Nero's Fire Interior Update

Still plugging away on this.

Dan

New Turrets on Palatine Cruisers Make Life Easier for Crews

THIS WEEK on Pew-Pew Weekly:

Is that comet flying through space giving you problems?  Is collision imminent?  Everyone knows that striking a piece of rock at relativistic speeds can give your spaceship crew the shakes (and don't get me started on those exploding consoles).  Well, worry no more.  Here is the solution to rowdy interstellar fragments and debris (and any foolhardy pirate looking to avoid having to face that boring legal system):  The PY-280-Z heavy cannon turret!

 

A spectacle of destructive potential!

With a full 180 degree rotation on the z-axis and 90 degree cannon rotation, this reciprocating octo-barrel laser cannon turret provides the ultimate answer to the question: Do laser cannons really work well against rocks in space...or anything else, for that matter?  At these levels of power, the answer is an unequivocal YES!

Warning: It is inadvisable to take selfies in front of these turrets

Capable of being loaded with several types of charges, these cannons can fire both ionized plasma and particle beams capable of delivering over 25 petajoules of destructive power per barrel.  That's right, that's 200 petajoules per turret, per shot! 

To give you an idea of how much that would be in pure awesome might: 200 petajoules equals the same amount of energy as 47,801 tons of TNT.  To give you humans a chance to understand, your laughable nuclear Tsar Bomba, the largest nuclear bomb ever tested in your history, released 210 petajoules.  That's right, just one volley from one of these turrets releases the equivalent amount of energy from your largest nuclear bomb ever! HA! Take that, puny earthlings!

Do ya feel lucky, punk?

These new turrets will be installed on all ships in the Thrassi Navy large enough to support them.  Since that's only the Palatine and Aventine classes, those are the ships that will receive these beauties!

Here is a mock-up of a typical Palatine class cruiser with the turrets mounted.  Seriously, you don't want to mess with this ship.

It was as if millions of pirates suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced...

If there was ever a bad place to find yourself, this probably qualifies

Sal Marcus, the Scan Officer aboard the Adamant had this to say about the new turrets loaded onto his ship, "I'm just glad they're not pointed at me!"  That seems to be the general consensus of anyone who has to face these things.

I'm just glad they're not pointed at me! -- A very wise man

Here are the statistics for these lovely turrets for you tech-heads out there:

Kilim & Blastem PY-280-Z Heavy Laser Cannon Turret

• Type: Dual quad barrel reciprocating cannon turret

• Power Rating: 25 petajoules per barrel

• Rate of Fire: 10 shots per minute

• Deliverable Energy Rating: 2,000 petajoules per minute

Remember, if you're a space rock heading for an Aventine or Palatine class starship of the Thrassi Navy, it might behoove you to avoid it.  If you're a pirate, get your will in order!

New Opening Logo and King Valley Previs

Hey everyone.  Oodles of new stuff coming down the pipeline.  Today, with the move to 1080p, the King Valley scene from Plagarus was just not doing it.  So, decided to bite the bullet and rebuild the scene from scratch using better materials and geometry.  The WIP results of this set so far:

Also, my company logo is about 5 years old, so it's time for a little change and some sprucing up.  It's not terribly great, but it's an improvement, I hope.

As usual, all made in Blender.  But the post processing is now done in After Effects CC 2016.  The lens flare in the logo is provided by a plugin from Video Copilot.

Don't be afraid to watch in 1080p! It's quite a bit nicer. :)

Dan

Plagarus Part 3 Update

I decided to take a day just to give the old baby some love.

Environment creation began for the two areas in this part.  One is the exterior establishing shot telling everyone it's night time, now, but that we're where we left off--Padoen Titus's apartment complex.  Astute astronomers may wonder why a spiral barred galaxy appears so close in the sky.  That is the Milky Way.  All of the action in Plagarus (and, indeed, every movie I make in my personal universe) happens in a globular cluster in the galactic halo of our home galaxy.

And, of course, Padoen's apartment itself.  This set is available online, but it's far more generic than this fully furnished and decorated version.  I may update the online version with the textures, at least.  We'll see.

Updated Padoen Titus' and Lethgoshis' meshes, textures, materials, and skeletons, as both characters were looking pretty dated due to huge advancements in Blender and the Cycles Render Engine.

