Hehhe ^_^

That's pretty well done! Kewl! :P

Nice work! If you like, you could easily make it look like the new Star Trek... by adding a ton of lens flares ;D

Ok. But I think it would be a really funny scene. :)

Imagine having it land just as in your animation, then, a few seconds, or minutes, or an hour, later, it just tips over. :)

I can't shake the feeling that the ship will tip forward...

Considering this is Star Wreck, will it?

Personally, I don´t really see an issue with the current landing gear, if you look at Voyager, bird of preys etc from star trek, you will notice that they are pretty similar to yours without that being an issue. If anything it can be added that there is a forcefield involved in landing stability.

What you potentially can do, is to move the "legs" to the 4 corners of the engine section, instead of on the sides, and make the feet bigger.
Maybe something like this?
http://www.mondolithic.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/outlander_landing-gear4.jpg

Now they look like legs of a bull or bulldog - meant to carry a heavy weight but not good for stability.

If you had them wider and more like insect legs, it might suggest better stabillity: http://www.geekologie.com/2009/07/01/ants%20taking%20over%20the%20world.jpg

Hmmm I think the legs look a bit funny, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing... why not even give it some feet or goofy shoes ;P

BTW great that you have a wreckamovie browser tab open in the screenshot ;D

That's cool!

Thierry that's good, I especially like the way you've used the camera flashes to make the banners feel part of the scene. :)

Looking great! Pirk needs to be desaturated by about 10 or 20 though. That and the flags and your there.

Niceeeee!!! Will made a poster on my new A3 laser :-)

Absolutely brilliant! Thumb up! You've worked out the merging of Pirk and the new balcony excellently as far as I can see! I'd however also try and rework the flags slightly, as they seem a bit too perfect and strike in contrast with the building..

Sweet!

I'd add some subtle grunge or textile texture to the flags, as they seem a bit clinical now.

Agreed, good shot!

:)

I was wondering, if some of the handy cameras would show

a) close-up Pirk
b) something different than visible, related to other parts of the movie (or time-line)

That's fantastic! :)

Thierry, that looks excellent... :)

Looks nice! Maybe it would be even more spectacular if the "outside clouds" would move a little faster?

That should look good... :)

Looks nice. :)

Would the ships be inside those loops then, or is that what we see from the ships' viewscreens?

loved the shot! don't change a thing

Oskar, that's an interesting scenario.

Yeah Kris true that would work also nicely. What about when the small modules start to build up they actually build a cage around the Potkustart. That would enable some nice crash effects.

Oskar, one of the possible jokes is sort of the opposite: The Potkustart sees the modules on their own and thinks they can be easily beaten because they're much smaller, but then the modules join together to form a powerful ship.

When looking at this sample I started to think about the scales. What if the Dramkulian ship would be really huge compared to potkustart. Potkustart could easily fly trough it etc. I do not know if this fits to the script or for the concepts, but it would really give some impressive scenes. Something like battles in Starwars when small ships were flying trough the Death star type of thingy.

Battlestar galactica used a whole arsenal of tricks to hide the relatively cheap cgi, and to make the battles look more rugged and human: Shaky-cam, quick zooms, cutting and camera movement, grain, reflections, flares, etc. It's a testament of ITP's level of effects that it didn't need to hide the effects by using "cheats"..

I think you should take all the cues you can from Star Wreck, so that the films have as much similarity as possible. That way they'll feel more like belonging in the same family of films.

Thierry, one of the things I liked about Star Wreck was how they used two different styles of camera movement for two different situations.

-When the ships were flying normally, the movements were very classical, a lot like those in Star Trek, Star Wars etc.

-When Fester Bester was watching the Potkustart through his monitor, the camera did a fast zoom, just like the battles in new Battlestar Galactica.

I never liked the zooms in BG, but the way Star Wreck used them in battles seen through monitors was absolutely perfect IMHO.

Some feedback:

I believe you need to put the camera further away from the ships so that the ships have a bigger space to move in screen. Especially if the scene entails the ships going in opposite directions. You could always do a Battlestar galactica trick and zoom in just as the ships are about to pass each other.

Also, I know that the concept of high relative speeds are keyed down in space opera, but I think you need to let them pass each other a little bit faster or it will look silly.

Will the model be the Potkustart, or will you make a new design?

Well I'm excited.

'Professional.'

(yey.)

Picking up on theme of the Dramakulians being 'light beings' and the possible presence of asteroids; maybe the Dramakulian ships could run of asteroids or comets? Like trapping them and grinding them up? Might that account for their design?

Seppo, that was what came to my mind when I watched this video. The alien ship looks so impressive and every aspect of it was created through teamwork on WAM.

