The Liandra

[Slade]

Crazybillyo:

Honestly I haven't had that much education. I tried to do as much CG work as I could in high school, but that was hard since we weren't well equiped. Basically I worked very hard developing my basic art skills. One has to be an artist first, and only use the computer as a tool.
Anyways after high school I took a "3D Animation & Digital Effects" course at Vancouver Film school (www.vfs.com). The course puts you through 10 months of hell as you learn as much as you can. It's usually 14 hours a day, 6 or 7 days a week, for 10 months straight. I just worked my ass off to try and create a decent demo reel.
After that I was fortunate enough to be recommended to GVFX by a former teacher at film school. I came by with my reel and basically was working as an intern for a few months before actually being hired.

Hope that answers your question. Let me know if not

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Alec McClymont, 3D Artist
3D Artist - GVFX

We live for the one. We die for the one.

 

[crazybillyo]

Thanks Slade, answer was perfect.

I'm not into much of the art stuff. I'm more into the software, like rendering the graphics, maintaining scenes, etc. I've done some crude 3D stuff on my own, nothing really good though. No texture mapping. I also don't like to use the API's, for some reason I like to do it myself. Of course, it's a pain in mivonks, but hey, I like it anyway.

Thanks again!

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Sheridan: Are you trying to cheer me up?
Ivanova: No sir, wouldn't dream of it.
Sheridan: Good, I hate being cheered up. It's depressing.
Ivanova: So in that case we're all going to die horrible, painful, lingering deaths.
Sheridan: Thank you, I feel so much better now.

 

[Slade]

The thing about most aspects of 3D work is that it's almost impossible for someone to only know how to do one thing and still be good at it. All the elements are tied together, so an animator has to know a bit about rendering, and vise versa, to be able to fix problems. Even the script and shader writers (two things that can require lots of math) have to know what looks good in the end, otherwise what they're doing will be useless. It helps to be a generalist I think. I'm sure other people have different opinions of course, but that's my take on it.

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Alec McClymont, 3D Artist
3D Artist - GVFX

We live for the one. We die for the one.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Well is could be possible that in the past they Minbari and Vorlon tried making another class of ship or prototype<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well, it's possible that the real reason Julia Roberts dumped Benjamin Bratt is that she really wants me. It just isn't likely.

From the time of Valen's departure (if not earlier) the Vorlons and Minbari have no contact until shortly before the Earth-Minbar War. After that the Vorlons deal only with a few hand-picked leaders from the Grey Council and the Anla'Shok until their public "return" to galactic politics around the time of The Gathering. So they're not in a position to collaborate with the Minbari on something like the White Stars until 2257 - which just about gives them time to build the prototypes featured in To Dream.

Even if the Vorlons had started giving the Minbari technology via the Grey Council back at the time of the E-M war, Liandra would be only about 20 years old by the time of the Rangers pilot. That isn't old for a warship today, and probably isn't in 2265 either, for many of the same reasons.

Warship hulls and propulsion plants are expensive. They're also tougher than hell by virtue of the job they have to do. That means that any government in its right mind will keep them in service for as long as is feasible. You can always upgrade sensors, weapons systems and even environmental systems later, piecemeal. That's probably cheaper on a year-to-year basis than building a new ship from scratch. If a ship serves a useful purpose, you keep it around.

Over 40 years after Pearl Harbor should have written the obituary for the battleship, the U.S. still had two WWII-era Iowa-class battleships in service, Wisconson and Missouri for the Gulf War. With updated electronics, cruise missles and other improvements they turned out to be a hell of an asset in a kind of war that couldn't have been imagined when the class was designed more than 50 years earlier.

So I'm still skeptical that Liandra has anything Vorlon about it, except maybe a bit of retro-fitted technology from the White Star-class - and perhaps a little from the still-under-development Victory-class destroyers.

In any event, I'm much more interested in the people who will serve aboard Liandra than the ship itself. I think it would be a bit of a novelty to have a space show about a ship that isn't the latest and greatest piece of technology that its builders have come up with, and which therefore won't have an automatic edge in most battles.

Regards,

Joe
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Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net

[This message has been edited by Joseph DeMartino (edited July 14, 2001).]

 

[Chris Springob]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> Even if the Vorlons had started giving the Minbari technology via the Grey Council back at the time of the E-M war, Liandra would be only about 20 years old by the time of the Rangers pilot. That isn't old for a warship today, and probably isn't in 2265 either, for many of the same reasons.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Here's a quote from Antony regarding the Liandra:

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> It's an old ship, about 20 years old. Clapped out, falling apart old. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I got that from this thread:
http://www.b5lr.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000112.html

Also, some quotes from Slade on the plot holes in TLaDiS:

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> This is a topic that's going to be around for a while. A lot of the timeline stuff doesn't make sense in B5:LR. Personally I like to think of it as being after Crusade, but that idea also conflicts with other things in the show. The truth is everyone's confused about this and I don't see a resolution any time soon. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR> Yes I know it takes place in 2265 Joe, but there are timeline problems with that as well. In fact, the only timeline that wouldn't have problems would be a 2271 or later one. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Both of those come from this thread:
http://www.b5lr.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000184.html


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[Sigma]

I think that the timeline problem is about Liandra. I personaly cant imagine a "new" minbari ship between Crusade and B5. Why havent we seen it before?

A lot of questions. I hope movie will answer them

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www.zone.ee/b5project

[This message has been edited by Sigma (edited July 14, 2001).]

