Klingon Bird of Prey Bridge

Well, you do nice rendering from what I've seen.
I say do it.
I'm looking forward to seeing some renderings.

[gmd3d]

I still working on MKFs Enterprise redesign .. I really like it.. then I am going classic TOS Enterprise by Prologic9 ..

Prologic's are the ones I am using for the BSG cross over I'm making for Dan's site.
It's a great mesh but boy was it a pain in the butt to convert to Carrara friendly.

I love MKF's ship - but it does need windows on the saucer section.
I have a storyboard all written up that uses both EG's and MKF's connies in the same story.
Should be a pretty cool thing when it's finished. I'm expecting it won't be done for about 4-6 months since I have 2 other animations to wrap up first.

[gmd3d]

I am still adding windows. or experimenting with different styles .. I thing the ones I had where too big

[evil_genius_180]

The bridge looks great, Fretslayer. I like the lighting, it has that dank and moody look that Klingons like to use.

Originally Posted by evil_genius_180

The bridge looks great, Fretslayer. I like the lighting, it has that dank and moody look that Klingons like to use.

I've been getting nasty comments over at the Daz website about it.

I'm at the point where I'm still going to use their products but their 'community' can kiss my bass.

I hope that once the computer screens and the rest of the buttons are added and illuminated (I somehow missed a hand full) that the bridge will get a little bit brighter. I don't really want to adjust the light levels since how much light can a computer button really throw? I have the orange and red set to 100%, the green and yellow to 20%. I don't recall at the moment what the floor is set at but I think the ceiling lights are both set to 100% as well as the wall strip. I also have the shadows set to 20% so they're not choking the scene with negative space/shadows.

I will add some Klingons into the scene and see if the lighting is enough to show them with the detail needed to pull off the scene.

When I posted a question over at Daz about how to get a more realistic rendering, I got stupid a$* answers like 'pose the Klingons differently'. When I mentioned that the poses were not relevant to the rendering I got a bunch of snotty remarks from the forum clique. Buncha' goobers!

It makes me appreciate this site and it's people even more.
I can't imagine answering somebody's question the way mine was.
I remember asking Warrior a bunch of questions regarding the textures on Dennis Bailey's 1701-A and never did he make me feel like a dumbass for asking nor did he ever 'speak down to me'.

Because of the question I posted over there and the behavior of some of those who replied I am even more proud of the quality of people that frequent this site. This is a great online community here. I'm glad I came back after my first 5 posts.

[gmd3d]

people are always going to see things differently.. but programs all have different areas where they need more work .. so your doing a great job adapting it from lightwave .. my lighting on the bridge is low and has a range as far as I remember ..

imho

Wow! All of the 'anything glows' lights I've added (so far) have really whacked the tar out of my render time. I have a somewhat simple scene rendering at the moment (just a short speech test w the new lighting) and it's going to take 8 hours to render the 9 second clip!

ZOINKS!

[gmd3d]

I'll see it in the morning then ,,

If it's done by then!
LOL!

I'll post it as soon as it's done and see what y'all think.

[evil_genius_180]

Originally Posted by Fretslayer

I've been getting nasty comments over at the Daz website about it.

Are these Star Trek fans or just 3D modelers? The reason I ask is because a Star Trek fan can see where you're going with this but someone looking at it from strictly an artistic standpoint might not see it that way.

Originally Posted by Fretslayer

Wow! All of the 'anything glows' lights I've added (so far) have really whacked the tar out of my render time.

And your were expecting? Every little light adds to your render time because of the extra calculations the program has to do to simulate its effects. It's even worse if it casts shadows and more so if it's a console glow or some effect such as that. Every time I build a mesh, my render times quadruple (some more, some less, depending on the number of lights) when I set up the light rig.

I've done renders in Max and LWO so yah, I know the evils of the lights. LOL!
I try to keep them down to the minimum when shooting a scene but I think this bridge will really look good (when finished) because of them. At this point it's something like 2:45 (m:s) per frame to render. That's kind of ugly time wise but it might be worth it in the end.

Most of the time I have less than 10 light sources in any given scene but with this bridge set every single button that you see glowing in the test renders is treated as a light bulb (minus lense effects). Once the computer screens are all added in (and the lights are blinking and stuff) I think that the bridge will make for some really good scenes.


As for the ppl at the Daz site - Man, I couldn't tell ya.

I posted a question asking how do I get a more photo realistic looking render (I've seen some images with Carrara that look 90% like a photograph) and I've been feeling that mine are a bit on the 'toon' looking side. So I asked about setting and such to get a better image.

I got one reply about how I had the people posed! It's the same image I posted here with the Klingon pointing at the screen and the one in the background.

When I mentioned that I appreciated the critique of the pose but that was not what I was asking about I got some snotty remarks. One person accused me posting the image and asking the question not so that I could get their awesome and flawless help, but so I could get compliments on my perfect image.

I've posted enough questions here (mostly about Dennis Bailey's 1701-A) that I think you guys know that when I ask a question I'm not fishing for compliments.

I'll still use Daz products but their 'community' can byte me.


I'll have this footage ready to show you guys by noon'ish tomorrow.

[evil_genius_180]

Originally Posted by Fretslayer

At this point it's something like 2:45 (m:s) per frame to render. That's kind of ugly time wise but it might be worth it in the end.

Yeah, that's pretty nasty per frame when you're doing animation. About how many frames do you figure rendering with this bridge?

