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Animation"How would Star Trek Voyager look like using modern CGI" - My Love Letter to Lightwave and Blender.

ZyuRangerZyuRanger34 Posts: 22Member
edited January 2023 in Finished Work #1
[MEDIA=youtube]1QvAuVazkbg[/MEDIA]

I am so grateful to get a chance to talk to Mr. Kevin "Q" Quattro who worked in Star Trek Voyager's CGI department.

According to Mr. Kevin, Star Trek Voyager was created by a beta build of Lightwave (Build 283) never released to the public, technically it was version 5.7, then later Lightwave 6.0.

( Knowing small things like this makes me smile :-D )

I had wanted to create a video like this but never got real data from the show's production from an actual person...until now.

A small tribute to Vintage Lightwave, an observation of where Blender is now and the video ends with even more technical information on the difficulties faced by the masters back then as they pull off the CG miracle that is Star Trek Voyager consistently.
Post edited by Guerrilla on
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  • ZyuRangerZyuRanger34 Posts: 22Member
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    StarCruiserLizzy777
  • ZyuRangerZyuRanger34 Posts: 22Member
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    StarCruiserLizzy777
  • ZyuRangerZyuRanger34 Posts: 22Member
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    StarCruiserLizzy777
  • ZyuRangerZyuRanger34 Posts: 22Member
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    StarCruiserLizzy777
  • ZyuRangerZyuRanger34 Posts: 22Member
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    StarCruiser
  • ZyuRangerZyuRanger34 Posts: 22Member
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    StarCruiserLizzy777
  • ZyuRangerZyuRanger34 Posts: 22Member
    Hmm, the link is not working, let me try again.
    https://youtube.com/watch?v=1QvAuVazkbg
  • count23count23361 Posts: 779Member
    that looks great, and for such an old model like Sarod's.

    One main tip i can offer, it was very obvious at the first shot and a bit with the clouds. Voyager is a _big_ ship, those splashes in the water and the cloud move were acting like it was just a toy. The waves need to be slower and more disruptive and there needs to be more displacement of the clouds.
    Formerly Nadesico.

    Current Projects:
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  • ZyuRangerZyuRanger34 Posts: 22Member
    That's really good advise count23!

    The water is a "cheat", there is no water simulation going on, it's Blender's Dynamic Paint, and you are right I should at least made the water react slower due to the perceive size of voyager.

    As for the excellent cloud advise, I wish I could make the cloud interactive too, but I don't know how at the moment.
  • evil_genius_180evil_genius_1804256 Posts: 11,034Member
    Your work is very good and you sure do show what can be done with modern software, even with an older model.

    At the end of the video, you said you should learn Lightwave. I use Lightwave and love it. However, if you're doing that kind of work and it's looking that good in Blender, I'd stick with that. There's nothing much to be gained by learning Lightwave, unless you just want to learn it because if its historic significance. Other than that, Blender is where it's at. Blender is still in active development and is constantly getting new features, where there hasn't been a new version of Lightwave since 2020. The company that made Lightwave was purchased by another company in 2019 and it's possible that Lightwave 2020 will be the last version. Personally, I'm still on Lightwave 2018 because I like it and that's, as you said, when they introduced PBR.
  • ZyuRangerZyuRanger34 Posts: 22Member
    Thank you for your appreciation evil_genius_180, it took some time to put it all together so it meant something to me when it is appreciated :-)

    Upon reading that you are using Lightwave, I went straight to your posts to see your lightwave adventures, and MY GOODNESS, you even used TrueSpace !!! It got me all excited !

    And you even shared your models made in TrueSpace, now that's a legend right there !

    I read your post "Strange Worlds" - it was quite a read, I am glad to know you are finding joy in 3D modeling again and nice to see Lightwave is still your first love compared to Blender, ultimately, it doesn't matter when we do, 3D or not, life is hard, whatever we can do to lie-to/inebriate ourselves that life still have some joy is what we should do until we inevitably die.

    Hope to talk more about Lightwave and Blender with you if time and circumstance allow :-)
  • evil_genius_180evil_genius_1804256 Posts: 11,034Member
    edited January 2023 #13
    Ugh, Truespace. Back in 2000, I looked at the prices of Lightwave and 3DS Max and both were really expensive. If memory serves, Lightwave was closer to the price of Max back then. So, I found Truespace, which was the budget option. But, it got me started. I started in Truespace 2 because it was still available and because it was cheaper than Truespace 5, which was the latest version a the time. I used Truespace for over a decade until I found a great deal on an used copy of Lightwave on Ebay in 2012. Truepsace was OK for what I could afford back then, but it was nowhere near as robust as Lightwave and Blender. I don't personally care for using Blender, but I have a massive respect for the software and the people who use it to great effect.
    Post edited by evil_genius_180 on
  • ZyuRangerZyuRanger34 Posts: 22Member
    As you are using Lightwave, would this be useful for you ?

    "Octane Render - now free for lightwave users"
    https://forums.newtek.com/threads/octane-render-eol-lightwave-install.167239/
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