Don’t get the Enterprise angry. You wouldn’t like her when she’s angry.
Careful Sulu, you might scorch the paint if you leave that thing on too long
This is an actual frame grab from Decker’s near-suicidal attack on the doomsday machine. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean I’m nearing the end of Act II… it just means that I skipped ahead several scenes and have been working on this particular sequence since the beginning of the month. The Enterprise attack on the planet killer is one of the “money shots” in “The Doomsday Machine”, so I’ve been lavishing a LOT of attention on it. Not to give away everything, but one of the things I’ve been spending a lot of time on is extending the soundtrack during this sequence to make the phaser barrage last a little longer. And ooohhhh, it’s a barn burner. I think when you see the finished product you’ll agree it was worth the wait. (Well, I hope you will!)
*yawn* Off to bed… see you soon!
#1 by DestinyCaptain at March 22nd, 2010
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This is GLORIOUS!
#2 by Sean Mahoney at March 23rd, 2010
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the tag on the photo is priceless!
#3 by james michael avalos at March 23rd, 2010
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exciting !!!
#4 by Ron Mosher at March 24th, 2010
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looks great! got me excited to see it
#5 by Metryq at March 26th, 2010
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Are those beams in phase?
#6 by Scott Gammans at March 26th, 2010
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Wellll, they’re a little jaggedy-er than they will be in the final video. After I posted this image I realized that the reason the beams looked so ragged was because I forgot to turn on motion blur on the scene files for both the Enterprise and the phaser beams–D’OH! In the final version of this scene, the motion blur was turned back on, which smooths out the roughness just enough so that the beams don’t look quite as lightning-boltish/flamethrower-ish.
BTW, to save a TON of rendering time the particle effects for the phasers are rendered in a separate pass–the light spill from the beams are actually a fake light source that only exists in the Enterprise scene file and is carefully keyframed to turn on and off exactly at the same time that the particle emitters do their thing in the phaser beam scene (where the Enterprise model is nothing but a gigantic alpha mask that properly obscures the beams where necessary).
It took a lot of experimentation to get this synchronized correctly, but damn is this faster and more flexible than having the beams actually exist in the same scene as the visible Enterprise mesh! Not only are the render times geometrically faster, but having the effects in two different layers for comp lets me adjust the appearance of one (e.g., make the beams brighter/dimmer/a different color) without affecting the other.
#7 by Metryq at March 29th, 2010
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I was kidding, of course, but I can see how the “blobs” of phaser fire will make the beams pulse with energy in the final composite.
Multi-pass rendering is a real time saver and affords so much more control in the final composite, as you’ve noted. Perhaps you should consider more passes — like that phaser spill light. With a separate pass it is not as big a D’OH! moment if the timing is off since re-rendering is just the spill. You’d also be able to change the intensity during compositing. The same goes for all backgrounds, warp nacelle lights, ship lights, specularity, etc. Consider also those interiors — render them separately to avoid the motion blur hit of rendering them with the ship. If you “run out of time,” the interiors can be sacrificed for merely lit windows.
#8 by SPOCKBOY at April 7th, 2010
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Great stuff!
I like the jagged edges, it makes it look like real energy that cuts like a serrated knife.
Keep it up.
#9 by JDOGG at June 7th, 2010
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Scott,
Nicely done! I have to admit that your take on this episode FX-wise is amazing! I truly like it better than the remastered version. I wish I could add something more constructive than a comment, but that’s it for now. Hope to see this completed one day. Keep it up!
#10 by mia at June 23rd, 2010
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very nice,
i think CBS should have place the actual CGI work in the hands on the fans…they were good at cleaning the prints up without a doubt, but the creative stuff should have been in the hands of guys like you!
nice, very nice
a big Orion Slave Girl hug to you!!
=^^=
LS
#11 by mia at June 23rd, 2010
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Additionally, this just occured to me, I think it was a poor choice for CBS to adhere strictly to the orginal edits between scenes. One of the amazing things about TOS is how cinematic it can be at times. Quite a few of those 50min episodes would do nicely expanded out to 60min or so with extended battle scenes and extended CGI shots of Shuttle, Orbiting, Space station shots etc…those things would really open some of those episodes up in the way they really should be treated: like one hour Sci-fi films. With additional music as well. I am even not against the filming of additional scenes here and there if it would improve continuity within an episode.
=^^=
LS
#12 by Scott Gammans at June 23rd, 2010
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Thanks for taking the time to chime in–I appreciate it!
I think there would have been a great hue and cry if CBS Home Entertainment had re-edited the episodes… it would have made the griping about the 2009 movie Enterprise look positively mild in comparison!
Now having said that, I couldn’t agree more–AS LONG as the episodes in their original form were still available. Heck, I’ve already done some extensions to “Doomsday” here and there myself, as well as fixing a couple of glitches in the original edit of the episode (the reversed McCoy shot on the Constellation in Act I, the sound of Lt. Kyle’s voice over the loudspeaker at the start of Act II, etc.).
#13 by Scott A at July 5th, 2010
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Excellent work, Scott! I just found your site this week and am very impressed with your work.
I’m a similar trek fan and consider this episode one of my top favs. I’ve recently been working models as well, but am re-making the physical models (AMT 18 inch) of the Constellation as inspiration for a story I’m creating based on this episode. (I’m also using it as practice for some photography self-training I’m doing) If you are interested, I’ll send you a link to the work I’ve been doing.
Your effects creation are impressive and proves how much progress has been made in the field since the show originally aired.
#14 by Scott Gammans at July 11th, 2010
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Thank you, Scott! Hopefully my personal free time will become more, er, free and I’ll be able to resume work on this project.
#15 by brad at August 14th, 2010
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Scott,
Your FXs are amazing! i would pay to see the entire episode. Please email me when you complete the episode. I am truly thrilled about your project.
thanks, Brad
#16 by R.E.Moore at April 3rd, 2011
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Have U ever considered giving STAR TREK V: The Final Forntier a shot? Bill Shatner asked Paramount to redo the effects like the did for STAR TREK: The Motion Picture, but hey declined. If you created some effects and sen them to him, I’m sure he would be impressed and intrested, U never know what might happen next?
#17 by Scott Gammans at April 4th, 2011
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LOL… no, and I probably never will. If you search YouTube you will find at least two amateur artists who are working on polishing the cinematic turd that is “Star Trek V”, but I won’t be joining them.
Thanks for commenting!
#18 by R.E.Moore at April 5th, 2011
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That unfortunate, U could be a great asset…