Readers of Spotlight,
It has been quite some time that any new interview has been posted, or has there been any major update to the site since June of this year. And I would like to apologize for the breaking the promise that I made to you, regarding Season two of Spotlight.
The year of 2011 has been a rather joyful but also extremely rough time for me. Back in April of this year, my mother was diagnosed with what at the time was Stage 4 Non-small Carcinoma lung cancer. Since that time she underwent chemotherapy treatments to fight the cancer, but it was to no avail.
My mother passed away from respiratory failure on September 28th, 2011. The day after I was laid off of my job at a local pool supply store.
I have since fallen out of touch with most of the community, with exception for a few individuals.
I will do my best to continue with things and I will keep everyone informed and updated as to the status of future Spotlight articles.
While I have been away I have since gone over my entire format of the program, while I know everyone has enjoyed them so far, I want to try and take them to the next level. What I mean by that is perhaps attempt to conduct the interviews in a podcast and or video-cast setting. While that would take some substantial planning on my part, I do believe it could be done in time.
In the meantime I will be getting back in touch with my creative side, and attempt to release some new renders.
See you all again soon!
Soon....
Details coming!
Soon.....
I'm sorry to have to rely the bad news, but Spotlight will have to be placed on hold for the time being. Due to the lack of a stable internet connection. I do humbly apologize for the inconvenience that this will cause my followers and readers. But in the mean time please enjoy the past interviews that have been released.
To start, I would like to apologize for the lack of interviews for the last two weeks, I have been very busy and my time has been stretched thin. Also my connection to the internet has not been the best.
However Spotlight will return next week. The next guest will be announced soon.
You may have also notice Twitter and Facebook buttons have been added to the individual interviews, and posts. Please use them to spread the word about Spotlight!
- Meteorafallen
Good day everyone, I'm Angel Hernandez, and welcome back for long awaited Part Two of the Spotlight Christmas Special!
Today's guest is currently one of the most popular modelers in the Bridge Commander community, and has recently joined the Excalibur Development Team. His ships include the Leonidas, Vivace, Valiant, Eclipse, and the ship he's most known for the Century Class. Which has had a number of appearances here on MeteorCreations, and is also featured along with the Vivace in The Ultimate Universe Mod for Star Trek: Legacy.
In the six years that he has been around, he is easily one of the greats. And his quality of work only continues to get even better, with each ship that he releases.
His latest releases include the Alberta Class, and his take on the Ambassador Class. Both of which are top notch. He is currently working on an unnamed Cruiser, and his own take on the TOS era Constitution Class.
Please give a warm welcome to Mr. David Curtis!
let's get started with the basics..
Q: So when did you start modeling? And how long have you been around in the modding community?
I started modeling in 2002, shortly after Bridge Commander was released. I had an account on BCU and followed quietly for a year or two.
Q: What was it about modeling that fascinated you, and was that why you ultimately got into modding yourself?
I’ve always built models. As a kid, I had dozens of model kits of cars, starships and planes. I’ve always been the type to lean towards artistic endeavors, and 3d modeling seemed a good method of expression for me. I had been out of high-school for a couple of years, and wanted to learn some new things, so I decided on 3d modeling and learning guitar.
Q: Do you remember the first thing you tried to build?
I actually went through a lot of tutorials, so I think the first thing I ever made was an orange or something like that. As for first starship, I pretty immediately started trying to recreate a Galaxy Class. It did not look good.
Q: How did you hear about the Bridge Commander modding community?
I actually don’t recall. I found BCU pretty quickly after starting to play the game.
This interview continues after the break.
Happy new year everyone! I'm your host Angel Hernandez, and welcome to Episode Six of Spotlight,
featuring a very special guest.
Today's guest is someone who has literally changed the way that we all look at Bridge Commander, in terms of special effects. And this guest is also responsible for the original tools that we all used up until recently to import ships and mods into Bridge Commander.
For the past four years he has been working alongside some of the communities finest and talented individuals to do the impossible, create a Star Trek game from the ground up. Using a game engine custom built just for this game, the Evolved Game Engine, headed by John Hardy.
