Musings on Modeling Reality - Finite Vs Infinite Vs The Un-Knowable

Greetings friends, it is so very nice to be able to talk to you all on this platform again - after all, if you were not here, what would be the point in writing this?  In 2023 I returned to modelling after a long hiatus, concentrating on designing miniatures and very small scale ones - the war-gaming scales of 15 and 28 mm, named after the relative heights of humans in those scales - which is very different to the kind of science fiction and real world modelling that many artists engage in.  My early efforts in 3D graphics were all about modelling in a real-world 1:1 scale, for example here is a 'spacecraft:'

Cue Soviet Nation Anthem, on Mars.

It is a representation of a real, full sized thing, which in the real world has an aspect of the infinite that a digital artist must somehow quantify into the finite world of video RAM and as we move closer and closer to its surfaces we can only accomplish this via cheating.  For example, we cannot typically justify spending a month on an ejection seat; individually modelling every stitch and tear in the fabric, the individual fillets of the soldered joints of the circuit board, the grease on the release catches and so on. Time-wise it is unwise and technically we quickly reach the limits of the machine.  Inevitably at some point we must resort to textures, noise (procedural / fractal mathematically generated textures) or maybe some other form of digital witchcraft to sell the idea, hinting at something more and so give our model some sense of reality, but its always a model because to treat the thing as a (for practical purposes) an infinite model that we can look at as close as we like and still believe its real is just not going to happen. 

Actually this buggy is pretty neat, I'm going to print it sometime.

The problem faced by those engaging in this endeavor is ever persistent regardless of our software and hardware, the closer we get to a model the more it falls apart; the pixels of the texture sheet become apparent, the jagged borders of polygons approximating a curve are visible and so on. I know about high-order surfacing but any near perfect representation of a curve is going to look awfully barren and fake if you get close enough to it, perhaps we could use AI to procedurally fill in the gaps if we happen to observe them, but this defies the point of actually modelling something.

A consciousness expanding space-seed, or just a bunch of pixels.

This is why I like to model a 'model' because it *is* finite and unashamedly so - it is just a thing that exists partly in our imagination even when we print it or produce it and hold it in our hands it feels like something more. I feel that the representation is more powerful when it is simply finite and not an inadequate, limited or just a plain AI fake digital representation of the infinite, something which as a pure simulation is ultimately unsatisfying, I consider the vast chaotic CGI space battles we've all been watching for the past 20+ years, never has the action looked more realistic, never has it been so boring and un-satisfying. The 'I have the bestest computers' approach to movie making has only resulted in audiences who are less ultimately impressed with the latest Jurassic Park than they were with the first.  

An experiment to resolve infinite detail in a way which can be physically reproduced and look good at a small scale.

So when considering 'what to model' I am all about a design, to produce something new, not completely off-the wall, not so unusual that you've never seen anything like it but something which tickles the brain just right, something which can be appreciated for what it is, and not for something it can never be - I think this is why people really like miniatures and people like me enjoy modelling them.  I think my future choices of 'what to model' are always now going to be limited by the finite, while enjoying and benefitting from those limitations, whether its extremely small models or larger studio scale, I'd like to see a physical real world model resulting from this work that is limited by the finite, embraces the infinite with features which are deliberately un-knowable, exist only in our imaginations and are all the better for it.

I write this knowing that I may change my mind completely and one day make a fully realized VR model of some vast spacecraft, treating it like an environment as with recreations of the Enterprise D or Titanic. Explore it in detail, but only so much detail is ever possible, eventually you're going to see the pixels or the mathematics behind it whatever you do, but only if you go looking for them.

Maybe the only reason you're here is to look at stuff, and therefore make it real.

Classic Coolhand I: Columbia Class Carrier Part 1

Found a whole stash (they were hidden in the back of my sock drawer where mom couldn't find them) of 20+ year old WIP pics documenting the 'Columbia Class' a carrier/battleship of sorts.  

Its a further refinement of the style I've come to call 'Modernist War-rocket' (but call it whatever you like) - basically a very monolithic somewhat pointed hull with layout and details inspired by real world naval warships, the space battleship Yamato is an early notable example, but leaning far into the naval influence.  

