Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: Notesfiles $Revision: 1.6.2.17 $; site uiucdcsb.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!whuxlm!whuxl!houxm!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcsb!eich From: eich@uiucdcsb.UUCP Newsgroups: net.startrek Subject: Re: Deflectors and ST 4 Message-ID: <16000007@uiucdcsb.UUCP> Date: Sun, 2-Dec-84 01:08:00 EST Article-I.D.: uiucdcsb.16000007 Posted: Sun Dec 2 01:08:00 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 4-Dec-84 05:36:40 EST References: <3377@ucbvax.UUCP> Lines: 38 Nf-ID: #R:ucbvax:-337700:uiucdcsb:16000007:000:2060 Nf-From: uiucdcsb!eich Dec 2 00:08:00 1984 [re: ST-TMP FX] Douglas Trumbell and his Entertainment Effects Group, working along with John Dykstra's group (those who split from Lucas's ILM after Star Wars and worked on the Battlestar Ponderosa pilot), completed ST-TMP effects under horrendous pressure and parted amicably with Paramount. The story you heard sounds like a corrupted account of ST-TMP's original effects plans, which involved Robert Abel & Associates (the innovative 7-UP and Levi's commercials people). Abel and co. dropped out after their grandiose plans for fancy motion-controlled photography preprogrammed from graphics terminals came to naught. Apparently they had software that allowed an effects designer to set up a model shot at a workstation, run a program to translate the move into code to drive the motion control rig. After convincing himself that the shot looked right, the designer would dump to a floppy, run over to the stage next door, set up model, lights, camera, and floppy, and get the intended action on film. They ran into problems right away: their software assumed a point pov, and the camera housing rammed part of the model rig! Back to the software development building for another run through the edit-compile-debug cycle... Anyway, Trumbell (and Dykstra to a lesser extent) came on the scene after Abel's and another group's failures (details of the latter attempt escape me), and did well enough considering the tedious number of shots required. As for ILM receiving a slightly less than mint-condition Enterprise from EEG for STII, ILM people (Ken Ralston, I think) did blame Trumbell. Apparently Trumbell had made a lower bid for TWOK than ILM, but Paramount opted for Lucas's people. I seem to recall Trumbell himself griping about how overpriced ILM is, etc. at some point. Personally, I think ILM effects have a distinctive flair, a stylization of movement that makes STII & III effects superior to those of TMP. And nobody can do soft mattes like Lucas's optical people (the Bird of Prey's landing on Vulcan). Brendan Eich uiucdcs!eich