Mojo
Thanks for the heads-up, Mojo! Now, get working on those other secret projects you can't tell us about! Or can you..?
Mark
No other secret projects. I assume everyone knows about 'Starship Spotter' by now, a collection of 30 ships pictures and stats, due this winter.
Oh, and as far as what I'm reading about the new Enterprise, it's simple - Berman likes the Akira.
Mojo
According to the site it includes an original, 12x24 black-and-white, bird's-eye-view 'photograph' of the Enterprise and Challenger in flight.
[ July 13, 2001: Message edited by: The359 ]
I like the calendar.
My only real beef with it is that some of the pictures are blurry... but that has more to do with catching the illusion of motion than with it being bad artwork.
Some pics will be very good right now.
Mojo
actually i was wondering.
How many poly's is the Akira model (which for 2003, whould be on the cover) and how many textures at what resolution does it use?
Im assuming your using the same meshes as from the series/movies. Also, do you think I can give you some images, mabye just for ideas. If you re did one of my images I would just die a happy man.
Im sure you get requests like this all the time. Anyway, excelent work.
The 2003 calendar cover is an image of the E heading into the sunset - in a binary star system. I know, I know, we used the E on the last cover but I confess to being a commercial slut - with Trek X opening around the same time the calendar will be in stores, Pocket Books agreed that it would be a good idea to have it on the cover!
In both calendars, people seem to react best to shots that AREN'T in space - the atmospheric stuff - so I decided to make the 2003 calendar all 'environmental' shots (I'm also a big fan of doing something other than the same old thing of seeing ships floating against black backgrounds). Some of the concepts in the works are Voyager over Los Angeles at night (from 'Future's End') and a look at the Vulcan equivalent of LAX. Other shots feature the Statue of Liberty and the Golden Gate Bridge.
I would be happy to hear what kind of images people would like to see...
Mojo
)It would be nice to see Federation ships that are a bit unusual, Wolf 359 ships is a good idea, as is Qualor II ships. But what I would like to see is the starfleet academy trainer, and the attack fighter, both of which looks as if they�re capable of atmospheric flight. Also, Ambassador-class!!!, Constellation, and how about the Intrepid aerowing and the Nova waverider.
maybe you can answer this:
http://flare.solareclipse.net/cgi2/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=6&t=001328
And I think the one ship that would cause the most wide-spread ecstatic reaction would be the Ambassador.
But, of course, you can probably only work w/ the ships that have already been digitally modelled, in which case I really don't know what to say.
BTW, this is just what I think other people will think. I'm not necessarily right. Not to mention that I'm talking about the really big-time ship fanatics. I don't know whether your audience is comprised more of them, or of people who are more concerned w/ the pictures than the ship. *shrug*
Also, a colour centerfold would be excellent, too.
Think I saw you at the Hunt Valley Shore Leave this year in (gasp!) Cockeysville, Maryland (you'd think it would be Hunt Valley, don't you? )
Anyway, I really liked that eye-whatchamacallit-visor thingy. Not to mention the large pic of the Sovereign- and ... Galaxy- was it?
But, as the question is "shots we'd like to see", as a native Marylander (first of the DC suburbs, now of the Baltimore 'burbs), I think a shot of a Galaxy-Class starship over the Washington Monument would be sweeeeeeeet ...
[ September 07, 2001: Message edited by: MeGotBeer ]
Tying in with this, it's be cool to continue the work to keep the ship names and registries consistent. In the above example, the ships could be the Enterprise-E and Challenger as one option.
I'm guessing the 2003 calendar will have at least one image with the new Prequel Enterprise, so I'd love to see one of that ship from an angle we *won't* normally see in the show's stock footage. Ditto for the other ships. In the 2001 calendar, for example, we see the Honshu, Prometheus and Warbirds in what amount to essentially shots right out of their respective episodes. The images in that calendar of the E-nil, and the one of Voyager from above are very different though, and are among my favourites.
