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From: buckaroohawk
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  • You are very talented. I wish I could help you answer the question on the official dimensions of the Enterprise, and at one time I could because I had the original blueprints by Franz Joseph Designs. But alas, it got thrown out with my comic collection by that woman I use to call "Mom". Oh, the horrors, the horrors I've seen....

  • @jtschau Thank you for the kind words. I sympathize with the loss of your collections. For better of worse I was spared such heartbreak because my mother never throws anything out. In fact, she's got stuff I'd pitch in the trash if I could get at it. I have the Franz Joseph blueprints, and while they are amazing in their detail, he got a lot of things wrong, so they aren't very reliable source material. Thanks for watching and for leaving a comment!

  • Length wise, the Constitution class Enterprise is roughly the length of a football stadium. The secondary hull would fit on the field, but the nacelles and saucer would stick out over the stands.

  • @Fetch26291 From most of my research that sounds about right to me, but only when measuring the length of the field itself, not a whole stadium because some are bigger than others.  I'm not sure how the US Steel Building stacks up (pardon the pun) against a football field, though. Maybe I can ask the building owners to move it across the river and set it down horizontally next to Heinz Field so I can get a confirmation. :-) Thanks for writing!

  • How the hell did you make this????? Please tell me!

  • @Redrobin1301 I rendered it in 3D Studio Max using a 3D model of the Enterprise and simple geometric objects placed where the buildings were in the photo. Then I applied a Matte / Shadow filter to those objects to make them transparent but still able to block any object moving behind them. Then I just passed the ship behind those objects and over the camera. Thanks for writing!

  • It's hard to tell size without seeing those buildings in person, probably why it looks so small to so many

  • @TheDigitalThreat I hadn't thought of that.  The angle of the photo doesn't give any reference to how far away the Steel Building is, which would muddle the size comparison a bit. Even though I know where the photographer stood when the photo was taken, I can't give an accurate distance from that spot to the building. I suppose the mystery (and the debate) will continue. Thanks for writing!

  • i believe it would be bigger in comparison to the buildings wouldnt it? awesom though ive always wanted to see something like this...

  • @bigabs18281 At this point I really don't know for sure. Depending on which source you choose, the TOS Enterprise is anywhere between 19 and 24 decks tall. I tried to my best to scale it against the US Steel Building, which is 64 stories tall. That would make the Enterprise roughly 1/3 the height of the Steel Building. Some say it's too small, while others claim it's too big. Me? I just think it looks cool. Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment!

  • @buckaroohawk Here ya go!

    Constitution_class_starship search Wikipedia. ;-)

  • @Idazmi7 I searched a ton of sources while trying to figure out the scale of the ship against the buildings, but there is a lot of contradictory info out there. I finally just went with what I felt looked best. Thank you for the link, though. It will certainly come in handy when I get around to making some new videos!

  • @buckaroohawk Your welcome!

  • Nice work with shadows. When the ship went by the building it looked convincing.

  • @nosajj12345 Thank you! I was very happy (and, to be honest, quite surprised) with how good it looked. I appreciate that you took the time to leave a comment. Thanks again!

  • Need more ambient light on the model, color matched to the blue of the sky.

  • @dtstrain You're quite correct. This was made long before I even knew how to do ambient lighting and color matching. Everything was done omni lights, which look okay...but if only I knew back then what I know now! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment.

  • "Mr. Sulu, did you bring money for metered parking since all the free stuff is gone???"

  • his best option is to park in the ocean...

  • @TheAmazing424 The nearest ocean to Pittsburgh is the Atlantic. The way I see it, the bus ride from the East Coast back to the 'Burgh would nullify that being the "best option." Just sayin'. ;-)

  • Kirk:Mr spock do u detect Any parking lots?

    Spock:No Jim no damn parking lots

    Kirk:SHIT MOTHERF**KER YOUR SON OF A B**CH!

  • "No Bloody 01, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I or J!"

  • This is beautiful. Just wanted to ask... Wouldn't the colours be a wee bit bleached out in direct sunlight?

  • @spacecowboy5000 Yeah, they would. The lighting on the Enterprise is way too low in the scene, but this was just intended as a test of the matte/shadow function in 3D Studio MAX. If I were to do it today, I'd shoot for something much more realistic looking. Good eyes for noticing and thanks for writing!

  • My favorite ship of all! "No bloody A, B, C or D"

  • The cleaning woman on the 23rd floor, "Dios Mia!!!"

  • Maybe in the 23rd century Pittsburgh has been rebuilt on a larger scale...so the ship only looks like it's too small. 

  • The Galileo Seven all over again... The ship is too small.

  • ca doit etre chiant a garer en ville!