The guide track for the dialogue has already been completed.  This track is comprised of the unfiltered original recordings (well, except for equalizing and compression, thanks to my sound buddy Danny), and is used strictly for animation purposes.

Another reason that Plagarus took a back seat is rather personal.  My good friend Dale, who helped me work on it suddenly died late last year. He was only 28. He provided the inspiration for Ackla, the snake alien in Part 2.  He did the initial voice recording on my old set-up.  I then copied his performance in the recording that is in the actual movie.

With a lot of work, the main character's alien species being called "Isus" (a name which could be controversial, given the events in Iraq last year), and Dale's untimely departure, an impenetrable wall of resistance was created which I'm still struggling to get through.  Here's hoping I can get Part 3 out anyway.

Hope everyone is doing well.

Thanks,
Dan

Freighter Update

Started texturing phase on the freighter. It's looking a bit worse for wear.

Have to fix the center parts of the hull plating where there are mirror artefacts in the texture mapping, as well as finish the landing gear and the texturing on some parts, like the wings and greeble sections, but otherwise, it's looking pretty far along, now, I think.

Dan

The Nero's Fire WIP

A few years back, I wrote a movie called Armranath.  It's still the best thing I've ever written, and it's not bad, as movie scripts go.  It'll probably never be made, but I might just put it on Deviant Art one day, just so anyone who cares enough to trudge through a 2 hour script can read it.

Anyway, almost all of the action takes place aboard an aging space freighter captained by a middle aged Thrassi man named Seranno Nero.  Since he owned the ship at the time, he named it the Nero's Fire.

I've had a few iterations of the ship over the years, but nothing I was really satisfied with.  I've been working on this on my free weekend time (which isn't much), and finally, now that I've got my computer up and running again, I've gotten my chance to show how she looks so far.

Nero's Fire WIP

Obviously, still a long ways to go, but I really like her.  She's beautiful in my eyes. :)

Dan

The Baron's Hangar

The average visitor to the Aster Space Port and Hangar Facility on Koranna IV might never realize that it houses the private hangar of the famed star fighter pilot, nicknamed the Baron.

If one were to explore the sprawling complex of squat, round hangars and landing bays, semi-submerged in the sandy ground all around, they might chance upon an unassuming structure toward the south, where three ancient D-1 Space Superiority Fighters sit, relatively unattended. The three craft are all owned by the Baron, and were used by him and his flight team during their incredible combat missions against the Trisst Empire some fifty years ago.

Now, they are museum pieces, preserved by the Thrassi War Heroes Conservation Association, for future generations to appreciate.

The Baron who flew these fighters, whose real name was never released to the public, was reportedly killed by falling from a ladder in his home just three days after the war ended.

——-

Blender 2.71, Cycles Renderer, post in GIMP.

Original Dimensions: 10,000x5000 px

 

Render Time: ~6 hours

D-1 Space Superiority Fighter

Finished the public version of the ship.  Now, onto the private version for the client.

It is available here.  If you know anyone who'd like a space fighter, give a shout out and direct them to my storefront on Turbo Squid.  I'd greatly appreciate any help anyone can give.

Product ID: 835427

Hope everyone is doing great.

Thanks,
Dan

Retro Spaceship Nearly Done

Finishing her up.  The devil is in the details, so they say.  I'd agree.

Dan

Retro Space Fighter

Been working on a project for a client who has asked for a space fighter design based loosely off of old Soviet era combat aircraft.  Decided to do a little adjustments, but it's based off an old MiG and other planes.

Still have to add the landing gear and some appropriate space-y looking weapons.

Hope everyone is doing awesome.

Dan

On Laser Turrets... Part 2

Worked on getting the tutorial finished up.  Just have to review the manuscript and then record the action.

In the meantime, please enjoy this little preview of what can be accomplished with this system!

Hopefully everyone has a safe weekend.

Thanks,
Dan

Padoen's Apartment Public Version Released

Public version of the apartment set from Plagarus Part 3 is available here.

Hope everyone enjoys it and that someone finds some use for it.

 Sci Fi Apartment Scene 2

Thanks,
Dan

Padoen's Apartment 3

Nearing completion of the public version of the apartment.  Into the detailing phase, which involves fixing up loose ends here and there and dropping props into it.  Once done with that, I'm going to start fleshing out the personal details for the Plagarus version.

Hopefully everyone is doing awesome.

Dan