Improved Outrider

I finished improving the Outrider model -- at least for now. I may have to make another pass after I replace our old shuttle model with this one, if I discover that certain scenes require more detail.

Anyway, here are before-and-after comparisons:

Aside from the texture mapping, the red arrows show where I made physical changes to the model:
1) I removed those fins from the cockpit, and
2) I used "greebles" to add detail to the model's left side.

Here's a better view showing the cockpit with the fins removed, as well as some greebles that I added to make the ship look more realistic and less CG:


More greeble detailing:




As I mentioned above, I'll have to go through all of our scenes with the Carinda shuttle and replace our old model with the new model. Some of those scenes have close-ups, so I'll probably have to make another pass on this Outrider model and add additional detail.

I've also started improving the CG model for the Carinda shuttle interior. Since the Outrider looks a lot like the Millennium Falcon, I'm using the Millennium Falcon interior for our Carinda shuttle interior. I'll post before-and-after pictures as soon as I'm finished with the new-and-improved model.

Later,
Bob

We're Back!

I can't believe it's been almost a year since we've worked on this project!

On the bright side, taking the extended break has allowed me to watch our movie with fresh eyes. Most notably, there are 2 changes I'm going to make immediately:

1) Change Yane's shuttle, and
2) Change the Med Center on Tatooine

Here's the 3d model we've been using for Yane's shuttle:


It's cool, but I realized we might want to change Yane's shuttle to a YT-2400 "Outrider":


Here are the main reasons FOR changing the model:
1) It looks more "Star Wars"-y with that "used universe" look, and
2) It looks like a precursor to the Millennium Falcon, which fits into our movie's timeline (which is after "Revenge of the Sith" and before "A New Hope").

And here are the main reasons AGAINST changing the model:
1) It looks like the Millennium Falcon. We don't want to look unoriginal or look like we're copying "Star Wars" TOO much,
2) I'll have to spend hours upon hours improving the models (I'll have to improve this model of the exterior, and also the model for the interior cockpit and/or cargo hold) so that they can handle close-ups, and
3) I'll have to spend hours upon hours replacing the old models with the new models in all of our shots.

After discussing it with Brad and Sarah, we decided to switch to the new Outrider model because it just looks better. When we started this project, we decided to do everything within our limited means to make the best movie possible. So if that means throwing out the old model and replacing it with a new model, so be it.

I'm currently in the middle of improving the Outrider model, so I don't have any before-and-after comparisons yet. Hopefully next time...

The 2nd change I want to make is the Med Center on Tatooine. Here's a screenshot from the animatic:

The red arrow is pointing to the enormous Med Center and the red circle shows Yane's shuttle flying into the Med Center's docking bay.

Truthfully, I've never been happy with this scene. The Med Center looks a little incongruent with the other architecture, and I've never been happy with the way the city (presumably Mos Eisley) looks either.

I haven't figured out how I'm going to improve this scene yet, but I'll worry about that after I finish improving the Outrider's exterior and interior models.

Anyway, that's what I'm working on now that I'm back on the project. Hopefully we'll have some super-cool blog updates over the next few months.

Later,
Bob

Update

Sorry for the lack of activity. I just wanted to post a quick update to let everyone know that we have NOT forgotten about this project!

I've been busy getting married, moving, and now I'm in the middle of buying a business. Brad and Sarah have also been busy having a baby and moving.

So... unfortunately this project has been on the back burner for longer than we anticipated. However, we have every intention of jumping back on this project once things settle down a bit. We have a lot of time and money invested in this project and want to see it through to completion as much as anyone else.

Thanks for your patience,
Bob

Hiatus

I just wanted to post a quick note that we're on a temporary hiatus. I'm busy with wedding stuff and Brad's busy with newborn baby stuff. We're hoping to jump back on this project in March or April 2011.