BTW Feel free to leave any comments here or on my FB page: https://www.facebook.com/CoolhandCustoms

Anyway, on with the show and tell.... 

Yep not much to see here, but its important to try and block out the shapes before diving into more detail, take everything in stages and its much easier. I did not begin with a sketch or anything, just throwing shapes around. 

I'll admit this straight away; its not my favorite vessel but it represents a step along the road to what I'd consider to be the only really acceptable model in the entire 2 fleets and 5 years of work - the Akula. More on that one some other time.

I always started topside with detailing, these ships obviously had artificial gravity, inertia dampening, all the accoutrement required for actors to act, because in my head these ships would be for a TV show format - we'd see characters wandering the decks which would have been built in a disused hot-tub factory in Seal Beach.

These vessels depicted large fusion/ion hybrid engines, which were hugely powerful, this may add some extra hazard to landing ops, yes that warm glow in there is the main flight-deck.

Just heap detail on, cut panels, add more bits and pieces.  Remember we were building these on single-core machines, this may well have been made on a Pentium processor machine, and these renderings took a long time, RAM was a particular problem.

This is not the first appearance of these main turrets, they date back to a design from 2002 called the Sheffield class, if you're wondering why they resemble the main guns on the Battlestar Galactica from the 2003 miniseries, well I hate to say it but I did it first, and my work being popular at SFM almost certainly would have been reviewed by the production designers working on the models for that show. So there.

Every decent spacecraft for a TV show needs some kind of 'emergency vents' for a spectacular dramatic FX sequence, all of these designs feature this exact feature, they have just been added behind the super-structure here.

And this full-frontal overview seems like a nice place to leave things for today, of course if you are reading this in the future (hi!) you can just skip ahead to the following parts, assuming I actually do that and we aren't struck by an asteroid in the mean time. Good luck and thanks to you all and see you in Columbia Class Part 2, coming soon!

Art Bell - Midnight in the Desert - Wallpaper and Facebook Graphics.

Art Bell, the famed AM talk radio host "From the HIGH DESERT!" is returning to the air and the interwebs this summer with a new show: "Midnight in the Desert" - All but guaranteed to spook, expand minds and entertain, in no particular order. 

UFO's and Extraterrestrials are a popular theme of the show, and also of mine! No surprise then, that I had this friendly Reticulan and his flying saucer out in the hangar, and got them to pose for the following photograph; they were happy to do this, after all they're Art Bell fans too!

Just another Tuesday night out by Area51...

I put the image together as a 1080 HD desktop wallpaper, I heard nothing so of course assumed the image had been intercepted by the proper authorities.

Eventually, Keith - Art's webmaster (remember those?) suggested using it for Art's facebook page, which is exactly what happened!

Of course the neighbors totally freaked when the thing lit up their backyard...

Check out the end result here: facebook.com/ArtBellCom 

BTW, any fans of the XR2 and Orbiter might recognise the Alien - he also appears on the windscreen of the spacecraft every Halloween!

Drop Pod Animation - Mockup Artwork

Hello again dear friends and readers! Sharing a mock-up image of a 3D rendered animation I'm working on for a client... I built the Drop Pod last year for Clear Horizon, and you can read more about it here... Stay tuned to this URL, l mean like constantly, keep refreshing, for the finished animation.

The Bauble of death, packed to the upper bulkhead with troops, guns, grenades and other things that go boom, plunges into its latest 'peacekeeping' mission

Cover Art - O.K. Simon!

 A recent commission for an up and coming musician - OK Simon!

Starting with the final image, why not?

A mid-way in development, the orange fluid was meant to be Brandy, but went wrong and orange... Like Brandy does in space, maybe. Note the Picard approach to hairstyling, we covered this up with a baseball cap which had local significance for the client.

Ending with the concept pic, based on a discussion with the client, who wanted to see a cyborg representation of himself in space, one specific thing required was an open Brandy bottle, and the contents emptying uselessly into the void, I thought it would be fun if the fluid formed the cover title.  On review, my client suggested that he'd like to see tank tracks rather than legs, to up the surrealism.  While working on the model I decided it was a combat cyborg accidentally ejected from its orbiting deployment platform...;)

Available for further commissions, Contact Artist to talk about your artwork, and please Check out OK Simon, and see the artwork in use here: https://soundcloud.com/ok-simon

Gone Squatchin'

Here's a test of some landscape / environment rendering techniques.

