Read Me
Stargate (Movie Version) for Lightwave 2020
By David Gian-Cursio
April 9, 2026

Description:

This is a model of the Stargate as it appeared and functioned in the original feature film. This model does not include the "puddle," "kawoosh," "strudel," or any other associated effects, just the Stargate device itself.

How to Use:

Four setup scenes are provided:

SG_Movie_Off_Setup.lws has the Stargate in a neutral position, with all the chevrons closed.

SG_Movie_On_Setup.lws has the Stargate with the with the six "address" chevrons locked open, as they were when the Stargate was connected during the film.

SG_Movie_Dialing_Template_Scene.lws has the six chevrons pre-animated, "locking" at frame 0, opening simultaneously at frame 500, and closing again at frame 600, to allow you to easily animate your own dialing sequence. Animate the rotations of the inner ring so each symbol in the address aligns under the top chevron, and pause for 60 frames before rotating to the next symbol (all timings are assuming the scene is set to 24 frames per second) until you've keyframed dialing all seven symbols. I like to initially animate it so Chevron One stops at frame 100, Chevron Two at 200, and so on. To give the ring enough time to ramp up to full speed, it has to rotate at least 45¡, or 5 symbols. If the two symbols you're dialing are closer together, animate it so the ring makes a full revolution and stops the second time it passes the symbol.

To animate the ring such that it accelerates from a full stop, spins at a constant rate, and then decelerates, I use the following process. I know it's tedious, if you have a better way, please let me know.

First, I set all the keyframes to linear interpolation. Then, I space out the rotational keyframes so they're all at the correct speed (right-clicking the channel in the graph editor and checking "Show Speed" is helpful). The ring's normal speed is about 5 frames per glyph, or 7.5 RPM, or 45¡ per second. Once that's done, add two new keyframes during each rotation, 12 frames after it starts spinning and 12 frames before it stops, which will be the acceleration/deceleration period for each rotation. Move your keyframes so the ramp-up and ramp-down times increase by 6 frames each. Finally, reset all the keyframes to TCB Splines, and adjust the Tension for each one so the rests are a full stop, the mid-rotations are at a constant speed, and the ramp-ups and -downs are smooth curves. I know this is complicated to describe in words, so look at the example Abydos dialing scene to see how it's supposed to turn out.

Once you're satisfied with the ring's animation, use the "Shift Keys" function in the scene editor to move the animations for the chevrons to the appropriate positions, working backwards, first moving the frames on all the chevrons from 600 to 610 to when you want the stargate to deactivate (well after the end of your inner ring animation), then the frames from 500 to 510 to when you want the seventh symbol to lock and the stargate to open (~30 frames after the inner ring stops with the origin symbol at the top), and then the frames from 0 to 30 for each chevron in turn. The animation for each chevron is set up so you can simply shift the keys directly to the keyframe where the ring stops rotating. resulting in its locking animation starting 30 frames after the ring pauses. Note that Chevron 7 and it's associated Chevron Block do not move, when Chevron 7 locks in the film, the other six chevrons all move together.

SG_Movie_Dialing_Abydos_Setup.lws is a dialing animation made using the above template scene. Use it as-is, or as reference when creating your own dialing sequence using the above template.

Also included is an alternate inner ring:

SG_Movie_InnerRing_Abydos.lwo can be used to replace SG_Movie_InnerRing_Earth to depict the stargate within the pyramid on the alien planet in the movie.


Revision History:

Version 3.2, April 9, 2026:
Updated Abydos inner ring with four corrected symbols based on newly-discovered reference material.

Version 3.1, March 22, 2021
Updated dialing template and setup scenes with more precise dialing animation and correct model scaling

Version 3.0, March 14, 2021:
Initial Release

Public Domain Dedication:

This model is released as CC0, no rights reserved, and is in the public domain. Credit to the modeler, David Gian-Cursio, is not required, but is appreciated.