Mark
As far as atmospheric shots go, Jupiter's upper atmosphere is a good candidate, perhaps a squadron of Pereguines formation, or a Prometheus in MVA mode? that last one is a bit nutty but it would look cool
What I mean to say is that at the time of its creation, that shot and composition was unique - and fairly original. So kuodos to Mojo & co. for thinking it up. Also, I'd like to throw my vote in for an image from Wolf 359 as well - and it's completely possible to do it with existing or easily-modified meshes, without buggering up continuity.
Mark
Other things I'd like to see:
TOS ships, including Enterprise, Bird of Prey, Botany Bay, and D7. How about recreating some famous scenes (from different angles) from Space Seed, Enterprise Incident, Trouble with Tribbles, Doomsday Machine (!), The Ultimate Computer, Balance of Terror, Tholian Web, etc.
Movie era ships: Refit Enterprise (shouldn't you have one from ST:TMP Director's cut?), Excelsior, Oberth, Ktinga. Also recreated scenes from movies.
Battle scenes: Please, however, maintain realistic distances between ships. Don't show them firing at 100 yards as on TV. Maybe it's best to show only one ship firing, or on fire, or beat up after a battle. Only battle with realistically close ships is Enterprise vs Reliant from STII.
Ships flying in formation: Perhaps emphasizing the differences in size and era (sort of like seeing a small sailing ship in the foreground and a wall of steel formed by the hull of Titanic in the background) For example, a Constitution class ship flying in formation with a Sovereign. A rationalization for such a combination could celebration of Starfleet Day or maybe the Starfleet Museum.
Ships from the Animated Series (robot cargo ship, USS Huron), Franz Joseph's Starfleet Technical Manual, or the barely seen (in Spacedock in STIII) ship design for Star Trek: Phase II.
Background: A big ringed planet, asteroids, inside spacedock, ship yard. Please don't show big ships in the atmosphere.
Unusual angles of well known ships: Ships are rarely shown from below and to the side.
A ship named USS Okazaki (my last name)
Finally, any word on what your Starship Spotter book will contain? When is the release date?
Simply put, I wanted to do something different. Something that has never been done with Star Trek ships before. I was in a bookstore looking through photography books, looking at all the wonderful, artistic pictures and I thought 'why hasn't anyone ever portrayed science fiction this way?' Where was the black and white and creative use of color and blur and other staples of inventive photography? It's always about getting the right exposure and making the shot look cool and that's it. Mind you, I LIKE that sort of thing, but after consuming it for 25 years and producing it for 9 I wanted to try a new approach.
So the idea behind the 2002 calendar was that the Federation hired the best photographers in the 24th century (maybe they're from National Geographic) and asked them to photograph the ships of the line through their lens.
So, for the first time, the images are NOT about the ships, but about the photograph. I wanted to portray pictures of the ships as artwork, not just the same old picture of a ship with neat lighting.
To be fair, Rob warned that not everyone would take to the idea, and that there are a lot of people out there who WANT normal pictures of spaceships against black backgrounds... but he agreed it would be fun to try something different.
Not all of them are a success. No one seems to like the Defiant image, and I admit that was one is a dud. I really like the bold shapes and study in contrast that the Unicomplex and Utopia P. shots employ, but few others do. On the other hand, what I find interesting (and gratifying) is that, of the other images, everyone has a different favorite. Some love the workbee shot, others hate it. Some prefer the Klingon burning up and and (believe it or not) a few people have picked the blurry, attacking Romulan ship as their favorite image! This simply reflects the very subjective artistic tastes that each individual has, and I am proud of the diversity we achieved. In the 2001 calendar, everyone picks the same 2 or 3 images as their favorite - in this one it's way across the board. I don't know exactly what that says, but I like it.
I also see that people were disappointed that the calendar was square this time and not the wide format of 2001. No one should blame Pocket for this - it was my decision, since I felt that the square format was better for the kinds of images we were showing (it's closer to the 35mm aspect ratio we usually see photographs in - rarely do you go to a photo gallery where all the pictures are widescreen).
