HELP: TREK MEGA LCARS COMPUTER BACKLIT WALL DISPLAY. Screen caps, and suggestions!

[kertratz]

I kinda posted on this already, but the thread ended up being mostly about ST chairs so I figured this was a good excuse to start a new thread. I decided to focus on this project anyhow... Since this promises to be a long post ill show the teaser pictures first!

This is my ISO-Chip Box and a LCARS display made by the same builder who I plan to have work on this project for me...

The area I have to fill is a vertical wall space, otherwise I would probably go with a MSD display. The spot it about 30x60, but just so I dont spend too much money I was thinking about making the overall display 24x36. Since the MSD is out, im really not sure what kind of LCARS graphic I want. Not too plain, but not too busy either. Here is the general idea though... The main display will be a large backlit LCARS graphic. If I get really creative it would be fun to have certain buttons flash or sequence in addition to just being backlit, but I also need to keep costs down and will have other "functional" parts to this display. I think that I want the main LCARS to be visible even when not lit so that it doesnt just look like a big black box on the wall when its off. I also want a backlit panel for removable iso chips like in the pictures above. I was thinking maybe just two or three rows. Open to ideas on chip styles, but im leaning towards the TNG chips only because they are smaller and wont take over the overall display. I thought about just using chip tops and gluing them on too (like on many of the TNG sets) but I thought it would be more fun if they were "functional" and removable. Next, I want to put in a digital picture frame that also runs video and have MPEGs of LCARS animations with sound running. At first I thought it would be fun to integrate the animation in as part of the main LCARS image. Im hoping people will make suggestions on the layout, but at this point im leaning towards the frame being a separate "window" on the display panel. Next to the frame I want a removable service panel. The panel will close magnetically, and I can put some signage or a SNDN on the outside of the panel. When you open up the panel I want a backlit display inside of federation circuitry. I recall seeing pictures in the DS9 tech manual of the circuitry patterns, but I figured it would be a few layers of plexi with vinyl decals and some sort of backlighting. Maybe toss one or two more Iso Chips inside the service panel too. The panel will also serve as an access point to the memory card slot for the digital frame.

What do you think? Suggestions? Help!

Here are some specific questions and things I am hoping you guys can help with...

1, Suggestions for the main LCARS image

2, How to print a quality LCARS image good for backlighting and display when not lit

3, General layout ideas

4, Screen caps of circuitry for inside the service panel

well, there is probably much more...but thats all I can think of now.

Thanks for reading my super long post, and thanks in advance for sharing your ideas!

 

[phase pistol]

Re: HELP: TREK MEGA LCARS COMPUTER BACKLIT WALL DISPLAY. Screen caps, and suggestions

Sweet! :cool

There seem to be various LCARS enthusiast sites around the web...

http://www.lcars.org.uk/

you might google up some reference that way.

 

[phase pistol]

Re: HELP: TREK MEGA LCARS COMPUTER BACKLIT WALL DISPLAY. Screen caps, and suggestions

You might track down Vaderman here on the board... he was actually an actor on TNG, and might have some insights.

In the meantime here's something by Wil Wheaton which he posted somewhere as the answer to a fan question, interesting reading.

From 1987 to 1989, I spent about fifteen thousand hours up in the art department, asking Mike Okuda and Rick Sternbach questions just like yours, because I wanted to make the technology on TNG as real as possible. If you'd asked me at the time, I would have sworn that it was because I was so dedicated to making the show as good as it could be . . . but the truth is, I did it because I was a geek, and it was super fun to hang out with really smart and talented futurists who didn't treat me like the idiot teenager I was.

