On SharePoint the Deadalus is our F Frigate I. Here is a link if you want to look at it. As I recall it is something of a bash job.

When I get home from work today I can put up the new stuff from Slim. (playing catchup at work too)

Well the one on sharepoint is lower quality than the Fireball's model. So Fireball we will take anything you have, specially in TOS era where we are the weakest.

Slim created this alternate version of the Dominion Diplomatic background
by adding on to the original layout. Corny2x, your model could be expanded
to get to this layout. The camera might also have to be moved to get the
same line of view.

Slim Notes-Rough Sketch-I have expanded Dominion Massive City of Dras. It is now vertically proportional and at the same time maintaining the same horizon and perspective composition. This should help make the backdrop similar to the others. I added FATA Guns (Dominion guns mentioned in one of DS9 books, that fire quantum inversion beams making this base a very formidable defensive base. However because it is a location for Diplomacy, no one has ever made an attempt) on both sides some more flags of Dominion members, You guys pick logos, if a dominion race doesn't have one, get creative. Maintain the same color scheme throughout you can make the guns a a combo of silver greys and darker browns. Ships dock along the massive endless walls. It should be easier to follow the composition and angle the perspective. I blue lined what the modeler has done so far to give him a vantage point of where he is at. Good luck Slim

I had a chance to talk to Slim last week.
He was trying to expand on the Federation Diplomacy background but could not
set a good persecutive line in his drawing based on the Anti-Distinctlyminty
model.

I want to explain how I came up with the lines in my model that rather closely
match to the original Tal Shiar drawing. When Slim draws he first sets vanishing
points for the lines of perspective. When doing a model we never draw those lines.
I got the same layout by first getting the rough proportion of the ceiling, back wall and
a section of flooring. I built them in the model as seen in the view below.
(Below is my Tal Shiar model seen from a distant vantage point. You see the
ceiling back wall and a few other objects. This is an ortho view so it
is just boxy without perspective. The Perspective view comes when
you place the camera at a angle.) Then I played with the camera
position and lens to get the lines of the ceiling and wall to match up
with that in Slim's drawing. In that way I matched his lines of perspective.

Anti-Distinctlyminty, for the Federation Diplomacy I suggest you first scale
the buildings to match proportions seen in Slim's drawing. It looks like they could
still be made taller. Then try to place the camera to give you the same angle
of view and framing. That will match Slim's lines
of perspective. Next move the model of the Deadalus up so it has the same
room as Slim's gives it. Now I suggest you should add some new buildings extending off each side of what
Slim gave us out to the edge of the the frame. This will fill in the blank space on
each side when you put the original drawing in our 2560 by 1600 frame.
The new buildings could be in low light
so you do not have to give them the same level of detail as seen in the center.

For the Dominion image, remember that Zeleni is working on the emblems, so leave the flags blank and ask him for the designs. That should save you a little work. Same goes for any other images that need emblems.

-Added a new figure behind the cat tree. He needs work.
-Playing with the transporter appearance still.
-A lot of detail work that does not all show at this res.

I don't know how to say it and be convincing enough, but it is awesome.... It really is! You've created a real place. It's mesmerizing to look at. ...and look, and look. Bashir

I agree, wow, simply wow.

Definitley the work of an artist! Great job.

Arg. This is exactly what I was trying to avoid and I really tried to clear this up before I started modelling and was left with the distinct impression that stretching the image was perfectly fine as long as the composition wasn't changed. The reason being that I used match-moving software to figure out the correct camera position, orientation and field of view and I then build the model around that, so I can't just squash the model in one direction or another as that will just be a large amount of trial and error to get the proportions the same as in the original image.
Do the buildings have to be thinner? It's a major pain in the ass that I desperately tried to avoid before I started modelling for this very reason

You are doing great model work Anti-Distinctlyminty.

With the concept art built long axis up and our windows long axis horizontal
it was up to you to make the key choices.

We are all working for free. We are working for love of Star Trek or
we would not be working.

You bring important skills to the game. The worst thing that could happen
is what you would not be on the team.
Do what you have to.

I'll have a go at making the buildings thinner, but I don't think it'll work, or at least, the geometric composition of the image will change. I'll see what happens and if it doesn't look terrible I'll post it here

I've tried to get more of the perspective in Slim's original image by changing the position and field of view of the camera.


As you can see by comparing this image to the previous one, there isn't really a major difference, but if people have a preference, let me know.

WOW, this is slowly turning into a piece of art, keep it up...

Yes and the perspective looks good. I wonder if putting the ship further
in the background behind and above the roofline would
make it less cramped. I am not sure.

I thought the 'cramped' / built-up look was part of Slim's vision for this? I always figured the Daedalus was docked, but I may be wrong. What do you say?

Sure, it well could be.
It takes on a little different feel in the tall image.
We can not do tall image in our windows so
you expect it to look different.

You're right Kenneth. I'll see if I can't get the ship to be in more of a flyby style. Here's a thing though, can the Daedalus actually enter the atmosphere? :|

Maybe it's being launched? The San Francisco Fleetyards could be in the background, behind the cityscape.

Is that part of the Abramsverse whereby ships are built on the ground?

The San Francisco Fleetyards are TOS canon. The big lady was built there before the Abramsverse existed. We've never seen them though to say if they were ground or space based. Since they are named after an Earth city though it makes sense they are ground based. The space cities were always new something, like New Berlin, and it would be odd naming the yards after a city that was 100 miles below the facility.

Yes, Matress. I mean, I don't think Utopia Planitia Fleetyards in orbit of mars, geostationary over Utopia- wait. oh. That is named after a place that is 100 miles below it. Maybe not a city, but still.

It will look nice whatever you do. You are the boss of this image.
I suggest the center building standout in a bright white on
the exterior walls. Just an idea. -some Federation blue accent color as well?
(Slim's idea - see his color comp)

I could keep going on this background. There is a lot more I want to do.
Rather than drag it out though I will call this the beta version for us in
the game at this time. This is a scaled down version of it so if you want to
copy it in high res (and say it is your own) go to Share-Point.

Now I will start to work on a version of the Romulan Diplomatic.

Superb! I'm a lookin, and I'm a likin! Captain Bashir

I my be over doing the transporter effect but I can deal
with it after I do the Romulan Senate.

That is one down and nine to go.

I've started to do the actual Federation diplomatic building itself now. However, when I came to do it, because of the confusion I/we have had over images sizes, etc. the building looked too small for what was supposed to be the focus of the image, so I created another image where I've made the building larger and I've attached them for comparison. I think the larger one looks better, but I want to know what y'all think before I go further.

First the 'normal' size:


And the larger:

Aye, it's a touch strong. You'd be better off just putting a spot light on them and then adding the transporter effect after, rather than trying to do it in-render. In fact, that's one thing it took me a long time to learn - don't try to do something in the renderer that you can add/alter in a paint app or compositing app.

I also have some suggestions for lighting if you wish?

The larger one looks better. You could also get the Federation
building to standout if you do it's walls in white as Slim had
suggested.

I am open to all suggestions about Tal Shiar lighting or
anything else. There are over 100 lamps in it
already so there is a lot that could be changed. Slim had
suggested the darker more washed out color look
so most of the lamps are turned down low.

White? I thought they were reflective...unless I'm missing something? :/



The one thing that strikes me about the lighting is it seems a little washed out. I'm not that familiar with Blender, and correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems you're using a lot of ambient lighting. If you are...don't! It's a cardinal rule of CG lighting to almost never use ambient lighting. Always try to light with sources (you can turn their shadows off hopefully).
If you have the blend file I'd just like to have a play, if just so I can use blender and not play around with the default cube