Hartnell Console Room Set

[barryrwuk]

What? Before the casters?

Barry 

[barryrwuk]

A little more progress - but still no casters. 



Barry

[barryrwuk]

OK, OK. I know I said that I'd resist the temptation to put parts of the set together before I'd finished. I have succumbed.

It looks like I'll have to learn a bit more about lighting before I do any final renders of the set. Do any lighting plans exist for any of the early episodes? I don't expect that Studio D was particularly sophisticated in that respect.

Look - a scanner screen! 



Barry

[tony farrell]

This looks really good (even without the castors)!

You asked about lighting: There is a detailed floor plan of Studio D which shows markings on the floor (diamonds, crosses, Ts and inverted Ts, etc). These show the points from which lighting and elements of studio sets - i.e., the down-lighter assembly - could be hung. But this only provides an indication. I'd suggest watching Edge of Destruction/Brink of Disaster (particularly the sequence where the Tardis powers back up) to see the kind of lighting used.

Principally these are:
Single spots (angled so that the light tapers downward and outward) on each photo blow-up panel
The two down-lighters either side of the scanner (but not, I think, the one behind the scanner - the only time I can remember seeing this one lit was in the Pilot Episode) again so that the light tapers outward and overlaps
Overlapping lighting above the console
Strip lighting either side and to the rear of the scanner
The columns and 3D walls and (briefly) down and through the canopy

As an aside, I suspect (but can't prove) that the scanner housing's sides were metallic rather than (Silvan) green. In some shots the sides appear far more reflective than the front but this doesn't show up well in a screen grabs as most of the shots of the scanner's sides are tracking shots rather than stationary ones.

Tony

[Rassilons Rod]

OK, OK. I know I said that I'd resist the temptation to put parts of the set together before I'd finished. I have succumbed.

That's not putting parts together, that's "The back wall"

[barryrwuk]

Thanks for the info Tony.

Your aside about the 'metallic' sides of the scanner's housing was very interesting. I thought that you couldn't possibly be right - I mean, why would they?

However... I now think that you are entirely right about this. Take a look at the pictures below and see what you think.



The above shows the side of the housing clearly - well, as clearly as we're likely to get. The top shows a distinct line which (I thought for a while) might have show the top of the inside of the box through some sort of translucent material or gauze... but the more I looked at it the more it looked like a reflection. I also began to see the three metal uprights of the frames to the left of the housing reflected down the left-hand edge of the side of the housing.

So, I tried to recreate the shot using my model and came up with this...



I made the side of the housing reflective to see what we'd get. We get the same line at the top and the same reflection of the metal uprights. You are spot on. The sides of the housing were definitely reflective. I wouldn't like to suggest what material was being used though.

Anyway, for comparison sake I have included a mix of the two images below.



I'd be keen to hear peoples opinions on this. It isn't something that I had considered before. There is always something new with Doctor Who.

Barry 

[galacticprobe]

I think Tony might be right; he's certainly done some serious research on this console room and I think knows more about it than just about anyone else here. Your render certainly looks exactly like that screen grab you posted, which also matches what Tony had to say about that metallic side. And knowing how the props department did things back then, it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't paint the sides - leaving them bare metal - because that part of the monitor's mounting wouldn't be seen in more than, as you said, tracking shots, and not needed any paint. (And that superimposed images look eerily accurate - like a ghostly image from the past coming through!).

So I think thanks to Tony you've got it bang on!

Keep on! You're doing great!

Dino.

[barryrwuk]

Here's a thought. I wonder if they covered the sides with the same Aluminium Paper that they used for the curved alcove in the living quarters doors?

Who knows?

B

[tony farrell]

These pictures might help - showing the scanner/down-lighter section as it is being assembled:






Please note, I don't own these pictures and have reproduced small sections of them for information purposes only.

The scanner's housing is a simple open-backed wooden box (note the metal shelf brackets used to provide support for the TV set inside). So, the sides of the surround weren't made of metal and left unpainted as Dino suggested. Whatever was used to provide a reflective finish was decorative rather than structural. So, conceivably, it could be the same aluminium paper used on the door surround to the Living Quarters.

I think the reason for the reflective sides is revealed in the picture above. Unlike Edge of Destruction/Brink of Disaster, the fluorescent tubes are mounted directly adjacent to the scanner; I wonder therefore if this was Brachacki's original intention - to provide additional viewer interest by allowing glimpses of the reflection of the fluorescent tubes on the sides of the scanner's housing? So, purely to provide something extra to look at.

