Ideas Wanted!

While I am not giving up...I am also not opposed to helpful ideas from you talented creators.

I have a scenario where you are on the bridge (of a starship) and using the view screen to have a space battle. My 1st thoughts were to have the bridge move to get the feeling you were moving though space. This was problematic as when the battle was over I need the bridge to 'end up' in a specific location so the sack person could move onto the next segment. I then decided to keep the bridge stationary and move the back ground. This also is difficult due to the action that will be happening (i.e. blowing up asteroids and shooting at a passing BORG vessel) With the background and the bridge both being cardboard 'blowing up' asteroids (using explosives) had to go out the window. With this change I can go back to the idea of a moving background.

So I find myself a bit stuck as to how I should move the BORG vessel around to give it the look of flying through space and passing by the view screen without just passing horizontal or vertical. I thought I might put in on a track up above with the vessel suspended by a string. I could alter this track by emitting new pieces so as to change the direction and velocity at which it passes the view screen.

What do you guys think?? Is it interesting and dynamic enough? Do you think I will be able to accomplish this in a realistic way?


I hope I have explained it enough to inspire someone to understand my current setup and where I'd like it to go...

If you have any thoughts on what I have now or a way to change it, I would really love to hear it!

Thanks in advance!

:grr:

Why not use the moving background idea, just instead of shooting bombs you shoot paint, and make what you're shooting of dissolvable material, attaching a paint switch to it, that way you don't blow up the background or anything else unintended and you still get to destry the other stuff.

could you have pistons attached to the ship (invisible of course) then have a system of mag switches that would fire at different points horizontally to make it move up and down in a much more spacey type of movement? Or you could put a rotating bolt/wobble bolt on it that would fire intermittently to give the illusion of movement in three dimensions, while still moving either vertically or horizontally with an invisible piston?

OOO A SPACE LEVEL, how i love thee;

you could always try something completely unorthadox...
MOVE THE SHIP ITSELF, so everything else "looks" like its moving!

**EDIT**

ship as in the starship, so the bridge/background/other spaceships will move

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Silverleon

Why not use the moving background idea, just instead of shooting bombs you shoot paint, and make what you're shooting of dissolvable material, attaching a paint switch to it, that way you don't blow up the background or anything else unintended and you still get to destry the other stuff.

---

You got exactly what I was planning on doing...but didn't say what I was curious about...


'Moving the BORG ship'


Your ideas are dead on though with the action!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Morgana25

could you have pistons attached to the ship (invisible of course) then have a system of mag switches that would fire at different points horizontally to make it move up and down in a much more spacey type of movement? Or you could put a rotating bolt/wobble bolt on it that would fire intermittently to give the illusion of movement in three dimensions, while still moving either vertically or horizontally with an invisible piston?

---

I am not sure what you mean??

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by johnrulz77

OOO A SPACE LEVEL, how i love thee;

you could always try something completely unorthadox...
MOVE THE SHIP ITSELF, so everything else "looks" like its moving!

**EDIT**

ship as in the starship, so the bridge/background/other spaceships will move

---

*From above*
My 1st thoughts were to have the bridge move to get the feeling you were moving though space. This was problematic as when the battle was over I need the bridge to 'end up' in a specific location so the sack person could move onto the next segment.

So you see that doesn't really work....

But thank you for your suggestion!


:grr:

Could you not make the Borg vessel out of Pink Floaty? Or at least make the body out of that, and glue a cardboard front on it. Then Emit it with a bit of velocity and a slight angular velocity to give it a little spin as it floats naturally through space.

I presume since you're shooting at it... that it'll have lots of weighted stuff glued on and that shooting at it would mess up its flight path a lot if its light.

You could give it a track offscreen, and have it attached by string/elastic/non-stiff rods.

Just have a glass track, and a circular piece of glass connecting all the rods/string slide down the track.

The glass circle will guide the ship as it hangs. You could even add thrusters on the ship itself to give it a boost at a certain point.

Am I making sense??

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pitcard

Could you not make the Borg vessel out of Pink Floaty? Or at least make the body out of that, and glue a cardboard front on it. Then Emit it with a bit of velocity and a slight angular velocity to give it a little spin as it floats naturally through space.

I presume since you're shooting at it... that it'll have lots of weighted stuff glued on and that shooting at it would mess up its flight path a lot if its light.

You could give it a track offscreen, and have it attached by string/elastic/non-stiff rods.

Just have a glass track, and a circular piece of glass connecting all the rods/string slide down the track.

The glass circle will guide the ship as it hangs. You could even add thrusters on the ship itself to give it a boost at a certain point.

Am I making sense??

---

Thats what I'm talking about!

I cant emit it as it wouldn't register the hits properly then and it can only take up 1 thick plane as the back ground is the back thin plane...but your other suggestions, I think hits the mark perfectly!

Thank you this will help alot! I will definitely use the thruster idea! This will give a realistic look and feel to it!



:grr:

K no prob. Hopefully it makes more sense in your head, rather than mine, cause I'm not completely familiar with your set up. Sometimes a more analogue approach can give you better results :)