@wibble I THOUGHT I remembered a Galor docked at DS-9. It's slightly hard to tell but I took and lightened the image and it looks like it might be docking with the side of the big module on the ship just behind the front platform where the bridge is located. They obviously chose that shot to hide that there is no door. The wing obscures the connection. But that's where I'll add my door. Thanks. The beauty is, one can now look at the end of those docking extensions on DS-9 and come up with what the door looks like. In theory anyway.
I thought I also remembered a Galor being docked at the Ring with it's front. But skipping through trekcore's screencapture archive it seems like they only did this one shot with the pylon and reused it for several episodes. Non the less there are some iterations of this shot where you can see the connection better. Like this one. My first thought was it is docked directly to the wing. But now I think you are right and the docking point is probably intended to be at the the superstructure above it.
There are actually a few reasons why having Layout as a separate program is a good idea. For one thing, you can have something rendering in the background and be tinkering with something else in Modeler. With most 3D software, you have to wait for the render to finish. Another great thing is that you don't have to have as many controls jammed into one program
I agree. I just wish I understood even 1/10th of all the controls in either. I should probably learn how to make YouTube instruction videos because I would put a lot of effort into making them short and to the point. I've watched some where the introductory remarks and filler commentary make me want to pull my hair out. Please, just show me what to do. I loved James Vaughn's stuff. Unfortunately there isn't anything from him for the newer versions. of Lightwave.
If I ever want to animate again, I definitely want to do it in Lightwave. Just looking into how to make a light blink in Blender a few months ago seemed like a whole ordeal made up of a lot of steps that seem counter intuitive. Comparatively, in Lightwave, I can just create a simple emission increase and decrease in an envelope and set it to repeat. Boom, blinking light in just a few steps.
Yup, although I wanted to animate the swinging of the wings on the Klingon BOP and anything that rotates on another object has to be slaved to X=0, y=0 and z=0 and isn't left in place on the original object. it's not nice to mess with the model like that.
Yup, although I wanted to animate the swinging of the wings on the Klingon BOP and anything that rotates on another object has to be slaved to X=0, y=0 and z=0 and isn't left in place on the original object. it's not nice to mess with the model like that.
Yeah, that one is a pain in the rear. But, it's actually pretty solvable. What you do is you have your wings in separate layers in Modeler. Then, when you load the model into Layout, you'll have separate objects that you can manipulate. You can then add null objects, position them where you want the hinges to be, then make them the parents of the wings. Then, when you rotate the null objects, the wings will then rotate along the position of the null objects that you're using as hinges. To make that all move with the ship, you have to make the main part of the ship a parent of the null objects. Then, as you move the main part of the ship through the scene, it will carry the child objects with it and they'll follow the animation of the main part of the ship. But, the wings, being children of the null objects you're using as hinges, can be manipulated independently. I know it sounds complex, but it works.
I've used the separate layers and parenting tricks to make my bussard collector blades rotate on TOS ships and, while they will still rotate independently in a pre-configured spin, they'll still move and also rotate or whatever with the ship while still spinning where I want them. I was attached to a fan film that wound up not being made around a decade ago, and the guy in charge of the fan film kept pissing off animators, so they kept quitting. This forced me to figure out more about animation in Lightwave than I ever intended to learn.
I was attached to a fan film that wound up not being made around a decade ago, and the guy in charge of the fan film kept pissing off animators, so they kept quitting. This forced me to figure out more about animation in Lightwave than I ever intended to learn.
Very Cool. Except for the pissing you off part.
As I read what you said, I am aware that it works and probably would work. I don't know enough to say for sure. I think the problem I may have been having is that I was trying to make the two wings move in unison and they were going in opposite directions. I could be wrong.
Yeah, you're for sure getting into more complex things than "ship goes from there to there." But, once you figure it out, it's worth the effort.
They didn't necessarily piss me off, they pissed off other animators. Though, from my viewpoint, there was too much bickering and bitching about money behind the scenes. This was before Axanar was shut down and the creators sued, so there was this weird thing going on where "fan" films weren't necessarily just the work of fans and some people wanted paid for their work. Most of the best fan films are labors of love.
I see. People were getting pissed off for lack of pay for their work.
