Alien: Narcissus project

Satka

Satka

New Member
Jul 15, 2008
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Toulouse, France
www.bouncing-frogs.fr
Hi there,

After having built many models, and seen how Metasequoia and Pepakura designer work, I'm ready to start my own project ...

I'm going to design a model for the Narcissus escape shuttle where Ripley faces the Alien in the first movie, and is found in hypersleep at the beginning of the second.

I have found several reference pictures to analyze the 3D shape, and gather texture info.
This is really just the beginning of the project, and the 3D modelling should take a while, especially now that my vacation is ending (in three days), and intense work+family life = few hours left for this.

But I'm motivated, and I'd like to give this to the community!
Here are the three views I'm going to work on for the 3D modelling
Alien_Narcissus_Views1.jpg
 
Very nice. I look forward to your work. I loved the Narcissus the first time I saw it.
 
Ooh! That would be the first model of that ship I think I will have ever seen! I just happened to have watched that first Alien movie last night, for the 50th time! :)
 
That will be very interesting. Don't know of any other model of it. Will watch with interest.

As I understand the real prop model they used in the first movie has been long lost/trashed. They had to create a second one based on the videos and photos for the rescue sequence of the second film.
 
Thanks everyone for the interest :)

I'm planning on starting with a simple version:
- Relatively low poly count
- Detailed texture

Then, when I'm more confident with the tools, I'll go for more 3D details ...
And a dream would be a removable canopy that would reveal the cryo tube, locker room, pilot seat ...maybe two stand-up figures of Ellen and "the hostile organism" :p

I'll post updates of the work in progress here ...
 
I would suggest that you look at the surfaces that look raised, and make them as separate parts so people car create texture by actually raising the texture, and also, if there are recesses, make slightly over sized panels so people can cut out the panels, and build in with spacers, and add the recess. This saves people from having to print five copies of the model. They will think of you as being brilliant, which you well may be! :)
 
Thank you for the suggestions

I can indeed add a set of optional parts that would help raise the details.
And the oversized recessed panels is a great idea,, cool :)

Zathros said:
I would suggest that you look at the surfaces that look raised, and make them as separate parts so people car create texture by actually raising the texture, and also, if there are recesses, make slightly over sized panels so people can cut out the panels, and build in with spacers, and add the recess. This saves people from having to print five copies of the model. They will think of you as being brilliant, which you well may be! :)
Click to expand...
 
Studio scale

Over at resinilluminati.com you will find the studio scale model. You will have to join the forum, to see the pictures but it is free. I Have done a few paper models over there as well. You will need to search for the Narcissus, it is there, they do have some good reference material there for your venture. Here are a few. Enjoy and hope to see more of your works.
 

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Well, after a few hours of fiddling with Metasequoia, and just under a minute in Pepakura designer, my current conclusion is that

"It might actually work!"

Now that the proof of concept is done, time to do things seriously :p

Nacissus_Test01.jpg
 
silveroxide said:
Over at resinilluminati.com you will find the studio scale model. You will have to join the forum, to see the pictures but it is free. I Have done a few paper models over there as well. You will need to search for the Narcissus, it is there, they do have some good reference material there for your venture. Here are a few. Enjoy and hope to see more of your works.
Click to expand...

That is so incredible! I don't know if it motivates or saddens me! I love it either way. :)
 
As a long-time deckplanner (I make floorplans of ships from Star Wars), I feel the need to tell you that you need to make sure your three views line up perfectly in terms of both shape and detail. Otherwise you may have a conundrum. Fantastic work so far, though! :thumb:
 
Thank you very much for the advice, I definitely need it

As for the three views, I used them as a background for my real 3 views layout, since the sources I gathered are of different origins and detail.

For my first draft, I came up with this, which is not the final version, but the kind of thing I'll work on for the final one

Alien_Narcissus_Layout.jpg


I'm not sure this is the most efficient method, but that's the one I feel more confident with ... ;)
Once the model is precisely broken down in these views, I'll start 3D modelling.
There again, I think I'll go for the tedious version: create a shape of the front view, extrude it, layer it along the fracture lines of the top and side views, and start symmetrical scaling along these lines

Then unfolding, testing, and then texturing (the hard part)

... we're not there yet! :eek:

Millenniumfalsehood said:
As a long-time deckplanner (I make floorplans of ships from Star Wars), I feel the need to tell you that you need to make sure your three views line up perfectly in terms of both shape and detail. Otherwise you may have a conundrum. Fantastic work so far, though! :thumb:
Click to expand...
 
Let me add a couple of pics....
 

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Thank you very much.

The close-ups are gorgeous!
I really like how the Narcissus exterior design matches the Nostromo's interior.
It is very consistent, and adds to the "realism".

Now that I'm beginning to scrutinize the details, I like the clamping mechanism that holds the shuttle to the carrier :)
 
Satka, those drawings are completely off, and not in scale to each other. They weren't even symmetric! Working through one of them, I have drawn up some lines based off of the photo you have and these are much better. You can scale them to whatever size you wish. Just make sure you scale the drawing as one page, and all the parts will scale up or down, If you cut it into three pieces, then use the same settings for each section. It is based on U.S Lega 11 x 8.5 inches, easy enough to convert to whatever you need. :)
 

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Thank you Zathros, this is helpful, and goes exactly in the direction I'm going now

Indeed, the drawing I posted earlier were nothing but a draft to check that I could validate the 2D layout - to 3D model - to PDO chain, even if the 2D layout was inaccurate (or worse, not symmetrical :p)
 
Mmmh.... I'm sure Jan Rukr would like it, too! I'm looking forward to seeing a first texture test.
 
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