While Hardy may handle the core components of the engine, it is today's guest who is responsible for the NanoFX Graphics Renderer, which is responsible for everything we will see in this game. From the visuals, to the particle, lighting, and special effects.
Though I am of course talking about only one game, and that game...is Excalibur.
Please welcome the Visual FX Leader of Excalibur Mr. Michael Braams.
Who is of course the one, and only..NanoByte. Let's get started with the basics. ..
Q: Could you tell the readers how long you have been with the community, and when did you start?
I guess my first public appearance was shortly after the release of BC, I followed the forums on BC Universe and got involved with the other modders there when something as simple as adding new ships to BC proved to be difficult
Q: What was it about modding that sparked your interest, and was this why you ultimately got into modding for yourself?
Initially it was when problems starting coming up in BC and people we having trouble. Modders like Dasher were providing ways to mod BC, but for the average Modder it was still way too difficult. So I decided then and there I could lend my programming talents and create easier interfaces to help people and thus BCMP (BC Mod Packager) was created. Later followed BCMI (BC Mod Installer) and there was even a BCME (BC Mission Editor) in the works, however I left the BC Community to peruse other interests.
Q: Can you recall your first attempts at modding, what was the first mod that you created?
My First attempts at modding were with Totally Games previous games the X-wing Series. I followed that community however I just watched the forums instead of participating. With those games I mostly just worked on bringing the old X-Wing and TIE Fighter Missions into the latest game X-Wing Alliance for my own personal enjoyment. After that I did a minor mod for Klingon Academy where I modified the ships to always have their glows on for the Warp Engines to be more like the show.
Q: You have been around since the days of Bridge Commander Universe, what is your opinion on the current state of the Bridge Commander community?
I really can't say as I have not followed the Bridge Commander community much since I left it to start on the NanoFX Game Engine, however I still get emails from people requesting to include NanoFX into their own mods, so I'm still rather impressed that the community is still making mods and trying to make things great for BC.
The interview continues after the break.
Greetings, I trust you all had a pleasant holiday. I am Angel Hernandez and welcome to Episode Five of Spotlight.
I know you were all expecting Part Two of the Christmas Special, as was I. But as of late I have not heard back from DJ Curtis, I promise that as soon as I hear something regarding his interview, that I will keep you all apprised.
Also this interview was on purposely made longer than normal, to make up for the lack of the second part of the Christmas Special.
But in the meantime Spotlight will continue as usual with today's episode. Featuring another member of the Ultimate Universe modding team.
This person is responsible for a lot of the custom ships built just for UUM, and is a very impressive modeler. He has also built kit-bashes for Bridge Commander, and Klingon Academy. He was the first to being the Dominion to Star Trek Legacy, and since then has been a member of the Ultimate Universe Modding team.
He is now one of UUM's Assistant Directors, the head of Asylum, which is a modding school hosted by Chris Jones Gaming. And the head of the Modeling Department for Ultimate Universe.
His latest ship the TOS era Proxima was released for Christmas, and can be found on Legacy Files, and UUM.net
Please welcome Mr.Phoenix Bondi, but we all know him as Nix, Phoenix, or PhoenixFett
To start I would like to thank Phoenix for being able to take part in this interview.
Q: So when did you start modeling? And how long have you been with the modding community?
Well my basic’s started with Star Trek Klingon Academy, I use to play and hang around with exar-kun, and Jakeo but it was simple Kit bash’s and stuff, nothing major as I had No clue what I was doing with Light wave, I released a few mod’s but have no time frame memory to give u a date, L But the 4th of January I released a reskin of Rosh for Star Wars Jedi Academy which picked up a nice amount of downloads, I had also been experimenting with 3d max trying to mod for star trek bridge commander, But alas it was still only kit bash’s, before I disappeared due to personal life I released my 2nd and 3rd variant of my borg hybrid Defiant class – F.A.S. Kadet, A Beta for a Huge kit bash called the invincible and about 4 others. Then I resurfaced when legacy came out and started all over again, having lost ALL my old acquired skills L so I’d say from 2000 onwards with K.A
Q: What was it about modeling that fascinated you, and was that why you ultimately got into modding yourself?
