Inspiration
For my Danvers Fox (DF) Space Station, I drew inspiration from Walt Disney, NASA, Brutalist architecture, the New York World’s Fair, Jet Age designs, and today’s engineers and scientists. Below is a brief list of inspirational points that assisted me in the design of the DF Space Station.
Walt Disney and the World of Tomorrow
I’ve always been a fan of Walt Disney’s vision of Tomorrowland, his original intentions for EPCOT, and the work that Walt Disney and his Imagineers achieved throughout the Disney parks that we still see today.
NASA and the Future of Space Transport
From NASA, I dove into reading research papers on the future of space habitats such as the Kalpana One. In addition, I looked into current technologies that NASA is pursuing such as multi-array gridded ion thrusters and e-sail technology.
Space Station Aesthetics
Brutalist and jet age architecture fueled my inspiration for the overall design of the space station. I looked at interesting design approaches to torus and cylindrical configurations.
Space Station Architecture
For the military aspect of my design, I looked into researching Naval command bridges and also researched Combat Information Center (CIC) layouts. I also looked at various offices spaces to help me solve architectural design problems such as walkway considerations, safety layout, and desk placement.
Design Process
For my design process I used a mixture of 3D and 2D tools. 3D is a great tool for getting really finished images, but in my opinion 2D is just a way faster process to get the idea out. It is also a good tool for finalizing illustrations.
For the Danvers Fox Space Station, I started off with 3D sketches. The sketches are done relatively quick and are basically thumbnail models to check silhouette and quick design ideas. At the same time I’m sketching, I’m already thinking about storytelling ideas.
After sketching in 3D, I head back into gathering more reference and jotting down more design ideas. Sometimes I can achieve this by simply drawing or painting over the 3D base. Other times, it requires me to research and gather more information about the subject I’m designing.
After picking up new ideas, I head back into 3D for a second pass to build on top of my first pass ideas. At this point, the foundation of the design needs to work. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it needs to communicate the idea effectively. If the design doesn’t work in this stage, I won’t hesitate to scrap it and work on a new sketch. There is no greater time waster than polishing a broken design. Don’t be afraid to shelf ideas to allow better ideas to enter your process.
Since I’m more experienced in 3D, I like to play to my strengths and finish the design as much as possible in 3D. This process includes modeling, lighting, and materials. However, at this stage I need to be mindful of my time spent in 3D versus time spent in 2D. If I can finish certain details in 2D, then I won’t do it 3D and vice versa. In addition, render times plays a huge impact in the design process. I’m still looking at ways to improve this aspect of my design process, but for now I have to work with the lost time spent rendering.
Finally, after I’ve rendered my passes in V-Ray for Maya, I jump into Photoshop for the final paintover. At this point of the process, the design is very close to being solved. In Photoshop, I can make paintover adjustments and add in FX if needed. In addition, if lighting isn’t working, I can also correct that as well in Photoshop.
