VFX Test - Hard to Starboard - Scale & Weapons
8,507
Published 2023-05-08
[If I get a pile of comments that just repeat issues I've already listed in the description, I won't be posting progress videos again. The point of these VFX Test videos will be to demonstrate the work I do behind the scenes, some experimentation, and some self-critique that helps improve my work overall. This will be a more relaxed and slow version of how I also run the work at my studio, which is based on iteration, improvisation, and positive critique.]
There are a lot of errors and faults in here, it's a draft shot that won't be used in anything. I create 'look-dev' sequences like this in order to make future sequences faster and easier to pull off. This way I get the trial-and-error work done in advance of a project so there's less revision needed at that point.
---- The Info:
The main shot has 20 render passes, including 3 on the Reliant and 10 on the Enterprise. This is so I can tweak aspects, and prevent conflictions between lights and lighting colors. One pass took 20 hours to render, another pass took 20 minutes. Overall, this sequence was 'in progress' for about 5 days total, both from rendering and waiting for me to compile the passes and revise etc.
---- The Good:
The main goal of this sequence is to dial in the scale of the ships, so things feel a little bit slow. Usually I would edit in and out of shots like this to retain tension. However, I wanted to make sure to dial in my own personal sense of the scale and speed these ships can move with. You'll see the Enterprise start its turn at a good distance, but the speed and mass (and the position of the impulse engines & nav thrusters) causes a bit of a fishtail as they take a hard turn to avoid collision. The final move ends up with the wing of the closest nacelle getting about 5 meters from the Reliant's hull.
I friggin love the shot from inside the officer's lounge. It's not correct for this era, the 'shoulder-cam' and the lens dirt are too modern for what I'll be aiming for, etc. However, having the light of the torpedo pass over the room was extremely interesting, and something that gave me a little dopamine when I saw the render pass.
---- The Bad:
As above, the camerawork in the officer's lounge, and the lens dirt etc, is incorrect for the era. As well, that room does require more decoration and lighting etc. It's fairly barebones at the moment, so I'll need to refer to some reference material to get it 'ship shape' if I want to use it.
The tension of the 'close call' would be more obvious and dynamic if the closest nacelle of the Enterprise swung out over the top of the Reliant's saucer, instead of just coming close to the front edge. (In an edit I might want to attach a camera to the nacelle to show how close they were to collision, if that camera angle fit the tone and style)
The phasers feel mild, and I believe in TWOK the phasers double-emit from the phaser emitters on the Enterprise.
Not all of the light passes are present here, in particular, you'll notice the running lights (blinkers and port/starboard lights) are missing on both ships.
I dislike the photon torpedo effect I've used here. It looks 'fine' but that's not how the torpedos were portrayed in TMP, and I'd prefer to nail down that effect. I expect I'll need to set up an array of lights to better portray the 'arms' of the torpedo flare spinning in space around the core. This is a flat flare animation that's trying to imitate the effect, but not successfully.
The torpedo speed is also a little slow, and they travel in a straight line, whereas the torpedos have been portrayed as having variable paths.
The deflector fires up too late for when it pushes that cloud out of the way, but because this isn't a shot I'll be using, I'm not fussed about it.
There are some glitches in some fog passes in the first few seconds of the main shot, I didn't care to re-render those because they were not the focus on the sequence.
All Comments (21)
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The FX are neat. The torpedoes do feel too slow. They seem to linger. I'd love to see the phaser shots with the twin emitter effect, the movie seemed to show alternating pulses with a firing cycle of 5 or 6 pulses, and a brighter yellow-white with a red perimeter glow. The music is a good match!
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Wow. Looks great, so far! I especially like the hand-held shot looking out the windows of the command deck. The movement of the ships conveys massive scale. They FEEL huge. I can't wait to see the finished product! πππ
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Yeah, this is how capital ships are supposed to move.
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Playing it back at 1.75 speed made such a difference. So much better. Do love that you can feel the size and weight of things in some of the slower shots
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Actually that torp effect is pretty nice.
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Ive always loved the TWOK phaser sound.
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The phaser shots appear to be a single beam emitting from the space between the two phaser bulbs at each phaser bank. Each phaser shot should be two parallel beams emitting from the two bulbs.
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Beautiful. I recommend speeding it up a bit. Gorgeous renders and PHOTORP was probably one of the best renditions I have seen on youtube.
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Extremely good! Really fresh take on the original shot.... sense of scale is wonderful. Great work.
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So epic. The slow speed, the ambience, ligthning. Mutara battle 2.0
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She looks beautiful! Well done
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Oh man this was so good, especially that last shot out of the officers lounge. Perfect ππΏ
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Excellent
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Love it!! Absolutely brilliant!! Keep it up! πππ»
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Those torpedoes are so slow they would have better luck just throwing rocks at them.
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This is so beautiful!
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I love the sense of anticipation you get with this scale. 2 cents: Phasers - I'd recommend showing a charge-up animation before release Topedoes - fast launch with the slow trajectory and then acceleration at the end
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Dealing with one of the problems of Star Trek. The ships never feel big enough and they move around like fighter jets instead of battle ships
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I like how heavy the ships feel.
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I love it!