From first concept to first render, it's all happened so smoothly and quickly, and without any money changing hands. It's really very exciting. I didn't know this was possible.

Yan, (and everyone else on SW2Pi) I have to admit that for me especially this process of making spaceships from ideas to concept drawings and CGI -models that are used in the film, has been very interesting teamwork to follow. It is like a good lesson of film making process in itself.

Respect.

Also, I think it was Angela who first proposed using a modular system?

*sigh*

Just a reminder that Yann's model was based on my model.

I did not think it would be nescessary to point it out, but I guess I was wrong. :)

Nice!
I'm really impatient to see the complete battle! :D
Maybe you could add a big nebulae in the background throwing colored light on the scene.

One thing you could do is a Tex Avery-style sequence where the P-Fleet tries to ram one of the Dramkulian vessels, but the Dram vessel splits apart around the P-fleet ship and then comes together again.

Very impressive. I can imagine how nice it looks like when the Dramkulian ship during that space opera splits into many segments, that are independent space ships starting their own independent movements in the battle!

Looking good!

Yann's model works really well, it looks menacing as it comes towards the camera. It was the right choice.

I also like the way you can see the other ships through the gaps in the modular craft, it makes the battle more interesting visually.

Aha, okay Thierry. If it works in the finished product then that's fine. :)

It's great but I'm still a bit worried about the floor under the captain's chair, it seems to be at a very odd angle. Can this be fixed in some way?

Maybe you could hide the problem by placing something in front of his feet (like the raven lamp in SW:ITP?).

Lighting, color, and placement are definitely better, but i think the higher rear consoles were better. Keep in mind how far you have to crane your neck forward and the angle of wrists if the console is placed too low. Since the console isn't at head to upper chest level it is actually better to keep it as horizontal as possible since the more slant it has while low the more you have to angle your wrists.

It's missing something, perhaps a certain sense of depth. I don't feel this is a cylinder of light, it looks more like a 2D beam, or a tear in space to some extent.

Looks really good

Looks fine!
What are the violet artefacts around the sas doors?

The perspective seems wrong on the captain's platform, to me it looks like the chair is going to roll downhill?

It's a new ship. It should be darn near immaculate in the first scene.
But upon first startup there could be some hydraulic- or air-conditioning failure, and a resulting large stain could develop on the carpet.
Or maybe someone trips, and spills coffee?

Hydraulic fluid: Red (cherry juice)
A/C: Blue
Coffee: Brown

Or the crew could march all over it with muddy boots?

Looks nice! Great job with the character integration. Maybe they should be just a tad darker to fit the lighting.

- The captain's console comes some pixels off the edge of the pedestal.

- Kalle's comment on the low res textures on the console stands is correct. The closer to the camera something is, the higher the textures need to be.

- Also, the floor still looks too clean for my taste. But that might be just my dirty nature saying that! Maybe you could add something like "mind the step" -texts, warning stickers or other random stuff to make it look more lived in..

Looking good, once you colour correct the live action footage and fake some Depth of Field it'll look great.

Looks great! The only thing I notice look-wise is that the textures on the console stands in the front still look kind of low-res. Or maybe the bump mapping or watchacallit is rendered in low-res? I also think the right one looks a little too shiny but that's personal taste I guess :-)

Anyway, another thing apart from the look is, aren't the doors a little low in relation to the crewmen? Or is it a running gag that they bump their heads all the time? ;P

Very cool, but it needs something extra:

Dirt.

Cracks or chinks.

Stains on the carpet.

Random elements (photos on the wall or consoles, coffee cups on the handrail, etc). Whatever to make it a bit more "grungy" to make it look like someone's been there and lived on this bridge.

You know, the original Toy Story crew hired extra people to add dirt to the scenes, just so that they look "lived in". That's exactly the idea: Every human surrounding has imperfections that make it look alive. Otherwise it'll just look too clinical.

Great job so far, though! Both thumbs up!

silly thought : apologies :

i was thinking the cups could use string...
(but why...)
so there is an 'event' of battle you say
aha!
perhaps string, velcro, or
individual cup holsters worn on the individual's 'person'
to prevent the embarrassing fines for broken, lost, damaged, or
cracked
dish ware on the bridge by the Pirk
because the aforementioned sets a poor example for what must
prove to be a rich inter-galactic empire... !

!!

love the white mirco-wave...
where does the water come from?
is there a water fountain? cooler? faucet?

Looks nice!

With the cups though, maybe it could cause continuity problems if the bridge shakes from a torpedo hit, everyone falls over, but the cups are still there on the table?