An ambitious Star Trek project.

[NEKOSEI]

A friend of mine and I have been wanting to re-create the battle of Wolf 359 in 3D format for quite some time now.

 

It has been a year since I first purchaced A:M and I am still loving to work with this product.

I feel I can start working on something that could take years to get done.

 

But it will be done right.

 

The Battle of Wolf 359 has been a major battle that has been torn apart, analyzed and theorized about for years, but no one has ever tried making a rendition of it other then a version made using Bridge Commander.

 

My friend, Mark Nguyen and I wish to create one possible version of Wolf 359.

A possible "chronicle" of events.

 

I have created a teaser which can be seen at the following webpage: http://nekosei.com/stw359/wolf359.html

Please do check it out.

 

But that's not all.

I would love some help with this project, so I am bringing this to your attention.

 

We will need ships built and/or donated.

 

I wish to ask for you to build one of 20 ships that we need. I've been hunting for the best schematics I could find and will offer them for your use in building.

 

I am also attempting to find a set of decals that we can all share, and a font for the starship names and registries.

 

"But there were 40 ships at wolf 359."

 

Yes, there was.

This is where a kind of reward comes in. As thanks for building a ship for us, we would allow you to build a second starship, either using your first model and modifying it, or from scratch if you prefer. So long as it's a design that could be from that era or slightly earlier. Obviously there were no Soveriegn or Defiant class ships then. Likewise it is doubtable an NX class ship would have been there.

 

This offer isn't official yet, as we're not 100% sure of the exact types of ships we *need* yet. It could turn out that we need 25 specific kinds, and 15 randoms. But I do know this: We will need ships for a "decommissioned fleet yard", so just about anything from the past can show up in that scene.

 

All help will be appreciated, full credits will be given on both the website and in the final animation.

 

If anyone is willing to help, please let me know in this thread.

All comments are appreciated reguardless.

[luckbat]

Oh man, this sounds like a tough project, But on the plus side, the backgrounds should be pretty easy. Don't forget to make a "warp" pose slider that stretches the ships out to infinity!

[NEKOSEI]

Oh yeah. I have no dillusions about how long it will take.

 

But I love AM's ability to save actions. That will be very useful for this.

I can create an animatic of what the ships will be doing, and as the models are finished, replace the icon for that ship with it's finished model.

 

The big thing will be making the destroyed versions of each model.

That's something I'm not looking forward to. XD

 

As for warping, we might not even see a ship go to warp, but if we do, I'll certainly warp slide the thing.

[luckbat]

As for warping, we might not even see a ship go to warp,

Maybe not, but presumably some ships are going to need to warp in.

 

Hey, can Newton Physics do zero-grav explosions? I'll bet it can...

[Scottj3d]

I wouldn't mind helping with some of the ships. Has anybody got the Defiant yet? How soon would you need the model's? I was an avid fan of TNG,Voyager and DS9. Didn't dress up like a Klingon or anything but couldn't stand to miss an episode. If I'm not mistaken that is the same battle as the one from 1st contact and a few episodes of DS9 referencing Sisco's loss of his wife and why he didn't like Picard too much. I would like to help if you think I can. I can model pretty well but that's my only strength as far as any talent is involved.

[luckbat]

If I'm not mistaken that is the same battle as the one from 1st contact

Nope, that's the Battle of Sector 001. The battle of Wolf 359 is depicted in the two-parter The Best of Both Worlds. No Defiant in that one.

[ZachBG]

Wolf 359 is also seen directly in the first episode of DS9 (it's the battle in which Sisko's wife was killed).

[Scottj3d]

 

Nope, that's the Battle of Sector 001. The battle of Wolf 359 is depicted in the two-parter The Best of Both Worlds. No Defiant in that one.

 

That's right Mike. Now that I think about it 1st contact was after Picard had been rescued from the collective. I'd still like to contribute with the ships though. I'm fairly familiar with the ship designs of the federation so I can adapt.

