Stargate

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

Yep, you read right. I'm finally calling it done. It feels a bit odd to post a model as a finished project, but my heart and soul has gone into this thing for the last year or so. I have learned so much from modeling it. The funny thing is that if I had to do it all over again now, most of it would probably only take me a week or so.:D

As promised, here is the model.

stargate.blend (http://www.stephenmeli.net/blends/stargate.blend) 30 MB
(Right click, save as.)

You can also find it on scifi-meshes.com.

I only ask that I get credit for the model, and I would be thrilled to see any projects you use it for.:) Materials aren't all that great, so look at it as a model with no mats, aight?;)

[Edit] I just bought my own web hosting service, so now you don't have to deal with Megaupload. Sorry, there's really no material on the iris in this render. :(

http://www.stephenmeli.net/images/irisclosed.jpg
http://www.stephenmeli.net/images/irisopen.jpg

Front/back AO (http://www.stephenmeli.net/images/gate_ao.jpg) Warning: Large image, 3000 x 1500.

[Edit2] There seems to be some demand for the OBJ version of this model, so I decided to make a torrent for it since it is close to 140 MB. I'll be seeding it for the next couple of days or so. stargateobj.torrent (http://stephenmeli.net/stargateobj.torrent) (Again: right click, save as.)

The OBJ is offered as is, with no guarantees. What Blender's OBJ exporter spat out is what you get.

[CubOfJudahsLion]

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: :eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:


I think that's the most detailed Blender model I've seen yet. I would comment further but I'm at a loss for words.

Credit where credit it's due: awesome piece.

[Sergeant_Oreo]

That's a lovely model!
I'll have to check out the .blend file tomorrow. :D
I really like non-organic models with lots of little extrusions, cuts, and other small details.

[mpan3]

Unless my eyes are deceiving me, the model looks like it has more than a billion tris.

[Felix_Kütt]

five starios from me, mate, five stars from me! :)

[snelleeddy]

5 stars indeed. Superb detail!
what's up next?

[TheANIMAL]

My god, the longest WIP this forum has ever seen is finally at an end, and its awsome.

5 Stars.

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

5 stars indeed. Superb detail!
what's up next?Walk cycle with Mancandy!:D I'm taking a break from serious modeling now to develop some animation skills.

[Edit] @Mpan3: I'm not sure of the tris, but quads and tris together count 1,169,355.

[Dan]

Great work man. Hehehe, I'm gonna have to wait till I've built my new pc before I can open that blend file - Blender dies on this laptop when I try go out of wireframe. What gfx card you using to work on that?

Also is that model animatable?

[Leichim]

Great work man. Hehehe, I'm gonna have to wait till I've built my new pc before I can open that blend file - Blender dies on this laptop when I try go out of wireframe. What gfx card you using to work on that?

Also is that model animatable?


Depends on how hood your computer is, lol.

Very nice!!!! Detailed but accurate modelling, you really did a great job.

[watchthis]

wow. I am amazed. I have kinda stood by the WIP because it was the only rated thread in that section. 5 stars. I'll be glad to put that in one of my animations I am working on. like, a cameo or something because that is probably one of the most detailed objects I have ever seen.

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

Great work man. Hehehe, I'm gonna have to wait till I've built my new pc before I can open that blend file - Blender dies on this laptop when I try go out of wireframe. What gfx card you using to work on that?

Also is that model animatable?Yep, I modeled it with animation in mind.:yes: Each chevron has multiple lights that are controlled by a slider on layer 20, and the iris also has a control slider. That way all you have to do is keyframe how on or off the lights are, and how open or shut the iris is. Chevron 7 is the only one that moves in dial sequences, and that only straight up and down, so it didn't get a slider. Neither did the symbol ring, but animating that is just simple rotation IPOs.

My gfx card is Nvidia GeForce 7600 GT AGP 8x. Not the greatest, but I can rotate the model fairly smoothly in solid mode.

[captainkirk]

As I said be fore, great work! Does it include the wormhole? I'll have more to comment on tomorrow when I download it.

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

I think I will provide the wormhole and event horizon later as separate files. Thanks for reminding me.:)

[free_ality]

Ha, You were working on this when I first joined(as my last screen-name too, like a year and a half ago), its fantastic you've finished it. Truly amazing.

5 stars

[Orinoco]

Awesome, man, just freaking awesome. Belongs on a 3D magazine cover somewhere. Five stars.

[otto riis]

Wow, that mesh is awsome, the amount of detail put into that is incredible!
Very nicely done :D!
5 stars :yes:

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

...Belongs on a 3D magazine cover somewhere.Wow, thanks!:o

[Hippie]

So, after all this time you finally finished the model. Just awesome work, the detailing is just superb.

