Not-Quite Render Gallery - USS Coronado Renders

Not-Quite Render Gallery

The biggest challenges to the Coronado's bridge was dealing with the existing dimensions established by the floor plan, as well as designing the ceiling and lighting effects for the bridge. The actual construction was sped up through the use of my LCARS Wall Console Templates, but a lot of time was lost in establishing the smooth transition ramps and slightly-awkward shapes to the major structural elements. This mesh features a large number of boxes tweaked and edited into their current shapes, as well as over 300 lights used to simulate radiosity on the floor accent lighting strips.

Thankfully some major bloat was avoided through some near-final version changes; in its frozen state, the average production camera shot takes about 12-14 minutes to render; draft rendering with just about every option off takes about a minute. As such, this has the honor of being the most complex mesh I have ever created in terms of lighting and face/vertex counts.

Special thanks to Brad, Ryan, Ross, Colin, and the other Coronado regulars for ideas, feedback, help, and inspiration. The final render wouldn't be here without all of you.

CREDIT: Floor plan (c) Bradley Crossland 2002 / garstini1@cox.net.
Use of floor plan for rendering purposes is with permission.

USS Coronado NCC-97901 - Main Bridge, Turbolift Stop, & CIC

Bridge - Final Production Render, 10-18-02

View from Holotank aft

The new view aft shows some of the minor changes made for the final production. The helm console and it supporting structure were completely rebuilt from scratch, most of the consoles got LCARS materials assigned to them, and the turbolift stop's twin Master Situation Displays (MSDs) have been reduced to one.

From The Floor

These are the kind of odd shots I just love to see turn out like this. This particular angle shows some of the lighting detail under the consoles as well as the above-door lights. The large shape on the far lower right of the shot is the forward repeater display, which contains the traditional "sweeping lights".

View from the Conference Room Door

Shots like this are a great visual aid when trying to get an idea of what the bridge looks like from various common angles that the crew might see. This shot also shows the revamped command dias, which is slightly lower than the previous, as well as new LCARS shots replacing some of the old multiple MSDs.

Commander's View

Due to its near-future origins, this bridge features a holographic viewer system or 'holotank' that provides a three dimensional method of projecting information, whether it be the normal view forward, a live representation of a battle, or something more. Note the overhead LCARS displays are now functional.

Another View

This time, coming from the starboard forward station. You can see the forward repeater display in front of the helm in this picture. Due to the unusual shapes of some of the consoles (and the difficulty in adapting them for mapping), some of the consoles on the bridge will likely remain 'off' for normal rendering.

Starboard Aft Station Cluster

For some strange reason, the console support add-on piece wasn't shadow-mapping right; it took two days of tinkering to fix the floor accent lighting. Eventually it worked out, providing an absolutely beautiful makeover for the station clusters while providing a common lighting theme for the entire bridge.

From The Trenches

A glance from the port aft station cluster towards the command dias. This cluster is the one that was easiest to match to LCARS materials and is just about 'fully functional'. You can see the difference in height of the command dias from this view as well.

Turbolift Stop - Final Production Render, 11-08-02

Turbolift Car

It's a little rough around the edges, but it's there. You try figuring out how to light a turbolift car on a deck where darkness is your best friend. (grin) Seriously, it was really hard to get the lighting on this to come out just right w/o spilling over onto the outside deck too far or cutting it off too early.

Starboard Console

The stop needed a little bit of livening up, and putting in a console seemed like the best way to go. Fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation may be able to recognize the console. (wink)

Ship's Honor Wall

The OOC version of this wall is probably the list of the Defenders of Coronado; regarding its IC use I'm not sure. Again, this was put in to break up the monotony of the wall. The Coronado's dedication plaque is on its flying bridge, hence this was really the only other thing I could put in.

Combat Information Center (CIC) - Final Production Render, 12-17-02

CIC From Turbolift Stop

The CIC has been the dragging point for the entire design - to put it simply, for such a large open space, it required plenty of detail, as seen in railings, the see-through grate flooring, and dozens of consoles and stools. The finished product, however, is quite impressive.

CIC Camera 1

A look across the back of the CIC towards one of the station clusters. Note the numerous overhead pipes - this made keeping the floor somewhat well lit a challenge considering that most of the illumination in the CIC comes from a direct light in the ceiling.

CIC Camera 2

Sadly, creating LCARS images for rendering isn't very easy, and for most of the CIC-specific consoles I was forced to use rather small images for the maps, resulting in some nasty jags that even the anti-alias couldn't get rid of. This is the one spot I may revisit further down the road to give it better LCARS graphics and perhaps even toy with some rendered 3D wireframe-based LCARS.

Return to Coronado Gallery Menu

Return to Coronado Gallery Menu

Clicking this link will return you to the Coronado Gallery Menu, where you can select other Coronado galleries to view.