It's a total of 205 frames and it's now going at 3:00 per frame.

Most of the time when I render speech shots they're 24fps and run between 7 to 10 seconds in running time. I try to avoid the 3-4 second shots because they feel like beginner shots to me. If had the system power I'd do most of my shots around 15-20 seconds each. Well, action/combat shots would be faster.

Fun Fact #209: Before MTV hit the air the typical scene lasted roughly 40 seconds. After MTV the typical scene now lasts 9 seconds.

It seems we're a culture with the attention span of a f.... Oh! Mega-Trucker Magazine!

Here's a shot as it's rendering. Check out the nasty things I circled!

[evil_genius_180]

Hmmm... for an animation, you might want to consider making those textures a wee bit smaller. You really don't need anything larger than the resolution of the animation since you won't be able to see the quality anyway. All you're doing with textures that large is fragging your system and making those renders take longer.

Originally Posted by Fretslayer

It's a total of 205 frames and it's now going at 3:00 per frame.

Most of the time when I render speech shots they're 24fps and run between 7 to 10 seconds in running time. I try to avoid the 3-4 second shots because they feel like beginner shots to me. If had the system power I'd do most of my shots around 15-20 seconds each. Well, action/combat shots would be faster.

Hey, cheer up, that's only about 10:15 (Hours:Minutes) for the 205 frames.

trueSpace only has the option of 15 and 30 fps, so I had to do a real blinky at that 24 fps. I rendered the few animations I've done on 30.

Originally Posted by Fretslayer

Fun Fact #209: Before MTV hit the air the typical scene lasted roughly 40 seconds. After MTV the typical scene now lasts 9 seconds.

It seems we're a culture with the attention span of a f.... Oh! Mega-Trucker Magazine!

That's pretty damn sad right there. As far as I'm concerned, the only thing MTV was ever good for is Beavis and Butt-head. I have a bunch of those on DVD.

The textures are Taranis' fault.
LOL!

I should have checked the size before I animated though.


But that why we do 'test animations'!

[gmd3d]

blame the innocent one

Innocent?
ROFLMAO!

Yah, and I'm a virgin.
LOL!

Ok so here's a quick test shot of the bridge.
It's just a simple 'lighting test' but I think it will probably work.
Just a few bugs so squash and some other bits to take care of and I think we're ready to begin shooting the bridge scenes.

Let me know what y'all think.

http://wabashponies.com/dan/burbled.avi (size: 4.81mb avi DivX codec @ 720x480)

[gmd3d]

COOL animation . the lines sound familiar

Did the lighting look ok?
Could you see enough of the textures?
Did the scene look 'deep' like a room or flat like a photograph?

I know there are still missing elements in this test but feedback is good - even when it's bad.


As for what my little Klingon friend was saying...

JABBERWOCKY
Lewis Carroll
(from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There, 1872)

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.


"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:
Long time the manxome foe he sought --
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

"And, has thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!'
He chortled in his joy.


`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

[gmd3d]

The Texture look ok for me .. but get more feed back from those who have more experience in sets

Originally Posted by Taranis

The Texture look ok for me .. but get more feed back from those who have more experience in sets

Like who?
:laugh:

Looking at it myself, I like the controls in front of the Klingon but the wall textures aren't popping out at me the way I think they should. Perhaps I need to turn up the bump maps up higher.

I'm going to PM somebody over at the Daz site who also hangs out here from time to time and ask him what he thinks.

[evil_genius_180]

That's interesting. A Klingon poet who doesn't sound like he's burping and grunting.

Seriously, good work dude.

Originally Posted by evil_genius_180

That's interesting. A Klingon poet who doesn't sound like he's burping and grunting.

Seriously, good work dude.

LOL!
Well he is sort of 'growly' anyway. LOL!
The voice was an example that ships with Mimic.
I thought it was sort of a funny thing for a Klingon to say.
:laugh:

Ok, now back to reality. Do you think the textures 'show' enough?
Ger has done a great job on them and I'm concerned that they're not 'popping' the way they should. Maybe I'm just being overly critical but I know how awesome his mesh looks in LWO, Max and DE and I want that same level of 'nasty wall' look in this.

On a side note, you should see the new footage I've shot with your ship!
I have the 'dot' bussards rotating now instead of the 'gaseous' ones you see in the first 3 shots. Plus there are now something like 5-6 shots that only I've seen. Once I get the BOP set finished I'll be able to finish the animation and hopefully it'll be entertaining and show off the nice meshes that y'all have made.

[evil_genius_180]

It looks good but everything kinda looks clean for a Klingon ship (which I'd imagine wasn't the effect you were going for.) If the textures are sufficiently dirty, you might want to check your specular and shine settings.

Thanks.
That's mega-helpful.

The textures are grimy and and gnarly and I'm afraid that's being lost here. I'll go back and do some test stills with the specular and bump settings and see what I can come up with.

This INT set is an out of the ballpark mesh and I want to show off how awesome it is.
Not having the nasty, dirty, Klingony look going on won't do that.
I'll have some test images shortly.

[gmd3d]

Texturing is not a strong point with me ,, ..

Originally Posted by Taranis

Texturing is not a strong point with me ,, ..

Say what you will, but when I load your mesh in Max, Lwo, or DE the textures look good to me. I think you may be under estimating yourself.

[gmd3d]

thanks .. but I am under the weather with a cold .. it must have gone to my head

Six pints of Guinness and four shots of Jagermonster will cure ya!