[ZapperJet]

A beautiful model! So detailed that even my system crawls to crash opening that blend file! :yes:

Cheers,
John

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

Hmm, going by your sig, it should work.

My machine:
3.2 Ghz P4 (HT)
GeForce 7600 GT 256mb
2 GB DDR2-533

Overall, you actually have a better rig than I do.

[craigomatic]

Very good work - I was able to open it on my laptop, but to render I had to turn off the AO. Very detailed, congratulations on the model and the resource is valuable on many levels!
Tank you very much!

[Wizard]

To quote my favorite comedian, Russel Peters, "It is mind blasting! Not mind blowing... mind blasting!".

My jaw just dropped to the floor. I followed your WIP thread like a hawk and I never saw the iris until now. Your hard work and attention to detail shows through this intricate model and I can't wait to see what you have in store for us next.

And you have provided a blend file; what more could anyone ask for. I will be studying it closely. Thank you, thank you, thank you... ... ... thank you :D

Now give yourself 2 pats on the back and I'll give you 5 stars although you deserve 20 for this one :yes:

[ZapperJet]

Hmm, going by your sig, it should work.

My machine:
3.2 Ghz P4 (HT)
GeForce 7600 GT 256mb
2 GB DDR2-533

Overall, you actually have a better rig than I do.

My graphics card doesn't have much OpenGL acceleration to begin with (I don't know why). But your model is detailed enough to bring it to a halt anyway (that's a compliment, btw).

Anyways, good work.

Cheers,
John

[robbur]

This is one massive piece of work and a great advert for what can be achieved with Blender. I have just been back through your work in progress, 469 posts over 16 months. The key to progressing and learning anything is to be persistent and keep at it and you have persistence by the sack load.

You should take the best bits from your work in progress and make a 4 or 5 page article. It would be a great inspiration to new users.

5*

[captainkirk]

Is there something wrong with the link? I tried to download it last night and it didn't work.

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

Just a quick question: Which is better, bigger or smaller ripples?

[Edit] Sorry, I don't seem to be able to delete the polorix hosted pics from this post. Mods?http://uploader.polorix.net//files/19/ripple_combined.jpg

[Dan]

My gut reaction is the one on the left with the bigger ripples looks better.

[craigomatic]

The one on the left looks better,imo.
Of course, when this page was loading, I thought it read "nipples" so I scrolled quickly, and was dissappointed. :)

[outbacksam34]

I like the one on the right. It looks more like the one in the actual show. I'd also make the light in the middle brighter.

Really great model though. Can we see some wireframes? I'd like to see how you did all the little recessed details on the gate.

[captainkirk]

The one on the right is better in my opinion.

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

Thanks for the input, I'll animate both to see which looks better.

[free_ality]

Yeah, smaller looks more like the show, 'cuz the spec on the right looks a little too soft(a side-effect of the ripple's size, no doubt)

[ZapperJet]

I wonder how you would do the sideways flush.... hmmmm... :confused:

[free_ality]

Oh, it takes skill man.....



It takes skill.

[Borgleader]

That is simply beautiful LOTR dude like OMG ... I cant wait for the animation...and thanks for posting the model. Its just WOW!

[3D-Penguin]

Very nice, a great topic (Stargate), a lovely super-high-poly model. I'm gonna try it with the variable transparency shader. Thanks.

[Tynach]

Cool, you finally finished!

I never really finished mine, I gave up. Congradulations on moddeling it!

What was the hardest/longest part of it? The hand-boolean?

Needs textures. I think the hardest part of the textureing will be to get the Event Horizon to have the bright spot in the middle despite the camera angle. Good luck with it!

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

What was the hardest/longest part of it? The hand-boolean?Oh heck yes...:spin: The event horizon is easy because you just render it from front view and map the video to a shadeless filled in circle in the gate, you don't have to worry about the highlight. And yes, I hate the materials on the gate, but they're the best I can do right now.

Waa, I lost my 5th star...:( Oh well, 4 is nothing to sneeze at.:)

[Tynach]

Hey, I gave you 5 stars, so it isn't my fault.

I found a script called MegaBool that is now faster and better than Blender's internal booleans. Might be worth checking out, perhaps it will be faster.

You had textures before, didn't you?

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

The only non-procedural texture that I didn't include in the model is the bump map for the arc shaped cracks. Everything else is just blender mats with procedurals. I know, materials are NOT my strong suit. I do have an event horizon that I'm quite pleased with, but it is a separate file.

