Starfleet Generic Bridge Module (All Eras)

[Barihawk]

Progress Update:

Took me all day, but I ripped apart the helm console and retextured it PIXEL BY PIXEL. Phew!

I plan on adding two small displays in the big black spots, but am bushed tonight.

[Kirk]

Looking good! Will these be animated or static?

[Barihawk]

Animated (Subtly). The original author wanted his Red Alert klaxons to look good animated, so he put ridiculously fast animations on the whole set. So to prevent seizures, only a few little bells and whistles will actually be changing with the animations.

[Kirk]

That would be an interesting situtation. You're engaged b the emeny, the captain calls the ship to red alert, and then the entire bridge crew starts convulsing on the floor.  :lol: Bad command decision.

[Barihawk]

Well, the DS9 bridge should be an easy project (I plan on maybe using the Ambassador bridge instead of C-Bridge) because the LCARS panels are fairly high resolution textures, which makes them easier to redo. The problem with C-Bridge is that the largest panel texture is the helm at 512x128.

[Sean]

Well, the DS9 bridge should be an easy project (I plan on maybe using the Ambassador bridge instead of C-Bridge) because the LCARS panels are fairly high resolution textures, which makes them easier to redo. The problem with C-Bridge is that the largest panel texture is the helm at 512x128.

so long as you double the texture size exactly its shouldnt be a problem making the textures higher res...

for example the largest panel texture that is 512x128 make it 1024x256 ect. so long as it is still in the same proportion so dont make it 1024x1024 as that wouldnt work

[Barihawk]

So as long as it's exactly double the size, it will fit on the panel?

In that case, I may just have to redo that panel entirely .

I am happy with the 512x128 textures I have made though. But making it 1024x256 would enable you guys to read the menus and such, and that I believe is worth it.

Thanks for the advice, Sean!

[Bones]

So as long as it's exactly double the size, it will fit on the panel?

exactly, you can only double the size otherwise map will not load at all

[Barihawk]

Well, I played around with doubling the texture sizes and Damn! The stock panels even look more decent. The Red Alert monitors are beautiful as hell (which saves me the trouble of having to retexture them.

I also started playing around with some of the new toys for Paint.net that came out this week, like the updated Glow function. I've actually managed to replicate the appearance that the panel is glowing in the darkness!

I will have to redo all the junk I've done so far to fit with the higher resolutions, but this project just evolved to a whole new level.

Special thanks to Sean for his advice, and Dr. McCoy for the use of his Displays. Project GBM just took a whole new direction.

[captain_obvious]

Glow?  we need pics :biggrin:

please?

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EDIT
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Erm, just looked at the date of the last post....
oopsie!

[Barihawk]

After I get back from Church, I will try to give a demonstration of glow. I haven't finished my new textures but I'll show you what the defaults look like with glow.

[Barihawk]

Cheap example of Glowing, it will look better on the finished hi-res textures. I didn't want to bother putting this ingame because I still need the base textures for now.

Just a note for fellow retextures. Glow only really looks good on bridges with low lighting, such as the Cbridge. All the other bridges are very bright, so it just looks ridiculous. However, glowing on textures is almost like a baked on alpha map. Free illumination without alphas!

[Excal_Luke]

Wow that rocks
- would look nice in my Wells- class bridge ;)

[Barihawk]

Here's an ingame shot. Note that I have completely revamped the helm panel. This is just the crappy example I posted above ingame.

[newman]

looks cool, but white alert?

[Barihawk]

looks cool, but white alert?

The Model Properties Editor does not allow for transparent textures. The way the original author of the Cbridge set up his red alert screens, he put the detail in a transparent texture and had a gradient red alpha map under it. The MPE ignores the red map and assigns white to transparent textures.

Ingame it's a very nice red.

Progress report: I finished the buttons on the helm today (PRAISE GOD) and will start working on thruster readouts and computer monitors soon. From there I can use all that to do the Tactical console, then I'll start working on the Engineering and Science sections.

[Barihawk]

New WIP, so you can compare the old panels to the new. I still need to optimize the textures, so don't mind any blurriness. I also need to add another set of thruster readouts, the helm computer, and Warp Engine Status, then I'll do the fluffy things like adding text to the buttons (I pray it's readable).

[Barihawk]

Anyone have any feedback on the styling of the panel before I finish it?

[Bones]

you you could make something similiar to ship steer controls from TNG ships but in TMP style (ship icon in centre and directional buttons around it plus engines/thruster controls) that's really good console, so far it is top quality keep it up

[Barihawk]

Sounds good for the Upper right part of the panel. The 8 or so gauges are pretty much Impulse and Thruster readouts. (From left to right is Thruster Power, Impulse, various thruster levels).