reflection of themselves, so no two are alike. Makes sense, it's really their only personal possession. I know time is money etc, but a couple of cylinders with a little detailing? How hard is that? They could even have recreated some of the secondary sabers used for other Jedi, but they didn't. Grievous has Obi-Wan and Anakin styled hilts. Not only could they not keep track of which was in which hand, but they couldn't match the blade colours shot for shot. xD
That still annoys me to this day.
The thing about the stunt 'sabers is that they were all pretty much built the same. They only had a few variations. That's why Obi-Wan is clearly using his "normal" weapon in a lot of fight scenes. Hell, a lot of the stunt 'sabers for the later films were modeled after Qui-Gon's hilt, clearly they used the same molds as they did in The Phantom Menace. I don't bother criticizing stunt hilts at all, since they just use whatever. I only criticize the hero hilts. Hero hilts are designed for closeups and should remain consistent between scenes, thought that doesn't happen.
The thing with Grievous and the hilts he has doesn't sit well with me, since they clearly just copied other hilts. Like you said, these are personal weapons. Grievous was CGI, so that's a bit less forgivable than the real props. The problem with the "personalization" of weapons with so many real life "Jedi" walking around is that it's a movie and they only made so many molds. If you watch the Jedi Temple scenes, you'll see a lot of same hilts on various Jedi belts. They're the "generic" background hilts that they made for those scenes. I guess you're not supposed ot look too closely at those. The thing with Palpatine is actually funny, I'll have to watch the movie again to see that.
Well, he did kind of have to build a new one, since I doubt he was going to the bottom of that shaft into which Darth Maul kicked it to retrieve it.
Funny story: I used to work with this moron who couldn't understand why Obi-Wan didn't continue using Qui-Gon's lightsaber after his own was lost and he used Qui-Gon's to finish off Darth Maul. Another guy and I tried to explain it to him, but he just didn't get it. So, I think it's safe to assume that only 'saber and Star Wars nuts like us even worry about this kind of thing.
They did try to explain the copies as having Jedi "Clans" and calling them clan sabers. I remember seeing in a behind the scenes video for Phantom Menace that there was a huge rack full of those hilts with blades attached. I think it was a case of they used whatever prop was closest to them on set at the time.
Palpatine using Ani's saber was due to the way George makes movies. It was filmed as scripted; Ani was in the sequence from the beginning, Palpatine knocked him out and used his lightsaber. Then it was changed in post, which meant digitally removing Anakin's saber when Mace won the fight and adding Palpatine's saber falling out of the window.
Similar directing choices also explain why Obi-Wan keeps switching between his own and Anakins' saber when he's being choked on the table on Mustafar.
Somebody handed them a hilt and said "Use this."
Unfortunately, Expanded Universe crap doesn't count anymore. I remember the BTS stuff for The Phantom Menace claiming that Adi Galia carried a red bladed lightsaber. Her action figure had that color and she carried that color in comics and games. Then Attack of the Clones came around and she had a blue blade so that casual fans wouldn't think she was a Sith. She was also supposedly a Jedi Knight, not a Master, and was on the Jedi Council. According to BTS info on The Phantom Menace, Knights routinely served on the Council. However, in Revenge of the Sith, Anakin got indignant about not being made a Master and he said that a Knight had never served on the Council.
The EU has pretty much been established as being a separate canon as the movies. In the Krytos Trap, Rogue pilot Corran Horn finds himself in a sealed Jedi Museum with a handful of lightsabers next to exhibits of deceased Jedi Masters. Only one actually works, and is well over 30 years old (possibly 50?). You really have to be familiar with the EU to understand the depth and breadth of the Star Wars genre. The prequels, and especially ROTS, felt more like money making than telling a real good story. Which was a damn shame as there was so much potential there that was squandered.
ditto!
That whole plotline didn't make any sense at all.
Someone did a recut of the prequel trilogy, basically condensing AOTC and ROTS into a love story/tragedy (and eliminating much of the annoying extra bits). But even so, the recut couldn't save it from wooden acting and awful dialog - i may have gotten about halfway through, i couldn't finish it.