# ScifiEric's 2nd Pilot USS Enterprise in Blender 3D



## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

Getting there ... slowly. Fairly happy so far. The good Mr. Gary Kerr helped me by answering a few of my questions and provided additional information beyond those questions! I want my model to reflect the original as it was at the time, not necessarily as to what remained visible after all the photo-chemical processing.


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## RossW (Jan 12, 2000)

Beautiful!


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

RossW said:


> Beautiful!


Thank you, RossW! That's very kind of you!


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

I absolutely HAD to do the back end of the Warp Engines. I've been wanting to do that for YEARS! I hope I did it justice.

Now, on to the rest. (Maybe I'll do the Impulse Engines next ...)


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

Now with the correct impulse engines!


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

I know I'm jumping the gun, but I started work on the neck lights and I really wanted to see what a couple of renders would look like from similar camera angles that can be found in Where No Man Has Gone Before. Obviously, the last one is just for the neck, not similar to anything ever shown on the show. I included it to show that I even put in the wire mesh for two windows on the neck, just like the real thing.

Of course, all done in Blender 3D.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Nie work. I like how you captured the reflections of the studio lights on the bussard domes as if it were really sitting on a blue screen stage.


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

Trekkriffic said:


> Nie work. I like how you captured the reflections of the studio lights on the bussard domes as if it were really sitting on a blue screen stage.


Thank you! I'll be toning it down a bit, but some of that will remain. My goal is not to make a realistic-looking space ship, but to resemble the 11 foot model used for filming.


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

Now working on the engineering hull. I will probably be making some changes. I have to research brightness and color for the lights.

All done in Blender 3D, of course.


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

I know it's not done yet, but I really wanted to have some fun.


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

I would like to have done something more substantial today, but I have a BLISTERING headache.

I found something I have to correct. At the rear of the Engineering Hull during the first pilot, there are two rectangular windows with a round port BEHIND them, towards the shuttle bay. By the second pilot, that round port was in FRONT of the two rectangular windows.

I still have to work on the triangles under the saucer. After researching a bit, it doesn't seem like the "bumpers" were there yet. I guess that was just a Production detail.

I still need to add the lettering on the grey squares under the saucer section.

I think I will make the warp domes a little more deep red.

Of course, this is still very much a work-in-progress. Once I finish on cleaning up some of the details (like that round port aft Engineering) then I'll start on the textures. But that's going to have to wait until my head feels better.

Thank you for looking in.

All done in Blender 3D.










































And I always did like that shot of the Enterprise coming over Delta Vega at the end of Where No Man Has Gone Before. This is a little closer and lighter, of course.


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

scifieric said:


> I still have to work on the triangles under the saucer. After researching a bit, it doesn't seem like the "bumpers" were there yet. I guess that was just a Production detail.


When I built my 1:1000 version I did quite a bit of research but it was inconclusive as to if the bumpers were there. I could not find any clear close up pictures of the triangle areas, those that I could find were grainy and had shadows that made is seem like maybe you could see a hint of them... I ended up going half way and sanded them down about half way.

The question I had was if they were part of the vacuformed plastic hull or not? There are closeups of those areas going back to the 80s and I don't see any seams around the bumps. If they are part of the vacuformed hull then they were always there. If they were attached later they did a really good job and they have stayed flush with the hull without cracking or warping for all these decades.


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## Trekkriffic (Mar 20, 2007)

Marvelous!


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

MartyS said:


> When I built my 1:1000 version I did quite a bit of research but it was inconclusive as to if the bumpers were there. I could not find any clear close up pictures of the triangle areas, those that I could find were grainy and had shadows that made is seem like maybe you could see a hint of them... I ended up going half way and sanded them down about half way.
> 
> The question I had was if they were part of the vacuformed plastic hull or not? There are closeups of those areas going back to the 80s and I don't see any seams around the bumps. If they are part of the vacuformed hull then they were always there. If they were attached later they did a really good job and they have stayed flush with the hull without cracking or warping for all these decades.


They were not always there. You can see fairly plainly from The Cage that there were no "bumps". This is from filming for Where No Man Has Gone Before and I think it's about the clearest shot of the area that I've got. You can see the triangle (fairly light gray in this shot) but the base of the triangle is the same thickness as the rest, and no additional shadow, so I'm fairly certain that there are no bumps or raised ribs, or whatever they were called.










