CGI: Dancing in the Dark
From Hidden Frontier
This article by assistant CGI artist Dave Berry explains how he constructed the computer-generated images (CGI) for the Season 6 episode Dancing in the Dark using the 3D modeling software, Maya.
Contents |
Boldly Going Into a New Frontier: Underwater
For Dancing in the Dark, Hidden Frontier’s external graphics were taken to a location rarely seen in Star Trek: Underwater. Many elements that we usually don’t think about when doing space scenes had to be taken into account to realistically re-create an underwater environment. While animation remained much the same, involving ship and camera movements, creating the environment took a lot of research and preparation. Also included was the added character element of the Horta lieutenant, Pergium, beaming in and out of the underwater environment and burrowing into and out of a tetrahedron.
Starting With Black Space
In 3D we start with blackness. Naturally, you don’t have to go much further to re-create outer space. However, creating an environment fundamentally different from the darkness of space required a different approach to designing and producing the shot. The first step in creating a convincing underwater environment involved thorough research. In order to re-create an underwater environment, I had to determine the real life visual characteristics of the ocean floor that had to be re-created digitally. Through searches online I found great amounts of reference material, such as photographs and videos taken by divers that I could use to gain an understanding of what makes underwater looks the way it does. The major components were a definite bluish hue, foggy falloff in the distance, floating particulates, and the cast of the water’s surface upon the sea floor. Once defined and recreated realistically, I could focus on the cinematic elements of each shot confident in having an accurate setting.
Creating a Realistic Setting
As I said earlier, in 3d you start with nothing and have to create a final, true to life, product using the tools provided by the program. The process of modeling involves creating the physical characteristics of an object in virtual space. The sea floor, which was modeled first, spawned from a flat plane. Maya's tools allowed me to take that plane and warp and deform it into a rolling ocean bottom. Motivation for design elemnts of the bottom came not only from real life referance but from cinematic requirments that I set for the shots. While realism was important, having the foresight to create a environment that fulfilled artistic goals as well played a major role. For example, in the first shot where the runabout approaches the tetrahedron, it comes in over the floor crosses the edge of a cliff and then the camera sweeps out to an expansive view of the mammoth tetrahedron dwarfing the shuttle. In modeling I had to create that cliff to accommodate the shot I had envisioned.
The tetrahedron submerged under the ocean played a central role in the shots. That, too, had to be imported from a seperate file, placed on the sea floor, and made to look realistically aged, like sand had piled up all around it over many years. Once the tetrahedron was integrated into the environment in a beleiveable manner, additional modeled elements including the rocks and grasses littering the sea floor were modeled and added to make it more visually interesting than a mere, bare sandy bottom with a tetrahedron sticking up.
Adding Textures
After all this modeling though I still had a bunch of monochrome grey figures. Textures played the next step in transforming the environment from darkness to near reality. Textures define the look and feel of an object, not just it's color but also surface features and interaction with light. The importance of creating effective textures cannot be stressed enough. I created a texture especially to create the look of a sandy sea floor. The rocks had to have their own texture and more than one was created for diversity in look. Each blade of grass also has a green grassy texture applied. Once all the textures were applied I had an environment that had the correct colors but looked very odd. Everything looked as if it had been put in a white light with no shadows or contrast or any real simulation of naturally occuring light.
Lighting
The final step to recreating the underwater environment was adding lighting, the fog, and the particulates. Lights were placed to simulate the sunlight and the way light bounces around realistically. The settings on the fog had to be adjusted and readjusted yeilding many test renders until optimal settings were found. The particulates were small blobby particles that I applied a gravity and turbulence simulation to in order to get them to move realistically. The combination of models, textures and lights yeilded a true to life representation of an underwater environment ready to be filmed (digitally).
Animation
Once all the factors had been combined I could import the shuttle and animate. After many long renders it looked as if the runabout was approaching a tetrahedron underwater. From nothing to a completed scene the process was a challenging and fun one. Hopefully, a future episode will revisit the underwater tetrahedron for another CG swim in the Baku ocean.