There was a balance of logic and aesthetics, if I recall correctly: Logic for the writers and actors, and aesthetics for the producers and audience. Some of the things you described, like the "spinner," just looked cool, and made it look like things were actually happening on the ship. (All that was done with polarized film, I think.) But everything was absolutely designed within a logical structure. For example, I remember Mike telling me that the Enterprise computer system was all about the software, so the design could very logically be the same, even if the consoles were supposed to do very different functions, with the same style and color scheme all over the place. This was also financially prudent, because the art department could quickly duplicate the same series of buttons if they ever needed to. According to the writer's bible, the LCARS always knew who was talking to it, and what functions that person usually needed. The idea was that Geordi would usually need engineering functions available to him, so the LCARS would wake up wherever he was, and the keys would reconfigure themselves appropriately. Wherever Wesley went, he'd get access to /usr/bin/outsmartthegrownups and /usr/lib/dialogue/stupid. What I find interesting about this is that this sort of thing is very plausible today, with RFID in badges (or communicators) and things, but TNG was doing it in the late 80s, when digital watches were still a really neat idea.

One of my favorite things to do when I worked on Star Trek was walk through the sets when nobody else was around, just so I could study the graphics. I'm sure you know about the giant Enterprise schematic in Engineering, but for the one person who doesn't: The huge cutaway view of the Enterprise is filled with little graphical inside jokes, like a hamster wheel where the engine should be, only two restrooms at opposite ends of the ship, NOMAD from the original series, and a few other things that we all figured nobody would ever get close enough to see . . . until one director (I think it may have been Paul Lynch, who liked to yell "Energy! Energy! Energy! Energy! And! And! And! And! And! ACTION!" at the beginning of each take) wanted to do a shot that started close on the cutaway, swept across it, and pulled back into a two shot of me and Brent. When he watched the rehearsal, and saw that there was a giant duck decoy and a "Speed Limit" sign in the middle of his shot, he was pissed. I'm sure the art department felt bad about that, but we all had a god laugh while they reblocked the shot.

If you watch any TNG episodes where I send the ship to warp speed, you will notice that I always use the same series of commands. I don't know if anyone else cared about it as much as I did, but because I was such a huge geek, it brought a "playing cowboys and indians" element to my job. When I went to Star Trek: The Experience in 2001, which I recounted in Dancing Barefoot, one of the first things I looked for was my initials on the security panel, and some other inside jokes on the science stations. After confirming that they were there, I sat in the CONN, and sent the Enterprise to warp 6, using the same series of commands I'd used for years on the show. It was pretty cool.

 

[Risu]

Re: HELP: TREK MEGA LCARS COMPUTER BACKLIT WALL DISPLAY. Screen caps, and suggestions

That looks really awesome. WHEN I have the money (and I will some day) I'm going to get an LCARS and backlight it. Then I just need to get a really good speaker system that I'll hide somewhere with the bass turned up really high playing a loop of the engine noise.

 

[Tripper]

Re: HELP: TREK MEGA LCARS COMPUTER BACKLIT WALL DISPLAY. Screen caps, and suggestions

Why not go the DS9/VOY route and instead of leaving the graphic visible when the lights are off, some of the LCARS could be aluminum vinyl. They'd still be there when the rest are off so it'd still look like something is there.

 

[kertratz]

Re: HELP: TREK MEGA LCARS COMPUTER BACKLIT WALL DISPLAY. Screen caps, and suggestions

I think I wanna go TNG / generic so that I can play any LCARS animation on the frame and it will all fit together.

I cant find my DS9 Tech Manual...can anyone scan the picture showing the circuitry pattern for me please?

 

[Cmdr.Kerner]

Re: HELP: TREK MEGA LCARS COMPUTER BACKLIT WALL DISPLAY. Screen caps, and suggestions

Email sent.

Dietrich

 

[kertratz]

Re: HELP: TREK MEGA LCARS COMPUTER BACKLIT WALL DISPLAY. Screen caps, and suggestions

Email sent.

Dietrich

Thanks bud, but thats not the picture I had in mind. I am looking for federation style circuitry. The one you sent me is Cardassian. As I recall the picture was of a PADD opened up for service. I know Chris Avilla did a replica of it too. The insides were plexi with red and silver and gold vinyl detailing. If I can find a good reference pic, I think that a few layers of that style to show some depth and a simple backlight would do the trick nicely.

 

[trekprops.de]

Re: HELP: TREK MEGA LCARS COMPUTER BACKLIT WALL DISPLAY. Screen caps, and suggestions

Great project! That's something I also want to do sometime in the future.

Here's the isolinear pattern from the TNG technical manual:

Is that what you're looking for? Let me know if you need a higher resolution...