  • Me thinks the ship -scale- is too small........... WAAAY cool video though. Sure wish the studios made something like this......

  • great fun. Could it land on top of a building if parking is restricted below? :-)

  • good use of graphics -nod-

  • Too small.

  • Well, that's a really good guess! If you used the new Enterprise from the '09 film, that thing would be about the same height as the UPMC. No parking for that one, lol

  • In terms of scale of the USS Enterprise, I'd at least expect it to be about 1/3 the height of the USX/UPMC Tower. Good job though

  • @Bassistking Some people have told me the Enterprise looks too big, others claim it's too small. I tried eyeballing it against the floors of the tower visible in the photo. I figure the ship is right next to the building just after it comes out from under the shadow, but to be honest it was all guesswork. Glad you enjoyed the video and thanks for writing!

  • @buckaroohawk Personally, I think its the timing of the sound effect and the way the model moves relative to the light that tips this off. Did you use a distant light? Also, if the ship was as big as it is supposed to be, wouldn't it still be infocus even at its closest point?

  • at least you dont have to worry about forgetting where you've parked.

  • Impressive...yes most impressive. I see your skills are complete.

  • crewman just out of rehab:captain, some strange looking ship just flew overhead...

    captain: ABOUT TURN, HEAD TO LINDSEY LOHANS CURRENT POSITION!!!

  • Police officer: you will have a ticket

    Kirk: phaser to frag

    Police officer: never mind, have a nice day

  • lol, nice

  • @nanaohz Thanks! Glad you liked it!

  • " Sir, the guy at the docks just said the Titanic came to port!"

    " Screw the Titanic, did you see what just flew by?"

  • @Scioneer That's way it's always good to look UP every now and then!

  • lol I think I would faint if I saw the enterprise pull into my drive way. Could you imagine the Enterprise Dropping u off at school. and what about those traffic jams, just fire a phazer, no more jam. lol my heads turning now Thank you

  • The Enterprise may look great, but from what I've heard it gets terrible gas milage. Thanks for writing!

  • Yeah ^^ but on the other hand, it's so big that it only have to drive for 2 seconds and then your at your destination ^^ where ever you where before :P

  • @buckaroohawk She runs on deuterium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen.

  • i made the speakers so loud that i could feel the air and i did!

  • That must be some speaker system you've got.  Thanks for writing!

  • I think it would be a lot bigger than those buildings but a very good job. I can hear Kirk using some of those" colorful metaphors"!

  • Lol I can just hear;

    Spock: ...There seems to be nowhere to park sir.

    Kirk: Keep looking!

    Spock: aye sir

    *Ship goes out of sight*

  • Think of it with Shatner's infamous staccato line reading:

    "Spock! There's...got to be...someplacetopark."

  • Haha! :)

  • @b33jal

    or...

    Kirk: *sighs* "Scotty, just drop me off down there."

    Scott: "Aye, sir"

    McCoy: "My God Jim! What if Mr. Scott beams you down in the middle of traffic?"

    Spock: "Unlikely Doctor, we are only 300 feet above the surface."

    *McCoy rolls his eyes while Spock raises his eyebrow and Kirk smirks*

    *Mr. Scott beams Kirk down to the surface*

  • Citizens: "Yikes! A UFO!"

  • @droidekabakugan1986 That happened once.

  • if you put shadows in it, it s loke almost real lol :) nice job

  • You can see the shadow of the Steel building pass over the hull of the Enterprise at the beginning, but the angle of the "sun" wouldn't cast any shadows on any of the other buildings. Glad you liked it. Thanks for writing!

  • Looked better than the original (I know that's not saying much but it was ment to be a compliment).

  • Then I will take it as a compliment! Thanks for writing!

  • Funny!

  • Clever. Visually realistic and stunning.

  • Thanks for writing. Glad you enjoyed it!

  • You have an admirable talent for this. I wouldn't be surprised if you had film credits in your resume.

  • Was not expecting that, thats what made it so good...nice one

  • Thanks! I appreciate it. I never knew that The Stig was a Star Trek fan!

  • This vid is awesome. Perfect work

  • Many thanks!  I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for writing!

  • "There, there! Sulu, full impulse on course 256! Almost! Arg! Does that guy knows the code?! Chekov clear them out!" *Enterprise fires a few phase cannon pulses* "There, we now have a spot!" :P

    Anyway, great vid, and very well made...

  • theres a spot! get it before its taken!!! Mr Sulu, ahead full impulse!!!

  • wouldnt the actual enterprise ship be way bigger then the buildings?