The tops of the down-lighter tubes are also visible as is the fact the the metal screens do indeed extend higher than is visible from the Control Room side of the down-lighter assembly (as I suggested in this drawing).



As Dino said, there is something quite eerie about this render (in the nicest possible way).



Barry, am I correct in saying that the render has been created from the dimensions in the 50th Anniversary thread and that all you've done is to angle your render appropriately (i.e., you haven't altered any dimensions or manipulated the render in some way to fit the screen grab)?

T

[barryrwuk]

Thanks for the photos Tony. They are fantastic and certainly shed some light on the construction of the scanner housing.

In answer to your question... yes, you are correct. My model of the down-lighter assembly is created from your dimensions as given in your 50th Anniversary thread. I have not altered any of the dimensions or manipulated the render or screen-grab.

Here is the process that I followed - forgive me if this is something that you are already familiar with. I discovered an add-on for Blender that helps to estimate the focal length of the lens used to capture an image. It doesn't give an absolute result since we don't know certain specifications of the original cameras. However, given a nominal sensor width (say 35 units - call them mm for example) it will return a focal length in the same units. In order to provide it with information to calculate the focal length I simply had to draw two lines representing the x axis (I used the rails on the computer banks as a guide for this) and two lines on another axis perpendicular to the first (I used the two vertical frames either side of the scanner screen).

The accuracy of the results depends on many things but was limited in this instance by both the distortion in the picture and its low resolution. So I ran through the entire process ten times and averaged the result. This gave me a focal length of 63.2mm for my nominal 35mm wide sensor.

At that point I was able to set the 3D camera to that focal length. The add-on also gives estimates of the tilt and pan angles of the camera. With a bit of patience it was then possible to line the scanner housing up with the photograph and produce the images posted above.

Anyway... Bingo. Once the scanner screen was lined up the vertical framework of the perspex panels just fell into place. Your measurements were spot on. 

Of course, things get a little bit misaligned nearer the edges of the image due to the distortion in the photo.

In fact, comparing the two images closely the 'ceiling' of the down-lighters is actually slightly higher in the screen-grab than in my render - however this is probably because I have hung the scanner slightly higher than the actual one. Moving it down by about 1.5" would line things up better. The angle of the scanner housing tilt worked out at 4.5 degrees.

As an aside...

I was curious how this focal length would translate to the actual lenses used on the studio cameras. I believe that the cameras used were Marconi MkIIIs. These came with either a 3" or 4 1/2" diameter tube. Since this represents the diagonal measurement of the 4x3 image on the sensor I was able to calculate the sensor width and from that the equivalent focal lengths. Using the 63.2mm estimate from above this produces pleasing results. The 3" diameter tube would have needed a 4 1/3" focal length to produce the same image. The 4 1/2" diameter tube would have needed a 6 1/2" focal length. These seem to be realistic figures. I'd love to know if they are anything like correct but I have been unable to discover the focal lengths of the four lenses mounted to the studio cameras.

Barry 

[galacticprobe]

The scanner's housing is a simple open-backed wooden box (note the metal shelf brackets used to provide support for the TV set inside). So, the sides of the surround weren't made of metal and left unpainted as Dino suggested.

Once again, Tony, I've learned something new about this console room thanks to you! Your research is brilliant!

Whatever was used to provide a reflective finish was decorative rather than structural. So, conceivably, it could be the same aluminium paper used on the door surround to the Living Quarters.

I would certainly agree with you on this one.

Dino.

[barryrwuk]

I think it is getting there. Slightly better lighting than before and I am arriving at a scanner screen that I'm happy with.



Now, what should I work on next?

Barry 

[Rassilons Rod]

I think all 4 should light up, even though only two have the diffusers in. Otherwise, it looks awesome

[tony farrell]

I agree Marc, awesome indeed! I also think that all four of the front down-lighters should be lit and - if they were consistent with the canopy's central 'drum' lining - the lining of each down-lighter tube would have been painted white.

T

[tony farrell]

I think it is getting there. Slightly better lighting than before and I am arriving at a scanner screen that I'm happy with.



Now, what should I work on next?

Barry 

What about the castors?!? 

This might help clarify how I see the scanner housing's construction.

T