[NEKOSEI]

The types of ships that we *definatly* need are shown in this image borrowed from "Ex Astra Scientia"

 

http://members.shaw.ca/nekosei/others/wolf359-all-ben.gif

 

I have some really good blueprints of some of these ships, but not all of them.

Fortunatly most of them are "kitbashes" anyway, so one can easily produce a ship just from re-using a saucer and a few nacelles.

 

Also, I believe we will be putting in one or two possible prototype ships that *could* have exsisted at that time, for example an Akira class or a Steamrunner class ship.

 

As for how soon, there is no deadline set. My time is just as limited as everybody else's, and the finished product itself could take a few years to finish once all the ships are made.

 

So don't feel you need to rush to get it done.

Take your time with it.

[jon]

question withdrawn

[NEKOSEI]

The question may have been withdrawn, but really it should be answered.

 

And I must admit, it's a very hard thing to answer.

 

Why should this be made?

 

I took this to the director and we both mulled it over, with this final answer:

 

Because it screams to be done, is why. It's a big missing part of the Star Trek history, and like Pearl Harbor in REAL life, is something that Trek fandom has always wanted to see, but has never been able to. In the absence of any new Star Trek stuff anytime soon (new film by the Alias guy nonwithstanding), it falls to us - the fans - to go to it.

[martin]

Why should this be made?

 

I took this to the director and we both mulled it over, with this final answer:

 

Because it screams to be done, is why. It's a big missing part of the Star Trek history, and like Pearl Harbor in REAL life, is something that Trek fandom has always wanted to see, but has never been able to.

I, for one, am ready for the screaming to begin! I WANT to see "The Battle of Wolf 359".

[Jin-Kazama]

and me.....jin kazama....ready to help and work as one of the team with modeling,textureing and video editing and visual effects....

 

jin kazama

[NEKOSEI]

Martin, we will do our best to deliver!

 

Jin, thank you very much for your offer of help.

For now we need the models more then anything else, but I definatly would like you to help with effects when the project gets developed more.

 

I'll send you an email via the board with a ship assignment for you.

 

So far so good!

[Jin-Kazama]

consider it done sir

 

i will wait for the ship...i will read my objectives and will achive the targets....over

 

comandor jin......egle eye ship//galaxy 00212

[Scottj3d]

Here's the early incarnation of the Cheyenne class I was assigned to. I had a few hour's to play with roughing it out today. I'm still working with half the ship and it shouldn't really be out of spacedock yet...but I couldn't resist. That's Julian's starfield in the background. I've been looking for an excuse to use it. Lot's to do still.

[NEKOSEI]

Very nice so far, though I'm pretty sure those grills on the nacells arn't supposed to be glowing.

Reguardless it's a good start.

 

Jin- you should have recieved that email by the time you posted your last message, if you have not, then I'll re-send it via a private message.

[Jin-Kazama]

sure nekosei.....i got only one problem....i need some photos for that ship cuz..and infact....i havn't watch that movie for a very long time...u may just send me some resources where i can find that ship....and tell me what degree of details u want the ship to be....i can do it anytime and it will be good to practive my cars modeling method on the ship

 

so....i'm waiting.....jut some photos for the ship...a cheez burger and soda.....that's all i need....chaw

[Scottj3d]

I'm pretty sure those grills on the nacells arn't supposed to be glowing.

Reguardless it's a good start.

 

 

 

You're right, I went back and looked at the reference pic's you sent after I posted it and they do not glow and I thought "oh well I already posted it. It'll be easy enough to turn off. I also will round the naselles out a bit as one reference looks round and the other looks more squarish but I have them too square. It will look much better the next time I post. I actually added the glow to see if it would show up in the render as I have had problems with glow not showing up from time to time. I just got carried away with my 1st Star-Trek ship.

[jon]

the question was withdrawn cuz it seemed to kill this thread, and that was not my intent.

