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3DCruser C57-D

BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
edited April 2011 in Work in Progress #1
I have always liked "Forbidden Planet." I loved how this ship had a central foot pod and used the 3 stair cases for stability.
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Post edited by Brandenberg on
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Posts

  • BuckaroohawkBuckaroohawk2 Posts: 0Member
    Nice work on a classic sci-fi ship! The on-screen scale got a bit screwy once they landed on Altair, but "Forbidden Planet" is still one of my all-time favorite films. If I may make a few suggestions: The main hull on your model looks a little too shiny. You might want to flatten the shine out a little or add a procedural map to break it up a bit. Also, the red glow coming from the undercarriage on your model obscures the strut-like details you can see in the image of the real one. Other than those minor things it looks to me like you got it spot on.
  • AresiusAresius359 Posts: 4,171Member
    I agree here on all areas. Lovely work.
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Also, the red glow coming from the undercarriage on your model obscures the strut-like details you can see in the image of the real one.

    Thanks: "strut like details" I assume you mean the lines / gap where the 3 staircases drop down? I am working on those right now. So they aren't obscured at the moment, they just aren't there.

    One interesting thing about the movie depiction of the C57-D is that the rotating red (I assume the engine) dome underneath is back to a metal texture when the cruiser is on the ground.
  • deltapaxdeltapax0 Posts: 0Member
    that looks pretty spot-on! I noticed that about the lower dome too (I just rented this again a few weeks ago).
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    This is a comparison Shot of the Ship in Space. The movie model is to the right. The landed ship doesn't have stairs yet.
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  • BuckaroohawkBuckaroohawk2 Posts: 0Member
    No, no...I didn't mean the seams for the staircases. Within the glowing red "bulb" on the underside of the ship (it probably is an engine, but who knows), you can see curved struts or supports of some kind that divide the red areas into segments. I was just pointing out that those supports (or whatever they are) are more visible in the photo of the physical model than they are on your CGI version.

    I never noticed that the underside bulb becomes metallic-looking after the ship lands. Perhaps the ship's source of power is so great that it heats up the bulb enough to make it glow red while in flight, or maybe the bulb only looks solid because the engines are off after the ship lands. I suppose you could come up with a dozen reasons to explain it and any would qualify since the method of the ship's propulsion is never really explained in the movie.

    In any case, the staircase ramps you've added look good, but the size of them highlights the scale problem I mentioned above. With the stairs being as long and wide as the are, there doesn't seem to be enough room inside the ship for all the interiors we see in the movie. This is, of course, a common problem with sci-fi movie ships. I'm not bringing it up as something I think you should try to rectify; I mean it solely as a bit of "Forbidden Planet" trivia and nothing more. You're doing a fine job with this project and I look forward to seeing more images soon.
  • AresiusAresius359 Posts: 4,171Member
    Cool, a slide! :) ;)
    I take it, that's the rapid-deployment modification... :P
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Ohhhhhh, the dark between the rotating red of the engines. I had more of that efffect, but then tried to get a frosted glass effect on the engine dome. Perhaps I should drop that and just make the glass thicker but clear. I appreciate your post.

    Rapid deployment! Love it. BTW the steps are plain metal, bent down when the id monster went up.
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Here is the landed saucer with the shortened steps and modification to emphasize the darkness between the rotating engine pieces. The individual steps are not angled right and will have to be the next fix. I did manage to get the step count exactly right.
    87989.png
  • AresiusAresius359 Posts: 4,171Member
    Now we'Re getting there, very cool.
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Thanks Aresius and Buckaroohawk. Trying to do an interior will be a challenge for the very reason BHawk said. In the movie the interior set is too big for the scale of the outer ship. I have seen models online and the result is pretty cramped.