"Cinematic" style

Vintage Miniatures style.

 

Space Babes 002 - Princess Kalakahumaka XVII

Well its Valentines day again, Coolhand is drowning under piles of cards and underwear from his adoring fans. Anyway, In truth I'm just drowning under torrents of water and half my city is flooded out.  But just to make things a little more damp, here's another Pin-up for all the lonely space-gauchos out there. 

Princess Kalakahumaka XVII in her official court painting.

When the Nakkaleqisu visited earth long ago they took many things, plants, bees and human DNA which they fused into a new royal line in an effort to combat the effects of centuries of interbreeding.  Princess Kalakahumaka XVII is the latest in this more or less successful breeding program, her semi-human looks and fashion sense are the envy of the females of the ordinary Nakkaleqisu populace.....

Big Spaceships 004 - Columbia Class Carrier - Part 2 (of 2)

Pew Pew Die Lenin class carrier!

OK, lets get this one finished in short order!

The reverse of the last shot in the previous article, superstructures are busy as always.

I'm sure this ship, like many of my others generated tons of criticism, debate and arguments years ago at Scifi-meshes.com. Those looking at the first pic in this article, showing opposing carrier fleets might be wondering why in sci-fi the big ships get so close its like they need to use cannon balls, like its 1750 and the spacecraft are made of wood.  Well, its perhaps not realistic as we might imagine space combat today but that kind of thing makes for far more exciting looking effects - its always just more fun to put opposing spacecraft within spitting distance so sometimes you have to let it go and enjoy the film.

Note the baffles/sheilds and the recovery crane for larger vehicles.

  The Allies employ a much cleaner type of propulsion than the Soviets, and pilots might be expected to land by passing directly through the engine plume - or possibly the engines are turned off for spacecraft recovery, after all this is space and not the sea; hey, lets mix and match our realities as much as possible, its Sci-Fi, baby.... If we assume more realism, to offer some kind of protection from off-but-still-hot nuclear engines an array of baffles and shields are built between engine modules and flightpath/landing bay.

Getting much closer to completion, surfaces looking a little bland.

Totally ripping off Joe Haldeman here, sorry Joe.

A splash of colour lifts it a bit, bit of a 'Republic' scheme.

Makes you want to rotate your head or something.

All too obvious themes from nature here.

250! I don't know... seriously i've forgotten, meters?

Test firing the heating and cutting beams, it heats with some kind of focussed EM beam and cuts with a particle beam, nasty.

Now you know how big this big ship is, its pretty big.

 

Another space battle test render, similar to the one at the top of the article...

 I started making some images with these models but they rarely amounted to much - my compulsion was generally to start another project, the renders, animations to come later as all these models did have a purpose to tell a story, as yet untold! nnnnn

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed the images, even if its all a bit old.  More, better, exciting, thrilling action to come folks, if you liked it, or even if you didn't but are feeling generous please hit the share buttons, and feel free to leave a comment!

Cydonia Base

Some more old work from probably more than 10 years ago! Featuring the Sikorsky Space Crane.  Still digging the dust, I always found Mars a fascinating planet, though this may not be the most accurate portrayal, I probably learned more about lighting and fog effects than modelling or texturing (which is very basic) still fun and very atmospheric!

 

Xtreme-Hobby box-art from 2005

A recent post on JBR's blog reminded me of one of my first projects.  After some rummaging around in the Coolhand Graphics backup CD storage room / hat museum, I dug out these images and a rather fetching purple fedora.

Dare you face down the fearsome Mauridians! You will end up with face down!

JBR built the models as no one trusted me to make the protos back then, I created 3D artwork from them, backgrounds are a little rough in places, and well, there's all kinds of problems with them and mistakes I wouldn't make today but I think the textures worked pretty well, as they're the prototypes for quite small minis the textures have to provide extra levels of complexity, hence the use of pannelled looking textures.

Don't recall a nebula around earth like that, pollution, eh?

Ravenstarstudios now own & produce these models, I know I made some other pics, because there were at least 2 other fleets, perhaps they're over there under that pile of beanies...?