  • Not the Enterprise from TOS. Most schematics place the ship between 21 and 24 decks tall, that (roughly) equals the same height as a 24 story building. The US Steel Building (the tallest in the video) is 64 stories high, so it's actually much taller than the starship. There are neat blueprints of the Enterpise online, some of them even show size comparisons with real world structures. Check them out. They can be a lot of fun. Thanks for writing!

  • whats funny is that the enterprise E is like HUGE compared to the Tos enterprise

  • The Enterprise-E actually isn't much deeper than the TOS Enterprise, as it had between 24 and 29 decks and the TOS-E had between 21 and 24. It's much longer from stem to stern, though, even longer than the Ent-D was. Thanks for writing!

  • Geek :)

  • Absolutely! :)

  • and proud of it

  • The real question is; if it parked illegally, would the city have the balls to ticket it?

  • LMAO, proberbly not!

  • "Just circle the block again, Mr. Sulu.. a spot is bound to open up"

  • ha lol

  • lol

    nice!

  • that was cool!!!

  • Thanks!

  • nicley done

  • Thank You!

  • Very well done!

  • Thanks!  I appreciate it.

  • well that was very interesting

  • Glad you think so. Thanks for writing.

  • 10000 / 6

  • Not sure what that means, but thanks for writing.

  • whoa, thats some damn good modeling

  • Thanks, but only the Enterprise is a 3D model. The buildings are actually a photogrpahic background with matte objects placed "in front" of the buildings to block the ship from being shown and to cast shadows. I'm not a bad modeler, but I can't make cityscapes that realistic. Not yet anyway. Thanks for writing!

  • even if you cant make a realistic building, that enterprise still looks REALLY good! maybe space would be easier to make scenes in since you pretty much just make a background and some stars

  • Space is a lot easier. My 3D program automatically generates starfields for backgrounds, but space scenes get boring after a while. I'm glad you liked the Enterprise. It was fun to build. Thanks for writing again!

  • "Everybody remember where we parked!"

    - James T. Kirk himself.

  • I was wondering when someone would finally post that quote. Can't believe it took more than a year. Well done!

  • I was the first? I can't beleive it. That was a classic line in my eyes.

  • I love it!

  • Thanks!

  • erm. i dont think warp cores r that loud, es

  • No, but impulse engines are, especially in an atmosphere. Think of how loud some jets are when they fly overhead. The Enterprise impulse engines generate much more power than those, so they'd likely create quite a big noise. They'd actually be a lot louder than they are in this video. Thanks for writing!

  • not bad. Could have used some shadow effects on the buildings and ground as the ship passed

  • You're right. I don't think my key light was in exactly the right place to match the sunlight in the photograph. But after a dozen or so tries I figured that was as close as I'd get at the time. Thanks for writing!

  • Yeah, sometimes you make your best guess and hope it works. Then you give up after long hours of headscratching and no improvement. Happens to me all the time.

  • If I had been creating the scene for a production of some kind I would likely have kept at it until it drove me mad; but since I was just messing around I gave it the "close enough for rock 'n' roll" pass. The real goal was not the correctness of the shadows as much as getting the mattes for the buildings right, anyway.

  • Thats good. Sanity is a good thing especialy when it comes to hobbies.

  • It's big, but did you scale it properly against the buildings?

  • I tried to get as close as I could, but since the buildings are actually just a 2D photo, I couldn't judge it perfectly. My thinking now is that the ship may be just a little big, but not by much.

  • I forget how many decks the constitution class had.. *hmmm*

  • Depends on which set of schematics you go by. Most put the ship between 21 and 24 decks, but not all of the decks are at full standing height. It's kind of a roll of the dice.

  • Ooh, great work. I bet that this took a lot of time and determination! I'm just too lazy to learn how to use Blender, lol.

  • It did take a while to get all of the mattes placed correctly for the buildings, but it didn't take too long to render. I use 3D Studio MAX, but I hear that Blender isn't too hard to learn. Thanks for writing!

  • So.They seem to have some technical difficulties at the transporter room, and perhaps the tranport operators is of duty on board the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A.

  • Capt'n, what'r ya doin'? Flying around in circles like this is bad for me engines!

  • ha ha the enterprise is in the city,

    everybody said omg the enterprise is there get back in space or your grounded

    (laughing so hard)

  • Its worse than that, its full Jim.

  • Scotty We need more altitude!

  • Nice

  • There might be a space on the Mon warf!

  • phasers on 'blow up a place to make our own parking spot'

  • Sweet work on lighting/shadows.

    Where will they find a parking lot? :D

  • In downtown Pittsburgh, It's anyone's guess. Glad you enjoyed the video. Thanks for writing!

  • awsomne!

  • Thaksne!

