What Happened on Odysseon Station?
Not abandoned, but...
...Empty?!!!
Since I've started this article I've added a Lot to the collection. Earlier on in the building of the article, I fit things in where I thought they should go for continuity. Now I'm adding new additions to the collection toward the bottom of the page
Something happened on Odysseon Station and we're going to try and figure out what that was.
To build the sets, I began my collecting with the Landing Bay, Storage Bay, Security Checkpoint, Computer Room, Reactor Chamber and Medical Lab. You'll soon see how, as the collection grows the possibilities become more and more endless - all in a really nice sci-fi interior environment that all fits together visually.
I originally started collecting these for a series I was working on in Carrara. These kits all work very well in Carrara with very easy-to-adapt shaders for each element.
Now that I'm animating more in Daz Studio, I've found that these kits also convert very easily to Iray Uber shaders too! Just select everything in the surfaces tab and apply the Iray Daz Uber shader - voila! Of course I enjoy performing a few more fun tweaks to the materials as well.
Note - these are promo images, not renders of my own
Each of these sets come fully loaded or as parts, and each include a spacious corridor environment filled with Sci Fi detail.
For example, this (below) is the entranceway to the Computer Room. With this many cool corridors already, the actual corridors of the product line sat in my wishlist, always opting for another large setting kit instead.
These are promo images. Wait until you see it with Carrara glass in that huge window!
Just from these images I'm sure you can see that these kits are easy and fun to light. So many glowing things makes lighting super easy!
PC+ Sale Expansion
After seeing how nicely these kits set up in Carrara (So easy to optimize with lights, shaders and cameras) I have since added to them the Observation Deck, Tech Corridor, Corridor Junction, Containment Tank, Stasis Chamber and Control Center.
Being "Legacy" products, they're often on sale for a very good price!
It's really nice how spacious these environments are. It makes it much easier to set up camera angles and individual scenes for bringing the stories to life.
Each of these kits have a Lot of detail all over the place - and it's geometric detail that still renders nice and fast. The fact that it's mostly geometry mesh, it lends well to artists with specific needs, because it's so easy to change the material look or even type.
The spaciousness of it means that we can set up a scene in a corner and have all of that detail in the background already set up, lit and ready to go - And the whole series of kits match, so we can really just bring in our animations, set camera angles and render!
In storytelling, it's often necessary to show our audience that we're moving up or down levels, running around exerting ourselves, etc.,
Have a look through just the images I've put on this page - take note at the images with stairs in them. When we need our characters to go up or down stairs within the environment afforded by the collection, we can pick any one of these sets, depending on the stairs we need and render the characters performing their actions on these stairs. The rest of the environment will take care of the rest, because it all matches.
Here are some quick examples:
For shorter distance stairs, the Medical Lab, Reaction Chamber, Stasis Chamber and Control Center all have these shorter level stairs and, if we remove anything that might not fit the scene we're rendering, like medical equipment or a stasis pod, for example, the rest of the surrounding details in the rooms look great and match the rest of the whole series!
If, however, we need longer, full story flights of stairs, allow me to point out the wonderful stairs in the Landing Bay, the cool ladder in the Storage Bay, and both the Engineering Shaft and Atmospheric Scrubber along with Stratos Comm Array (I still need to collect this one) offer distances to fall from!
Another PC+ Sale Expansion
During one of the massive events that allowed me to score a bunch of the stuff in the Thanks Daz 3d May 2021 Compilation, I was also able to get my hands on two more of Odysseon Excellence!
After looking at the promo image below, I really wanted to have the Atmospheric Scrubber to use as a main interaction prop for my actors to climb around on. I doubt that I'll use it as an atmospheric scrubber, but might use it as a lift in addition to using the underside to climb on.
Remember when the aging Obi-Wan Kenobi had to disable the tractor beam aboard the Death Star? Well I grabbed the Engineering Shaft for these sorts of fun adventure plots! ;)
Checking More Off of my Wish List
My Odysseon Station series collection is nearly complete now that I've acquired the following items.
Of course, this won't mean the end of my collecting of Nightshift3D's awesome products!
Much like the Atmospheric Scrubber, I wanted to have the Stratos Comm Array - not because I want a communications array, which I do, but because I love the catwalk shown in the promo image (left).
