Screen Accurate Millennium Falcon Cockpit (CG Model)

Stormy320 said:

Looks like Attakus was having a problem with the whole damn ship

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Fixed that for you.

fab steve the only thing I would like to alter would the reveal, a bit slower (too make it more of a wow) and r2 plugged in somewere! lol otherwise the perfect gift for all fans,

Darth Humorous said:

SteveS,

I don’t know what the building codes are like where Chris is building this, but yet another consideration might be the height of the “opening” at the bottom, i.e., the distance from the top of the ramp pad to the underside of the bulkhead. A full sized ship will improve the height over the set’s height, but will it be enough? IIRC, most codes I have dealt with use a minimum height of 81". In my design efforts, I believe I get that, though not much more. Chances are, you would get that too.

Keep up the awesome work, sir.

Mark

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Fortunately the build site is located in an area with little to no local building codes. So we should be fine with whatever solution works best. I'm happy with the lack of codes since I wasn't looking forward to going before the rural building department and explaining how I needed permits to build a spaceship.

Hey guys, off topic from the last few things I've been posting, but I thought I'd share it anyway. I was tooling around with little details here and there and I rebuilt my holochess table from a photomatch of the actual prop. Much much nicer now, as you can see.

Anyone know the exact dimensions of the set piece? I have a drawing of the crash couch that shows a 3' diameter circle where the table should go, but doesn't have any other notes. From the photomatch, this gives a height of about 3' 5", can anyone verify that dimensions?

I ran across this project a few days ago. Very cool! Now we just need the world's largest 3D printer to make it! LOL

SteveS,

I have been unable to locate any official drawing of the table, but I have made size estimates by triangulating from the few semi decent photographs I could find.

My best guess estimate for the table dims at this point in time is as follows:

Top Ø = 36"
Pedestal Ø = 15"
Base Ø = 24"
diameter of flat top of base = 17.5"
Total base height = 1.5"
vertical wall of lowest part of base = 5/8"
Pedestal height between top of base and underside of top = 24.5"
Top Thickness = 6"
Total table height = 32"

Is any of this correct? Who knows, but it looks very reasonable to my eye.

After looking at so many objects from the 1st two movies, I am convinced that most fabricated (& some not) objects are built to imperial unit measurements. The builders and modelers knew clever geometrical tricks using whole numbers and typical imperial fractions to give a nearly integer value for angles. For example, the sloped portion of the base has a height of 7/8", and its horizontal component is 3 1/4", both by my reckoning, and this gives an angle of almost exactly 15º. For ANH at least, These things were built before the advent and proliferation of small computers. Yes, handheld calculators were available by then, but many who did that kind of work were trained in an old school way, and it was some years before training changed to take advantage of calculators. I can’t help but think there was some classic text book that described a plethora of such imperial geometric trickery to save time. I sure would love to get my hands on such a book.

Hope this is useful.

Mark

A million years ago, there was an attempted RPF active project on this, and IIRC someone had obtained measurements from the prop where it now resides at Disney Hollywood Studios. Maybe a general shout out on the main forum could scare up that info again.

S,

Just saw the vid! I think that's it! You nailed it!

Nice work on the animation SteveStarKiller!
thumbsup:thumbsup

Thanks guys!

long rant below...

Darth Humorous and Treadwell,

thanks, I will keep your suggestions in mind!

Sofaking and Scratchy,

Thanks guys. It still needs a lot of work, but its basic shape could actually work as the life sized replica. An architect friend of mine offered to take a look at the model, to see if he could make some structural suggestions. I'll let you know what comes of that. But basically, his first impression is that it seems completely feasible.


so, now for the long rant... I just did a bunch of fresh photomatches of the ANH and ESB cockpits, and a number of notions I've been harboring for a long time have been totally shattered.... I know not to trust photogrammetry completely, but I've been able to make enough practically dead-on matches from numerous angles to believe what I'm seeing.

first of all, none of the blueprints for the cockpit are correct to anything that was built... ouch.

The photo of the under construction ANH cockpit with the backwall off and one of the art directors standing in it, is the closest of all the photos to the original drawings. It has a basic inner diameter of 8', and conforms to most of the rest of the plans (aside from a few extra steps up from the floor, and the orientation of the console.)

But then, with the set piece as it's seen in the movie proper, everything goes to hell. In order to make things fit, all the panels have to be overlapped in various ways to crunch down the cockpit diameter to somewhere around 7' 9'. Doesn't seem like a lot, but it cuts off large portions of many panels to work. It also shows the source of the misaligned upper strip lighting seen behind Han. My gut instinct is that George saw the cockpit that fit the plans and said it needed to be smaller and tighter. Which makes sense when he's later resistant to Kershner's expanded ESB cockpit.

