Kenneth, I'll be taking on this Federation diplo screen. I had a question about the aspect though - currently the image is portrait, the Romulan one is landscape and I'm not sure about the Cardassian one. What size do these images have to be?

Edit: Also, am I working exactly to the image, or am I supposed to take some inspiration from other Fed structures? (It's quite a complex image, so I may have to do this to some extent anyway)

Thank you for talking on this work. The backgrounds will be a 2560 x 1600 windows. It will be cut down by the game to fit smaller screens running below that resolution and aspect ratio but the image we deliver to Mike will be 2560 x 1600.

I will list you in the first post of this thread as doing the Federation images. I will also PM you with contact information for Slim. You can ask him your questions directly on his work. To paraphrase what he has said you are going to be fleshing out a line drawing so we expect to see some detail changes. The point is to keep his layout, focus and intent. That means you can change some detail on a building, ship or person but keep it in the same general position. You might even add some people but not to change the focus. The images will appear very early in the game so some of the uniforms and ships can be a mix up to as late as say TNG TV Federation. I am looking for a mix of Enterprise, TOS and TNG TV Romulans uniforms in my images. Slim did mix in a little shaved head and some JJ Abrams movie look to the interior design but this is Tal Shiar secret stuff so we let that go as never before see top secret.

I had to play for a while with my camera to get the perspective kinda sorta like Slim's image of the Tal Shiar. It is still not spot on but you would only notice with an overlay.

Can't wait to see it.

Corny2x has agreed to work on the Dominion images. Please welcome Corny2X to the dark-side.


Anti-Distinctlyminty, if you have not already notice the Federation diplomatic image is long axis up. Slim explains how to deal with that on a 2560 x 1600 wide screen monitor format. It is on page two of this thread about half way down. There he is talking about the same issue with the Dominion diplomatic image. Basically adapt the layout to the aspect ratio and be brilliant.


PS: Did I mention to be brilliant?

yo what's the pic aboot?

The pic is about being brilliant, ie. being Romulan.

I see that you have the pictures of Slim about the intelligence of every empire except the Dominion. Will we get a picture for this?

Small note: In the game, Andorians, Vulcans and Tellarites appear as minor races who are asked to join us as members. I do not know if it is wise to put these characters in this picture. Personally I would replace by humans because I am referring to this paragraph:

The people of Earth achieved warp drive in the aftermath of their third world war, through the efforts of a few dedicated individuals. This achievement allowed interstellar contact and brought hope to the desperate people of Earth. In 2161 they formed the United Federation of Planets, a pluralistic association of independent worlds sharing the common goal of galactic peace.

Now it is certain that you have a different opinion.

The photo is from STAR TREK MAGAZINE ISSUE 26

Showing relations with minor races at all in diplomacy and espionage is
an issue in that we do not know what minor races a major race will run
into during any given game. Unfortunately leaving minor races out
or making them black outlines would be less effective. In our images the
UFP is seen with the races noted above, the Dominion is shown meeting
a Breen ship and the Klingon espionage refers to the Romulans and
the UFP. The images may not fit every game and they are not intended
to. They are just backgrounds. Your diplomatic and espionage buttons
and data will float over these backgrounds and you will be busy
being diplomatic or sneaky. They are not intended to fit every situation and
by that logic do not have to be completely cannon.

how come your reply
was wrapped?

It is easier for people with old aspect ratio screens
to read it.

hmm. Shouldn't the forum/browsers autowrap it anyway (aka dynamic table width for the post, set width for the side post info cell.

I dislike websites made with set widths like that... I have two websites open at once tho when they are like that.

Heres a WIP of the Dominion Diplomacy Window. I tried to stick to the concept image as much as possible.

I think i'll need some help texturing this Breen Ship. Texturing is something i'm not very good at.

Wow, sacred work for a first image (Dominion1.png).

Looks good.
I wonder if you could start with one of the Breen ships we already have and work back-wards?

I wonder if a lattice in blender will give you a nice curve to the loops of cable in Slim's image? I used a lattice to curve that 'cat tree' that is the center upright in the Tal Shiar image. A lattice can give you a clean look and should make it look more like a real cable in gravity. I mean to try that for the Tal Shiar anyway. There is an online help thing about that at the blender site. I will check it out again in the next few days.

Slim just draws a curved line. We have to build the cable model then learn how to curve it with lattice tool. Then we can import it to the main model. No wonder this is taking so long.

It may be taking a long time, but look at what you've all accomplished in that time mate! This is a fab image, and you all deserve nothing but credit for it.

Lookin nice

Ok i've been doing more work to the Dominon Diplomacy window. I added a Breen ship from the site also a number of other things. Tell me what you think.

Wow, simply wow.

yes, very nice.

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:M ... rm/Lattice

Here is an explanation (at link) about how to use lattice.
I uploaded the model so you can use it if you like.
(zip as a .7z - See file listed below the image) It could still use
some work but it might be render enough depending
on the location in your model.

The mesh is a horizontal tube. The lattice gives it the
loop shape. I had to scale down the mid section because
of some distortion but it still is cleaner than trying to
move all the vertices.


You might also look at changing the default material on
some of the model objects. That could give some variation
in the textures. Bevel is a nice feature as well so edges
do not look perfect. The ship could use some of that.

I've tried it but using bevel distorts the textures on the ship.

Awesome picture. The flags are amazing. What are you drawing this with? Captain Bashir

The ship model looks low poly at this angle. If it is
hard to august the UV mapping as the poly count is
busted we can just plan to replace the ship later.

When we start rebuilding the minor race
ships we can plan to build a Breen ship more
in keeping with Slim's destroyer. Then we can
add it into your model and redo the image.

Bevel might help the look of the "docking clamps" if
not the ship.

I use Blender, i used the sculpt tool on the flags to give them that wavey look.

Oh yes - the flags look great. I like the sculpt tool but
have not been able to get the texture feature to add noise.
Have you gotten that to work? It would be handy to give my
Romulan Thug some acne scars.

Ok i've added some textures to the walls and changed a number of other things. Look better than before ?

Oh and i will change that wire thing as soon as i read through how to use lattices.

Getting better and better. Keep up the good work.

You have to ask? Of course it looks even better mate!

I particularly like the fact that there are multiple light sources in the image now. The shadows point in more than one direction throughout the entire image. Makes it look more natural.

Oh yes, what he said and more, material and lights. The bevel looks nice
and also the glowy thing in the ship is way cool. I would read through the
lattice stuff, play with loop model and then build your own inside your
model. I got better results when I upped the division on the lattice U value
to more like 17. It makes for a smoother loop. Do not worry about the poly
count getting high. It is the render we want and not a low poly model