Happily, these people will be glad to know that the 2003 calendar does go back to the horizontal format. The scenic nature of the images will work better this way. It all depends on what works best for the pictures. For a calendar of Workbees, I would choose square. For the Galactica, it would have to be wide.
The vast majority of people I've shown the calendar to seem to enjoy it, but I've read a lot of reviews online (especially at Amazon) from people who really hate it. While I want to please the audience this calendar is meant for, at the same time it's hard for me to give creedence to comments like 'the black and white picture would have been better in color' and 'the long exposure shot would have been better without the streaks.' It makes me a little sad that some folks won't allow themselves to view these things they love in a slightly different light.
I'll go into more detail about the 2003 calendar and book in another message.
Mojo
I'd like to salute you in advance for preparing Starship Spotter, which promises to give realistic ship information from people who actually do the shows. The focus of fans here is on the correct CG models, ship sizes and related information.
The same applies to any calendars you might be working on: the most exciting thing we can get is new information, visual or not. This means clear, never-before-seen views of famous ships, and any clear views of ships that are not as famous.
I'm sure that even the casual fans would appreciate such images, because seeing this kind of unusual vessels will make them value what they got, and kindle their interest in further publications with starship images. Of course, you also need to balance it out with more familiar stuff for commercial purposes.
One other suggestion:
Find out if you can acquire EdenFX's Defiant model that was built off the studio model for "The Changing Face of Evil". The one you're using now was built completely unofficially as an intern's practice assignment, with reference to the inaccurate model kit, and was adopted by the late Digital Muse, now EdenFX, for "Sacrifice of Angels" and later episodes only because
a) the old CG Defiant (by VisionArt) couldn't be converted into LightWave
b) so many other ships had to be built that it was decided that this practice model was good enough for the time being.
Best Regards.
[ September 08, 2001: Message edited by: Jim Phelps ]
However, the way Mojo described the calender, I think I'm going to have to check it out. It seems like an interesting take, something more artistic than usual. Sounds interesting.
As for next year, I'm going to have to second (or third) a vote for a Wolf 359 scene. And fleet scenes that compare well known w/ lesser known. I personally would love to see some of Masao's work in a fleet scene along side the E-nil. Prolly not legally possible, but a TOS fleet scene would be nice. Also a Galaxy family scene would be nice - Galaxy, Cheyenne, New Orleans, Springfield, etc.
I already have the 2002 calender (I've actually had it since July), and it's pretty good. Just one question, on the time lapse photo, am I correct in guessing that the two blurred ships are a Saber (to the right of the Nebula) and Akira (the top right of the picture)?
The idea behind this book is to show you the things Star Trek has talked about, or implied, but never actually put on the screen. Things like Wolf 359, Voyager sinking into the ice *after* the snow crash, the Enterprise flying through a comet in "Balance of Terror," the Doomsday Machine tearing up the planet being visited by the Constellation's crew... and more.
As far as everyone's beloved Wolf 359, I'm planning to make that part of a special, giant chapter that will detail the history of the Borg (as seen on Trek), going from the mission of the Raven, to the events of "Q Who" up to Voyager's crushing blow to them in "Endgame."
In regards to new ships, I know that everyone would like to see a beautiful model for each and every starship that has been even mentioned in Star Trek history. As much as I would love to do this, I'm sure you all realize that I could easily blow the entire budget (and schedule) of the project just making ship models. While new ships will certainly have to be made, the bulk of the rendering will be of ships that already exist (mind you this library is nothing to sneeze at).
If anyone out there is an experienced 3D modeller and has a ready-for-primetime portfolio AND would like to contribute ship models for use free of charge (or at least very cheap) in this project, by all means contact me! I'll be happy to include each and every ship in this book if I can get the models :-)
Mojo
Mojo, what's the name for that Galaxy everyone's calling the Santa Maria? The one labeled as NCC-70564...
Keep in mind that unless a script specifically tells us what the name of a ship is and we can clearly see the name in the episode, we don't change the name or numbers on the hull...
