Scifi-Meshes

We are delighted to bring you our first featured model here at SFM - The USS Kelvin from J.J. Abrams' smash hit film, Star Trek.

While the new film - effectively a "reboot" of the franchise - has generated intense debate among long time Star Trek fans as to whether it continues to carry spirit of Gene Roddenberry's creation or sacrifices it in favor of a more generic action blockbuster flick (we'll let you be the judge), it has also attracted the attention of many talented artists. One of those who took up the challenge of modeling one of the new ships seen in the new film was Tobias Richter. His work, featured below, is all the more impressive for having been completed before the movie was actually released - relying almost exclusively on promotional material and screencaps from the trailers.

This model has gained considerable recognition, and with good reason. After being featured on www.trekmovie.com, Tobias recieved an e-mail from J.J Abrams himself complimenting him on his work and word is that Bob Orci (co-writer and executive producer on the new Star Trek film) was using one of Tobian's renders as wallpaper on his own computer.

For a fan and skilled modeler such as Tobias, the struggle to reach the ultimate level of accuracy is ongoing...



Not content with modeling just one Starfleet vessel, Tobias, at the request of a fellow forum member quickly put together a variant on the Kelvin - The USS Saladin, a re-invented look at a design by Franz Joseph, seen fleetingly on displays on the bridge of the Enterprise in Star Trek II and Star Trek III. While the Kelvin took Tobias approximately 3 weeks to complete, the Saladin took less than 3 days - "One half for modeling, one half for texturing. And a day or two for rigging the cannons/lights and cleanup".



Located in Germany, Tobias runs The Light Works, a computer graphics studio currently employing 7 artists, currently working on gaming projects - illustrations, real-time models and high quality render sequences. The Light Work's past projects include work on LucasArts titles (Rebel Assault 2, the Rogue Squadron series), X3 Reunion and it's sequel Terran Conflict (critically acclaimed on its release for its cutting edge graphics), Sacred and it's sequel, Sacred 2, just to name a few. They are also producing visual effects for movies and all kinds of visualizations, including work for the European Space Agency.

The USS Saladin

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The Models

USS KELVIN
Model by Tobias Richter
Model Format - .mb (Maya 2008)
Polygons - 408,770
Download size - 20.22 MB
[Download here]

Model Format - .lwo (Lightwave)
Model by Tobias Richter
Conversion by Matt Christou and Andy Marrs
Polygons - 220,121
Download size - 26.36 MB
[Download here]

Model Format - .blend (Blender)
Model by Tobias Richter
Conversion by Ricky "MadMan1701A" Wallace
Polygons 214,970
Download size - 19.30 MB
[Download Here]

USS SALADIN
Model Format - .mb (Maya 2008)
Polygons - 274,196
Download size - 3.75 MB (Requires texture maps from the USS Kelvin model)



Tobias has been an active member here at SFM for years now. He was the winner of one of SFM's first modeling competitions as well as the Tutorial Writers Award for the great tutorial he wrote on how he created his winning submission.