New ST:TOS Fan Film WIP Thread

[asalaw]

(THIS SPACE RESERVED FOR FILM DEBUT ON YOUTUBE ANNOUNCEMENT, HOPEFULLY BY SUMMER 2026)

I posted some of these test renders from my new fan film in another thread, and someone asked me if I was starting a new thread about it, so I figured maybe it's time. Just to head off a few inevitable questions, I did the modeling in Plasticity, some of the texturing in Adobe Substance Painter and the rest in Blender 4.4, and the rendering is Blender.

I'm using various Blender addons--too many to name, but the one I'd like to call out is LensSim, which gives me real-world lenses to play with, and I've added a suite of Arri/Zeiss cine lenses that will be the mainstay of the interior scenes (the space stuff will use standard Blender lenses). I'm actually a beta-tester for the latest version of LensSim (3.0) using the beta of Blender 4.5, so as you might imagine I feel like a crash test dummy!

I've been working on this since 2022 when I wrote the first draft. I'm fairly sure I first started making the models in late 2023 after my first fan film, Coming Home, was finished. There's been about a year and a half all told of nothing getting done due to various work projects that had me slammed. In the meantime, technology really caught up with my project needs, so in the end it was a good thing that I let it lay fallow for a bit, but now it's full steam ahead till it's done.

First up are some test renders of the transporter room:

More WIP pics tonight! Enjoy!

 

[Simonized]

I posted some of these test renders from my new fan film in another thread, and someone asked me if I was starting a new thread about it, so I figured maybe it's time. Just to head off a few inevitable questions, I did the modeling in Plasticity, some of the texturing in Adobe Substance Painter and the rest in Blender 4.4, and the rendering is Blender.

I'm using various Blender addons--too many to name, but the one I'd like to call out is LensSim, which gives me real-world lenses to play with, and I've added a suite of Arri/Zeiss cine lenses that will be the mainstay of the interior scenes (the space stuff will use standard Blender lenses). I'm actually a beta-tester for the latest version of LensSim (3.0) using the beta of Blender 4.5, so as you might imagine I feel like a crash test dummy!

I've been working on this since 2022 when I wrote the first draft. I'm fairly sure I first started making the models in late 2023 after my first fan film, Coming Home, was finished. There's been about a year and a half all told of nothing getting done due to various work projects that had me slammed. In the meantime, technology really caught up with my project needs, so in the end it was a good thing that I let it lay fallow for a bit, but now it's full steam ahead till it's done.

First up are some test renders of the transporter room:

View attachment 1947105

View attachment 1947106

View attachment 1947107

More WIP pics tonight! Enjoy!

This looks awesome!

 

[asalaw]

This looks awesome!

Thanks! More pics tonight! I'm going to do a couple of test renders for stuff that's just screen caps right now, hopefully they'll look good.

 

[asalaw]

Here's a quick couple of test renders I slammed out on my break. The background is just a quickie off the web and doesn't really match lighting, but I needed something there. Of course, tweaks need to be made on the ship...

This is the bad guy's ship, the USS Manticore, experimental Starfleet dreadnought stolen by...

The bad guy! This is the only thing I have so far that's in its final form for the film.

More coming tonight, gotta get back to representin' for The Man...

 

[asalaw]

Here's another batch of test renders, this time of our hero's ship, the USS Republic. Again, these comps are just slapped together with a placeholder background off the web.

This is a re-texture of my USS Enterprise from my first fan film, Coming Home. However, it looks far and away better now in renders then it did in 2023 when I made that film--I've learned a lot more about how to achieve photorealistic results since then, and I'm growing increasingly happy with what I'm getting out of the Cycles render engine. Having said that, there are still tweaks to come, such as putting stuff inside the windows...

I'm adding a link to Coming Home at the bottom of this post if you want to compare the look of my Enterprise then to my Republic now--same model, only the livery has changed (and I've massively upgraded the look of the Bussards). Coming Home runs about a minute. (Same thing my wife says about me.)

One more thing I've learned about this model over the years of building and animating and rendering it. It doesn't know how to take a bad picture. Like an ultra-hot supermodel, the camera just loves it. Matt Jefferies truly excelled himself in designing it.

Here's my little one-minute wonder from 2023, Coming Home.

 

[Joek3rr]

Here's another batch of test renders, this time of our hero's ship, the USS Republic. Again, these comps are just slapped together with a placeholder background off the web.

This is a re-texture of my USS Enterprise from my first fan film, Coming Home. However, it looks far and away better now in renders then it did in 2023 when I made that film--I've learned a lot more about how to achieve photorealistic results since then, and I'm growing increasingly happy with what I'm getting out of the Cycles render engine. Having said that, there are still tweaks to come, such as putting stuff inside the windows...

