3D interiors in Blender

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Yes, the person crewing the helm does block part of the viewscreen, same as on Defiant, Pasteur, and as I found out this week, Voyager. I did play around with the levels, but at the end of the day I just like how this looks right now. Yes part of the viewscreen is blocked, but It's one of those things that, for better or worse, they never paid much attention when designing sets.

The other easy fix if you don't want to adjust the console height is to give the Captain's chair a simple pneumatic lift and seatbelts.

Then he can easily go up and spin around, also a circular foot rest to help spin the chair around.

Then the Captain can easily spin around and see over the shoulders of every station around them.

 

[cardinal biggles]

One more thing to break in the middle of a battle, and suddenly your captain is distracted because their chair is stuck and it's a 3' drop to the deck.

 

[Rekkert]

Had to pause work on the Leloir for a while due to some electrical issues at home, plus personal issues in general; it hasn't been an easy couple of weeks.

Anyway, today I UV mapped the consoles and started work on the LCARS. Like the rest of the set, the colors are based on the Jupiter Station set, so they're more colorful than usual, but this was all intended and part of why I was ok with the walls being so beige in general. I might tweak the colors more once all the pieces are in place.

Very early stages for the side panel. I'm basing the design on some of the Runabout consoles, as they're quite unique and different to the other LCARS I've already made, and it's hard to keep them looking fresh sometimes. As you can see, the starboard side graphic includes a space for the dedication plaque; the same space will house a replicator on the port side.

 

[Rekkert]

Mostly finished the main ship graphic, I added some panel lines that aren't there on the actual miniature in some areas (like the nacelles and pylons) just to break up the empty spaces, something often done on these sorts of graphics on the shows (the Brattain's and Vico's come to mind). I might change the style of the text around it, I'm not super convinced by it. Also the colors might still change, I have to see what looks good once it's all done.

 

[Rekkert]

Finished the ship graphic. I decided to change its style so it fits in better with the DS9/Voy-style rather than the simpler TNG-style graphic I was going for before. I then moved it to the port side of the bridge, to have it further away from the dedication plaque, as it contains some of the same information.

I also added the remaining isolinear chips, replicator, and a map graphic on the starboard side.

 

[blssdwlf]

Interesting... a virtual dedication plaque?

 

[Rekkert]

Interesting... a virtual dedication plaque?

Huh?

 

[cardinal biggles]

It's a regular dedication plaque mounted on the display surface.

 

[blssdwlf]

Huh?

I think @cardinal biggles clarified it. The plaque is on the display surface so it looks like a graphic of the plaque to me. Although if it is a plaque mounted on the display surface seems to be kinda odd. Why use up display space?

 

[Rekkert]

Ahh, I get it now, sorry I didn't understand before. It's not necessarily display space, just a plexi panel which we often see used by non-display stuff, such as replicators or plaques. It's also a callback to the Runabout graphic that inspired that panel, which also had a more basic version of a dedication plaque as part of its design (tho incorporated into the display rather than physical).

 

[blssdwlf]

Ahh, I get it now, sorry I didn't understand before. It's not necessarily display space, just a plexi panel which we often see used by non-display stuff, such as replicators or plaques. It's also a callback to the Runabout graphic that inspired that panel, which also had a more basic version of a dedication plaque as part of its design (tho incorporated into the display rather than physical).

Thanks for the clarification. The LCARS wrapping around the plaque on your model was throwing me off as it suggested that everything in the plexi is a computer image. If there was an LCARS wrapped around the plaque in the "Ensigns of Command" screen shot I'd think it was a computer display also (but less so if the camera moved around it).

Your 2nd photo is pretty neat. Which bridge is that with the plaque surrounded by displays is that?

 

[137th Gebirg]

Ahh, I get it now, sorry I didn't understand before. It's not necessarily display space, just a plexi panel which we often see used by non-display stuff, such as replicators or plaques. It's also a callback to the Runabout graphic that inspired that panel, which also had a more basic version of a dedication plaque as part of its design (tho incorporated into the display rather than physical).

Well, ya know, it is "Teh Futurez". Who's to say it's not a virtual dedication plaque made of reprogrammable/configurable matter?

 

[cardinal biggles]

Oh, come on, this is only the 24th century, not the 32nd.

Sorry, this is off-topic, but the console behind the captain's chair in this photo – is that the nurse's station from the TMP sickbay (which was reused as the cargo bay transporter console in TNG "Code of Honor")?

 

[Rekkert]

@cardinal biggles: Yes, it's the last use of that console as far as I know. Very awkward in that space, but then again this whole bridge is very crowded.

 

[cardinal biggles]

It's such an oddly shaped console, I'm kind of surprised they used it, at least on Starfleet ships. It doesn't really fit with the TNG-era aesthetic, unlike some of the other movie-era elements they adapted. I could see redressing it to work on different alien "bridge of the week" sets, though. Probably a case of "We paid good money for this, stick it over there!"

 

[Rekkert]

@blssdwlf: Those metallic elements on the LCARS aren't part of the displays themselves, but added on top. We often see them around non-displays areas like this, so it is consistent with how they were used. If they were lit elements then indeed it would break convention. As for what the second photo is of, that's the USS Saratoga from DS9:"Emissary".

@cardinal biggles: It's certainly an odd looking console, and doesn't quite fit in any of the productions where it was used.

Finished the ceiling by adding another grated segment above the side displays, and then another light panel above the entrances. This dramatically increases the light levels on the room.

I've also added the small LCARS monitors on the aft stations.

 

[blssdwlf]

@Rekkert - wow, I see the metallic LCARS framing now

 

[Michael]

If they were lit elements then indeed it would break convention.

But then again, during the later seasons of The Next Generation they actually added a small strip of LCARS controls right underneath the plaque, so there also seems some precedence for the plaque being added to a surface with lit elements. (And I realize the irony of saying this to the person who probably knows more about this particular set than anyone around here. )

Can’t find a good screenshot right now, but it’s visible here and here. And, of course, in your beautiful recreation for the Roddenberry Project …

 

[Rekkert]

@Michael: Yes, but I meant we never see it surrounded like I placed it. Even on the Saratoga it has a little border made out of white tape surrounding it, to separate it from the backlit elements. Besides, on the Enterprise-D those replicator controls on the little recessed area are silkscreened graphics on top of the plexi glass, like the little doorbells that were in every corridor set, not lit elements.

 

[Michael]

^ Makes sense. Didn’t even realized those control graphics were of the screenprinted kind.