Finally on the next vertical section: September 17, 2022
September 21, 2022
Starting the North Pole sections: September 27, 2022
Interesting tidbit I learned researching this part is a plug-like structure at the very north pole of the Death Star. While I was aware of the large opening in the original Ralph McQuarrie concept art, I didn't know a variation of that made it to the final model.
While I'm not sure that structure exists in the original 1977 model, it does appear in Rogue One before the Death Star fires on Scarif.
Completed Northern Hemisphere: September 29, 2022
One of three Hangar variations: September 30, 2022
At the moment I have three distinct styles of hanger bays on the equatorial trench. Each based on a segment seen in A New Hope, Return of the Jedi, and Rogue One.
Starting the southern hemisphere and lights: October 8, 2022
After a few years, decided to come back to my 3D model of the Death Star. This time creating a more detailed exterior model than what I've been using in my 'Death Star Escape' CAVE2 demo:
Existing Death Star model: November 5, 2015
Using a texture based on the original prop, I began to model the surface as a more detailed mesh. Aiming to get somewhere in between the level of detail in the original 1977 prop and matte paintings and the CGI model from Rogue One.
Existing Equatorial Trench Detail: December 6, 2015
Revised Equatorial Trench: September 3, 2022
A Proper Superlaser dish: September 3, 2022
Fleshing out the surface detail: September 8, 2022
Continuing section by section: September 8 - 10, 2022
It's sometimes funny when the right moment happens where you find an excuse to dig up a project exactly 9 years old and give it a few days of work just for the fun of it.
While drawing 2D pixel art of Death Star surface tiles dates back even further, I started doing 3D renders of it back in 2013.
April 11, 2013 - Original six tiles derived from my old Kilk @ Play pixel art
April 21, 2015 - Textured except for one
Actually the very first post of this blog described the early Unity + Blender work I did on Project Starfighter. The original tile set was textured so I could use them in a procedurally generated Death Star surface. Ironically given my work at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory, the only tile I never finished modeling is the one on display at the lab..... until now:
April 12, 2022 - Starting detail work, one quad at a time
April 13, 2022 - Quad Two
April 14, 2022 - Quad Three
April 14, 2022 - Completed Tile
Of course now this tile is vastly more detailed than the other ones. Maybe too detailed for my needs, but it was a fun modeling exercise for a few days. Plus more 'greebles' to add to my digital library. Always fun to look into the craftsmanship that went into these old physical models - all the kitbashing and random parts clearly from model tanks, planes, etc.
Inspired by The Book of Boba Fett: Chapter 5, I reworked the existing CAVE2 Mars demo and combined it with a scene modeled after the Tatooine map from Star Wars Galaxies.
Unlike the Mars demo, which has only has a few single rover models, this used a full Unity terrain with over 1000 separate models on it. Plenty of LOD scripts and clever rotating the world, shifting the world around the player to make the transition from the surface to space.
Created a custom splat map to generate the Tatooine planet surface. Replaced the model for Mars's Phobos and Deimos with a more standard moon model and tweaked the orbital parameters to match the classic Tatooine pan shot from Star Wars: A New Hope.
Added additional details to Beggar's Canyon to include Stone Needle, buildings in the canyon walls, and the service ramp Anakin Skywalker notably flew off of in The Phantom Menace (and was also features in The Book of Boba Fett).
Just a quick combining of existing projects for fun. Also been looking for an excuse to code this sort of thing for a while for CAVE2.
In celebration of the theatrical release of Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, a new CAVE2™ video:
Developed in just a few days using mostly existing models from my Starfighter project (Millennium Falcon, TIE Fighters, Stormtroopers, blasters) as well as a number of interaction scripts (Stormtrooper AI, TIE Fighter AI, blaster effects, lightsaber deflection logic).
The terrain was also reused from my Halloween CAVE2 picture (based on The Rise of Skywalker teaser trailer). That terrain is based on NASA topography scans of Wadi Rum, Jordan where Rise of Skywalker and Rogue One were filmed. Zooming around Google Earth, this seemed to be the specific location the Rey + Kylo Ren fighter scene was filmed.
Halloween 2019
Jedi robe, cloak, belt, and lightsaber from my trip to Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge in Orlando on my way back from presenting a paper at SUI 2019 in New Orleans.
For the Halloween photoshoot the terrain, Star Destroyer, and TIE Fighters were placed in the Unity3D scene. However, other than the dust particle effect and the camera projection the scene was otherwise static. Any of the animations and interactions would be added in December.
Some of the new elements specifically built for this video was the Imperial Lambda Shuttle. Which I has started a while back, but didn't finish. I completed enough of the exterior and a bit of the interior and boarding ramp for use in this scene.
