Last minute picture. The Defiant’s shuttlecraft returns from a visit to an Intrepid-class ship.
Category Archives: Write-Up
100 Days, 100 Renders— Day 33
There’s a certain ebb and flow to these pictures, I’ve noticed. This one was another “getting acquainted with the model” image. I’m hoping to do a couple pictures representing scenes from the Star Trek novel trilogy “Destiny,” which involves, in part, a massive Borg attack on the Federation. The nebula is a Hubble photo I considered as a possible background for yesterday’s picture.
100 Days, 100 Renders— Day 32
100 Days, 100 Renders— Day 31
Hey, I made it a whole month! How about that.
After the Babylon 4 picture yesterday, I felt like continuing the theme. This one is actually based on a specific shot from Babylon 5’s season 3 finale, “Z’ha’dum.”
100 Days, 100 Renders— Day 30
As I was working on my Star Trek 50th Anniversary picture last night, I wanted a quicker set-up for today’s render. Luckily, The Audio Guide to Babylon 5 dropped their episode on War Without End last night, giving me a fine bit of inspiration.
I’ve been avoiding images of Babylon 4 (and 5) since those models are older, and it’s easier to make more flattering images with more up-to-date models. Only one of the models in this image even has a self-lighting rig. Still, it gives me a foundation I might revisit later in the future.
I also tried my hand at the Shadow’s “phasing” effect, similar to the classic Star Trek cloaking device. I’m fairly sure the original show did the effect in 3D, but I haven’t had a lot of success with it when I’ve tried. More experimentation will be required.
100 Days, 100 Renders— Day 29
With this last test, I’m set for Thursday’s picture. This model is a bit hefty for my poor old laptop, so I didn’t get to do a lot of experimentation with angles and lighting for this shot. I just went for the first idea I had. I tried for too much quality on the render so it wasn’t close to finished this morning, which is why it’s smaller than usual.
100 Days, 100 Renders— Day 28
Another basic test shot. This one has the benefit of not being a conversion, though I did adjust some of the lights and textures. The Enterprise-D is a hard ship to make look good. In my opinion, it’s at its best in shots that emphasize its size (same with the Excelsior). That giant saucer is really hard to work around.
100 Days, 100 Renders— Day 27
This was another glorified test-shot. Converting models built in other programs into the one I use is something I haven’t had to do much since I started using Lightwave, so it was interesting to flex that muscle again. I’m note sure what to do about all the rendering errors on the saucer. I think they might be because Lightwave’s FBX importer, so I may try to redo it in another format as a base. The modeler, Alexander “Nightfever” Klemm, is very conscientious about making his models available in universal formats, which I appreciate. Still, its current condition is serviceable for my 50th anniversary idea, so I’ll move on to working on the other ships I need to have ready to go.
Aside from the glitches, “Generic Enterprise-E Render” turned out fairly well. It does appear that I need a wider library of high-resolution fictional planets, though. Something to keep in mind if I’m bored in the future. I also applied the out-of-focus lens-dirt technique I developed a few days ago, partially hoping I could use it to cover up some of the rendering problems, though when that didn’t work out, I dialed it down it was much more subtle. I also tried out the idea I suggested in that prior post, having several layers of dirt responding to different amounts of blur, though wouldn’t really be visible in a still.
100 Days, 100 Renders— Day 26
It occurred to me yesterday that we’re now about a week away from Star Trek’s 50th anniversary, so I should probably do something Star Trekky and special for my September 8th picture. I’ve got an idea, but I’ll need a fairly large amount Star Trek ship models that I haven’t used before (or, in a while). I think they’re all available in the hobbyist 3D community, though I might need to put some elbow-grease into getting them to work with Lightwave. So, expect a bit of a Star Trek focus of the next few days, as I convert, test, and generally get to know some of these models.
100 Days, 100 Renders— Day 25
I was reminded by a recent XKCD strip that I hadn’t done any 2001: A Space Odyssey images, yet.1My logic? It occurred to me that HAL 9000 doesn’t count because, technically, Jupiter was hurled into him. My first instinct was to do an image of the derelict Discovery above Io, but my old Jupiter-and-moons setup scene was giving me some peculiar rendering errors.
| ↑1 | My logic? It occurred to me that HAL 9000 doesn’t count because, technically, Jupiter was hurled into him. |
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