New Model in Progress: The White Star (v4.0 & White Star 90 v1.0)

On the previous page, the images of White Star 90 were rendered using the original Foundation Imaging tail fin texture map. The more astute among you (or those who are muppets and enjoy watching the CGI from Babylon 5 frame-by-frame <me included>) may have noticed that during the Season Four episode The Long Night the White Star piloted by Marcus and Ivanova starts the episode with the same texture map as the White Star has had since it was first seen at the beginning of Season Three. This texture map looks like this.

Actually, it looks exactly like this, as this is the actual texture map used on the Foundation Imaging White Star model.

Anyway, later in this episode, the same White Star is seen looking like this:

If you hadn't noticed the change, I wouldn't lose sleep over it, because when I quizzed Ron Thornton over it, he hadn't noticed the change either.

It is quite plain from comparing these two images that the Foundation Imaging texture map is no longer used. The curvy, mottled map has been replaced by a rather nasty, crude stripey map. When I first noticed this I wondered if maybe Netter Digital had replaced the texture map by choice, but on closer inspection, the texture map alternates between the curvy and the stripey throughout the episode. The only conclusion that can be drawn from this is that at some point during the post-production for The Long Night the original texture map was lost, and hastily replaced with a new one.

I mean, honestly, would you replace the original map with this stripey thing?

In any case, every rendering of the White Star by Netter Digital since The Long Night has used the striped texture map, and the curvy Foundation Imaging map has never reappeared.

As it stands, I have not yet painted this striped map, as I'm perfectly happy with the original curvy one.

What I want to know from you is whether you would like me to produce a version of the White Star & White Star 90 using this map as well as a version using the original, or should I stick to the nice curvy one? Let me know what you think through the feedback form.

And now I have another question for you all to help me out with, regarding this tail fin texture map. The image on the left here shows a section of the original Foundation Imaging texture map for the upper fuselage of the White Star. As you can see, the blue patches are not made up of a flat colour, but rather they are made of another texture. (More details on this texture type can be found in the texture map painting section of the White Star Tutorial.) The blue area are made-up of a rubbed-through texture cloned (in part) from the blue sections of the White Star, which use this texture: The question is this: In your opinion, based upon the images of the White Star that you have seen since The Long Night, do the blue stripes on the Netter Digital texture map use this technique, or are they made of flat colour? The image of the White Star on this page would suggest that the stripes are made of a solid colour, but on closer inspection it is apparent that the lighting in the scene makes all the blue patches appear to be of a flat blue, which we know to be untrue.

So, what do you think? Below are two images which I have quickly painted in Photoshop to demonstrate what I'm talking about.

As you can see, one of these texture maps uses the rub-through texture, and one uses flat colour. Which route should I persue? Send me your thoughts and insight on this matter through the feedback form.

Of course, if any talented soul out there wants to paint this map themselves and then send it to me, I would be more than happy to include the best version I recieve in the WSv4.0 distribution. Below is a template for you to paint onto should you be so inclined. It is saved as a 3-bit GIF image at present, so before you paint onto it you will need to convert it to 24 bit colour. Once you have completed the map, save it in an uncompressed format (such as BMP, TIFF, TARGA, PSD etc.) and also as a JPEG image at 60% quality and send me the JPEG file. If I get lots of maps from people, I will sift through and choose the best one, then get the painter of that map to send me the uncompressed file.

If I recieve lots of submissions for this, I will post the images on a page on this site, and add a voting form so that you can vote for which map you think should be the one which I finally use.

To download the image, right-click on the image below and choose Save Picture as or your browser's equivalent command.