 

[Technomage Roanna]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Joseph DeMartino:
Well, it's possible that the real reason Julia Roberts dumped Benjamin Bratt is that she really wants me. It just isn't likely.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Awww, Joe, don't sell yourself short.

If she reads ANY B5 boards she's probably already in love with your mind. hehehe...

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>
In any event, I'm much more interested in the people who will serve aboard Liandra than the ship itself. I think it would be a bit of a novelty to have a space show about a ship that isn't the latest and greatest piece of technology that its builders have come up with, and which therefore won't have an automatic edge in most battles.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


I'm right there with you on that. I'll enjoy the "new" aspects of tech that are introduced, and I like a good CGI sequence as much as the next gal, but I'm jonesing for the story of
To Live and Die in Starlight. I want to see how time has changed the G'Kar we left in Objects in Motion. To meet new characters in a much loved universe, and hopefully to see the start of the next great story.

Bangs, Fangs, and Fireworks are all well and good, but if the characters and the tale hanging thereby aren't engaging we'll be left with nothing but bruises, scars, and singed eyebrows...

Ro

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I have no surviving
enemies. At all.

 

[Slade]

I know those quotes sound confusing now, but the reason I think that will be made clear once "Rangers" airs. There will be a lot of confused people (assuming the movie stays in it's current state, and isn't somehow edited if JMS catches on to these errors. I don't see how that could be done though).

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Alec McClymont, 3D Artist
3D Artist - GVFX

We live for the one. We die for the one.

 

[bakana]

One thing we might consider as far as "inconsistencies" in the Scripts is that JMS is a Sneaky Esso Bee.

What looks like an inconsistency may be a setup for something that doesn't happen until 12 episodes in. He's done it before.




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Yes, I like cats too.
Shall we exchange Recipes?

 

[Elenopa]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Joseph DeMartino:

But according to the novel To Dream in the City of Sorrows, the first Minbari ships that incorporate Vorlon technology are fighter-class technology demonstrators, first test-flown in 2259 or 60. From there they go straight to the White Star class. So there are no Minbari-Vorlon hybrid ships old enough to be the Liandra.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ah, but the Minbari never tell us the whole truth now do they?

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Ranger Elenopa

"You can get more with a kind word and a two by four, than you can with just a kind word"

 

[Slade]

Trust me Bakana, that's not what this is. I wish I could tell you all so I don't look like a fool, but I can't. I guess you'll all just have to wait

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Alec McClymont, 3D Artist
3D Artist - GVFX

We live for the one. We die for the one.

 

[bakana]

If you saw these inconsistencies during Production, did you send a note to JMS??

He welcomes note that help keep things straight. So long as they let Him decide how to fix things.

This IS a departure from most writers & producers, but it's one of the reason Babylonian Productions had such a good reputation as a happy place to work. JMS is willing to listen to Anyone who has spotted a mistake or found a way to improve things.

One of the people who used to hang around on Genie worked on B5 several times. He told the story about the first time he was on the set. At lunch, he carefully selected an empty table far enough from the serving line that he was sure it wasn't likely to be the favorite table of either the stars or the executives. A scruffy, burly guy joined him and they were chatting about this and that, how he liked what he was doing, etc. Not knowing anyone's faces (except the "human" stars, of course) he assumed the guy was either an extra or crew. So, he asked "What role do you play in the show?" The guy responeded "I play the Executive Producer". It was JMS.

He found out that JMS was in the habit of eating lunch with different parts of the cast and crew all the time. I understand that on most other shows, Lunch tables are Very Clique oriented. Stars eat with Stars, Extras eat with Extras, Crew eats with Crew.
Not at Babylonian. Everybody got to be Friends.




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Yes, I like cats too.
Shall we exchange Recipes?

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, arial">quote:</font><HR>since the FX are not done yet, they are probably just showing old B5/Crusade footage.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That's exactly what they are doing. JMS confirmed this a couple of days ago.

Regards,

Joe

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Joseph DeMartino
Sigh Corps
Pat Tallman Division
joseph-demartino@att.net

 

[PsionTen]

I don't know what they ship will look like, but I know that everytime Sci-Fi shows its "Summer of Sci-Fi" promos that when it jumps to the B5:LOTR clips, I swear that I see the Excaliber, or a similar ship in its class. Does that even make sense as far as the timing of events? I thought LOTR was before Crusade and the completion of the new destroyers? is the destroyer supposed to be "The Valen?"

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"Even I am not a Marxist" —— Karl Marx.

 

[Dekion]

Psion Ten.

since the FX are not done yet, they are probably just showing old B5/Crusade footage.


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[Mondo Londo]

Maybe the Liandra is broken down not from age, but from battle damage? Maybe even accumulated battle damage?

Maybe the ship is unlucky because it rained on the insulationduring construction, and they can't get rid of the smell?

Then again, maybe they'll just digitize a 1947 Studebaker, Hudson, or DeSoto for the laughs!

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"What's up, Drakh?"

Michael Garibaldi

 

[Slade]

That's correct Joe, the shots of the Exalibur are from Crusade and aren't related to "Rangers". It takes a while before new FX can be ready for tv, even if it is just a promo.

Speaking of FX, I took a look at some of the latest stuff and it's looking !@#$ing awesome, especially the Liandra. I think it's probably the best B5 FX we've seen so far, so I think everyone will be very happy

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Alec McClymont, 3D Artist
3D Artist - GVFX

We live for the one. We die for the one.

[This message has been edited by Slade (edited July 18, 2001).]