I'm not sure if they got this model from ILM (who did First Contact), but it looks like it could be. A bit low-poly, but I guess that's to be expected from the time this was made combined with the pressures of TV production.
Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
Wow, if these had turned up all those years ago when FC came out I would've been so excited. It does match the other images of the model from the Magazine and Fact Files. Still hard to believe it's such low detail. Just goes to show what good lighting can do, it looked so much more finely detailed when it was firing its torpedoes.
posted
Very interesting. Lots of excellent detail. Except that I'm very disappointed because it turns out that the Akira is an even stupider design than I've previously thought. Unlike Eaves' original claims (published in the Magazine), I've been able to spot not 15 torpedo launchers, but 20! (It's got 3 banks of 4 along the upper half of the rear pod, plus another 3 on the lower front half. Then there's the ridiculously-pointless 2x2 port/starboard launchers on the saucer, and finally the one underneath the deflector dish.)
Having a few extra launch tubes for redundancy and/or rapid-fire attack is all well and good, but this is overdoing it just a little bit.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted
Depends on the ordinance. Perhaps a certain percentage of those tubes contain microtorp launchers in a MRL type configuration, for point defence. There's also the possibility that some of them are for much larger, long range missiles rather than them all being for standard photon torpedoes. Which would make sense if it's supposed to be roughly equivalent to a fighter carrier crossed with a guided missile frigate.
posted
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Josh: Interesting - Funny too, you can see they mirrored the UV map. The name is backwards on one side [/QUOTE
UV Maps are not present on the model. It's about 11K polys....
i.e. it's fairly shitty.
Registered: Sep 2004
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Daniel Butler
I'm a Singapore where is my boat
Member # 1689
posted
I'm going to much-belatedly respond to Reverend's post....somehow I doubt the design was intended to be anything other than a shitload of standard photon torpedo tubes Still, retcon away...'tis enjoyable.
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Wow, I'm surprised by how low poly that is. I know it wasn't gonna be getting much screen time, but I would have thought they'd have put a little more effort into it. The bulging bit on the bottom of the saucer, looks very rushed, with the map stretching across it and the fact the bump map doesn't match up with the diffuse map. You can see where they indent windows settings onto the hull but the diffuse map just has the red fed lines on it.
Registered: Oct 2007
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quote:Originally posted by OverRon: Wow, I'm surprised by how low poly that is. I know it wasn't gonna be getting much screen time, but I would have thought they'd have put a little more effort into it.
Considering that the ship was one element in a whole scene full of special effects, and given the lower processing power of computers at the time, and given the low resolution of standard television, it seems a reasonable decision to use a low poly model. There's not much of a point in putting a lot of detail into a model that simply can't be seen. In a similar situation, I seem to remember reading that the NCC-1701 digital model used for TOS Remastered has been revised to include less detail since they were using up valuable computer power and time to render details that even high definition televisions wouldn't catch.
-------------------- "Having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true."
Registered: Apr 2005
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quote:Considering that the ship was one element in a whole scene full of special effects, and given the lower processing power of computers at the time, and given the low resolution of standard television, it seems a reasonable decision to use a low poly model. There's not much of a point in putting a lot of detail into a model that simply can't be seen. In a similar situation, I seem to remember reading that the NCC-1701 digital model used for TOS Remastered has been revised to include less detail since they were using up valuable computer power and time to render details that even high definition televisions wouldn't catch. [/QB]
Absolutely true.
As a comparison, the Excelsior used in the ST:NV episode with George Takei in it was about 800K polys. So there's an example of a fan production having more detail than the tv/film stuff.
posted
It's not even just the low-resolution. The ships were never intended to be seen up-close, standing still. You don't need much accurate detail when the ship flies across the screen for no more than a second.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Daniel Butler
I'm a Singapore where is my boat
Member # 1689
posted
Even when the crazy fans in the audience are going to be freeze-framing and screencapping them and trying their damndest to 'shop out some detail ;P
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Y'know this kinda disappoints me since I always held the Akira class to be the most detailed of the FC. Yet now it's no more detailed than one you might see in a Bridge Commander Mod.
Registered: Feb 2005
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Still, retcon away...'tis enjoyable.
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