Got inspired by Flight of the Navigator the other day and so decided to try and model the ship in Blender 2.65.
Seemingly quite a simple design - the shape is actually quite complex and difficult to get right.
Here is my progress so far
Flight_Test6.jpg
Flight_Test7.jpg
Flight_Test8.jpg
Flight_Test9.jpg
Posts
-Any desire to model the aerodynamic mode
Desire - yes.............ability - hmmmmm we'll see.
I would like to modify this mesh so I can morph between them - however it may be a difficult proposition - my underlying mesh is constructed in a very different way to the one used in the movie (based on how the wireframe renders in the movie are constructed).
Is there another mesh floating about - it'd be nice to compare notes.
I searched around - but couldn't find a movie accurate version of this ship anywhere - hence the reason I took the plunge myself. Its puzzling given the classic nature of this ship that more people dont appear to have had a crack at it.
http://files.myopera.com/CaptainSeagull/albums/340037/MP3%20Corruption%20%287%29.jpg
http://nerdmentality.com/games/WII/WII_metroid_prime_trilogy/M2_E_StarShip_ad.jpg
http://nerdmentality.com/games/WII/WII_metroid_prime_trilogy/M2_E_StarShip_ad.jpg
Samus changes ships like she has one for every occasion
Great work so far. Are you going to do the interior and stairs and everything? I would love to see the liquid door/stairs in action, but I don't know if that's within your skill set (it's certainly not within mine.) It still amazes me that they did that with early 1980s CGI.
look carefully behind the sand skiff!
8384394.jpg
but yea, the lineage had me curious too. because the Drone looks right compared to other old pics i'd seen (with the large opening in the port side for crane attach) and the sand skiff looks legit as well. but the speeder is one of the modern built replicas. i cant recall where that pic came from but if im about 60% sure there was a caption or post somewhere related to it with "was out behind the star-tours" etc...
edit: heh, did a reverse image search on it, not surprisingly there was only one result, but by surprise that result was a photoshare site with a google earth plugin attached to where the pic was taken, you can birds eye zoom in and see it in birds eye view. the drone on the sat-pic is much cleaner and brighter too! :P
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/8384394
there's a few other screen gems with them there, its on the side of a road at Disney Hollywood studios.
I loved this film as a kid.
I heard romours that they want to make a remake of it.
Not sure how that will work as this is such a classic film.
Another thing I was thinking of was that front view, it looked great in the 80s but now, I'm thinking after Planet Earth and the like that there'd need to be a 3D element to it, stretching out to the sides so that it looks like the seat is sticking out into expanse. No holographic HUD or anything like that, just pure view.
:argh:
It's in development, I just looked on IMDb. I hope they don't do it. BTW, Google Maps won't help you with star charts of unmapped parts of the universe. If I remember correctly, Phaelon was in another galaxy. There's no database on Earth that will have that information.
The thing is, this is just one of those good, fun '80s movies. To try and remake it now is just pointless and it will definitely lose its charm. Your point about the resources available (GPS, etc.) is just one example of why it shouldn't be remade.
It WOULD be cool to see the TriMaxian Hive and Plane Phaelon though. I'm just imagining a spiraling beanstalk-like structure in space with TriMax drones growing like beans and solar panel blossoms... the great combined mental power of it is strong enough to rip open the fabric of the universe, sending their drones throughout the galaxies. The Phaelonites meanwhile reside on their deep blue planet, connected to the knowledge obtained by the drones via nodes in their brains.
What happend to the little alien that stayed behind with him?
They could do something like Max returns and needs David help.
i'm in the same boat though, i wish they'd just leave stuff alone. i'm tired of all my best memories being destroyed by overdone CG and bad storylines
I don't think I could say it any better than that.
I'm not sure how a remake destroys what has gone before - we have the option of not watching it.
Hollywood is always going to remake movies - and people are always going to complain that the version they grew up with was the best/definitive version.
The fact is - many of the films we hold dear are dated both in their special effects, the overall look and especially the cultural references. How many kids these days who have grown up with MTV, Ipods, music downloads etc are going to get the line about having never seen a music video.
We may still enjoy them - but they are unlikely to make a big impact with many of today's kids (as i'm sure many of our parents favourite movies dont with us) - I mean, the target audience age for Flight of the Navigator weren't even born in 1986 - let alone 1978.
Of course, I'm a big believer in the remix, not the remake. And it seems now that all the rights are owned by a small conglomeration, we should be seeing similar old movies merged together, why make Flight, Short, and Explorers when you can merge 'em all together? (I'm actually surprised Max didn't show up in "Ready Player One," Johnny Five got a small part.
BTW, in the vein of these kinds of movies, did anyone else here see this japanese movie called "Juvenile?" It was done by Robot Productions who did Returner and that amazing Onimusha 3 opening (and I believe they did the recent and awesome Space Battleship Yamato live-action flick). It's about a group of kids who find this little ball robot named Tetra who's a precursor to an alien invasion... but the robot's not an alien, he's from the future, and he uses his advanced knowledge to build a cool junk-robot that the main kid has to pilot (using a PS2 controller, no less!) to save the girl.
I looked at screen shots.
The nose is a bit too long.
True, we don't have to watch them. Though, I have to say, I think Flight of the Navigator's effects have held up well over the years. I can get where they want to "bring the movie to a new generation," but that can be accomplished by parents showing it to their children. But, I digress. Like you say, Hollywood is going to do this stuff regardless.
Yeh - i'm in the process of fixing that.
Flight_Test10.jpg
I agree the FX have held up better than many - but I think the bigger problem is the difference in culture and technology depicted in the movie compared to what exists now.
Kids may get into movies that their parents introduce them to - but as with our generation - the movies that had the biggest influence on our lives tend to be the ones that were released and were contemporary with our childhoods, even if they were remakes.
That's why most of my favorite kids/teen movies (Flight of the Navigator, Breakfast Club, Werid Science etc) come from the 80s and I dont get the late 90s early 00s ones. Its also why "The Fly" staring Jeff Goldblum and the John Carpenter version of "The Thing" are the definitive and best versions for me - even though they are blatant remakes of previous movies. Many older film fans would probably disagree with me.
For my young nieces and nephews however - they tend to prefer the more contemporary remakes (i.e. the later versions of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Karate Kid) - even though they have seen the older versions. The newer remakes are just more relevant to them.
one recent exception for me however was the Total Recall remake, with a few exceptions of scenes they should have left out (trying too hard to grab on to the original, like the way 3boob was thrown in, or the lobby scene with the friend) i really enjoyed that one.