    My image update has the step correction. I also noticed that it appears that the exterior prop in the movie has the protrusion between the engine and the saucer smaller in diameter than in the space scene model. Hense the protrusion appears further down on the staircases.
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  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    BTW I keep meaning to mention that I noticed Leslie Nielsen and Ann Frances both died in 2010.
  • Road WarriorRoad Warrior206 Posts: 813Member
    Excellent work. Forbidden Planet is such a classic movie: in every sense of the word.
  • ChanurChanur191 53.33° N / 10.00° EPosts: 305Member
    A classical shape :)
    You've done a fine job so far. Let's see, how you solve the interior problem :)
  • BuckaroohawkBuckaroohawk2 Posts: 0Member
    That's looking much more like it! If you're really going to try and justify the interior with the exterior, then you have a choice to make: The exterior of the ship is going to have to be much bigger than seen after it lands in the film, or you'll have to make some major changes to the interiors. Personally, I'd go with the first option. Since, as far as I know anyway, there aren't any "official" specs for the ship, upsizing it to fit the established interiors allows the integrity of both to remain (relatively) intact. Just my two sheckles on the subject.

    I also noticed something else about the ship as we see it in the movie. There isn't really much holding the ship up after it lands, is there? The central pedestal/engine core is too small to hold the weight of the ship and keep it balanced, and the ramps only seemed to provide access and egress for the crew. They don't look like they were meant to help keep the ship upright and even. If that's the case, then a strong wind would have easily knocked the ship onto its side. Weird.
  • AresiusAresius359 Posts: 4,171Member
    I think I had some explosion diagram of the central power core plus the astrogation stuff on top of it somehwere. Don't find it ATM.

    The problwm with those disk-ships is that the disk itself can only house a few things around one deck. Two if you make the saucer either
    a) very thick, leading to an awkward edge.
    b) very long, needed if you want to keep a cool angle, but you get so much small-space that you cannot really fill it and need to make things up.

    I think the core-column is very thick, compared to its height. So with the ramps down, they may just be enough to reinforce the coloumn enough. Else we have to reason that there are some sort of gravitic projectors or whatever in the rim of the ship or somewhere "on" the ship to keep it stable. Works for me just as well.
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Buckeroohawk: the probable way of doing what you say for the interior would be to fudge and make the staircases in an altered scale so that the C57-D is much larger with respect to its occupants than the movie version.

    On stability: I like Aresius idea of gravitic projectors to solve the problem. I suppose you could also theorize 3 wine-corkscrew-like anchors in the foot pod that spiraled into the ground after touchdown. Take the ship's weight, the anchors and staircases for stability together and it might work unless there is a severe windstorm.

    Aresius: I may have seen that technical picture but recalled it as a pretty crude one so that I didn't take it seriously. However, had I read more carefully, I might have found it to be the design drawn on a napkin by the original model maker or something.

    Road Warrier and Chanur and all: I love the story of Forbidden planet. Super advanced race that made a huge mistake. I remember when I was just a boy how much it bothered me that the only technology and science they saved from the planet was Robbie (who could hopefully be reverse engineered). I also thought, maybe just maybe he carried part of the Krell database.
  • Number 6Number 6331 Posts: 0Member
    Thanks Aresius and Buckaroohawk. Trying to do an interior will be a challenge for the very reason BHawk said. In the movie the interior set is too big for the scale of the outer ship. I have seen models online and the result is pretty cramped.

    My image update has the step correction. I also noticed that it appears that the exterior prop in the movie has the protrusion between the engine and the saucer smaller in diameter than in the space scene model. Hense the protrusion appears further down on the staircases.

    Hi, Very nice model. Looking very good. The C-57D is one of my favorites. I did a model of the C-57D sometime back. I was doing a nut and bolt model from the inside out, interior and all. I had got quite ways into it until my hard drive had a hiccup and I lost the files. Luckily I do have some of the renders. Believe it or not everything they show about the interior does fit inside the disk including the ramps, 3 decks, room for all the crew and plenty of room left over for the mechanical stuff. I don't want to hijack your thread but here is a couple of renders that I have. Hope they give you some inspiration, go for it, I'd love to see you do the interior. I've thought of starting again but have never got around to it. If interested PM me and I can send some more.
  • Capt DaveCapt Dave0 Posts: 0Member
    Cool, another cool flying saucer from the best era for campy movies.
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Number 6: I'm speechless. What program did you draw that with? You must have been imagining the inner technology (artistic license) or were you working from the drawings we mentioned above (which I found). I would love to have the rest of your renders, and would try to do them justice by just repeating what you have. I'll send you the completed mesh in obj format. Then you could get it back to YOUR original form. I am using Lightwave 10 and am just now working on the inner housing for the 3 staircases. I'm beginning to wonder if the interior would work as you say. At least when I am inside the outer saucer skin, it sure looks big in there.
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  • Number 6Number 6331 Posts: 0Member
    Thanks, I think I worked on it for about a year. I'm using Cinema 4D as my 3D app. I'll zip up what I have, with some descriptions of what they are. I was working from the blueprints to be sure that I had the placement and size and shape correct and also to get the interior right. I also have the movie on DVD and took many frame grabs to help me get the details right. My goal was to stay true to the movie as far as everything that was shown and then try to work out the rest on my own. It will all fit together on the inside as far as the decks and living quarters it just takes a lot of work, like a puzzle, trying to get every thing to fit. I did start redoing the internal frames about a year ago. In the mean time you might like this link to a post of some of he framework that I did work out.

