The COVID passion project that ignited my love for 3D modeling.
"Do or do not. There is no try."
- Master Yoda, advising a padowan that the way of the Blender is a long and difficult path.
The Project
The Tantive IV CR--50 Blockade Runner model was my COVID-19 passion project to teach myself 3D Modeling. I had always wanted to learn how to do visual effect design but never had the time to do it. Working from home gave me some extra cycles, and the introverted world of quarantine gave me the motivation to finally do it.
I had just built a custom PC with a AMD 5950X, RTX 3090 and 128GB RAM and purchased my first 3D resin printer, so I figured I'd set a reasonable goal to model a studio-quality replica of the iconic Star Wars ship and print it at studio-scale (6.5 ft long).
With these modest goals in mind, I set off to learn Blender.
I mean, how hard could it be?
I was a total 3D modeling noob and Blender can be pretty daunting - so I got my bearing doing the famous donut tutorial by blenderguru. That gave me just enough confidence to become dangerous.
To learn more about the Tantive IV, I started by rewatching Star Wars, and collected pictures of the studio model from the internet. I also reviewed other people's attempts to build the model. As it turns out, there's quite a community of people interested in doing this very project.
Finding the modelermagic.com website was a big win. Since going to Disney World to view the model in person was a non-starter during COVID, I really needed a set of online reference photos to see what I was building. Luckily, Modeler Magic had hundreds of photos of the studio model from just about every angle imaginable. This allowed me to study the general structure of the ship and get a sense of every little detail on it's surface.
With my references gathered, I decided to get started...
...but where to start?
Why Tantive IV?
This Alderaan cruiser was the first ship to grace the silver screen in the Star Wars universe in 1977 duting Episode IV, a New Hope. If you're anything like me, you saw it fly across the screen pursued by a star destroyer at least 15 times in the theater.
The Tative IV remains one of the most iconic ships of the star wars universe.
"This is where the fun begins!"
Anakin Skywalker, shortly before starting a new modeling project.
Start Big: Superstructure
The first part of any model is to break the thing you're trying to build down into basic shapes - cubes, spheres and cylinders. The Tantive IV is organized around a single long cylinder. On the Engine side, a large cube serves as a central brace from which extend the 11 engine struts. Each engine is basically a set of cubes and cylinders, arranged in an array of 4-3-4.
The front of the ship is again another cylinder, but tapered at the ends. Several additional cylinders make up the structure needed for the radar dish and the main guns.
Towards the front half of the ship, a larger cube protrudes from the central cylinder. With a bit of added vertices and some tapering, you can easily convert it into the main quarters / engineering area.
Getting the superstructure in place is a really important step to get right in modeling. If the proportions are off, the entire vehicle or object will look wonky. Getting this particular model right required guesswork and reliance on sketches other artists had done to really dial in the dimensions. This was a bit of an "art" moment, since many references aren't precise, and other modelers had taken liberties with their designs.
To get this right, I had to carefully validate the model with the studio model photos from modeler magic to make sure the alignment was correct. Some details are really subtle! For example, the top 2 engines are positioned slightly higher than the 2 on the edges, and this alignment is not echoed on the lower tier of engines. Attention to detail is really important at this stage.
Once the superstructure is done, then fun part began - adding the details.
Side-note for aspiring modelers
Since my end goal was to create a model that could be printed, I believed that I needed a lot of geometry to create smooth surfaces. Nothing could be so far from the truth!
The beauty of 3D modeling is that the computer can do the work for you.
In the photo to the right are two cylinders. The cylinder to the left has 64 faces. If you look closely, you can see each individual face making up it's side.
The cylinder to the right however only has 12 faces (not counting the ends). The reason why you can't see them and it looks perfectly smooth is because a modifier, called sub-division surface, has been added to the object. This allows you to keep your models simple and lean on Blender and your GPU to do the work to add extra geometry.
The process can be used for lots of different types of modifiers (mirrors, arrays, shrinkwrapping, etc.) Modifiers make modeling easier and faster, and are non-destructive - meaning they won't change your original object until they are fully applied.
"Master Skywalker. There are too many of them. What are we going to do?"
Sors Bandeam, discovering that life can sometimes be unfair.
Go Small: Greebles
Professional special effect artists that build large scale models often start with the superstructure of the model before adding in detail. Once the main shape is in defined, the modelers of yore would essentially "kitbash" ships together by finding interesting pieces (called greebles) from other models and glue them into place on the superstructure.
