I just heard about Filmic Blender this week. The bad news is I use 3ds max. The good news is that Filmic Blender is built in OCIO, so I was able to port it over the Vray in 3ds max as well as Adobe After Effects. I used Filmic Blender to render this shot of nighfever's Enterprise-A. Love it!
That is amazing, it looks just like a still from the TV series.
I'm loving filmic as well.
Do you mind me asking what lighting you are using? Are you using lamps, emitter planes or HDRI?
I don't mind any question!
For the most part, emitter planes. But I recently starting using a spot lamp on the underside of the Saucer. As near as I can figure out, that is how they lit the real model.
On top of that, I have the whole thing (models, planes, spot lamps) inside a large box that is made invisible to the camera. That simulates the environment that the model was filmed in during the 1960's. It works REALLY well. If you make the box blue, it can even simulate the blue spill from the blue screens used.
For the most part, emitter planes. But I recently starting using a spot lamp on the underside of the Saucer. As near as I can figure out, that is how they lit the real model.
On top of that, I have the whole thing (models, planes, spot lamps) inside a large box that is made invisible to the camera. That simulates the environment that the model was filmed in during the 1960's. It works REALLY well. If you make the box blue, it can even simulate the blue spill from the blue screens used.
Slight change to the bridge.
I followed an illustration by Gary Kerr for the body of the bridge and also made the top sensor dome larger. Supposedly this was done following the effects shots for The Trouble with Tribbles episode.
And for fun, here's a shot to simulate the "blue spill" from blue screens of the day. That, and the occasional color gel over the lights.
You know, I've been trying to simulate this with Global Illumination and a simple mockup of the bluescreen studio based on photos I found, and I've come to the conclusion that the "blue spill" wasn't actually colour spill at all.
If you think about it, the only part of the ship that would really pick up a lot of blue is the part facing the blue screen itself, and away from the camera. Any meaningful colour spill from the background would only be visible to the camera in specular reflections, especially around the edges due to the fresnel effect.
I actually think the blue tint was more the result of film stock and processing techniques at the time, rather than lighting. Possibly even a result of them trying to balance the colours to compensate for the blue reflections.
You know, I've been trying to simulate this with Global Illumination and a simple mockup of the bluescreen studio based on photos I found, and I've come to the conclusion that the "blue spill" wasn't actually colour spill at all.
If you think about it, the only part of the ship that would really pick up a lot of blue is the part facing the blue screen itself, and away from the camera. Any meaningful colour spill from the background would only be visible to the camera in specular reflections, especially around the edges due to the fresnel effect.
Interesting speculation, but in the end, the blue screen did indeed affect the color of the ship. You'll notice on certain shots that the Enterprise is more blue around the edges and greying in the middle ... from any angle. That is (of course) impossible. The only explanation is blue screen spill.
Interesting speculation, but in the end, the blue screen did indeed affect the color of the ship. You'll notice on certain shots that the Enterprise is more blue around the edges and greying in the middle ... from any angle. That is (of course) impossible. The only explanation is blue screen spill.
I'm not debating that. In fact, when I render my model against the blue background with GI, the saucer can become almost entirely blue depending on the incidence angle.
What I'm referring to is shots of the ship like the ones you can find at 1:19 and 1:35 in Doug Drexler's reference video, where the ship appears very blue.
Contrast this with the shots from around 5:50-6:00, which show pretty heavy colour spill around the edges, and much more in line with the results I've been getting in my renders:
Now, I had a quick look on Wikipedia to try and learn about the process they would have used at the time, and one of the things that stuck out to me was the technique Petro Vlahos developed to improve blue screen compositing by separating the colours of the film stock and taking advantage of the fact that the green and blue light content are roughly equal in most scenes.
So I loaded the same rendered image into photoshop, and simply deleted the luminance of the blue channel and replaced it with the luminance of the green channel, and here is the result:
The blue spill is gone, and the more red-orange-yellow-brown elements have taken on a more pinkish hue as they did in many shots from TOS. The bright blue shine of the colour spill has been replaced by shadows with a slightly cyan tint.
The red channel can then be manipulated to turn the ship into various shades of Cyan, as it appeared in TOS.
So what I'm saying is that the tint of the old footage was more the result of the film stock and post processing, rather than reflected light from the blue screen.
On a related note, apparently the gold shirts were actually more green, but looked different on film.
Somehow the Enterprise looks squished down in this and your last render.
I used a different "camera" for the last two. I'll take a look. I'm thinking about rebuilding my model to make it a little closer to the original. Thanks.
I used a different "camera" for the last two. I'll take a look. I'm thinking about rebuilding my model to make it a little closer to the original. Thanks.
I find the design is very sensitive to camera angles and zoom levels. Because you have to try to compensate for the thickness of the lines in schematic drawings it can be tricky to get the proportions right. Getting the thickness of the saucer right is particularly elusive.
I used a different "camera" for the last two. I'll take a look. I'm thinking about rebuilding my model to make it a little closer to the original. Thanks.
I thought it was something like this.
As for rebuilding; I think she looks already pretty great and close to the filming miniature.
I wish I had that talent of yours to use blender like that....I tried to use blender and I just could not do it...Your lucky you that smart bro.
