Most photorealistic CGI spaceship

[juanxer]

I'd add BSG and Firefly to the club, somehow: not that the ships are realistic, but the virtual camera style often makes things so lifelike.

[Endeavour]

Not so much a single ship, but the Resurrection Ship battle scenes were by far the most realistic CGI animation that I've ever seen.

[juanxer]

Originally Posted by juanxer

I'd add BSG and Firefly to the club, somehow: not that the ships are realistic...

Mmm, quoting myself... I was forgetting the other side of the coin. There is "realistic" spaceship photography, and then there is "realistic" spaceship design. Both "Voyage to the planets" and "Sunshine" happen to combine both.

Nowadays, "realistic design" usually means extrapolations from current and projected spacecraft technology; a certain attention to physics; very discrete doses, if any, of unexplainable tech: FTL drives, etc., even if being rigorous such thing would throw everything out through the window; and tolerance for omisions (say, heat dump panels, radiation protection, etc.). That's our baseline, I think.

For Galactica, I'd say MarkII Vipers have this aura of verosimilitude, even if the whole Starwars-ish spacefighter thing is ludicrous.

I was wondering where the Nightingale ship from "Supernova" would fit. It was overestylized, had this fierce FTL drive, etc., but then it had big heat dump panels, centrifugue, a quite interesting metalic texture, and a certain presence that somehow worked quite well

http://www.cinefex.com/supernova/supernova.html

[Freak]

I never knew, that the Nightingale was a miniature and not CGI

[MadKoiFish]

I dont think super tech such as ftl etc woudl kill the realistic look. I think there is much confusion between realisism vs realistic look.
Most of what everyone so far is dictating is a realism of current technology or near future tech.
Personaly thos elast shots of that supernova stuff look totaly fake and typical overblown cg shots. too much bloom too many inconsisstancies in lighting. I am sure it was spectacular to see moving on the screen ~_~.

This BBC film mentioned sounds intresting in its own rights though, the stills look fantastic. (dunno if this was ever aired stateside via sci chan or discovery, of course itll carry a diffrent tytle -_-)

[Shadowman99]

The Wings of Honneamise has some of the most plausible looking fictional rocket tech. The movie is anime, so the photorealism doesn't apply, but the technology is extremely credible.

(Hint: It would make an awesome 3D project for someone with an insane eye for detail)

[juanxer]

Originally Posted by Freak

I never knew, that the Nightingale was a miniature and not CGI

Well, it was both. I'd have to re-read that Cinefex online article to see what the usage ratio was for each.

The "Honneamise" guys reinvented everything for that movie's civilizations. Remember the "coins"?

(Perhaps "Space Odyssey - Voyage to the Planets" can be found on DVD. I think it was produced and distributed by the "Walking with Dinosaurs" people)

[Andrew Boulton]

Amazon.com: Voyage to the Planets and Beyond: DVD: David Suchet,Martin McDougall,Joanne McQuinn,Rad Lazar,Mark Dexter,Michelle Joseph,Mark Tandy,Hélène Mahieu,Lourdes Faberes,John Schwab (II),Colin Stinton,Antoine de Caunes,Rodolfo Jiménez,Joe Ahearn

[ray243]

When I mean photorealistic CGI, I do not mean realistic.

I mean, is there ANY ship that may look impossible to be a real spaceship, BUT you can see that it is as real as a 1 to 1 scale MODEL.

Sure, the thing may not move much or anything, but can you see it LOOKING REAL enough?

I mean look at ILM Transformers. Sure, we know they cannot exist, but we sure had a HARD time telling the difference between a 1 to 1 scale model they build and pure CGI.

[Tovette]

Originally Posted by juanxer

I was wondering where the Nightingale ship from "Supernova" would fit.

What movie/show was that ship from??