 

since most earth ships have a lot of structural similarities, have you considered a parts repository? i.e. various hulls, saucers, nacelles, etc..

 

i'd like to contribute a ship, but only if there are any non-earther vessels called for.

 

looking at the analysis at this site: http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/articles/wolf359.htm yields no results, but this site: http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Starships_at_Wolf_359 mentions klingons.

 

i'd happily create a kbp, if it's needed.

 

best of luck on the project!

-jon

[NEKOSEI]

Jin- Sending ship data ASAP.

 

Scott- It's allowed to get carried away. If you're having fun, it's all good.

 

Jon- We do need Klingon ships actually, and a BOP design is among them.

Thank you for your assistance in thie project. I'll send you some plans so you can get started when you get a chance.

[Jin-Kazama]

wow.........that is the rotocope....very big man....needs some time to model it in details....it's my first big big model ....i hope i can do it right...which one of them i should do....also i wanted to know if the senario and shots ideas exist....infact i wanted to talk to u about it online...do u have any MSN or yahoo messnger?

[NEKOSEI]

You have all the time you need. This project is going to take quite some time to put together.

I've sent you a PM with my MSN in it.

 

If anyone else wants to contact me, my MSN is in my profile.

[Dark_Jedi]

nice job, keep up the good work

[NEKOSEI]

I'm sure all of us will do our best.

 

I don't suppose you'd like to help with a ship?

I have checked out your Jedi Starfighter WIP, and am quite impressed with how it looks.

 

And to Jon, Jin and Scott, and anyone else interested: I have a forum set up on my website with an area designed for discussing all aspects of the project collectively. It would be much easier to co-ordinate our input if we all check in on the same area.

 

http://nekosei.com/naproom/

[Jin-Kazama]

hi all.....somehow i found a good way to model those ships u sent me, the only thing i want to say is : is there a senario or the movie? or just ships flying and opening fire every where...another thing...u will need close shots and distance shots...the senario will show u what will happen in every shot..like i said...some shots won't need to have the hall ship...i say this because close shots needs the model to be well textured and detailed.....

 

i hope to see at less a skitched picture of the planned shots

[NEKOSEI]

The idea of this is to be primarily CG ship trying to stop the cube. The human aspect will be told through a narrative briefing at the start, with starfleet com chatter throughout. There will be a story going on as each group of ships tries to execute their respective plan. We plan on using some audio from Best of Both Worlds and Emisary to help tie everything together.

 

There will be storyboards made up, and in order to post them I'll need to link them off the Wolf 359 page, we're still early in the development stage. The script isn't finished yet, right now we're still getting the ideas worked out of how this will pass.

 

But you are correct, any ship that's going to be seen close up will need to be fairly well detailed.

And we do know a few that will be seen *very* close up. An Excelsior Class ship (including cargobay), a Maya class dry-dock, a work bee, and some equipment.

 

A good plan right now would be to model any ship so that it will look good fairly close up. Because we can be quite sure that every ship will have some screen time, but in the same vein, every ship will need to be complete. We do have a plan and there will be four waves of ships attacking the cube. 3 Federation and 1 Klingon.

 

Fortunaltly you don't need to physically model every bit and attach it to the mesh, you can model it separately and just place it where it where it wouild be. Same with window holes, a cutting bone can be used to make those.

 

Remember, we're certain on this taking *years* to make. So we don't need everything done right now. We do want to get a good start on things, and getting the models we need made is very important.

[NEKOSEI]

The following is a successful test in creating a hole in a ship and being able to see "stuff" under the hull, and an animated test of creating the look of a beam weapon burning a hole though an object.

 

Both examples used cutting bones

 

The hardest part about this will probably be creating a jaggy hole and matching it up to a flat room.

 

I may need some basic male and female models to show poor unfortunatly souls getting blown out into space in some close shots.