Existing model: December 16, 2019
Additional front and boarding ramp details: December 17, 2019
Other additions to the Millennium Falcon 3D model since my last post. The backlog is due to writing and presenting my PhD preliminary examination on December 2, 2019 followed by scrambling to work on a CAVE2 image for the 40th anniversary of Star Trek: The Motion Picture and finally The Rise of Skywalker theatrical release on December 19, 2019.
During this update my Blender project timer surpassed 200 hours! That's 200 active hours working on this Millennium Falcon model from basic exterior, interior layout, and exterior details since December 2015.
I've been working on the last major exterior section of the ship: the very detailed mechanical panels on top of the engine section. Reference for this part is a mix of technical drawings and mostly pictures of the large studio model.
Engine Panel Detail: August 28, 2019
Engine Panel Detail: August 31, 2019
Engine Panel Detail: September 2, 2019
Engine Panel Detail: September 9, 2019
Even with the mesh mirrored, this is probably one of the most detailed and visually impressive models I've done to date.
Completed Engine Panel Details: September 10, 2019
Uploading a backlog of progress from the last year.
Side equipment bay details: November 1, 2018
Cockpit armor plating: April 21, 2019
X-Wing landing gears: August 7, 2019
Cockpit tunnel armor plating: August 24, 2019
The edge equipment panels that surround the middle section of the Millennium Falcon was modeled based on a number of resources. Most of the equipment panels on the front-starboard side are based on screencaps or production photographs of the actual physical Millennium Falcon exterior set as seen in The Empire Strikes Back and The Force Awakens. Some were based on photos of the studio model from one of the museum tours.
The remaining panels were designed based on existing 3D models of the Millennium Falcon from various games such as Star Wars Galaxies: Jump to Lightspeed and Battlefront (2015).
Some panels like the one pictured below is actually derived from a production screenshot of the VCX-100 model (i.e. The Ghost from Star Wars: Rebels) used in Rogue One. This segment will eventually be used for my 3D model of the Ghost, but modified versions of the mesh was used to fill out the sections of the Millennium Falcon where I didn't have good reference material - mainly on the port side of the ship.
Post-Halloween update? Mostly been adding the exterior armor plating every now and then over the summer. Certainly been time-consuming, but in the end a worthwhile endeavor. At least that's what I keep telling myself before I go back to making the ship fly under a full physics simulation. Easier to make a texture from a high polygon model than the reverse right?
Engine Vector Plates: June 24, 2018
Front-Port Side Armor Plates: June 25, 2018
Front-Port Side Armor Plates 2: June 27, 2018
Front Armor Plates: July 1, 2018
Starboard Armor Plates: July 3, 2018
Docking Port Armor Plates: July 6, 2018
Boarding Ramp Armor Plates: July 7, 2018
Engine Exhaust Section: July 8, 2018
Rear-Port Side Armor Plates: July 9, 2018
For a majority of these plates, I've been modeling the 'clean' version without any of the holes cut out for lighting or mechanical access points. For some of them I actually did model in the cuts, but filled them in to 'punch out' later.
Interior cargo ramp with a rough scale model of the Last Jedi escape pod: July 11, 2018
Decent time gap here. Found some inspiration after a busy and rough first half of the fall semester.
Mandible side and headlight details: October 28, 2018
Mandible maintenance hole details: October 30, 2018
The Last Jedi escape pod launcher test: October 30, 2018
This final Millennium Falcon image for this post features an attempt to place the escape pod as seen in The Last Jedi. Here I have it wedged in between the (non-canon?) aft cargo ramp and the starboard landing gear bay. As some eagle-eyed folks on the internet have noted since the Last Jedi was released, the location the escape pod pops out in the film does seem to conflict with that landing gear bay.
I'm not even bothering with how to resolve the interior of the escape pod room as seen in the film which Stinson Lenz covers in his blog at this time. Probably will finish up the exterior before I go back to that.
Lastly as an excuse to switch gears (slightly), here's the start of a new 3D model:
VCX-100 main body: November 1, 2018
The Corellian VCX-100 light freighter as seen in Star Wars: Rebels and Rogue One as 'The Ghost.' Also mentioned in Solo: A Star Wars Story. I've been grabbing reference material for this ship for a while since Rebels season 2? Finally got inspired to start since I recently found this screenshot of the 3D model used in Rogue One and also some tracks from the Rebels soundtrack is on my playlist when I tend to work on these models.
VCX-100, Millennium Falcon, X-Wing, Y-Wing, and Lambda Shuttle models all in scale: November 1, 2018
