CGI Starship Enterprise Warp Drive by Jim Royal

Months of experimentation and analysis of the original footage from Star Trek: The Motion Picture went into this recreation of the warp drive effect.

The ship was rendered in Strata 3D CX, and composited in Adobe After Effects. The final composite is made up of 210 layers of video to create the streak effect, the colourful tunnel, and the brilliant flashes of light.

See a flyby of this model here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wrSUbSh8Eo

Download a desktop wallpaper of the model here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimroyal/5751275326

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• enterprise
• enterprise-a
• star trek:the motion picture
• star trek
• refit
• cg
• cgi
• starship
• animation
• strata 3d
• flyby
• flyover
• jim royal
• ncc-1701
• warp drive
• warp
• drive

[starmanvidonline]

Very impressive. I'm a HUGE Trek fan and I pay very close attention to SPFX so there's one little thing that bugs me about this: when the E goes to warp drive, it's not going far enough and fast enough. If you look at the original, the E was MUCH farther and smaller at the end than in your vid.

That said, you did a DAMN GOOD job of replicating the look of the original. The lighting and effects are badass. It just needs that boost of "speed" and it'll be perfect.

[jamesgeraldroyal]

@starmanvidonline I'll keep that in mind as I work on a more lengthy clip. Thanks!

[PrfMoriarty]

Holy crap! You nailed the effect so well that at first I just thought this was a clip from ST:TMP. Well done!

[jamesgeraldroyal]

@PrfMoriarty: Many thanks! Now I've got to make some time to create a more lengthy animation.

[FilmmakerJ]

The best warp drive effect in all of Star Trek. It's the most flashy, and since it has that rainbow coloring, it makes it all the more exciting, even if it's not entirely fast. It's designed to be show-offy.

But that's always been the charm of it. And to see someone recreate it so well is very interesting. I applaud your effort. I don't think many people like the Motion Picture. And for very good reasons, but I always loved it for the effects and the pacing. If others don't that's alright.

[jamesgeraldroyal]

@FilmmakerJ: I agree entirely with your appraisal of STTMP, and thanks very much for the comments.

[martok2112]

An excellent recreation!  Well done! :)

[Alltooeasy01]

More

[Ferocinator]

Completely on par with the original.

[skyblazer7]

Fantastic!

[MLKKAEFEnterprises]

FAVORITED!

[Username3141519]

Absolutely brilliant.

I hope they use this effect again in the series.

[shakoror]

The best warp effect I have seen outside the first movie!  Great job!

[garethleslie123]

Nice...

[terranova1701]

That was excellent James