Improved Coruscant Spaceport Texture Maps

Sorry for the delay since my last blog post. I've been busy with wedding stuff, so I haven't spent much time on our project. :(

Anyway, I just finished improving the texture maps on our Coruscant Spaceport model. Here are before-and-after comparisons:

At first glance, they may look the same, but I added shininess and reflections. Here are some places to look to see the difference:

• The building on the bottom-left "pops out" more.
• The cylindrical tower and its connecting wall on the top-right is also more three-dimensional.
• The red airbuses look more metallic.
  
• The landing platform surface (bottom-right) is a little dirtier and, in my opinion, more realistic looking.

Hopefully I'll be able to resume work on our movie on a fairly regular basis, but wedding planning is taking lots of time so blog posts may be spotty for awhile. Sorry...

Later,
Bob

Improved Med Center Room and Star Destroyer Bridge

I added some shininess and reflections to the Med Center Room's texture maps. Here are before-and-after pictures:

It's hard to see the changes in these compressed images, but they're most obvious if you look at the droid.

We don't have a 3D model for the Venator-class Imperial Star Destroyer bridge, so we were using a kitbashed version of the Death Star Tower. However, we were never happy with the way it looked, so we ended up using the Imperator-class Imperial Star Destroyer bridge. Here are before-and-after comparisons of Scene 297:



MUCH better, right?

Here's another before-and-after comparison, this time from Scene F402:




And here's the last before-and-after comparison, this time from Scene F414:



Hopefully you'll agree that moving the Venator-class Star Destroyer bridge scenes to the new 3D model was a huge improvement.

Anyway, I gotta go.

Later,
Bob

Improved Texture Maps and Script Change

I replaced the temporary "green slab" that Bibble the Hutt and his 3 girlfriends were on with a new-and-improved platform loosely based on Jabba the Hutt's platform:


When I was re-rendering the scene, I saw our original animatic for this scene. I thought it was interesting seeing this scene evolve, so I figured I'd share it with you guys:


The 1st picture (the Brad-and-Theresa-times-3 version) is our original animatic, dated 7-28-07 (yes, it's both shocking and depressing to realize that we've been working on this movie for so long...).
The 2nd picture is our 2nd animatic, dated 10-27-08.
The 3rd picture is our most recent animatic, dated 7-6-10.

I also added shininess and reflections to the Med Center Hallway. Here are before-and-after pictures:

It's hard to see the difference in these compressed images, so I pointed out some of the reflections in the "after" picture with red arrows. I know... I know... the pictures look almost exactly the same, but when you see the full-size pictures, the new-and-improved version looks much more 3D and realistic. Remember, our ultimate goal is for our digital sets to look so realistic that people can't tell if they're looking at a CG image or a photograph of a real set.

On the non-CG side, we decided to remove the 2 remaining flashback sequences (we used to have 3 flashback sequences, but the 3rd flashback was removed a long time ago).

The 1st flashback was Brad (during his Padawan years) learning how to "fight smart, not hard" from his Jedi Master:


The 2nd flashback revealed how Brad obtained his lightsaber (Brad lost his in a fight, but his dying Jedi Master gave him his (the Jedi Master's) lightsaber on his deathbed):



The original purpose of the flashback sequences was to add more character development (showing Brad during his Padawan years), to fill-out our movie to make the story line more like a real movie, and to provide a break from the constant, almost non-stop action in our story.

However, we ultimately decided that we are NOT real actors, script writers, or movie makers, and we're probably stretching ourselves beyond our capacity. So, for now at least, those scenes are gone, condemned to the "Deleted Scenes" featurette.

Of course, there's a slight chance we may add-back one or more flashbacks in the future, probably making them shorter and perhaps even adding some comic relief. But until then, they're gone... :(

On a brighter note for most of you, that also means ALL of my acting scenes have been deleted! (Well, at least all of my "face character" scenes are gone -- I'm still Darth Vader, all of the Stormtroopers, the Imperial Sympathizer, and many other masked characters, so I can still sit at the autograph table at our future publicity appearances. :D )

Later,
Bob