Mojo
1. I haven't got the 2002 calendar in Australia yet... so I can not comment on the calendar - but from what you've described it sounds... intruiging!
2. Your BOOK sounds EXCITING! I think you have a GREAT place here to find out about every CANON Trek vehicle/ship that has been. And quite a few - including myself would love to pass on our collective information - it's what we do ;o) Pity my computer isn't big enough to support some nice 3d software - otherwise I'd LOVE to be able to contribute meshes etc. Stick around - cause we'll all give you the known info on ALL the canon ships though!
3. What would *I* love to see in the 2003 Calendar!?! HMMMM! Well - I agree ships on a black background is getting a bit passe! ;o) The atmosphere shots are interesting - I'm curious as to how you can include ships like the big D in the atmosphere!?!
Some ideas though??
here goes:
Extreme close ups of ships... as if you were looking out a window like Voyager's mess hall or the flight deck lounge watching the Delta flyer leave on a mission!?! This could also be extended to space stations... we never EVER get to see the stations - even DS9 close up - and I mean REAL close up... but at the same time seeing some other ship coming into dock... or just seeing the station from a different angle. I liked how we saw inside Starbase 375's hanger bay at the start of Season 6 DS9.
Ummm... hmmmm. You just HAVE to get a new ship(s) in there. Ambassador would be a world-wide favourite. Some sort of group of ships or orbit of ships from the Ambassador era. There are a few ships to choose from: (Yes all or a lot of them would take a LONG time)
Ambassador
Cheyenne
New Orleans
Olympic
I'd love to see NICE close up pictures of the sabre and/or the steamrunner and/or the NORWAY!
I also love the idea about more real-perspective battles - over large distances that you couldn't show on TV.
I've also been thinking if we ever see Earth again - I haven't seen Endgame - oh and WATCH THE SPOILERS... should we be beginning to see the start of 'Atlantis' being terraformed as mentioned in "Family" and as seen in the okudagram in The Continuing Mission...
I have a nice idea... several engineers in suits (environmental ones ) out repairing the deflector dish of a Steamrunner class while in orbit of a extremely large and class k planet. The perspective of the 'camera' allows you to see the rest of the steamrunner's hull behind the engineers - illuminated by the systems sun! We don't have to see any faces - just a mirror reflection of the section of the deflector they're working on the planet and the expanse of stars! Ahhhh nice shot! ;o) More extreme close-ups though!?!
Ohh ohhhh and a Ferengi Marauder thrown in for good measure. Maybe a scene from "The Price"!?! Like the Marauder - the E-D with the pod leaving for the Barzan wormhole + the ferengi shuttle leaving for the wormhole + the planet and of course the Barzan wormhole - and maybe a few of the other ships involved in the negotiations - near-by. An antares ship or something.
Ohhhh Ohhhhh a rag tag fleet of Marquis ships nearing the planetary hide-aways in the badlands... We'd see Bajoran vessels and smaller Fed ships like the various fighters/maquis ships and even shuttles and runabouts! a rag-tag fleet of smaller vessels... even a tug!
Anyway - it's nice to have you as an active member Mojo! Does Rob Bonchune SP? Lurk or post here!?!
P.S. I don't know about the 2002 calendar - but have you proofread your ship labelling this time around - no more 1701-D's + other ships!?!
Andrew
P.P.S. How about a scene from the Romulan v Klingon Battle of Klak D'Kel Bracht!?!
or the Cardassian/Klingon skirmishes at the Britekka Nebula!?! (older ships in both of these 'battles'.
AndrewR
P.P.P.S.
To get less ship and space scenes - remember you could take some pointers from the Voyager opening credits - which are nice - utilising gaseous anomalies and planetry rings etc.
AndrewR
P.P.P.P.S.
Something with the Crystalline Entity attacking a less advanced ship!?!
ANDREWR
P.P.P.P.P.S.
What about the Romulan attack on the Earth outposts in "The Balance of Terror" we never saw that.
