USS Krakatoa Officers Lounge

[clever garnet]

Other than perhaps some tiny details, this is basically done.

[safe stratus]

Meetings on that ship looks comfy !

[unique plinth]

I'm in. Where to I put my bags.

[torpid gust]

I'm pretty new to modeling interiors.
How do you make sure that everything stays uniformly scaled with one another to make it look so real?

Like how do you make sure chairs, doors, countertops, etc. are always to scale with a humans?

[clever garnet]

They're all built to real-world units from the ground up. I model in imperial units since that's what construction in the US uses (and therefore all Star Trek set blueprints). For example, standard door sizes in Star Trek are very well documented - this by Redgeneral lays out all of the various sizes seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation, based on dimensions found in original scanned blueprints: http://archive.frogland.co.uk/Reverse Engineered Set Blueprints/Galaxy Project/index.html#img=Galaxy Project - Doors 01.png

BTW, the characters added in here were all made normal sizes by someone else and fit naturally without any further adjustment:

[torpid gust]

Thanks for the advice. I tend to forget that blender measures things in feet and meters and I can use that to scale everything

[clever garnet]

That's all depending on what you set scene units to:

I'm very explicit abut that in all of my work, even to the starship scale as my stuff will always fit correctly into the outer hull if I can at all help it:

[torpid gust]

Ill have to take a look at that. Ive been trying to model some interiors to go along with my personal project and scaling accurately has been a roadblock

YES. I was part of a team for 6 years that did similar albiet far simpler work and ive been trying to design my ships in the same way to intentionally make sure interiors make sense

[clever garnet]

The key there is that all members of the team agree to work in real-world units. Whether it's metric or imperial is largely irrelevant as long as it's all properly to real-world scale.

In the example I showed, the bridge on the deck above the highlighted items won't fit, but that's a problem I inherited from canon Trek (TFF on) and there's nothing I can really do about that but the turblifts on B deck align with where they should be in the bridge on A deck.

The reason that works is the bridge has no exterior windows, so that set lives in a world by itself.

I'm not about to try to rebuild Howie's exterior model (I've attempted with a different one before and the results were, shall we say, less than ideal...).

[torpid gust]

I always love vfx shots that show glimpes of interiors. Im hoping to do that myself. I wont be modeling every deck to the same detail but I want to hopefully make people that see it want to pause try to peak in and see what might be through some random window

Really adds a sense of realism

[clever garnet]

Turbolift issue (note the orange circles):

[torpid gust]

Ah, yup thats rough

[clever garnet]

Exactly, and I'm setting up tons of that to be able to do in the Krakatoa project, but thankfully A deck has no windows. 😉

[torpid gust]

My fav are Recreation Deck ones where you can see trees and plant life like on the TMP enteprise. Its also nice that in close up shots of new-trek ships they show that different rooms have varied lighting because, of course, not everyone would have their room on bright white max illumination. Maybe someone is reading a book or meditating or relaxing

[clever garnet]

Made worse that Howie not only doesn't build straight canon but eyeballs his shit on top of that. It's phenomenal, but he pays too little attention to actual fit in some cases - I'm not sure his A deck would even correctly fit the original TMP bridge.

[torpid gust]

Yeah. Sometimes it comes down to people enjoying different aspects of the process. Some people like continuity and accuracy, some are more experimental, some people are more focused on the end goal.

[clever garnet]

The key to that of any project (not just 3D or Trek) is bouncing the best parts of each off the other and finding a constructive balance. 🙂 As long as the interest in the overall project remains, that is possible.

Inspiration without ego is crucial.

One thing I've said multiple times on the Krakatoa project is "I am so inspired by this idea, let me build it out and we can use it on another ship or not but I'll come back to the idea you're asking for." I can't let go of an idea once it's fully formed, but that doesn't mean they have to use it. There are a million different ways to skin a cat. My issue is I need to capture what I saw before I lose it for the sake of my own sanity. The alternate (more TMP/TWOK-canon) version of the officers lounge for that class is very much in my head as well and will be done.

BTW, @torpid gust if you work on a project like that with people doing creative construction work, please do not give them conflicting ideas from different people. That's happened more than once in this project because the founder isn't quite there as often as he should be and stuff gets built (or composed in the case of music done by another guy) and then he steps in after the work was done to pick on stuff. That's infuriating. Live happens, but when it does, you must necessarily cede some control to those who actually are there and are continuing the work in your absence - they may miss stuff you thought important, but are they capturing the general intent? If so, let it flow, otherwise find a way to be more present if it means that much.

[torpid gust]

Good advice. Group projects with anything in life struggle from things like that. There wont always be a 1000% unified vision and its important to bounce ideas so that when the work is done, its done right

Biggest problem for me now has been keeping motivation. Now that im working solo im realizing how much that collaboration is what helps to drive a project.

[clever garnet]

Egos can be a bitch but they must be understood to be everpresent. The mark of a good leader (or even team member) is know how to manage them and move them in ways that play both to their own strengths and those of the team. Let the ego shine in non-destructive ways and redirect it to the greater good.

[clever garnet]

I agree that that is supremely difficult and that is actually connected to what I have said - allow people to chose inspiration or they will burn out. It's a delicate balancing act but the key is always to hold a common sense of purpose. Frankly, having been involved in AA and tons of political stuff beyond just the 3D stuff I am known for, I can tell you that AA works on that philosophy because it literally must - our own individual survival rests upon it - the political stuff occasionally aspires to it (Occupy very nearly did it, but decentralized self-organization is almost impossible without life or death motivation); what survives to me is ultimately the question of service. I can't fix anything but how can I ensure that I don't destroy it. I borrow this world from the next generation and it is therefore incumbent upon me to hand it off in better shape than it was given to me. I don't believe in God but I can state truth to two things: I am not God, and everything is interconnected. The first needs no elaboration but the second is visible if you merely keep your eyes open. Hole crap I see those connections every time I open my eyes - how else do you define luck or a coincidence? So to bring this full circle, you know where my motivation lies? It's both positive and negative simultaneously:

Because everything is inextricably interconnected I have the power to touch anything through my own actions.
Because everything is inextricably interconnected I have the responsibility to understand that I have the power to touch anything through my own actions.
Nothing I do exists in isolation. Everything I touch ripples out as in a pond to touch in far more subtle ways I will never comprehend.
Everything therefore must be directed toward constructive energy: because I do not live in a vacuum, I must find ways to move frustration into empowerment.
Karma is real: Not in the way often talked about, but in a pure physics sense, our actions have predictable reactions. No one can tell me that volunteer work doesn't pay - I have the damned receipts! The point is, empower the people around you and karma ceases being a bitch. 😉

No mater what you face, ask yourself this question first: am I leaving the world a better place than I found it.
I will tell you I got myself shockingly close to suicide by not being able to answer that question in the positive a bit over a year ago. I can now truthfully say that I am far closer to a positive answer to that question than I was even before it arose. It's all about connections and how I empower the people around me. I flop many times out of some uncountable number of efforts but the key is to keep nudging, however subtly, in a direction that leave people better than I found them. If I don't do that, I have no right to waste resources.

Please forgive me both for the length of time it took to write that and perhaps it's irrelevance to this conversation. 😰