Upcoming Shoot (and Props Update by Nate Taylor)

WOO! I'm nervous. This Sunday is my first shoot since the pandemic started! It's very exciting. This one's gonna be a big greenscreen shoot, and we're setting up some additional greenscreen cloth and softboxes to really give us some room to film; I really want to try to use everything I've learned over the last few years to make post for this scene go as quickly as possible, while letting us have some fun levels of cg/live action integration (anyone who's been asking for more greenscreen content on the patreon- we're about to get deep into it :D) ...I'm not sure yet whether I'm overly optimistic or pessimistic with my time estimates.

Usually I shoot the greenscreen scenes without having that specific of an idea of how the environment will look (since typically I know I can just match the environment to whatever we shoot), but since an entire scene is taking place in this environment, I needed to figure things out ahead of time so I can make sure the continuity works. 

As I've mentioned before, I modeled the initial set around a photoscan of the stage, so ideally we should be able to shoot on the stage and just line it up with the environment (I'm going to add some specific tracking markers to the greenscreen to give reference points for re-alignment). 

I think I might add some specific high-contrast lighting in the cockpit that'll interact with Josh while he's sitting up there and hopefully provide some better integration.

One thing that's always bothered me, though, was the fact that I'm better at CG production value than practical; I'll have a big cg spaceship flying around, but then we cut to a closeup and the controls are like a spray-painted egg carton hot glued to PVC pipe or something. And whenever I say this someone responds, "Ian that's part of the charm"- and I very much appreciate that, but I think there's also hopefully a charm to having lots of painstakingly crafted practical props? 

Because that's what we're doing! Nate Taylor's been going nuts the past few months making sure that everything Josh Truax (our actor) interacts with on the day is a real thing. Actually- it's kinda fun. I worked with both Josh and Nate on Project London, filmed back in 2007, so this should hopefully be a perfect shoot to ease us back into it :D

There's a few different aesthetics at play. The character is stationed in an old space outpost, and we're borrowing heavily (and implementing photoscans from) old WW2 bombers. Nate's done a great job at matching that aesthetic. The headphones above are an old pair of headphones he matched the design language of, adding some additional tech bits, which I think is a fun way to keep things grounded. But there's also new higher-tech stuff that the character brought along with him, and I think that'll be fairly self-evident when you watch the scene. 

We're also really focusing on any prop that can be head/shoulder-mounted, since that'll make sure it's visible in more shots, and means we're putting our effort where the screen-time is :P

There's a little functional LED in there, too- which adds a TON to making it feel like a proper object. Also notice the little screws; adding small "actual hardware" in there adds a lot of authenticity. 

Also I sent him this sketch back in January as the idea for a "space mug" that could integrate with a robotic coffee maker, and before I knew it he'd mocked it up in Blender, printed it, and done a cold cast :D

I find this WILDLY cool. 

We're going to have a quick breakfast scene, so Nate put together a dehydrated SpaceFood pack- Lots of fun weird custom gelatins and nutrition bars and self-heating snap-sticks in there.

A little communications deal (again- head mounted so we get to see it in the close-ups, with little LEDs and screws. My favorite thing about Nate's work lately is how quickly his stuff has gone from "yeah that's a cool sci-fi prop" to "yeah that looks like something that could actually exist")

I didn't even know Nate was working on this one until it was completed (he was testing out his new resin printer, which should let us 3d print props with a LUDICROUS level of detail (and introduces the possibility of printing even more accurate functional 3d mechanisms)

It's based around an actual electric screwdriver, which is cool because the prop Nate talks about below is actually disassembled in the scene, so it's a prop that'll actually disassemble a different prop. I dunno. I think that's cool :D

This is two props in one- he spent some good time making the keyboard at the base of it, but I wanted to use it in this weekend's scene, so he created some additional modules to make it look like a new prop. It's mounted on a little articulated arm, and my plan is to add some tracking dots so we can wrap/extend it in additional CG bits, so we can pop it in every time Josh needs to tap a keypad (which happens an inordinate amount). 

Most of Nate's time has been spent on an absolutely fantastic costume piece, but I think we'll talk about that one later- but the other biggest prop is the observation drone, and Nate was kind enough to type up his process.

And as always, thanks so much to everyone here for being so much a part of making all of this possible!!!

NATE TAYLOR:

Hello again, everyone! Nate here with a new build log.

This project was an exceptionally fun challenge - Ian requested a prop which needed to be deconstructed on-screen for a future episode. It was a great experience to design and build something which could be interacted with in a complex manner, and which looked like a believable object both inside and out.