I had a recent situation where I was doing something for a pilot sci-fi series and worked weeks on a ship to be used in an explosion scene. I was getting some encouragement and making some adjustments requested by the creator of the series. A friend of mine was animating the sequence my mesh was going to be used in. He did an example animation using a quick bash mesh of his own in place of my ship. This was only because mine wasn't quite done yet. On seeing the quick animation, the creator liked the quick mesh design and decided to drop the one I was working on.
That's fine, it is his show. However, I'm not inclined to spend that much time on something to only have it dumped. It didn't hurt my feelings, I was just annoyed that all that time was for nothing. I wasn't being paid except for the excitement of something I made going into a real series. In general I was not a big fan of the ship styles the creator liked anyway. I began to feel like the changes he was making were ruining my design.
Well the last 24 - 48 hours has been a real learning experience. I've been playing with node shaders and did a tutorial on creating normal maps in Affinity Photo, my paint software. A whole new world may have opened for me. It's been a matter of finding the right videos and putting nose to grindstone.
The following has some adjustment to the crevice and edge node work, New corroded color for the grills at the back of the hull and a normal map appied to the overall color. I'm currently experimenting with the normal map intensity.
That's looking great. I never have the patience to do anything on that level with materials.
It doesn't take patience if you know what to do. It took dogged determination that I was going to step through the door into another level of surface texturing.
Posts
I thought I also remembered a Galor being docked at the Ring with it's front. But skipping through trekcore's screencapture archive it seems like they only did this one shot with the pylon and reused it for several episodes. Non the less there are some iterations of this shot where you can see the connection better. Like this one. My first thought was it is docked directly to the wing. But now I think you are right and the docking point is probably intended to be at the the superstructure above it.
Yup, although I wanted to animate the swinging of the wings on the Klingon BOP and anything that rotates on another object has to be slaved to X=0, y=0 and z=0 and isn't left in place on the original object. it's not nice to mess with the model like that.
Yeah, that one is a pain in the rear. But, it's actually pretty solvable. What you do is you have your wings in separate layers in Modeler. Then, when you load the model into Layout, you'll have separate objects that you can manipulate. You can then add null objects, position them where you want the hinges to be, then make them the parents of the wings. Then, when you rotate the null objects, the wings will then rotate along the position of the null objects that you're using as hinges. To make that all move with the ship, you have to make the main part of the ship a parent of the null objects. Then, as you move the main part of the ship through the scene, it will carry the child objects with it and they'll follow the animation of the main part of the ship. But, the wings, being children of the null objects you're using as hinges, can be manipulated independently. I know it sounds complex, but it works.
I've used the separate layers and parenting tricks to make my bussard collector blades rotate on TOS ships and, while they will still rotate independently in a pre-configured spin, they'll still move and also rotate or whatever with the ship while still spinning where I want them. I was attached to a fan film that wound up not being made around a decade ago, and the guy in charge of the fan film kept pissing off animators, so they kept quitting. This forced me to figure out more about animation in Lightwave than I ever intended to learn.
As I read what you said, I am aware that it works and probably would work. I don't know enough to say for sure. I think the problem I may have been having is that I was trying to make the two wings move in unison and they were going in opposite directions. I could be wrong.
They didn't necessarily piss me off, they pissed off other animators. Though, from my viewpoint, there was too much bickering and bitching about money behind the scenes. This was before Axanar was shut down and the creators sued, so there was this weird thing going on where "fan" films weren't necessarily just the work of fans and some people wanted paid for their work. Most of the best fan films are labors of love.
I had a recent situation where I was doing something for a pilot sci-fi series and worked weeks on a ship to be used in an explosion scene. I was getting some encouragement and making some adjustments requested by the creator of the series. A friend of mine was animating the sequence my mesh was going to be used in. He did an example animation using a quick bash mesh of his own in place of my ship. This was only because mine wasn't quite done yet. On seeing the quick animation, the creator liked the quick mesh design and decided to drop the one I was working on.
That's fine, it is his show. However, I'm not inclined to spend that much time on something to only have it dumped. It didn't hurt my feelings, I was just annoyed that all that time was for nothing. I wasn't being paid except for the excitement of something I made going into a real series. In general I was not a big fan of the ship styles the creator liked anyway. I began to feel like the changes he was making were ruining my design.
The following has some adjustment to the crevice and edge node work, New corroded color for the grills at the back of the hull and a normal map appied to the overall color. I'm currently experimenting with the normal map intensity.