[Pheon]

Here's the official announcement for Star Trek: Enterprise - Season Five.

The objective of the project is to continue the adventures of Captain Jonathan Archer and his crew onboard the Enterprise NX-01, in an animated cartoon style production.

Below is the first release from the project. The designs are a close rendition of what will appear in the final product, there will probably be a few additional tweaks here and there, and I'd like a shading layer added to create a little depth.



Anyway, I'll be attending the SaveEnterprise: E-Day Chat (see details here: http://www.trekunited.com/community/index....60&start=60) so you can put questions forth to me on the day or just ask away right here and now.

Anyone interesting in joining the project can reach me via PM.

The main recruitment priority at the minute is in those areas where my own skills are serious lacking or non-existent, namely:

Sound Editor
Music Composer
And probably most importantly a Voice Cast

I'll be drawing up a list of audition material at some point at a later date, but if any of you would like to try out for the major character roles now that'd be great.

Just so you're aware, I'm not necessarily looking for a dead one impression of any of the characters, it'd be nice but that's not realistic to drive for. I'm looking for the sense of the character not necessarily the sound of the voice itself in the roles.

In any case here are the roles casting is open for at the minute:

Captain Jonathan Archer
Commander T'Pol
Commander Charles Tucker III
Lieutenant Malcolm Reed
Ensign Hoshi Sato
Ensign Travis Mayweather
Doctor Phlox

Again contact me via PM if you're interested.

Additional animators are also a must have if the project is the reach the scope I hope to achieve.

I'll be utilizing several tricks and techniques to make the animation process as time efficient as possible but all the while preserving quality. So even if you're not an experienced animator but have some computer drawing skills in a vector graphics program, I think it'd be possible for such a person to get to grips with these techniques.

And rest assured if you're worried that committing as any of these positions will immediately over burden you with a mountain full of work that won't be the case. I'll delegate work based on time availability, and usually one at a time so no one will be swamped.

Hopefully I'll have more news soon.

This post has been edited by Pheon: 03 August 2007 - 01:06 PM

[Aussie Trekkie]

Excellent wallpaper, can't wait for your chat on E-Day which is not too far away now

[jojolimited]

what software tools are you using for animation? 2D or 3D with toon shading? Compositing tools? Dedicated Toon software?
Hard to volunteer without know those things (animation wise).

Anyway, this looks way cool.

Joe C.

[Pheon]

jojolimited, on Aug 15 2007, 12:17 AM, said:

what software tools are you using for animation? 2D or 3D with toon shading? Compositing tools? Dedicated Toon software?
Hard to volunteer without know those things (animation wise).

Anyway, this looks way cool.

Joe C.

If you're making a genuine query (and this goes for anyone else who has the same concern), contact me via PM and we'll discuss those things in that venue.

[Kirok]

Pheon -

Sorry I wasn't around for the E-Day chat but i read the transcription on the Forum. Jim Caswell gave you the best advice for getting Voice Actors: put together some lines for auditioning (a standard post) then post them on the Darker Projects and Pendant Productions lists ... and The Voice Acting Alliance, FLAVA and Dramapod. Believe me, getting VA's to audition is the easy part everybody with a computer and a mike thinks they are a Voice Actor these days! <Harumph> ... yes, well ...

Things might get a bit more interesting getting a sound editor, someone to match the voices to the video, but I'd suggest posting on the same forums - you've got a premium project there, you should get some real interest.

Saw the avi video test you put up on Sci Fi Meshes - very nice! The elements of the character drawing moved independantly! From the looks of things this will be closer to real, frame-by-frame animation than anything else we've seen so far.

Looking forward to great things here, sport!

K

[Pheon]

Kirok, on Aug 20 2007, 07:21 AM, said:

Pheon -

Sorry I wasn't around for the E-Day chat but i read the transcription on the Forum. Jim Caswell gave you the best advice for getting Voice Actors: put together some lines for auditioning (a standard post) then post them on the Darker Projects and Pendant Productions lists ... and The Voice Acting Alliance, FLAVA and Dramapod. Believe me, getting VA's to audition is the easy part everybody with a computer and a mike thinks they are a Voice Actor these days! <Harumph> ... yes, well ...

Yeah, and I'm currently undertaking that advice so hopefully it won't be long until I have threads open in those locations. Right now, I'm re-watching S4 to draw up audition material for all the main roles.

Quote

Things might get a bit more interesting getting a sound editor, someone to match the voices to the video, but I'd suggest posting on the same forums - you've got a premium project there, you should get some real interest.

Well, the way animation works generally is that you animate to the recorded voices, which means I'll need the bulk of the material recorded to standard as soon as the script is completed, and then animation follows. I really just need someone who's pretty familiar with some audio software and can oversee that aspect of the project, including sound effects and music.

Quote

Saw the avi video test you put up on Sci Fi Meshes - very nice! The elements of the character drawing moved independantly! From the looks of things this will be closer to real, frame-by-frame animation than anything else we've seen so far.

Looking forward to great things here, sport!

Thanks, it's much appreciated. I'm currently working on a new test animation some of which I've posted on this projects thread over at TrekBBS.

