BTS: Designing the Phaeton

Ian, I just have to say, I LOVE just listening to you go off on wild tangents... it speaks to the inner geek in me HARD. I just became a patron like yesterday, and I already feel like I've had such a window into your brain. :D

Jason Greenwood

If the Phaeton uses a gravity generator thing to fly, wouldn't putting that thing in front of the ship cause it to accelerate towards it rather than brake the ship if the gravity thing is what is sucking stuff towards it? Or is it possible to point the force either foward or backwards, like reverse that?

Lukas Sprehn

Now I want to see you do a review of the CGI across a bunch of different Matrix movie scenes.

I see your webcam also decide to channel the Matrix remake towards the end by making everything blue

Sebbir Visuals

Very humanizing, this one. I mean, at this point I'm used to the reality that Ian is some kind of frighteningly prolific, Blade Runnery Picasso/Michaelangelo/d'Artagnan amalgam, and yes I'm profoundly grateful for these jaw-dropping presentations and the clarity, humor, and remarkable humility with which he presents them, but somehow it's a bit of a relief to see him demoralized and intimidated by the crazy difficulty of some job or other that he's set for himself (though also showing how to get out of that mindset), and to see a subject/background mismatch that's far more typical to my level of filmmaking than his... I dunno, it's just cheering somehow, makes it all a little less daunting to see those flashes. Anyhoo, I talk too much; I couldn't be more grateful for these. Thanks, Ian.

Seth

very enjoyable episode Ian, thank you! :)

Tom Carroll

Awesome! Thanks man. I really like your 5 panel hat with the nike logo on it. (Lots of googling to figure out the name of it haha.)

Oh this is a very fun list thank you :D

Ian Hubert

Haha! Thanks a bunch Matthew- I'd still LOVE a practical set some day, though- or a nice blend of both!

Ian Hubert

Oh! If I'm in a close space, I'll use a 12mm (super wide on a full frame sensor); really helps scan the whole thing, and get details while also having the larger context visible for reconstruction, but if you CAN step back, using a longer lens can work better. I think the general wisdom is using a longer lens (like 50mm?) gives you more accurate results, but from a practicality standpoint I still usually go like 24mm for that balance of convenience/accuracy. Which is also what I tend to shoot on, yeah! Lately I've been having a blast shooting narrative stuff on a 14mm lens, which is pretty wide, but I'm probably overdoing it so I'll probably switch back to like 35mm pretty quick here. (That said- shooting high res at 18mm means I can zoom in and re-crop shots in the edit, which I know is a pretty common practice, but I've never done it much and I'm loving it)

Ian Hubert

YES! It's also the recipe for my favorite shows; I've ben watching Breaking Bad (well- Better Call Saul), and Severance lately, and they've been SO fun, and all of them excel in setting up all these different dramatic dynamics so when things happen, it feels like there's actual gravitas and repercussions. Also I hope you get to design a spaceship soon!! I

Ian Hubert

Ahaha, thank you!! The red checkered one I borrowed-until-we-basically-consider-it-mine'd from Kaitlin, and the grey one is from Macklemore, weirdly enough. I have no idea where someone would get them originally, though.

Ian Hubert

Okay super weird comment here... I love your hat! Where did you get it? Also fantastic video!

Really inspiring stuff, Ian! Also, I'm jealous; I don't get to do a lot of spaceships in my line of work, and I really get into having to answer all the questions the design of the ship raises. It's interesting that you say having more restrictions improves things. James Cameron said something similar, in that when you create a world you have to create rules for it and stick to them- you can't just change the rules when you write/design yourself into a corner. It forces you to be more creative instead of using a magic get-out-of-jail-free card.

Pete Burges

Hello! Quick question: What lens do you use for photogrammetry? Does this differ from those that you use for filming?

Chris Alldridge

You kept apologizing for rambling, but this has been one of my favorite videos of your’s. Thank you!

Erich Stenzel

wow. better than any built set would be at this point.

Awesome stuff as ever! Just in case you ever run out of fancy latin words, I'll just drop this here: https://concord.fandom.com/wiki/Iain_M._Banks_Culture_Universe_Spaceship_Names

Petteri Valtiala

Hey Ian, unique question here. But how do you manage the power supply when rendering and editing these massive scenes? Does your computer ever get overloaded, or do you just have a massive PCU+UPS system? Thanks!

YakovlevArt