  • I remember that day. I was at the helm circling around and around trying to find a friggen McDonalds drive through. The power steering belt blew on me then we lost our A/C

  • A drive-thru? In downtown Pittsburgh?! You have GOT to be kidding!

  • Yeah, I think the GPS I had was malfunctioning. We ended up ordering Chinese. For some reason though Won Ton soup just doesn't taste the same once it's been through a Transporter.

  • That's happened to me, could only turn left, had tto do great big circles to go right, knocked over countless lamp-posts, never did get our 'Royal and Fries', the guys back at base should do something about the belt suppliers. Probably the same guys who build the tanks for Halo, no defense at all even against pistol fire.

  • "I told you! We should've gotten the shuttle.. Then we could actually fit this thing somewhere instead of having to take up more than one parking space!"

  • Great fun!

  • PERFECT!!!!

  • Love the comment about leaving the LV Hilton, then firing on it!!!

    At least make the Enterprise arriving at the new home at the end of Fremont Street. Have the ship land softly on the mall's roof with neon Star Trek Experience signs! This would be great!

  • You should have the Enterprise leaving the Vegas Hilton. Then firing on it...

    Nicely rendered. :-)

  • I wish I had thought of that when word came that they were closing the exhibit there!

    I'm glad you enjoyed the video. Thanks for writing.

  • Bones: "Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a helmsman!"

    Kirk: "For the last time: Sulu is on SHORE LEAVE!"

  • Checkov: "See? I told you! We shoud have taken the LEFT turn at Albuquerque!"

    Bonus points if you get the reference!

  • Anyone who might miss a Bugs Bunny reference should be ashamed of themselves.

    Very funny! Thanks for writing!

  • I don't know navigator, what do you think?

  • 'Spock!'

    'yes sir?'

    'wheres you disabled badge?'

  • People are having so much fun with this! Please keep those funny captions coming!

  • captain there is no place to park what are your orders...

    take the ship to city hall and we will beam the leader of this city to are ship to dam a place to park...

    or we just bow a place open sock says

    (sorry if i spell is name worng)

  • Another funny response! Thanks for writing!

  • Passengers, this is your captain speaking...thanks for choosing the Enterprise and we hope you will fly with us again on your next trip.

  • Ha HA! That's funny, too. I should set up a contest for the best one-liner relating to this video because viewers are coming up with some good stuff. Thanks for writing!

  • Good idea! :)

  • "Circle around again! Maybe someone will pull out.."

    ^.^

  • Very funny! Too bad there likely aren't any new or expectant mothers aboard. Those spaces are always free ;-)

  • wow

    yawn....

  • You sound a bit tired. Perhaps you shouldn't stay up so late watching videos...

  • Nice :)

  • Thanks:)

  • Ah yes, the old saying is true..."If you can't find a parking space, then make one." Thanks for writing!

  • that looks so real! until it gets closer...

  • That can be said of a great many things, couldn't it? I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for writing!

  • it has to be very loud when that thing passes over

  • No louder than your average aircraft carrier passing overhead. Actually, I wonder what that would sound like...?

  • for something that bit and that massive iven if its electrons. the force that would have to keep it aloft would break the sound barrier.

  • That's an interesting thought I hadn't considered. If that's the case, its passing by would shatter every window in the city. Wow!

  • quite true.

  • for some reason it does not look like this in the new movie. why? because hollywood sucks.

  • Way to be open-minded, spacexploder. The Enterprise design for the new film looks good to me. Wait until you see it in action before passing judgment.

  • i actualy love the look of the new ship but if this film is cannon to the rest of the trek universe it does not fly with me.

  • I'm not as beholden to canon as other Trek fans might be. I think this film is going to a be new "launch point" for Trek so a new canon can be created for a whole new generation of fans. And that's okay with me. As long as I'm told a good Trek tale, I'll be happy.

  • There's nowhere for CARS to park in Pittsburgh, let alone starships...haha.

    Nice.

  • You speak a sad, sad truth, my friend. the Enterprise had likely been circling around for hours. ;-)

  • I really enjoyed that. Short and sweet and it seemed to scale nicely. 1701 D would be interesting as well but from what I understand from my son that one is supposed to be like 700 metres that would be considerably bigger than 1701. Thanx for sharing the video

  • Glad you enjoyed the video. Your son is right, the Enterprise-D is much, much bigger than the TOS ship. It would be cool to see, though.  Thanks for writing!

  • Why does it make that rumbling noise? Is it the sheer displacement of air, the disturbance cone? Or just because it sounds good?

  • Just because it sounds good. If I had thought about it at the time, I would have added street traffic sounds as well.

    My guess is that the power required to keep a ship as big as the Enterprise aloft at such a low altitude would make a great deal of noise. Thanks for writing!