Oh without a doubt being able to firstly improve the game, and secondly add things you want your self. Not limited by damn companies doing only what they wanted.
Q: Do you remember the first thing you tried to build?
Yea I had a tutorial for light wave to build a Constitution class starship, But couldn’t do it, No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t do it L so I gave up L - wish I hadn’t as I’d be even better by now
Q: How did you hear about Ultimate Universe, and the Star Trek legacy modding community?
Well I was hanging around the Legacy forums and had luckily found out about the armada sod files working in legacy before it was announced so I started to put the legacy dominion pack together, then I ended up with 2 emails, one from Chris Jones and one from Acidrain, both from CJG at the time, another team also took note of me who where, - I apologies I really can’t remember, it wasn’t New-Gen or Aftermath, the other main contender back then.
Please keep reading after the break.
Seasons greetings everyone, I'm Angel Hernandez, and welcome to Part One of the Spotlight Christmas Special!
This special will be split into two parts, mainly because these two individuals deserve their own separate interviews, and are each extremely talented modelers
Let's get started with out first guest...
In the 4 years he has been here, this person has released impressive work. At first he started doing texture mods and ended up creating some of the most dead-on accurate and highest quality recreations, that we have yet to see of the Constitution, Constitution Refit, Doomsday Machine, and Excelsior. And as of lately the Enterprise from the latest Star Trek movie.
He has also built ships from another movie entirely, such as the City Destroyer and Attacker from the hit blockbuster film Independence Day. He's also the only person to fully recreate the Star Trek Phase II Constitution, the fan-favored Bonaventure, and the Infamous Monarch Class Enterprise J.
His latest ship, the Proteus, is a radical change in starship design, and is truly innovative. It is slated for release in this years Bridge Commander files Christmas Mass Release. As well as an undisclosed surprise ship.
He also appears in a webcomic known as Hyper Boy Comics, which was created by his brother back in 2005.
Please give a big holiday welcome, to the man behind the Coyote, Mr. Michael Wiley!
I would like to begin by saying Happy Holidays Michael, and thank you for being able to take the time out to participate in Spotlight. Let's get started with the basics...
Q: So when did you start modeling? And how long have you been around in the modding community?
I started modeling in early 2008 with the completion of the TOS Akira. I was using gmax then, and it was awesome. Though the program has some limits, it has everything you need to make ship mods. I've been modding since January 2006, so that's about 5 years. When I was first modding, I never thought I would be making 3D ships, being one of the "modding legends" alongside of Scotchy, P81, LC Amaral, and Zambie Zan. I guess I'm part of the "next generation" of BC modders. In 2006, I just started with retexturing- it was easier. As long as computers can still run the game, I'm going to still be here for a while.
Q: What was it about modeling that fascinated you, and was that why you ultimately got into modding yourself?
I was amazed how people can get such detail into something that was low poly. I like the feeling of saying that "I made that ship from scratch." I just decided one day to try to build or at least script an individual ship so it will not overwrite anything to expand my skills. What I really like about modeling is that anything is possible in a 3D form, a clean slate when starting. You really start showing off your individuality when modeling.
Q: Do you remember the first thing you tried to build?
The first thing I created was a Terran Empire retexture of the C2 Galaxy. At the time I thought it was cool, but many people were picky about details. They wanted the high poly ships that were recently released, but my computer couldn't handle them.
Q: How did you hear about the Bridge Commander modding community?
When I was creating additional Terran Empire ships, Tiqhud tested them and Starforce2 helped me with hardpoints and scripting. I think one of them pointed me toward toward BCC. Since I joined, I've started making ships from scratch.
The interview continues after the break.
Greetings everyone! I am Angel Hernandez and welcome to episode four of Spotlight.
Today I will be joined by another member of the Ultimate Universe Mod team, he has been part of the modding team for a little over three years now, and in that time he has done impeccable work for the mod. Recently he was made the second Assistant Director, and also holds the title of Quality Assurance Director.