AndrewR
[ September 11, 2001: Message edited by: AndrewR ]
quote:
If anyone out there is an experienced 3D modeller ..... I'll be happy to include each and every ship in this book if I can get the models :-)
All right, 3D community, get working on this. NOW!
any suggestions, or should i just plug away at what i have to keep costs down, because i cant spend more than a weeks pay on software
p.s. thats just what i was trying to do when you called me inappropriate, beers
And before anyone asks, I have spoken with several folks 'who would know' and they all agree the D could go into an atmosphere for a short period... especially for a special event like Federation Day or something. I'll give some details later if anyone REALLY wants to know how!
Mojo
We've seen a few cities such as Reverend says, San Francisco primarily, which always looked fairly familiar from what we've seen of it.
The Intrepid is a reasonable sized starship and we know for sure it can enter the atmosphere, and we saw a shot of it doing a flyby over the Golden Gate Bridge in Endgame. But I think the Intrepid is unique for a starship in that it was specifically designed for atmospheric flight, perhps the retractable nacelles have something to do with it. I doubt a Galaxy or Nebula could do the same.
[ September 16, 2001: Message edited by: TSN ]
We know that LA fell into the ocean from a quake on VGR...
but who would feed his cat..?
most of those cities were mentioned but not seen, so we really only know that people live there we have no idea if they even resemble the cities we know from today, possibly some were leveled and rebuilt.
Canada was mentioned in "The Trouble With Tribbles". I think Toronto was mentioned somewhere.
Starfleet R&D was the mentioning of Toyko in the TNG Tech Manual.
But I digress.
Anyway, Wesley went skiing with Josh Albert to Calgary, AB. Except there aren't any ski resorts in Calgary proper, but its something of a hub to get to nearby ones. Which of course means that they visited my hometown. Absolutely, positively true.
And dont forget, we saw Mojave in 'The Cage'.. it looked pretty spiffy
You could have just mentioned the Voyager over LA in Future's End.
Don't forget Keiko's mother lives in Komomoto.
ALSO... Mojo - why would Federation Day necessarily be celebrated on the ground/in the sky... this is a SPACE age we're talking about - presumably Earth/Moon/Mars space is as heavily populated as a planet would be. Oh and as for pics - I'd go for an absolutely beautiful crisp incredibly detailed plain old space shot - before a badly detailed atmosphere shot any day. Oh, and you don't have to be in Atmosphere's to have cool shots. Look at the Opening of Voyager every episode.
Stop running about like a blue-assed fly. This community is tight knit enough that sometimes you forget people are halfway around the globe.
BTW: Mojo - the talk of "Unseen Frontiers" was one of the few bright points this past week.
Thanks!
Yes. I often think that all the posters here are actually British.
But I could say that it doesn't have to be a spoiler, meaning that that Voyager flyby might and might not have happened... you'll know what I mean when you see the ep.
I've been receiving your 'Star Trek' historical documents, but have only seen the firstseason and the second season up until "The Doomsday Machine," since the transmissions are only coming at me at the speed of light.
But all of you on the message board have given away the ending of 'The Trouble with Tribbles', 'The Enterprise Incident' and 'Turnabout Intruder'.. all shows i wont be able to watch until next year!!!!!]
I must insist you put spoiler warnings so that i dont find out things i dont want to about star trek..
And who is this Picard guy you always mention?
Thankyou too Red Admiral - for reassuring me that what I see might/might not happen!?! It seems like Time Travelling and plot twisting is going to happen.
Also, it's just that I have consciously stayed away from threads ear-marked as containing Endgame spoilers. I once used to read happily episodes of DS9 and earlier Voyager well a head of time on the net. Since I stopped that little practice, I have been enjoying episodes SOOOO much more. A lot of you here and there bag a lot of the Voyager episodes, that I was so not thrilled on seeing - but when I did I REALLY REALLY enjoyed them.
LOL @ Mike - 33.5 light-years away eh? ;o) Well Australia is definately 1 light-year away if you watch/buy the videos (Voyager) and well... 3 light-years away if you watch DS9/Voyager on FTA TV.
