Here was the scene rendered from the POV of Captain Kevin Jarrat...
Here was the scene rendered from the POV of Captain R.J. Stone...
...both commanding the carrier NARC-Athena...
(here is the source material, if you have idea what's going on!)
And today, here are the camera angles off to Stoney's right, where Gil Cronin and Joe Ramos, Blue Ravens 6 and 7, respectively, were standing.
The story so far:
Jarrat's in the field, undercover, dressed as a young shooter working for the syndicate. Stone's on the Blue Raven gunship, a couple of kilometers out. Through the empathic link, he knows the rendezvous is going wrong. Cronin and Ramos are on tenterhooks, watching the data come on, watching Stoney prowl the suiting room. "Relax, he's a big boy," Gil Cronin advises. Ramos isn't so sure, and gives Cronin a frown. "Damnit, you forgotten what happened in Chell?" Cut away to Stoney -- closes his eyes to concentrate on Jarrat. Cut back to Gil and Joe. Ramos has seen enough. "That's it, this thing's going to crap. I'm going to suit up," he says, heading off to the lockers to break out his armor. Good thing Cronin is right behind him, because seconds later Stone says over the loop to the pilots, "Retask the gunship, inform Tactical NARC is on the street. This is not turning into a replay of Chell!" Cut back to the street, where Jarrat is bluffing his was through a face-off with very nasty syndicate heavies...
And this whole sequence is so cool! There's one more series of renders to come: Jarrat and Stone together after the Blue Ravens pick up Jarrat. And if I can get all four characters into the same shot, I'd love to have Jarrat, Stone, Cronin and Ramos in front of the same camera! We're about to find out if y computer will handle it --
And I know you're waiting to see the Blue Ravens in armor ... everybody is! Including me! But we can't come up with an armor design that works in all axes and dimensions. We've been trying for years, and although we're a bit closer now that we were, I'm not going to spring the NARC riot armor on you any time soon.
Also, when it has been designed and works, it'll have to be built in 3D. This is not something we'll be able to buy off the shelf at DAZ 3D and modify. Like the starships, the riot armor is going to be a build-it-yourself project. Ouch.
Speaking of building projects -- this whole set was constructed by me using bits and pieces drawn from the SFCS, Science Fiction Construction Set, plus a screen borrowed from the Modern Furniture set. Building it was easy. Lighting it was a massive challenge. I have 11 lights on this set! It took longer to light this set than it took to take Michael 4 and re-design him into Gil Cronin!
Wish me luck: if I can get the time, it's Jarrat and Stone together tomorrow. Join me then!
Jade, 11 March
***Posted by MK: my connection is intermittent, too slow for this.