I started with a prompt and some rough sketches from Ian: this aesthetic for this prop takes after the WWII Norden Bombsight - a fascinating blend of shapes and textures to achieve a ‘vintage military surplus tech’ style, but fused with the needs of a sci-fi object beyond our current tech.

First step was modeling all the parts in Blender:

This is the full parts breakout, after several days, several revisions, several trial-and-error prints for moving parts and their V2s, V3s. Each of those rectangles is a print plate of about 25cm x 21cm.

This project also includes my first real go with CNC milling for a practical application - in this case, .5mm aluminum sheet. I’m working with a home DIY kit router from FoxAlien, and although it’s a very different process from fabricating via 3D print (which I now realize is surprisingly straightforward!) I’m definitely slowly getting the hang of all the variables that go into working with the mill based on circumstance. I do my designs for 2D cuts as vector art in Illustrator and bring them over to Fusion360 to generate the toolpaths.

I designed these parts to be bent into interesting shapes as opposed to simple flat cuts. I wanted to make sure it felt like an integrated part of the structure, and the inside of most tech has curious little bends and warps in the metal to optimize interior space or add structure.

This example part is a mix of 3D printed parts, scavenged electronics, milled aluminum, and electronics screws detailed with textured paint and airbrushing, some drybrushing for weathering, and waterslide decals for the labels.

Most of the parts in this build took a similar path, although the exact materials and process varied a bit. There are three main points of focus: Both sides have a removable component - one twists off entirely to reveal the inside, the other has an outer panel that can be pulled off after taking out two key screws - and the interior is UNKNOWABLE FUTURE TECH**

**although personally, I think of it as a gyroscopically stabilized object, which propels and orients itself by interacting with the local magnetosphere and uses tiny pulse exhausts for rapid directional changes. But I don’t want to get absolutely shredded into a bloody pulp by the sliver of the sci-fi community that also belongs to the hard-nose scientific accuracy subculture, so I’m not going to write that down anywhere, certainly not here on the internet where nothing can ever be truly erased.

What follows is a variety of shots I took throughout the course of the build process, captioned but not quite narrated.

My basic process for imitation metal parts: print, sand, filler primer, sand, filler primer again, sand again, automotive primer, sand to polish, airbrush glossy base, airbrush chrome (I’m actually using Molotow Marker liquid refill, not proper airbrush paint), gently GENTLY sand after 48h cure to create a brushed-metal look while leaving enough glossy material for the light to catch the reflective edges, add details, decals, and weathering as desired. Bake for 17 hours at 650 Fahrenheit in a souped-up EZ Bake oven with lightning stickers on the sides (must be an actual vintage model to work properly) while screaming into the void and dancing absolutely every bit as vigorously as your tired meat limbs will allow.

Oh, and at some point every single day during the process you must accidentally superglue all of your fingerprints off. Again. Because otherwise you’ll leave fingerprints on the finish.

Here, have some more pictures!

Here’s the final build, plus weathering and grime and waterslide decals and “polished metal edges” which are, of course, just drybrushed aluminum and chrome on the corners.

Some notable features from above: Creating custom mounts and housings for parts that I stole from the insides of an old thrifted VCR and Camera (Brave Little Toaster-Style)

Some SD cards that are not SD cards. I have developed a penchant for creating custom fantasy storage media, and I cannot be stopped. Every prop, forever, is going to have a Cyberpunk Laserdisc Or Sci-Fi Cassette or, uh, some other Nostalgic Retrofuture Storage hidden inside it, even if the prop is a squishy alien egg. Just try and stop me.

I spent a hilariously long time making sure all the little ribbons and wires inside the housing actually connected at both ends and ran between reasonably sensible components. If we’re gonna look inside, can’t have folks going “why are there no wires” or “why are all the wires loose” or “oh no I’m late for my second date see you guys later I gotta run” or “why is that circuit board wired to nothing but itself”

My personal favorite moment: that weird plastic grid I’m holding by itself? That’s just leftover support material from printing one of the outer shell pieces. I used it to create a “heat sink” for the interior of the far inner wall by sponging some chrome paint onto the surface. I don’t know why, but this makes me giddy.

I hope you’ve enjoyed my mediocre jokes process on this piece! I didn’t get as far into the nitty gritty of my techniques this time, just wanted to talk some about the wider variety of materials and tools used on this piece. I’ll probably do a deeper dive into specific skillsets for future projects that have a more focused tendency towards one specific process.

More build logs soon, as I gradually finalize fabrication on a few more pieces for the upcoming episodes!

Cheers,

Nate