Control Toggles

Here are some toggles, switches and knobs I've created for the Spartan-Flower's control panel:

Deck Lighting

A test of some deck lighting using Maya Mental Ray. No textures and still need to populate with plenty of objects. I guess I should add a mass of cables under the console. Perhaps even some cables/wires hanging from the ceiling. Most of the console objects are proxy objects.

Populating the Command Deck (or stacking crap)

Thought I'd start populating the command deck of the 'Flower with stuff to make it look cramped, crowded and kind of like a broom closet. Here are some crates to start with:

Crate Color Test

Command Deck

I finally created a command deck layout that I'm happy with. It's just in the preliminary stages, but it already has most of the features that I like. The lighting, instruments and displays will be extremely fun to play with. There is some space left and right of the console that's going to be filled with all kinds of crap (it's going to be cramped looking), including things that just shouldn't be on a command deck. I want to to kind of look like a high tech broom closet.

I haven't added a ceiling yet, but I might put up some kind of futuristic chandelier.

Command Chair

It's been a while since I've posted. So many other little projects going on.

Months ago, I designed a chair for Hugo's ship, The Spartan-Flower. The original chair design was impractical so I redesigned a simpler chair for him. I needed something that read quickly as a futuristic-type chair and was easy for Hugo to sit in. I didn't think I needed a lot of complex straps or head rests (as I considered that a bit too cliche), so I went back to the sixties for a design influence. I'm pretty satisfied with the results.

Now that I've decided on a command chair design, I'm off to design the Spartan-Flower's bridge itself.

Another Good Book

A great book that explains the process of pitching an animation project to a major studio is, "Animation Development: From Pitch to Production" by David B. Levy. It's an easy-to-read book with many examples of pitches and stories that let you know how and why things work the way they work in Hollywood.