Rev: Vogon Poet's a Brit too. And there are a few other semi-regulars. I think Da-Bang is a Brit as well, but don't quote me.
Sol System's sarcastic enough to be British.
Here's my critique (Last 6 added):
January (Sunrise from nacelle support of USS Galaxy): I like this one but wonder where the photographer was standing. He must have been floating in space. Maybe the wide surface of the nacelle support filling the bottom half of the picture is a bit dull.
February (Defiant above ring of planet): Although Defiant is supposed to be in a swarm of micrometeors, it looks more like simple image degradation. Composition with commonly seen view of Defiant from front quarter is a bit dull.
March (Enterprise in V'ger cloud). I like this one a lot.
April (work bees at UP): I can see why some people might not like this one, but I like it. Sort of looks like a National Geographic picture, although the identical weathering on the work bees is kind of unrealistic. Varying the positions slightly to break up the pattern or placing some human figures among the bees (for interest and for scale) might have helped.
May (EntD under construction): An interesting picture, but it lacks focus. Without the caption, we have no idea what it shows other than a mass of girders. We see a few lighted panels, but they're meaningless. This picture tells no story. It looks more like the background for a render.
June (Time lapse picture outside spacedock): National Geographic puff-pieces about big US cities always have at least one picture like this. However, when they do it, the focus is on the lit-up buildings of the city, not on the streaking tail lights. Here you have a blurry ship (Galaxy class), a mostly unlit spacedock, and a bunch of light in all directions. Shouldn't the lights of space dock be brighter? Also, why wouldn't the ship be visible during its entire course and not only blurred at the end? Did a light suddenly come on in the last few seconds? Again, no real focus.
July (Delta Flyer in Borg Unicomplex): The Delta Flyer is probably too small and easy to miss among the Borg structures.
August (TOS Romulan Bird of prey firing): I love TOS, and especially this episode, so I like this simple picture. Great historical value.
September (IKS Kahless buring up as it flys towards setting sun): The burning ship and the foreground rock (it is a rock, isn't it?) on the left look too pasted in, like bad matting. That sun looks too white and bright. It doesn't have the colors of a setting sun. This pic looks too staged and unnatural.
October (lights on inboard surface of refit E nacelle support): A quiet, atmospheric pic, I think I like it.
November (Enterprise on viewscreen of abandoned USS Exeter): Are going to have a pic from "Spock's Brain" next year? You shouldn't have reminded us of this episode, maybe the worst of TOS! I'm not too excited about this pic.
December (Yoyager flying low over some mountains): I think this would have been better if Voyager were in focus and the scenery were blurred. Most photos of race cars and planes in flight are like that. Having big ships down in the air strikes me as kind of a bad idea. Please don't over do it!
Centerfold (B/W shot of Galaxy-class challenger and EntE in orbit): I like this. Nice depth of field and lighting.
[ September 17, 2001: Message edited by: Masao ]
Akira-Class on the cover? i think so.
think you could recreate something like that?
quote:
Originally posted by Wes1701E:
Mojo, take a look at one of my old images: http://techfx.org/imagery/trek/escape.jpgthink you could recreate something like that?
Cool image. But, goldarnit, I'm sick to death of that flat plane disclike shockwaves. I curse ST6 for starting it all!
Lessen the candy-like green on the 'buzzard' collectors of the Rommie.
And as for the disk explosion... it worked for Praxis... well cause I guess there was something going on with the moon and their energy production... but to use it again for the Star Wars SE!?!
Andrew
Assuming it sells well enough, I plan on making each year for SOTL calendars a different theme. 2002 was the 'artsy fartsy' one, 2003 will be the 'scenery' one and 2004 may very well be the 'space battle' one (it was between that and the scenery for 2003). We'll just have to see!
As for the continued criticism of 2002, what can I say? For every person who dislikes a particular image, there is someone who loves it.