Please welcome to the program Mr.Travis Durf, but we all know him as Muldrf. Thanks for joining us today Muldrf, first off lets start off with some basic questions...
Q: So how long have you been in the modding community for? And when did you start?
As far as the Legacy modding community I have been working with CJG/UU since the middle of 2007. I had done some minor things prior to joining the UU team but nothing I ever released. The first and only other mods I ever released were some maps for Doom 2 back when it was new. I tinkered around after that with maps for other games, but nothing very serious.
Q:What was it about modding that fascinated you, and was that why you ultimately got into modding yourself?
To me Modding is most fascinating in that it lets you add things to games that you always wanted. The reason I actively became a member of UU was because a special situation happened to overlap one of with abilities from my job, more on that later though.
Q: Can you recall the first thing you attempted to script?
As far as “Legacy Mission Scripting”, which is what most referred to in Legacy as Scripting. That would be easy, it was what became the Vs Battle mode. Remore, who happens to be one of the brightest people I have ever come across, was talking about something he found in the Mission Scripting that he expected would let you create a real customizable battle where you picked the exact enemy ships you would fight. That’s all the incentive I needed to learn scripting and try to tackle it. It was a major lacking feature in the game, and it was one I REALLY wanted. That’s what Skirmish should have been to start, and it came out far better than I ever though possible.
Q: How was it that you first heard about the Ultimate Universe Mod?
I came across UU on the no longer existing Official Star Trek Legacy forums that Bethesda use to maintain. I was very active over there, while I didn’t mod I got in discussions and followed all the modders there. I tinkered with a few things but left it up to the people with the time. This interview continues after the break.
Greetings everyone. I am Angel Hernandez, and welcome to Spotlight Episode Three.
Today I will be speaking with one of the newest members of the Bridge Commander modding community.
In the two years that he has been here, he has released more than 17 mods that range from the Vesta Class, to the USS Jenolan. He has also even given us an ant's perspective with the E.V.A. Suit, and has brought to life several designs from others within the community. Such as the Legacy Class by Galen from GK Designs, and the Corinium Class by Hobbs.
Please welcome the founder of Starfleet R&D, Mr. Bankrupt Studios himself, Greg Smith.
Q: So how long have you been in the modding community for? And when did you start?
Well, I’ve been modding games since late 2006. I had got Star Trek Legacy pre ordered and for some damn reason I got my copy like a month after. So it took roughly a month to beat it (at the time I was working 13 hours a day and I also have kids to spend time with) and by then there were a couple of new ships out so I DL’ed them to play. During this time I was also playing a My Space Star Trek Role Playing game ( funny enough, this is where I meet my Wife) and I wanted some cool pic’s of ships. That’s when I decided to do my first mod, and all it was was changing the letters on the Enterprise, lol. From there I did loads of stuff for Sims 2.
Q:What was it about modding that fascinated you, and was that why you ultimately got into modding yourself?
The closest I might be able to come to answering that is seeing all the new classes of ships being built by other modders and the fact that they looked so good and at times so real. But I never really thought about modeling. I had wanted to do a free internet comic starring a lot of ships from Legacy and BC but to get some of the screen shots that I would need meant I would have to get in to the model itself. So I looked around and got 3ds Max on sale, unaware that I simply could have used Nif Scope for the BC stuff, lol. So I stopped looking at ships for a while because I was deep into researching Star Trek and writing scripts, I got around 13 full scripts and then realized that I had no idea what my ship was, lol.
Q: Do you remember the first thing you tried to build?
Yes, I tried to fix Hobbs’ USS Griffin for the internet comic. During the process he wanted things changed and we ended up building a completely new ship called the Dragon that was never released. Then, a little while later we did the Corinium, a ship he designed and I built... well actually kit-bashed, from Red Dragon’s Sovereign. That was our first official mod.
Q: How was it that you heard about the Bridge Commander modding community?
It was in a search for a ship that was going to be a lead ship in my show. I stumbled across DJ’s Leonides Class USS Raptor. Immediately I fell in love with it.
The interview continues after the break.
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