[Edit] Yay, I got my star back!:D (For the moment...)

[neobloodline]

Wow. Makes me want to lean my head on yours and try to learn by osmosis...:yes:

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

Wow. Makes me want to lean my head on yours and try to learn by osmosis...:yes:If there's one concept I've learned making this model, it's that it is better to learn by giving yourself a project you cannot accomplish and learning the skills as you need them than to try to learn all of the skills beforehand and then try to apply them to a project. Also, make the project something you love and/or are passionate about, otherwise you won't have the patience to stick with it.

[bryguy23]

Stargate is the greatist show ever great modle.

[Borgleader]

Gah...for some reason the codec I used the other day to render the animation went bad cuz the animation was all weird and too short. Well whatever it's rendering at the moment, it should work this time.

Oh and is there a way to render an animation in wireframe? that would look exactly like what you see when pressing Shift+Alt+A (when the 3d screen is set to wireframe)

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

Yes. Ctrl+click this button to make an open GL render.

[BgDM]

Moved to the gallery.

BgDM

[BumpyMonkey]

Wow! It's in the gallery! Now all you need is a good-looking kawoosh to live up to the detail of this model!

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

Thanks BgDM, I'm honored.:D

[Tynach]

Very impressive! makes me feel bad for not finishing mine! Congratulations on making it to the Gallery! Perhaps, if you texture it, you can get it to be a banner on Blenderartists, or get featured on Blendernation!

[darkscar888]

wow that looks just like it

[Borgleader]

Thanks BgDM, I'm honored.:D
Congratulations on your promotion to the Gallery. You deserved it :D

[darkscar888]

Congrats lord of the rings junkie

[masternave]

I'm glad for you man... I think this is the new benchmark for detail...
And hence, for processor speed. Well done. I'm amazed that you stuck by this thing for sooooo long. Good job.

[darkscar888]

you got some major skill

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

The only thing that was really tricky to model was the design on the back, everything else was relatively simple, just very time consuming and tedious. Hopefully I can improve some of my organic modeling skills now, those aren't so hot. :P I should write an e-mail to thank the person who made a LW model I downloaded, it was invaluable for generating references when web photos fell short.

I also need to correct an earlier statement, my GFX card is a 7300 GT, not 7600 GT. Goes to show how processor dependent Blender's 3d view is...

[gat]

Wow, its been awhile from when you first started this project, the completed model is incredible you did an awesome job!!! And thanks for the model too!
Also, I would like to confess that I used one of your earlier ambient occlusion renders of the gate, back a few month ago I think, as a terrain displacement map in Bryce6.1 to render a stargate under water. Here is the link to the last version: http://www.bryce5.com/details.php?image_id=2528&mode=search

[darkscar888]

If you dont mind i might want to edit this into a different portal look and use it for my game.

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

Sweet image! Inspired by this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Watergate_%28Stargate_SG-1%29) episode, I imagine?

@darkscar888: Anybody can use and edit the model however they please, provided the use doesn't infringe MGM copyright. In other words, if you would make money off of it, don't use it. I hereby cover my butt legally in saying that any legal trouble anybody gets into as a result of selling a product using this model is their own fault.

[gat]

thanks, am not really I just wanted to make a stargate under water :)

[darkscar888]

Yah my games goin to be free because i dont have rights to zelda

[KevinW]

Hey congrats on the gallery! I know you worked your butt off on this one so great job!

--
Kevin

[darkscar888]

congrats man didnt hear about that

[Beckett]

Hi!
I can't download the blender, it asks me for a password.
Why?

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

Because my file host has been hacked. I will upload it to a temporary new server until Polorix is fixed. Wish I could afford my own webspace... Thanks for reminding me to change the link.

[Edit] Temporary link posted.

[Beckett]

Where is it on scifi meshes?

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

In the meshes section. :D You have to be a member there to download it though, that's why I provided an alternate link. Check the first post of this thread again.

[95Hawk]

I know everyone is saying this, but that is one awesome model :D Btw, I've made a Stargate, but it doesn't even have an iris. I'll put a photo up on my thread "Stargate" in "Works in Progress" if anyone wants to see it. I'm still trying to figure out how to make a kawoosh :confused:

[LazyCoder]

Geeze! That's crazy!!! 5 stars.

[Laughing cheese]

I'm kind of confused, is there a picture or do we have to download the ? :confused:

EDIT: Figured it out.

Why not just host it on FileFront? :)

[nanxiaogua]

<removed by moderator>

[Dakka Dakka]

By the way, that's an excellent model you've done there, probably the best I've seen, well, ever.