Hey, if I can do it, anyone can. I simply invested some time (and money) into learning Blender. it's more capable than TrueSpace ever was, and that was my prior software of choice. There's a MILLION (well, maybe not a MILLION) videos on youtube to show you how to use Blender. Find someone who you like and follow along with their tutorials. You'll get it sooner or later.
Cant really comment to the ultimate accuracy of the model Eric, but had noticed the same as ST-One- always good to play around with new settings and features though!
Cant really comment to the ultimate accuracy of the model Eric, but had noticed the same as ST-One- always good to play around with new settings and features though!
Thank you, Samurai! (Of course, in my head I hear Mako saying that ...)
There was one sequence I wanted to do way back when I was using TrueSpace. I'm running my third attempt with a ship orbit around Excalbia now. Here's a test image. NewExcalbiaIntroOrbit.jpg
There was one sequence I wanted to do way back when I was using TrueSpace. I'm running my third attempt with a ship orbit around Excalbia now. Here's a test image. NewExcalbiaIntroOrbit.jpg
There was a lot to recommend for TrueSpace back in the day. I'd have to say that Blender is now far and away past what even TrueSpace 7 was able to do.
While producing a series of tutorials on how to create your own USS Enterprise in Blender, I made some slight changes to how I make warp domes. I think they turned out closer to the originals than I had ever done before. Lucky happenstance.
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Damn! That looks like a REAL object!
I'm loving filmic as well.
Do you mind me asking what lighting you are using? Are you using lamps, emitter planes or HDRI?
For the most part, emitter planes. But I recently starting using a spot lamp on the underside of the Saucer. As near as I can figure out, that is how they lit the real model.
On top of that, I have the whole thing (models, planes, spot lamps) inside a large box that is made invisible to the camera. That simulates the environment that the model was filmed in during the 1960's. It works REALLY well. If you make the box blue, it can even simulate the blue spill from the blue screens used.
I hope that answers everything!
And thank you for the compliment!
That is a top-drawer answer. Nicely done! :thumb:
Thank you Samurai! If illustrations are needed, I'm happy to oblige!
I followed an illustration by Gary Kerr for the body of the bridge and also made the top sensor dome larger. Supposedly this was done following the effects shots for The Trouble with Tribbles episode.
You know, I've been trying to simulate this with Global Illumination and a simple mockup of the bluescreen studio based on photos I found, and I've come to the conclusion that the "blue spill" wasn't actually colour spill at all.
If you think about it, the only part of the ship that would really pick up a lot of blue is the part facing the blue screen itself, and away from the camera. Any meaningful colour spill from the background would only be visible to the camera in specular reflections, especially around the edges due to the fresnel effect.
I actually think the blue tint was more the result of film stock and processing techniques at the time, rather than lighting. Possibly even a result of them trying to balance the colours to compensate for the blue reflections.
I'm not debating that. In fact, when I render my model against the blue background with GI, the saucer can become almost entirely blue depending on the incidence angle.
What I'm referring to is shots of the ship like the ones you can find at 1:19 and 1:35 in Doug Drexler's reference video, where the ship appears very blue.
Contrast this with the shots from around 5:50-6:00, which show pretty heavy colour spill around the edges, and much more in line with the results I've been getting in my renders:
spill.jpg
Now, I had a quick look on Wikipedia to try and learn about the process they would have used at the time, and one of the things that stuck out to me was the technique Petro Vlahos developed to improve blue screen compositing by separating the colours of the film stock and taking advantage of the fact that the green and blue light content are roughly equal in most scenes.
So I loaded the same rendered image into photoshop, and simply deleted the luminance of the blue channel and replaced it with the luminance of the green channel, and here is the result:
spill2.jpg
The blue spill is gone, and the more red-orange-yellow-brown elements have taken on a more pinkish hue as they did in many shots from TOS. The bright blue shine of the colour spill has been replaced by shadows with a slightly cyan tint.
The red channel can then be manipulated to turn the ship into various shades of Cyan, as it appeared in TOS.
So what I'm saying is that the tint of the old footage was more the result of the film stock and post processing, rather than reflected light from the blue screen.
On a related note, apparently the gold shirts were actually more green, but looked different on film.
Here's an example: https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/evolution-of-the-starship-enterprise/9/
Look around the EDGES of the saucer. You can see the blue spill. Towards the center of the saucer, it is grey.
TheTholianWeb.jpg
I find the design is very sensitive to camera angles and zoom levels. Because you have to try to compensate for the thickness of the lines in schematic drawings it can be tricky to get the proportions right. Getting the thickness of the saucer right is particularly elusive.
I thought it was something like this.
As for rebuilding; I think she looks already pretty great and close to the filming miniature.
Thanks for the compliment!
Cant really comment to the ultimate accuracy of the model Eric, but had noticed the same as ST-One- always good to play around with new settings and features though!
NewExcalbiaIntroOrbit.jpg
Heh. I'm still using Truespace for modeling.
Very nice work!
There was a lot to recommend for TrueSpace back in the day. I'd have to say that Blender is now far and away past what even TrueSpace 7 was able to do.
Having said that, I certainly miss TrueSpace.
TutorialWarpDomes03.jpg
TutorialWarpDomes01.jpg
ElaanShipAndStars01.jpg