So glad I found this site -

Just curious, as a bit of a hobbyist, how do you get the backdrop radiosity to work on internal structures like the launch tube? Whenever I try that, its just black (apart from the ends).

As for peoples comments about wanting to get their hands on these models, I completely understand copyright laws and the fact that after weeks/months/years of work, you don’t want to see what you’ve made spread around for free. Its just a shame that all these fantastic meshes and scenes will all be put onto backup tape, and left to rot for eternity.

In response to whether we like this type of posts, I cant speak for anyone else, but for a person for whom Battlestar Galactica is the best thing that ever graced the small (or big) screen, and for someone who works with BSG CG as a hobby, this is more precious and and more appreciated than gold.

Thanx so much for sharing not only the images, but also giving us insight into the world of professional CG. I actually had always wondered about Radiosity. I did try rendering the galactica once with it and I think it had increased the frame render time by like 10 or 20 fold at least. Where I can usually render a frame under 10 minutes, with radiosity it had jumped above an hour and a half by the time I had cancelled the render.

I know that the “spinning-light trick” is used to fake radiosity, and I have such a rig that I use, but I never rally understood it. If you could explain the spinning light trick to us that’d be fantastic.

[blockquote]EDOLNX – If you hunt around online, you’ll find that fans of the show have made their own CGI models from the show, and many of them are very good. I’ve seen fan-built models from Galactica and other programs that are almost indistinguishable from the originals! Seek and ye shall find.[/blockquote]

Here is a Galactica-type Batttlestar modeled by tan.j which I’m using for my animation projects. Here is a compositing test render I had made.

I think I played around with the lighting too much in this shot and I messed it up. Not enough specularity (I notice in BSG all ships have a ton of specularity, especially the galactica plates) and also the planet is too bright…I cant quite figure out what I did wrong, but it just doesnt look right, not close to the shots on the show.

Either way, keep them coming Mojo. Your blog posts regarding BSG CG are one of a kind and just very inspirational, especially for aspiring CG artists.

Adalla