A similar approach can be used in 3D modeling, but each item, rather than come pre-made from a kit, greebles need to be 3D modeled and added in. Once done though, it can easily but copied and pasted and rotated into position anywhere on the 3D model.
So... it's time for everyon's favorite game - pick a greeble- any greeble, and make it.
Above is a photo of the studio model. In this case,it shows engine brace portion of the ship. Glued to it's side are several greebles, including a wedge shaped one. As with the superstructure, each element of the model can be broken down into basic shapes - cubes, spheres and cylinders. All these are separately added and combined / modified to create each greeble, as shown in the model to the right.
Once modeled, the Greeble can then be copied and positioned onto the model in other locations. In this case, the wedge was mirrored (via modifiers) so it would appear in a symetrical position on the other side of the model.
Now it's just rinse and repeat... and repeat... and repeat...
Greeble Examples
CREDIT TO FORBIDDEN PLASTICS and MODELER's MINATURE MAGIC for the studio model photos, and a special thanks to me for the 3D model shots. :)
Above are photos of the studio model and a rendering of the model I built. It's funny looking back at it because all I can see now are the errors in my modeling. I was convinced that l had been extremely faithful to the original studio design, but all I see now are the differences... some large and some small. I also see areas where I improvised, adding in more detail than was called for.
It's a dilemma. Do you stick with the studio model and be faithful to the design, or do you go with the more detailed model because one day it may be printed and the detail will look really good? Also, to be honest, you're limited by the photos you can find. In many spots the angles were off - so it led to guessing what might be there.
"Had a slight weapons malfunction but, uh everything’s perfectly all right now. We’re fine. We’re all fine here now. Thank you. How are you?"
Han Solo, discovering that that there are no references for the thing he needs to complete his project.
Improvise
There are times when you're modeling where the detailed view of the model you want just doesn't exist and you need to improvise to figure out a layout that makes sense. One such area of the Tantive IV model are the side ports. These are docking bays for the ship, but they're also the location where the ship was supported when they shot the film.
"The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together."
Obi-wan Kenobi, Trying to explain how the nodes in procedural texturing work in 3D modeling.
Texture
Just when you think you've got a handle on modeling, you discover that there's a whole new rabbit hole to explore around texturing... procedural texturing to be exact. When you build a model you can assign materials to different faces of an object. These materials, often called textures, tell the computer how to "paint" the face of an object so it has the look you want. This could be gold, silver, colors, or could be something as sophisticated as peeling paint.
Texturing is what brings an object to life. Sure, it can look cool in shades of grey, but great texturing adds dimension and character to an object that tells a story. Is it new? Is it old? was it damaged?
There are several ways to create textures. You can assign simple material to a surface and give it some attributes like color, roughness (how much it reflect light), metallic (how that light is reflected), alpha (how transparent a surface is), or a normal map (how bumpy it might appear in light). There are lots of these settings, and while for simple things this works well, for a used spaceship that's seen battles, it's a bit simplistic.
Another approach would be to 3D paint the whole object. This is also possible, but can also be tricky and lengthy to do, as you might need to paint every surface.
Yet another approach is procedural texturing. A procedural texture uses mathematics to place colors and patterns on the surface of an object. With procedural texturing it's easy to add weathered looks to surfaces, add worn edges, and make surfaces look dented or pockmarked. You define a series of operations via nodes, and those operations are then applied to any object you add it to. Procedural texturing rocks - with a little cleverness you can avoid repeating patterns on your model and make things look natural.
Above is a screenshot of the shading editor from blender. Each box represents a transformation based on the coordinates of the object to which it is applied. Things start off simple, by randomizing the coordinates to ensure each object looks different, and then running those vectors through a series of mathematical noise transformations to create patterns and variances in the look of the surface. When those noise textures are then mapped to color, you end up with textured patterns, bumps and edge effects. Each element of the pattern (a bit like layers on a cake) are then brought together in a shader, which renders out the final material.
Renders
Once you have a full model, you can start the rendering process. I'd say this model is about 50% ready for this. The textures are still really rough, and believe it or not there are still a few missing Greebles on the bottom of the ship.
When rendering, it's all about the style of the background, lighting and positioning of the camera. Trying to create a dynamic effect on a static model is always a tough thing to do.
Regardless, it still makes for great eye candy... So enjoy the Tantive IV:
Hyperspace
I've always liked the hyperspace animations in Star Wars, so I've been working recently on trying to reproduce it in Blender. While this isn't a finished animation yet, it is getting closer. More to come soon. :)