Strange New Worlds in Collision

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A special treat today, considering I rarely render Star Trek pictures, owing mainly to how their greed for light doesn’t really mesh with my own style of lighting. After seeing the cover of James Blish’s “Star Trek 4,” I decided to make a picture based on it. Since I don’t have a model of the TOS Enterprise handy, I used Vektor’s Constitution. And then after I finished rendering out all the elements, I decided for the sheer unadulterated hell of it to make a second version with Dennis Bailey’s refit-Enterprise

So, without further ado…

The Constitution version:

The Enterprise version:

Early Babylon 5 Lightwave Animations

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These five brief Babylon 5 animations are from my first year or two using Lightwave 3D, somewhere around 2002/2003.

 

“GROPOS”

Based on a shot from the Babylon 5 episode “GROPOS” with a Nova Dreadnought alongside the station.

Babylon 5: Ed Giddings

Nova: Matt Tarling

Epsilon 3: Matt Tarling and Jeff Richards

Nebula: Jeff Richards

Music: “Without Help” by Jerry Goldsmith

“Shadow Threat Test”

Once upon a time, I decided to redo, shot for shot, the “Shadow Threat” teaser released for the now-long-canceled Babylon 5 computer game. I used these two shots to make sure my timing was right so far and that it meshed with the trailer’s soundtrack.

Shadow Battlecrab: Nadab Göksu

Omega: Matt Tarling

Nebula: Jeff Richards

Music: “Z’ha’dum Suite” by Christopher Franke

 

“Convoy”

This one actually started life as a still, which I decided to render as an animation on a lark.

Hyperion: Craig A. Clark

Starfury and Shuttle: Mark Kane

Olympus: Leo Dunin

Nova: Matt Tarling

Music: “Big Trouble” by James Newton Howard

 

Hyperion Jumpout

Another shot-for-shot, this time of the Hyperion’s entrance in “A Voice In The Wilderness Pt. II.”

Hyperion: Craig A. Clark

Jumpgate: Yuri A. Parovin

Jumppoint: Matt Tarling

Nebula: Jeff Richards

Epsilon 3: Matt Tarling and Jeff Richards

Babylon 5: Ed Giddings

 

White Star Jumpout

A render based on a shot from the episode “Matters of Honor” with the White Star exiting a Jumppoint.

White Star: Kier Darby

Nebula: Matt Tarling and Jeff Richards

 

Stargate Yard Redux

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Since I have a new, better Stargate model, I decided to do a new, better version of the only real picture I made with my first Stargate model, namely the ‘gate in my backyard. I also added a little something to allow the inner ring to spin freely. I’m not 100% happy with where the rendered concrete meets the real concrete, and something seems off about the scale and/or perspective of it, but I don’t know how to deal with that.

 

Halo Gallery

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The 2006 Gates Are Here

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…and it’s about danged time, too!

Well, I’ve been lazy about putting everything together, and I didn’t want to advertise the model until it was ready to go out, but now it is. Anyway, I’ve remodeled my Stargate from scratch, and I do believe it is far superior now in accuracy, detail, and general prettiness.

First, to refresh your memory check out the old version.

Now, get a load of the new version, in all its glory.

This uses the lighting setup and cove object from the LWG, by Jason T and Lightwave7871. And, after using it, it’s the only way to show off your models. Well, if you’re me, at least. Gad, it just brings everything right out on the modeled details and textures.

There are three versions of the main model, a low, medium, and high-detail version.

Low
Medium
High

Now, some of these next images were made while the model was still being fined tuned, so there may be minor details that are different.

Top of the Atlantis gate
Back of the SG-1 gate
Front of the SG-1 gate
Front of the Atlantis gate
Earth Origin Symbol
Abydos Origin Symbol
Antarctica Origin Symbol
P7J-989 Origin Symbol

And, don’t forget it’s animatable. You’ll need an up-to-date version of Quicktime to view these.

Chevron 1 Locks using a movie-style animation setup
The beginning of the Atlantis Stargate’s outgoing dialing sequence
The Atlantis Stargate’s incoming dialing sequence
The puddle effect (with lighting!)

 

Go here to download it.

Stargate 2.5

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The second version of my model of the Stargate features both the SG-1 and Atlantis versions of the ‘gate, the Tollan Stargate seen in the episode “Pretense,” a base for the Stargate, numerous pre-set dialing sequences, and an in-camera animated “Event Horizon” effect.

Stargate Model Showcase

“SG-1 and Atlantis Stargate 2.5” for Lightwave 9, Updated November 22, 2011  – 27.2 MB

“SG-1 and Atlantis Stargate 2.3” in OBJ format, Updated October 25, 2007 – 25.4 MB

Stargate 2 Model Showcase

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An assortment of renders of my second Stargate model.

Information on reference material.

 

Movies:

– An offworld activation on an Atlantis-style gate

– The beginning of the dialing sequence on an Atlantis-style gate

– Chevron One locks into place on an SG-1 gate

– An example of the dynamic lighting included with the puddle effect

Images:

 

Download Page

 

“I am a Leaf on the Wind…”

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Well, it had been a while since I did anything but model rigging in Layout, and once I saw Serenity, this picture just sorta popped into my head. I’d been saving the basic composition for another idea, but I decided that this was as good a use as any of the “Ship flying towards camera left over an ocean sunset” concept. Plus, it gave me a chance to try out Skytracer and a tutorial landscape and ocean plain that I hadn’t made use of yet. Anyway, here’s the picture.

Serenity Gallery

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