PROJECT UPDATE:

(NOTE: this is being posted across several boards, so a few things I've already mentioned above will be mentioned here as well)

Work is currently focused on the story treatment for the first story, which is shaping up to be a two-parter. The first episode is mostly plotted, but I'm holding off the script until I've got the whole story in the bag. That's primarily because things may shift around and fluctuate a little between the two episodes. Ideally, I'd like to get started on the script within a week or so.

Meanwhile I'm working on a new test animation, and I've completed writing up the treatise for the first teaser trailer for the project. Storyboarding for that will begin after I've completed gathering audition material for the main characters. I'm hoping to get that completed within a day or so at the most.

[Nickolov]

WOW! Nice... keep us updated about this. :)

[Pheon]

UPDATE:

It’s been a while since my last update on these boards. So I’m just letting everyone know that despite delays caused by computer breakdowns and illness I’ve finished gathering the audition material. I’m hoping it will be available sometime within the next couple of weeks after I’ve looked over the material some more, and added to it a little.

The various hopeful voice actors I’ve heard from will have to be patient for a little while longer, however I the meantime I’d love to hear from any people interested in joining the production team.

Anyone with expertise/experience in sound editing, Flash, or vector based drawing program like Illustrator or Fireworks will be appreciated.

As before, I promise that anyone who joins the team in either capacity will not be swamped with work. I make it a point to distribute tasks on a timescale that suits the individual members of the team, so long as some progress is being made.

That’s it for now.

[Aussie Trekkie]

shame about illness and computer breakdowns, hope things get better shortly for you

[Pheon]

UPDATE:

Here we have it people the audition material.

Audition Material.pdf
Audition Material.rtf

If anyone wants anymore formats don't hesitate to ask.

Instructions are included within the document.

[Captain_Hair]

Pheon, on Nov 13 2007, 11:13 PM, said:

UPDATE:

Here we have it people the audition material.

Audition Material.pdf
Audition Material.rtf

If anyone wants anymore formats don't hesitate to ask.

Instructions are included within the document.

[Pheon]

Captain_Hair, on Nov 14 2007, 04:25 AM, said:

What can I say that isn't stated plainly in the message? Try again later!

[Pheon]

I just want to let everyone know I've launched a blog relating to the ongoing development of the project at: http://ent-s5-dev.blogspot.com/

Up there is some new production material including a few other ship designs, and the first complete test animation.

Feel free to comment here or there if you wish.

[Aussie Trekkie]

Nothing short of brilliant, i like that test animation

those ships are fantastic too, great detail

[Pheon]

Aussie Trekkie, on Nov 20 2007, 03:54 AM, said:

Nothing short of brilliant, i like that test animation

those ships are fantastic too, great detail

Thanks a lot, but wait until you see them in 3D. I'm going to try out 3D generated space scenes (with toon shaders of coure). Originally I wasn't going to go ahead with this, but in hindsight I feel that once all the modellings out of the way it'll significantly boost the production time.

I may also consider using 3D generated sets (or in parts) to help with this as well, and to add a little more depth as well as detail to the animation.

[Kirok]

Pheon, on Nov 20 2007, 03:12 PM, said:

Thanks a lot, but wait until you see them in 3D. I'm going to try out 3D generated space scenes (with toon shaders of coure). Originally I wasn't going to go ahead with this, but in hindsight I feel that once all the modellings out of the way it'll significantly boost the production time.

I may also consider using 3D generated sets (or in parts) to help with this as well, and to add a little more depth as well as detail to the animation.

I'll second AT on the Kudos, Pheon, nice work.

So (struggling to keep up here) the animation isn't going to be like a 2D cartoon but be a video capture of a 3D computer generated image? And "toon shading" is ...? The way the cgi is skinned, or textured? There isn't something that you could point out as an example of something similar is there? Not something like "Starship Troopers"?

Will this change the type of skilled help you are looking for?

Good luck!

K

[Pheon]

Kirok, on Nov 20 2007, 10:14 AM, said:

I'll second AT on the Kudos, Pheon, nice work.

So (struggling to keep up here) the animation isn't going to be like a 2D cartoon but be a video capture of a 3D computer generated image? And "toon shading" is ...? The way the cgi is skinned, or textured? There isn't something that you could point out as an example of something similar is there? Not something like "Starship Troopers"?

No, it WILL be a cartoon only the space scenes involving ships and planets etc will be produced in 3D. A toon shader is a texture which makes the model appear toon shaded.

I can't think of an obvious example, but I do know that Futurama used a fair bit of 3D toonshading in their ships, and buildings.

Quote

Will this change the type of skilled help you are looking for?

[Captain_Hair]

Pheon, on Nov 20 2007, 12:44 PM, said:

No, it WILL be a cartoon only the space scenes involving ships and planets etc will be produced in 3D. A toon shader is a texture which makes the model appear toon shaded.

I can't think of an obvious example, but I do know that Futurama used a fair bit of 3D toonshading in their ships, and buildings.

Futurama did, and Disney's Treasure Planet was computer animated but still done entirely with toonshading (if I recall correctly)

[ensign edwards]

Very cool!

I don't suppose you'd be interested in linking to my blog...?

[Pheon]

To help illustrate I've just rendered a WIP of the NX model I'm working on.