 

[kertratz]

Re: HELP: TREK MEGA LCARS COMPUTER BACKLIT WALL DISPLAY. Screen caps, and suggestions

Thanks Andreas! A higher resolution file would be very helpful. Thats a pretty good scan considering how small the picture is in the tech manual. I found both my TNG and my DS9 tech manuals. I think thats the pattern I am going to go with. I did find the DS9 one, but its not as exciting as I remember, and I dont think we ever saw anything like it on the show anyhow. My guess is that its just something Mike/Rich put in for a nice illustration in their book. The PADD Chris did (still cant find the pic, and he hasnt read my e-mail to him!) was based off of the pic in the DS9 Tech Manual, but he went way above and beyond and made it look great. All that being said, I like the TNG pattern better anyhow. Unfortunately all the pictures in the TNG Tech Manual are black and white drawings. A high resolution file will be great to make a pattern off of for the vinyl cutter, but I need to find screen caps form TNG to get the look right. Anyone have any screen caps? If not, please let me know if you can think of any episodes with a good look inside one of these panels. I feel like you got to see them often, but of course I cant remember specifically now where to look. I think they were always shown whenever they would open a panel in the jeffries tubes...

I appreciate the high rez pic Andreas, and if anyone can help out with screen caps from TNG that would be great!

Thanks
Aaron

 

[darthgordon]

Re: HELP: TREK MEGA LCARS COMPUTER BACKLIT WALL DISPLAY. Screen caps, and suggestions

Screencaps from all of Trek are available at Trekcore.

 

[kertratz]

Re: HELP: TREK MEGA LCARS COMPUTER BACKLIT WALL DISPLAY. Screen caps, and suggestions

Screencaps from all of Trek are available at Trekcore.

Thats a whole lot of screen caps to look through without having any idea what episode im looking for. I just looked around randomly on there for about an hour and didnt really come up with anything. I guess its quicker than rewatching every episode, but I was hoping someone might be able to narrow it down for me...

 

[Cmdr.Kerner]

Re: HELP: TREK MEGA LCARS COMPUTER BACKLIT WALL DISPLAY. Screen caps, and suggestions

Thanks bud, but thats not the picture I had in mind. I am looking for federation style circuitry. The one you sent me is Cardassian. As I recall the picture was of a PADD opened up for service. I know Chris Avilla did a replica of it too. The insides were plexi with red and silver and gold vinyl detailing. If I can find a good reference pic, I think that a few layers of that style to show some depth and a simple backlight would do the trick nicely.

[/IMG]

Hi Aaron,

than this is the one you are looking for..... Scanned with 300 DPI.

Dietrich

 

[kertratz]

Re: HELP: TREK MEGA LCARS COMPUTER BACKLIT WALL DISPLAY. Screen caps, and suggestions

Thanks Dietrich, that is the picture I was looking for... Unfortunately, like I was saying, its way too boring. I wish I could find a picture of Chris' PADD, but I think I lost it when my hard drive crapped out. He used that picture to make a PADD that was awesome. I still want to find the pic, but I think at this point I have decided to go with the TNG pattern.

 

[darthgordon]

Re: HELP: TREK MEGA LCARS COMPUTER BACKLIT WALL DISPLAY. Screen caps, and suggestions

These are the best I could find.

 

[kertratz]

Re: HELP: TREK MEGA LCARS COMPUTER BACKLIT WALL DISPLAY. Screen caps, and suggestions

Thanks bud, those are helpful... also just made this a little harder. I guess to work the color in there this will just have to be another big backlit graphic printed out like the main LCARS image. I do however like the idea of doing vinyl cut on plexi, making it two layer thick with some space in between, and backlighting that. Hmmm... so many options! Thanks for the screen caps!

 

[darthgordon]

Re: HELP: TREK MEGA LCARS COMPUTER BACKLIT WALL DISPLAY. Screen caps, and suggestions

A little piece of tubing makes for a good EPS conduit. Fiber optic cable looks good too. For greeblies, all you have to do is look around and find something looks interesting.

I think the ODN stuff was just done the same way as the LCARS panels.