[Dark_Jedi]

wow awsome detail on the ships surface. how did u make al those little squares? id really love to know

[NEKOSEI]

It's a Darksim texture plugin.

 

Head to: http://www.darksim.com/index.html and download the free "symbiont" plugin and the free darktree textures, and in there you will find something that makes panels like that.

[Dark_Jedi]

where is the "symbiont plug in? kinda hard to find lol

[NEKOSEI]

Simbiont plugin: http://www.darksim.com/w/SimAM25.exe

Darktree textures: http://www.darksim.com/Repository/DTRep_thumb.zip

[Dark_Jedi]

thanks nekosei. and once again great job on the model.

 

but i need to know, there are so many dif choises. which one is the one u used?

[NEKOSEI]

Last night I decided to install the beta of v.13 and play with the improved displacement abilities.

 

Just out of curiosity, it's only working for my on decals, and not when I add an image to a group. Will it eventually work like that? I've not tried it in a material yet however.

 

Anyway, what I did to play was take an image of one side of a borg cube, and in photoshop made the image a greyscale, and then inverted it. That will be my displacement map.

 

I then decaled all the sides of a cube shape with this displacement map, and the original decal to add the color.

 

This is what I got:

[attachmentid=16461]

 

Each side only has four patches.

 

Now, this is by no means a final product, but it does give me an idea on saving processor time by creating a simple under layer that uses a detailed displacement map, while the outer layer is a more complex mesh with a DM for extra texturing.

 

This little thing can at least be used for the animatics.

 

And to answer Dark Jedi's question: the darktree I used is in "ba_map/Division.dstc"

[dborruso]

That is a funky cube. Cool displacement effect. I haven't played with displacement yet but it looks fun.

[Dark_Jedi]

And to answer Dark Jedi's question: the darktree I used is in "ba_map/Division.dstc"

 

alright but im still having a problem. i cant open them in animation master. it wont open any of the .dstc .how would i do that??

 

"sorry to ask so many questions"

[NEKOSEI]

It's a material plugin, so you need to create a new material, and change the material attribute to a the darksim plugin. Then you can load one of them in the properties box.

[Dark_Jedi]

ok.. im not sure if i understood that very well but ill try it anyways lol

 

A few questions:

 

how do you change the attribute to the darksim plugin

what program did you switch it in

do you have to change the extention

and how do you load them in the properties box

[NEKOSEI]

how do you change the attribute to the darksim plugin

 

right click the attribute-->"Change type to"-->"Plugin"-->"Darksim"-->"SimbiontAM"

 

what program did you switch it in

 

Done directly in AM, no other programs needed.

 

do you have to change the extention

 

Nope. Leave that alone.

 

and how do you load them in the properties box

 

Click where it says "Load Dark Tree" and find what you want in your file system.

 

The darktrees I linked to have .jpg samples included so that you can see what each dark tree looks like before you load it. The samples *WILL NOT* work as dark trees.

[Dark_Jedi]

sorry to be so clueless here.. but when i go to plug in, theres no darksim

[luckbat]

Are you using v12 or v13?

[Dark_Jedi]

v12

 

is there a way to update to v13?

[luckbat]

Well, do you have the 2006 (Yeti) CD?

[Dark_Jedi]

no i got the 2005 (wizard) cd... does that mean i got buy the new one?

[luckbat]

You gotta buy the 2006 CD if you wanna run A:M v13.

 

And you gotta run v13 if you wanna use DarkSim or Ambient Occlusion or pixel-res displacement.

[Dark_Jedi]

damm does that mean i gota spend another 300

[luckbat]

What? No, just $99.

[Dark_Jedi]

oh cool

[NEKOSEI]

No, you don't need to buy v13 to use darksim. I've been using darksim on version 12 before v13 was even announced...

 

Did you install the plugin properly or only get the textures?

[Dark_Jedi]

i instaled the plugin. but it did nothing. do i got to put it in a specific area or something?