Last Updated: December 17th, 2002

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Not-Quite Render Gallery
	The biggest challenges to the Coronado's bridge was dealing with the existing dimensions established by the floor plan, as well as designing the ceiling and lighting effects for the bridge. The actual construction was sped up through the use of my LCARS Wall Console Templates, but a lot of time was lost in establishing the smooth transition ramps and slightly-awkward shapes to the major structural elements. This mesh features a large number of boxes tweaked and edited into their current shapes, as well as over 300 lights used to simulate radiosity on the floor accent lighting strips. Thankfully some major bloat was avoided through some near-final version changes; in its frozen state, the average production camera shot takes about 12-14 minutes to render; draft rendering with just about every option off takes about a minute. As such, this has the honor of being the most complex mesh I have ever created in terms of lighting and face/vertex counts. Special thanks to Brad, Ryan, Ross, Colin, and the other Coronado regulars for ideas, feedback, help, and inspiration. The final render wouldn't be here without all of you. CREDIT: Floor plan (c) Bradley Crossland 2002 / garstini1@cox.net. Use of floor plan for rendering purposes is with permission.
USS Coronado NCC-97901 - Main Bridge, Turbolift Stop, & CIC
Bridge - Final Production Render, 10-18-02
	View from Holotank aft
	The new view aft shows some of the minor changes made for the final production. The helm console and it supporting structure were completely rebuilt from scratch, most of the consoles got LCARS materials assigned to them, and the turbolift stop's twin Master Situation Displays (MSDs) have been reduced to one.
	From The Floor
	These are the kind of odd shots I just love to see turn out like this. This particular angle shows some of the lighting detail under the consoles as well as the above-door lights. The large shape on the far lower right of the shot is the forward repeater display, which contains the traditional "sweeping lights".
	View from the Conference Room Door
	Shots like this are a great visual aid when trying to get an idea of what the bridge looks like from various common angles that the crew might see. This shot also shows the revamped command dias, which is slightly lower than the previous, as well as new LCARS shots replacing some of the old multiple MSDs.
	Commander's View
	Due to its near-future origins, this bridge features a holographic viewer system or 'holotank' that provides a three dimensional method of projecting information, whether it be the normal view forward, a live representation of a battle, or something more. Note the overhead LCARS displays are now functional.
	Another View
	This time, coming from the starboard forward station. You can see the forward repeater display in front of the helm in this picture. Due to the unusual shapes of some of the consoles (and the difficulty in adapting them for mapping), some of the consoles on the bridge will likely remain 'off' for normal rendering.
	Starboard Aft Station Cluster
	For some strange reason, the console support add-on piece wasn't shadow-mapping right; it took two days of tinkering to fix the floor accent lighting. Eventually it worked out, providing an absolutely beautiful makeover for the station clusters while providing a common lighting theme for the entire bridge.
	From The Trenches
	A glance from the port aft station cluster towards the command dias. This cluster is the one that was easiest to match to LCARS materials and is just about 'fully functional'. You can see the difference in height of the command dias from this view as well.
Turbolift Stop - Final Production Render, 11-08-02
	Turbolift Car
	It's a little rough around the edges, but it's there. You try figuring out how to light a turbolift car on a deck where darkness is your best friend. (grin) Seriously, it was really hard to get the lighting on this to come out just right w/o spilling over onto the outside deck too far or cutting it off too early.
	Starboard Console
	The stop needed a little bit of livening up, and putting in a console seemed like the best way to go. Fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation may be able to recognize the console. (wink)
	Ship's Honor Wall
	The OOC version of this wall is probably the list of the Defenders of Coronado; regarding its IC use I'm not sure. Again, this was put in to break up the monotony of the wall. The Coronado's dedication plaque is on its flying bridge, hence this was really the only other thing I could put in.
Combat Information Center (CIC) - Final Production Render, 12-17-02
	CIC From Turbolift Stop
	The CIC has been the dragging point for the entire design - to put it simply, for such a large open space, it required plenty of detail, as seen in railings, the see-through grate flooring, and dozens of consoles and stools. The finished product, however, is quite impressive.
	CIC Camera 1
	A look across the back of the CIC towards one of the station clusters. Note the numerous overhead pipes - this made keeping the floor somewhat well lit a challenge considering that most of the illumination in the CIC comes from a direct light in the ceiling.
	CIC Camera 2
	Sadly, creating LCARS images for rendering isn't very easy, and for most of the CIC-specific consoles I was forced to use rather small images for the maps, resulting in some nasty jags that even the anti-alias couldn't get rid of. This is the one spot I may revisit further down the road to give it better LCARS graphics and perhaps even toy with some rendered 3D wireframe-based LCARS.
Return to Coronado Gallery Menu
	Return to Coronado Gallery Menu
	Clicking this link will return you to the Coronado Gallery Menu, where you can select other Coronado galleries to view.
Last Updated: December 17th, 2002