[tarkata14]

Great Model!! Excellent Detail.I remember when i join BA you just started this project, and now it's all done. What project is up next?


P.S. Congrats on the Gallery!

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

...probably the best I've seen, well, ever.Probably because you haven't seen this guy's work (http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/3d-wips/13036-imperator-class-star-destroyer-isd-mkii.html). Warning: Hold onto your shorts, this guy eats greebles for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

[TheANIMAL]

^^ I'm sure you or I, and a few other people who are greeble mad on this site like us (missgarfield aswell, how could i forget about her?) would do that sort of quality if Blender could handle the poly's.

Right now i can greeble aswell as my computer can.

[Alekiel]

._. That thing has so much detail... Makes me think of Wen's drawings, in a 3D world.

Damn.

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

My gate or the ISD?:D

[Exipnos]

***** Stars from me, its totally genius!!! This is ready for production :cool::cool::cool:

[Alekiel]

My gate or the ISD?:D


Well, I was referring to the gate, but now seeing the ISD, that too x_x

[Cognis]

Wish I could afford my own webspace...

I'll gladly host it. I have the space and bandwidth and am actually planning a website for fan-made quality Blender models. Yours would be more than welcome :)

Edit: Of course, seeing SciFiMeshes instills a sense of inferiority in me... then again, their registration system seems to be shutting me out :eek:

[Mosh]

very cool stuff i was thinking is there a site were its only blender files


If some one would buy the server space i can right the code and make the site you can upload and share your blends there

[Cognis]

very cool stuff i was thinking is there a site were its only blender files
If some one would buy the server space i can right the code and make the site you can upload and share your blends there

As stated, I have webspace and bandwidth, and am considering offering it up for something like that. I am merely evaluating if it is truly a needed resource, or if I'll just be adding to a pile of others doing the same... See this thread (http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=115129) for the evaluation status.

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

Just bumping to say that you no longer have to deal with Megaupload. The file is now hosted with StartLogic at stephenmeli.net. :D See first post for link.

[AD-Edge]

Ive seen this a few times before, mainly in the WIP section. Amazing model. 5 stars

My only crit, which has nothing to do with the model itself, is that theres no picture in the first thread. Now that its in the gallery (congrats btw) cant you at least have one picture on the first post?? That way people dont have to download and render it all themselves, just makes it a lot quicker and easyer.

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

Indeed, I never replaced the pics after the polorix incident. Rendering right now! I'll update ASAP.

[Edit] Ok, there are some renders now. :)

[AD-Edge]

Indeed, I never replaced the pics after the polorix incident. Rendering right now! I'll update ASAP.

[Edit] Ok, there are some renders now. :)

Youve now reached the next (and final) level - Perfection!

I could look at those pictures all day....

[jcode]

how does one set up the event horizon to to render, even just the gate is awesome tho.
JF

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

For now, download this (http://www.stephenmeli.net/images/eventhorizon.jpg) render of the event horizon. Put a filled circle mesh in the center of the gate, give it a shadeless material, and UV map the image to the circle.

For animations you will need the .blend of the event horizon, and I'll update this post with the link a bit later.

Render out the animation with Yafray, then feed it through the VSE and give it a glow effect. Map the finished animation to a shadeless circle as you would for a still render.

If you intend to show the back of the gate, you may want to render out the event horizon with no specularity on the material and omit the extra step of adding glow with the VSE. Map the result to a second circle mesh that is visible from the back of the gate.

[jcode]

Cool, thanks, is anyone working on animations with this model?
I have recently become a stargate sg1 junkie because of it ,on the end of season 4 at present.
JF

[Freaky?!]

Currently,

on my website I am using links to sharing servers, while i run on a free domain..
works well at the moment!

[Micro Bear]

The title says it man. That is the absolute best blender render I have ever seen.:D:D
And for working on it for a year, props for the patience:yes:. Very good job my friend.

[Lord of the Rings Junkie]

There seems to be some demand for the OBJ version of this model, so I decided to make a torrent for it since it is close to 140 MB. I'll be seeding it for the next couple of days or so. stargateobj.torrent (http://stephenmeli.net/stargateobj.torrent) (Again: right click,save as.)

The OBJ is offered as is, with no guarantees. What Blender's OBJ exporter spat out is what you get.

[Keelz64]

that is the best blender model i've seen, its fantastic great job buddy! Absoultey awesome

[A2597]

I just noticed teh 9th Chevron...


ok, 8 - distance...

9 = time? :D

[Piz]

Very nice and... very close to the original for sure! Compliments! :)

[eva6206213]

That's a lovely model!