To address specific comments, the pictures were not intended to tell a story - they were just meant to be pretty pictures which used starships as art. To be honest, I had no concern whatsoever if the ship was clearly visible or if you could even tell what it was - I just wanted to get a mood across in each image.
One thing I do want to clear up is the Defiant image - the high level of grain in the picture is NOT meant to be simulating micro-meteorites! Just about everyone sees it that way, however, and it's unfortunate that the high grain in the image is confused with the meteorites. It never dawned on me that people would make that assumption.
In any case, I think we all agree it's not really that great a picture anyway, so it's not worth nitpicking :-)
As far as the upcoming Liberty pic celebrating Federation Day, I was just hypothosizing off the cuff. For all I know, they still celebrate the 4th of July or are commemorating the rebuilding of the statue! To be completely honest with all of you, as long as I'm not directly contradicting something previously established, I'm quite willing to make up just about anything to justify a cool picture.
MOJO
PS: Wes - nice image! From what I can see, your model work is quite good. Keep at it!
Just hypothesising... or there is that picture I'd like to see...Looking in one window from another part of the ship... I.e. looking across those 'catamaran' hulls on the Akira - or looking up from the secondary hull to the primary hull windows on the E-D!?!
Again, can we see maybe a new ship (i.e. an existing ship but one that is new to the calendars)!?! Like the Cheyenne - you can bug Mike Okuda for what the 'underneath' of the Cheyenne looks like!?!
Or how about Scenes that we HEARD about - but never saw - like the Earth outposts being destroyed by the Romulan ship in 'Balance of Terror' or Ships searching for Voyager after she was lost in the Badlands!?! Or the Breen attack on Earth during the final 10 episodes of DS9... Oh - and when doing multiple ships - maybe giving each one (not fed ships cause they do have their registries) their own 'personality' i.e. having different lights on - different hull defects/weapon scars!?! I'm not sure which - I think it is the 3 Romulan warbirds in the 2001 calendar - each Romulan Warbird has EXACTLY the same lights on, and their 'bussard' collectors have exactly the same sort of 'shiney inner thingy' - the human mind picks up on repeated patterns quite readily.
Just a few things.
(wish my 'puter was new enough to hold a nice graphics program - vintage 1996 )
Andrew
P.S. Maybe some ways to justify - landscape shots like a new shot of Vulcan hint, hint! Things that can land on the surface - the Intrepid Class... a galaxy saucer section... maybe the Defiant class, runabouts, shuttles, attack fighters!?! Rom-abouts!?!
Andrew
quote:
'personality' i.e. having different lights on - different hull defects/weapon scars!?!
I was even thinknig of this in reference to Federation ships. I was thinking about doing a scene from 'The Ultimate Computer' (the most disappointing multi starship battle in history).
If this was filmed for a 'Special Edition' of TOS or if the scene was done for the calendar, it would be awesome to see little design differences between the four constitution class ships present. Maybe one still has nacelle spikes and the tall bridge and no nacelle-globes.
Maybe one has an extra langing pad behind the bridge, or arboretum widows, a rudiemntary version of the dorsal torpedo launcher from TMP entrerprise. Maybe a basic impuls deflection crystal or some different nacelle struts. That would make finally seeing the lexington, potemkin and excalibur and (the other one?) pretty exciting, and also show some of the revolution towards the TMP enterprise was in the design works
(kind of like the connie-bonhomme richard-achernar-tikopai-enterprise evolution from SotSF)
I wanna see more of the older ships. Most of my meshes are the TOS designs, such as Miranda, Soyuz, Connstellation, Excelsior and so forth. These ships have a slightly more refined character than the 'some' of the later 24th century ships, (Galaxy, Nebula, Sov, Akira are exceptions)...
quote:
Most of my meshes are the TOS designs, such as Miranda, Soyuz, Connstellation, Excelsior and so forth.
None of which, to be pedantic about it, were in the original series.
As for the Miranda, Soyuz, and Excelsior, I Think he meant "TOS era." In any case, Soyuz class photos would be lovely. From different angles...
I'm praying "Starship Spotter" will be very much like our fantasies.