The Carinda Shuttle Interior Is Done... For Now

I finished improving the model for the Carinda shuttle interior. Here are before-and-after pictures of Scene M400:


The 1st picture shows the original model. As mentioned previously, there were too many lights and it also looked too fake -- like a CG model rather than a real set.

The 2nd picture shows the improved model. I replaced a bunch of the lights with random cool-looking gizmos that I kitbashed from the Millennium Falcon interior. I also threw a bunch of hoses and piping on the walls, and added cushions around the cockpit doorway (as seen in the Millennium Falcon). It looks much more realistic to me -- more organic and "lived-in," rather than geometric and sterile.

The 3rd picture shows the improved model, but over-lit so that you can see everything in more detail.

Even though I added more light (compare the 1st and 2nd pictures), I still think the model is too dark. I'll probably make it a little brighter, though not as bright as the 3rd picture.

Here's another before-and-after comparison, from Scene M408:

Again, doesn't the 2nd picture look more organic and "lived-in?" This is more consistent with the "used universe" look that George Lucas wanted for his "Star Wars" movies.

I also threw in another metal drum (bottom-middle of the 2nd picture) to give the cargo hold a more "lived-in" look:

Not a big change, but I think it adds a little realism to the model.

This isn't the final version of the Carinda shuttle interior, but that's all the changes I plan on making for now. There will almost certainly be more improvements in the future, but for now I'm going to move on to other models and clean those up...

Also, I'm moving next week, so I probably won't be able to work on the movie for a week or two. This will probably be the last blog post for a few weeks. Sorry. :(

Later,
Bob

Carinda Shuttle Interior

I made a ton of progress packing-up my house, so I was able to spend some time working on the movie guilt-free this week.

I made more progress re-texture mapping the Millennium Falcon interior. Here are before-and-after pictures:

Closer, but it still needs lots of work.

At first, I was leaning towards using a modified version of the Millennium Falcon interior for the Carinda shuttle. However, after checking possible camera angles, I discovered that I can't use that model without it being somewhat obvious that we used the Millennium Falcon interior.

That discovery also ruled out my second choice, which was to kitbash the cockpit from the Imperial Shuttle onto the Millennium Falcon interior. That way, we'd have the grittier, more realistic cargo hold and also the cool-looking cockpit with the lights.

So... I ended up keeping the Imperial Shuttle interior as our primary model BUT I'm kitbashing a bunch of stuff from the Millennium Falcon to make our model look more realistic.

Here's a before-and-after example showing what I'm talking about:

In the older version (1st picture, above), there were too many lights. It's even more obvious as video because they're blinking, there are animated displays, etc. It looked like a Christmas tree on steroids. :(

In the newer version (2nd picture, above), you can see that I replaced a bunch of lights with mechanical doodads (hard to see in this compressed, dark image, but they look cool -- trust me! ;D ). I also added hoses and other doodads to the walls.

Here's another before-and-after comparison:

In the newer version, you can see that I added 3 barrels (bottom-L, and 2 in the middle which you can barely see through the light beam from R4's holoprojection). I also added a grate to the flooring to give it a grittier, more industrial look.

I'm still in the middle of improving the Carinda shuttle model, so these "after" pictures only show what the model looks like now. I'm going to keep tweaking it until it looks super duper cool. :D

Later,
Bob

On Hiatus, and Possible New Shuttle Interior

Hi everyone. Sorry for the delay. I haven't worked on the project much over the past few weeks because I'm in the middle of moving. I've been busy finding a new place and packing, and I'm going to busy this month packing, moving, and unpacking. Plus, we're still waiting on costumes from Sarah, so we're kind of on hiatus right now.

The only thing I've worked on recently is a possible new model for the interior of the Carinda family's shuttle. Right now, we're using a model of the Imperial Shuttle interior, as seen in the following animatics:

They're pretty cool looking, but they also look CG and fake. Of course, improving the texture maps and geometry would fix that, but I'm also considering using a different model entirely -- the Millennium Falcon!

Of course, if we use the model of the Millennium Falcon interior, I'd change the camera angles and/or geometry so that it isn't recognizable as the Millennium Falcon. But the model -- when texture mapped -- looks more realistic than the Imperial Shuttle model:

As you can see from the 2 pictures above, the key phrase in the previous sentence is "when texture mapped" because the 1st picture is what the model should look like, and the 2nd picture is what the model looks like now.

Believe it or not, both pictures are of the EXACT same model! It just needs a lot of work -- probably 10-20 hours of texture mapping -- to make the 2nd picture look like the 1st picture.

Although it will take a lot of work, I think it's probably worth it because the Millennium Falcon interior looks more realistic and "Star Wars-y" to me.

Anyway, that's all I've had time to work on recently, and I'm not sure when I'll have more time to spend on this project -- at least not until mid-June or so. Please be patient with us because we'll get back on track as soon as I'm done moving and as soon as Sarah finishes Brad's costume.

Later,
Bob