I'm fairly certain that the ribs (or bumps, or whatever) were added when they added the extra detail to the arms on the Engineering hull, for Production shooting when the series started. That's my best guess.

Thank you, MartyS! I love these kinds of questions.


Trekkriffic said:


> Marvelous!


Thank you! I appreciate your encouragement, Trekkriffic!


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## MartyS (Mar 11, 2014)

That is a shot I hadn't see before, yes, any bump would have had a shadow with the light coming in from the side like that.


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

MartyS, just let me know what else you might need. I'm happy to help!


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## alpink (Aug 22, 2010)

really well researched and detailed
I am entertained


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

One frame from one element of a test animation with my 2nd Pilot USS Enterprise. I'm moderately happy with how it is turning out. I may have to come up with a new method. I have a couple of ideas in mind.

All done in Blender 3D and Photoshop.


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

I need more trial and error on this in Blender. The "film grain" didn't turn out how I wanted. I may have to go back to using Photoshop for this.


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

I corrected the rear lights on the Engineering hull. I've got both sides of the ship lit. These are all for fun.

I still have to work on the "triangles" on the underside of the saucer. Then I'll work on the textures.

Next week may be a little rough. There may be no more updates until the week after.

All done in Blender 3D.


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

Ran an animation overnight. This is just one frame. All done in Blender 3D.










My angle for the Enterprise is off, but I don't think it's too bad. At least, I hope not. Thanks for looking in!


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

I should have posted this earlier. I quite enjoy this image.


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

I was tired and listless today, but I still wanted to have some fun. So, here are some more of the new model from various angles, but with some chromic aberration and distortion, along with some simulated film grain and blur. Like I said, just for fun. All done in Blender 3D.


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## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

Maybe a bit to much or to far for me...


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

Milton Fox Racing said:


> Maybe a bit to much or to far for me...


You don't think it makes it look more realistic this way?


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## Milton Fox Racing (May 27, 2014)

Depends on if you are going for how it looked in person, film, tape or on the screen.


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

End result is that I want it to look like it did on screen. I intend to replace a few effects and I want it to still look like the images were produced in the 1960's.


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## eagledocf15 (Nov 4, 2008)

Incredible work


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

eagledocf15 said:


> Incredible work


Thank you!


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

Had a little fun this morning. I don't think I got it quite right, and of course, the 2nd Pilot ship was never shot from this angle, but again, just for fun. All done in Blender 3D, of course. A little post work in Photoshop. Inspired by Coward's work on his USS Enterprise (on another forum).


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

Working on this sequence for real. Trying to make it look as much like the original as I can. All done in Blender 3D.


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

I've gone back and reimaged the sequence. I wanted the lights in the ship's windows to show a little better.

I've always wanted to make this sequence and do it with some justice to the original. In other words, I hope I'm close.










When I splice it into the correct spot and render it all out as a movie in the original episode, it gets all jittery. I need to fix that. Once I've got that fixed, I'll show the short movie.

Thanks for looking in!


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## StarshipClass (Aug 13, 2003)

Looks grrrreat!


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

PerfesserCoffee said:


> Looks grrrreat!


Thank you! I always did love Tony the Tiger!


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

This is still jittery, but it is my attempt at animating the effects for the title sequence for Where No Man Has Gone Before. At least you can get the idea.

All done in Blender 3D.

[video]


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

I've discovered another couple of slight differences. I think that either my selected camera is wrong, or I've chosen the wrong lens settings. Plus, the blinking lights on the underside of my saucer are slightly too large.

I've started comparing my renders to images of the original model as it was filmed in front of a blue screen. So, maybe I can tweak my model and my renderings a little closer to the original.

This first image is from The Roddenberry Vault.










This is from an episode.










My render.









All done in Blender 3D.


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

Had a little fun the other day.


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Wow! I've really gotta sit down and learn Blender.


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

John P said:


> Wow! I've really gotta sit down and learn Blender.


Thank you! I really appreciate your kind words.


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## eagledocf15 (Nov 4, 2008)

This is Incredible. Do you do the regular series Enterprise? Fantastic!!!!!


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

eagledocf15 said:


> This is Incredible. Do you do the regular series Enterprise? Fantastic!!!!!


Yep. I'm working on a new one, but here is an older version. Thank you!


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

Here's another image of one of my older models.


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## eagledocf15 (Nov 4, 2008)

The clunk you heard was my jaw hitting the floor. Outstanding


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## scifieric (May 9, 2005)

Aw! Thank you!


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