The ESB cockpit itself seems to retain the reduced diameter. The plans for the ESB cockpit, which are exact copies of the ANH drawings, but with a little extra depth, don't seem to have been followed much either. Even down to the extra depth, which is noted at 18 more inches, is probably only 15" in the movie set. (there is a note on the drawing that says the exact extra depth was "to be discussed".)

So, at the moment I'm building three concurrent cockpits from scratch, using various photomatches in each. The first cockpit that fits the plans, the second that fits ANH, and the third for ESB. A bit of good news, it still looks like many panels were definitely recycled directly in ESB, as almost all of the details I've matched fit across all three cockpits. Those recycled panels are instanced components in the model (so when I edit the details on one panel, the others follow suit) and I'll be refining and adjusting from all three sources simultaneously.

am I insane? I think the above answers that question nicely. But in the end, I truely will have a screen accurate ANH Cockpit, which is the titular claim of this thread...

(Thanks, if you read all that)

I read it all Steve! Having worked on a lot of film/tv series in the art departments dealing directly with the sets, the blueprints, etc., I can say that your 'story' is completely believable. In fact, such loose ahearance to 'the plans' was the norm on the shows I worked. The only time a blueprint could be said to be accurate to what was eventually built was if 'as built' drawings were done (but there had to be a complelling reason to spend time doing those).

M

Thanks! I have to say, I'm really having fun getting inside the minds of the designers, even if it means I have to re-think everything I've already done. It's nice to know there are still secrets waiting to be discovered.

SteveS,

I read all of it. I do indeed find your logic quite plausible. And, having little to nothing to go by other than photos for decades, I have had little choice other than to use photogrammetry or photometrics. When the Chronicles book came out, I was hesitant to spring for it, but after I did, it turned out to be money well spent. It was frustrating at first due to the so-called sizes that were in text. After a while I ignored them, and then things improved quickly and dramatically.

I suspect Lucas had no qualms about releasing blueprints such as the cockpit because he knew he wasn’t divulging the real “truth”. The coming out of more B/P’s and images does indicate there are more secrets, as you say. The insane may find this to be a godsend. I know I do. Guess this puts me in that category. Since Disney now owns SW, it will be interesting to see if any more revelations will be forthcoming. I have a bad feeling about this.

Mark

S,

Just read the post... I don't know if I should be worried or not. Are the 3D plans you've created and forwarded to both me and Chris "THE" difinitive measurements? Should I STOP now or continue to move forward?

Just a newbie stopping in and saying "Absolutely amazing job"!
I'm relieved I'm not the only Falcon extremist and now feel like I have a new home!
Keep up the good work and I hope to pitch in where I can!

This is awesome. What a great discussion!

I know when I started my Falcon project years ago, it was so simple then - just build THE Millennium Falcon - duh!

But was is it really? It's almost a philosophical question at some point. What is it a replica of? The intent? Or the last minute production changes that we actually saw in the movies? Is the allure of the "final" piece that it was no one thing and can it ever be?

The fact that you're even considering maintaining three sets of CAD models is a testament to your dedication.

Great stuff, Steve...

: )

Awesome stuff Steve, and I agree with you. I'd also bet that once Peter Mayhew in the Chewie costume squeezed in there there were on-set alterations made. Further reasons why the light band didn't match up, I bet. Must have drove the construction workers nuts! You are going through that now, aren't you?

Can't wait to see what you find in your quest!

SofaKing01 said:

S,

Just read the post... I don't know if I should be worried or not. Are the 3D plans you've created and forwarded to both me and Chris "THE" difinitive measurements? Should I STOP now or continue to move forward?

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Sofaking, Don't worry at all. I'm telling you, if I sent you truly definitive plans for EXACT replicas of the movie sets, you would be accused of poor craftsmanship once you built to those plans. Both real movie sets are six kinds of asymmetrical, lopsided, wonky, just wrong and unbalanced. Still lovable, though, I'll say that.

the console still fits, and the panel details still fit. It's their orientations that are so completely off.

Maruska, the more I build, the more I veer away from an idealized final model. For me, the thrill is navigating a replicated model of the movie sets that the art department built, and that the actors stood in. But... then I can't quite say I don't indulge in the idealized fantasy as well. Why else would I attach the cockpit and the main hold, when they never were as movie sets. Or fit the interior movie set into the exterior, albeit with movie magic. Or create docking bay 94 and connect it to the mos eisley sound stage.

Maybe I'm tempering my childlike desire to step into the fantasy world of the movie, by making a more adult study of the props and craftsmanship that went into making that world. I'll probably always have a foot in both places...

Ha. Awesome - you cover the the art department version(s), I'll work on my idealized version. :lol