    C57-D Internal frames
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    The guy doing Destiny uses Cinema 4D and it is pretty impressive. Expensive though. I get the impression that Cinema 4D and 3DS Max are the site applications of preference. I tried the "Outer Spin Reactor Coil" from your drawings but when I rendered it, I realized that they did not fill the lower dome accurately to the movie still (my first post in this thread). I took a liberty and made them larger. The result is included. I should add that I am not sure where the landing pod exists in your drawing. Did you envision that the main drive fusion core was surrounded by it?
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  • Road WarriorRoad Warrior206 Posts: 813Member
    Very nice Brandenberg!

    Number 6- I think I cried a little when you lost your ship.( inside of course) :)
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Indeed, a major tragedy. I have two identical hard drives on my computer and always duplicate my work to the other one when I am done. Read - "been there, done that."

    I got a laugh when I first noticed your Cylon comment about 20 min ago.
  • Number 6Number 6331 Posts: 0Member
    Yes the main fusion core is inside the main landing pod. In a scene right after they land on Altair they show them removing the fusion core. It looks like the entire core slides out of the side of landing pod like a drawer for access for maintenance. I thought that was a nice, if perhaps unintended, design feature that way the core could be ejected in flight if need be for any reason. Here are a couple of renders of how it all fits together.
    The fusion core is inside the heavily shielded main landing pod column. The energy is then fed to the primary spin reactors inside the lower dome. I envisioned that the dome normally appeared to be metallic but was transparent to the massive amount of high energy particles that were produced when it was in flight. That would be why you see the spin reactor glowing thru the lower dome shell. My idea was that the outer ring on the disk contained 'warp lenses', those are the blue disks that you see on the outer ring, They were fed energy by triple warp engines in the saucer. The warp lenses produced a warp bubble that the ship rode inside to reach and maintain light speed.

    The first pic is a cutaway showing the landing pod extended with the main core in place without the outer spin reactor.

    The second pic is a cutaway with just the outer spin reactor and the landing pod column extended.

    The third pic shows how it all fits together, looking down into the lower dome with the landing column retracted and just the outer spin reactor.

    I always thought the clylons had to be a poorly tested design. I'm a software engineer and I hate it when my programs turn on me and try to kill me.
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Two more questions:
    1) Did you have a detailed set of plans you made yours from?
    2) Did your coils extend far enough into the glass engine dome that the rotating red portion of the engine looked the same as the movie version?

    Oh and a big thanks for these images. I didn't catch that they removed that reactor core from the foot pod. I'll have to check the movie again.
  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    I studied the last 3 renders and tried to duplicate the landing pod. Obviously, you are showing the cutaway view. I may be wrong but as I look at the movie model I am not sure the actual base (the largest diameter portion at the bottom) was as big as yours may have been relative to the rest. Gotta study that more.

    It appears I need to alter the coils now that I see a closer view of your work.
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  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Some liberty with the engine (so far). Will probably swing in line later. Those coils -- Really difficult. Number 6, I am beginning to realize why you didn't redo the ship after you lost it.
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  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    Engine with Housing / Landing Pod. This is an edited post, with the color redone on the casing.
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  • BrandenbergBrandenberg1655 CaliforniaPosts: 1,937Member
    If you think about it, the center piston and casing just around it would both have to collapse into the surrounding metal of the pod casing, or the top could never match up with the bottom. I may alter this image with seals (like piston rings) between the outer (upper) pod casing and the lower foot pod, and then hydraulic lines for filling the entire chamber with hydraulic fluid.
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