I'm adding a link to Coming Home at the bottom of this post if you want to compare the look of my Enterprise then to my Republic now--same model, only the livery has changed (and I've massively upgraded the look of the Bussards). Coming Home runs about a minute. (Same thing my wife says about me.)

View attachment 1947258

View attachment 1947259

View attachment 1947260

One more thing I've learned about this model over the years of building and animating and rendering it. It doesn't know how to take a bad picture. Like an ultra-hot supermodel, the camera just loves it. Matt Jefferies truly excelled himself in designing it.

Here's my little one-minute wonder from 2023, Coming Home.

That is something. All of the other Star Trek ships have angles that aren't flattering. But the original Enterprise, really does look good no matter where you place the camera.

 

[asalaw]

That is something. All of the other Star Trek ships have angles that aren't flattering. But the original Enterprise, really does look good no matter where you place the camera.

I think Linwood Dunn sensed that as he was shooting it. He certainly showed off its looks as well as the technology of the day permitted.

 

[asalaw]

Last test render for tonight--I'm up way past my bedtime! But I really wanted to get this one up tonight. (As always, these things are subject to lots of tweaking, these are just tests.)

Our hero, Captain Christopher Christopoulos of the USS Republic. Well into middle age, perhaps aging out of the job. But will he go gentle into that good night?

(Yeah, but no. Hell no...)

 

[Simonized]

Last test render for tonight--I'm up way past my bedtime! But I really wanted to get this one up tonight. (As always, these things are subject to lots of tweaking, these are just tests.)

Our hero, Captain Christopher Christopoulos of the USS Republic. Well into middle age, perhaps aging out of the job. But will he go gentle into that good night?

View attachment 1947329

(Yeah, but no. Hell no...)

That name is a tongue twister

 

[asalaw]

That name is a tongue twister

I hadn't thought of that, but you're right!

I just tried--I can say it three times fast, but then I've been saying it for a couple of years...

Anyway, it's all Greek to me...

 

[asalaw]

Here's the XO and chief engineer of the USS Republic, Commander T'Noor. All business, all Vulcan.

And little Shuttlecraft Equus, a small but critical player...

The shots of Christopoulos and T'Noor are done with a LensSim lens, a Konica-Minolta ƒ/3.5 50-135mm zoom. The shot with the Equus is done with the default Blender camera, and it's just an experiment using an HDRI background for illumination and a shadow catcher to place the object in the scene. Pretty happy with the test, even if the scale is crazy wrong.

As always, test renders, many tweaks, void in Utah, YMMV.

 

[joberg]

Looking spiffy already

 

[FANATICO]

The Enterprise is very Videogenic…..nice

 

[CB2001]

I’m impressed. Interested to seeing what comes. Honestly, I wish I could, do things like this, but even the most basic tutorial video for Blender comes off like you need at least two-years worth of experience with Blender to even begin using it.

 

[asalaw]

I’m impressed. Interested to seeing what comes. Honestly, I wish I could, do things like this, but even the most basic tutorial video for Blender comes off like you need at least two-years worth of experience with Blender to even begin using it.

I'll admit Blender isn't my first 3D app by a long stretch, and yet it's taken me years to learn, and I'm still banging my head on my desk pretty often...

 

[asalaw]

New test renders, first T'Noor again after a few tweaks including her sleeve braid (I got super lucky with that), and young Ensign Morse, communications officer of the USS Republic. So fresh, so face!

 

[asalaw]

And Ensign Hernandez, science officer of the Republic, named after a dear friend who passed about 10 years ago.

 

[asalaw]

Believe it or not, a featured player in the opening of the film...

LensSim again. Fast becoming my favorite add-on in Blender!

 

[asalaw]

There's a Young Girl character in my film (that's her name, she doesn't have a real one) who won't let go of the teddy bear posted above. I'm purchasing her geometry from Turbosquid on Friday, but I've already done her dress. You might recognize what I did with the texturing (the dress geometry was another Turbosquid purchase):

Hey, in my defense, I was compelled to do it. The geometry for the girl model comes pre-dressed with very contemporary-looking shorts and a tee shirt, so I had to have something a little more TOS. And nothing says Old School TOS like cheesy metalflake vinyl!

 

[asalaw]

Got the girl model in today (the only character in my film who's an outright purchase, from Turbosquid) and I have a preliminary fit into the Court Martial sailor suit. So here's a couple of test shots--the sneakers came with the model, but I'm keeping them. We probably won't see her feet, but if we do, I think it ties her together as a kid. Also a repost of the teddy bear she won't give up, and finally a screenshot of her dad, who wishes she would. The faces need some tweaking--the girl's texture lacks detail, and the dad is too ruddy, something the Global Skin shader does by default for some reason.