Yes, it's all of the comm array details that surround it that make it so cool, so it's really neat to have this final environment in the series!
The Sci Fi Weapons and Sci Fi Gear Bundles will be the icing on the cake!
Oh cool... I got that now too!
This will give plenty of room for the story to unfold. I love how these kits all work together to tell a whole story of their own. Plenty of depth and detail, and complete with entire entryway setups.
Earlier I was talking about how we can use the stairs and/or ladders from any of these kits to represent a change in elevation for our characters, and that all of the rooms share a certain 'look' to them, so they all fit. Simply remove or move parts of the room that shouldn't be there.
Well the Sci Fi Gear Bundle includes extra props that would be handy for further decorating the look of the scene in question, as well as giving the characters plenty of things to interact with!
Fun Stuff!!!
Nightshift3D did a Great job with these!
...and the Sci Fi Weapons Bundle is such a complete collection of cool weaponry that completely matches the look of the incredible gadgetry that comes with the Sci Fi Gear Bundle, all of which is the perfect look of the Odysseon Station series - making for a great means for our characters to 'gear up', all while giving purpose to the look!
In preparation, when I'm in my "Set Design" mode, often when I'm in between experiments and simulations, animations, etc., I bring each of these kits into my Base Scene Preset and go straight into the Texture room and set all shaders according to my default optimization, much as we see in my Character Design for Carrara 01 and Volumetric Lighting video tutorials.
For environments and vehicles, I always check the textures folder for special maps intended to make things glow. Quite often it's incredibly obvious - a map (or several) with shapes of solid color. Other times it might be a black image with bright, colored details, like machine specs, a map, an advertisement, etc.,
Those most likely go into the Glow channel in Carrara and, since I'm using Gamma Correction = 2.2, I multiply this map by itself in the glow and color channels.
Sometimes if there are materials that should be polished, reflective metal without any other mapped details, I'll replace the entire shader with one from the Carrara Browser > Metal presets. The same also applies to Glass, but in both cases I like to check for maps that I can use in those Carrara presets to better fit the situation.
Tip: We can open a Carrara Preset shader into the Texture room along with a shader from the model, and Ctrl Drag any channel from one to the other. This is incredibly helpful for using a product's included maps with an awesome Carrara preset material!
It's amazing how good a surface can look if we open the main shader, then load in a Carrara preset, and drag image maps from the original shader into the preset!
Platinum Club (PC+) is now Daz +
Update to Stairs and Ladders Situations
I also picked up the Nexus Base Building1337, which has a very Odysseon Station look to it, and includes plenty more doors, stairs and ladder that are surrounded by the cool looking walls that the series has!
I also have the
which adds tables, a bunch of cool gear, and a Spybot Drone!
This gem of an environment came before the Odysseon Station series, but holds that same wonderful look and feel.
There are other such pre-Odysseon Station products (and some that came after, too) listed within this article simply because, in my opinion their design and artistic language hold true to the series - whether made before or after the actual series. That Nightshift3D look!
...and Then There Was More!
adds a lot of extra, fun props that match this entire collection.
I love having all of these kits to bash from!
Many of the kits from this series share the same texture maps for base materials, making them really efficient when it comes to optimizing for Carrara or for Iray...
...as well as those times when we might just want to apply a Shader Preset!
...and Ditton all of that for the amazing
Check this crazy kit out!
Even if we don't use it as a missile platform, the structure with many fun and matching details add a Lot to this extraordinary legacy collection!
I Love This Stuff!!!
,,,as well as the
More Stairs...
...and another Building with Stairs!
Stairs and a whole lot more!
Interior and Exterior details, like everything else in this wonderful series.
Wow... My collection is very nearly Complete!!! :)
More Crossed Off My Wish List!
More Added to the Wishlist
I'll also be adding Communications Gear, Argos Hangar, and - and keep grabbing stuff from there.
All of the Environment kits from this list have a Lot more to them than what meets the eye in their main promo image, as mentioned earlier in the article. That's part of what really drew me into collecting the entire series - and they just keep pleasing me with each new addition!
I have quite a few of the more modern offerings that are optimized for Iray and I really like those too, and they also tend to match this look and feel - so I'll just keep collecting!
To be continued with some of my renders in Carrara and Daz Studio....
Have a Question? Just Ask!
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