Sovereign class model
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(written from a Production point of view)
There have been a number of studio models for the Sovereign-class, in the form of the USS Enterprise-E, with surprisingly more make-overs than its limited number of appearances should have justified. Apart from a physical studio model no less than three CGI models were constructed of this class.
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Design 
Edit
The Sovereign-class starship was designed by John Eaves under final supervision of Herman Zimmerman. While working in the art department of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in August 1995, Zimmermann stopped by Eaves' office and told him, "We're going to start work on a new movie soon. I haven't got a script yet, but we're going to need a new Enterprise. I need some sketches as soon as you can." (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 3, Issue 11, page 43) Starting designing from his own perspective that the new ship should have a sleek appearance, Eaves was stymied enough at first to pay a visit to Rick Sternbach who had just finished designing the Intrepid-class. "It was really funny to see how similar the two ships were, in the rough sketches. We thought, 'Wow, this is a nice direction to go-the new Federation design, from Voyager to the Enterprise-E.' I finally asked Rick, 'What does it take to get one of these ships approved? What are the steps? I know design has a lot to do with it, but what other particulars do I need to know?' Well, Rick reached into his desk, pulled out a huge file and threw it atop his desk. It was about two hundred drawings thick! 'This,' he said, 'is what it took get the Voyager approved.' And he opened up the file and showed me sketch after beautiful sketch, each with subtle changes, so that I could see how the shape began, the evolved into the final product. On top of it all, he'd made a little booklet that included the breakdown: all the decks, what the ship could do, how it did what it did. He even had a scale chart comparing the Voyagers's size to other Federation starships. Thanks to Rick's help, I made myself a similar packet for the Enterprise-E," Eaves remembers. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Sketchbook: The Movies, page 86-87)
Imbued with confidence Eaves started to work on his design from the elongated shape of the Galaxy-class he had come up with. Not really liking the shape of the Galaxy-class and wanting it to look sleek, looking good from all angles, he was working towards a design that was evoking memories of Matt Jefferies's classic design. A major part of it was the length of the warp nacelles, "We decided this was a different engine type-faster, yet longer lived-and the longer length of the engines helped to create the desired sleekness." (Cinefex, No.69, page 105) Dozens of sketches later, in a process reminiscent of what Jefferies had to go through when he designed the original Enterprise, a final sketch was arrived at in January 1996 which the producers approved.
Such was Eaves' diligence (he experimented with swept forward nacelles, saucer separation and various nacelle lengths as well as alternative designs), that when he was asked after approval to come up with alternative designs, because the producers wanted to be sure they had chosen the right design (and had also an early draft mention of a USS Endeavour in mind), he was able to do so. (Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 3, Issue 11, pages 46-50)
The physical studio model Edit
Based on Eaves' sketches, Rick Sternbach drew up detailed blueprints of the model (establishing that the Enterprise-E had 23 decks), which were sent over to Industrial Light & Magic. (Star Trek: The Next Generation Sketchbook: The Movies, pages 104-105)
Building the model fell to model supervisor John Goodson and his team, amongst others Kim Smith and Jon Foreman with sub-contractor Ed Miarecki doing pattern work on the model. Eaves kept some of the closest details vague in order to allow the "ILM"-staffers to use their own imagination. Detailed questioning however, especially concerning the mounting of the warp nacelles kept Eaves busy making detailed drawings well into spring 1996. In the end Zimmerman requested that Eaves had a small 30 inch study model made for reference sake. Another noticeable vagueness Eaves included was the the exact function of the lighted bulge on the underside of the the saucer. Carried over to the Sternbach's blueprints were it was vaguely mentioned as "Turret location area" and to Drexler's MSD, there identified as forward torpedo launchers (Star Trek: The Next Generation Sketchbook: The Movies, pages 106 and 97). It was during the to-and-fro sessions with ILM that the turret would end up as the docking port of the captain's yacht and as such it was constructed on the studio model.
Told that the model had to last the rigours of shooting for at least a couple of movies, Goodson built the model to last. As he commented, "So we built it to last. In fact it was seriously overbuilt, with four five-inch-long bolts attaching the saucer to the main body." (Cinefex, No.69, page 105) With an armature rigged for eight mounting points, electrical plugs were installed for swift changes. "When Kim saw how close the camera would be getting to the model, she realized that even the tiniest bit of over-spray would register like a field of boulders on screen. So we had six people working on the paint job, covering sections with masking tape, trying to get it done as quickly as possible," Goodson further remembers.
Lighting the model was a separate story; Not since Douglas Trumbull had the original Enterprise rigged to emulate self-illumination, had this been done on her successors, nor would it on this one. Again smart exterior lighting from outside would mimic the illusion of self-illumination. Enhancing the effects were the application of small back-lit miniatures still shots of interior sets pasted behind the windows of the model. Not being able to use this technique in the previous movie, Goodson decided to go for it this time around, "We cut sixteen-inch frames for each window, bending them to fit the curve of the hull before gluing and sanding them flush. A laser-cut plex window lens went in, backed with peel-off paper facing outward. Then, behind the plex we mounted quarter-inch-thick acrylic blocks with photographic slides and diffusion glued unto them. The internal illumination fit right behind this, giving us a little neon light-box. After the model was painted, the paper covering the windows was peeled away, revealing backlit images of actual sets, provided by Paramount." (Cinefex, No.69, page 105) For the larger windows on the saucer this gadget was not deemed sufficient enough. Extreme miniature sets as backdrop were constructed for these. "We filled that area of the model with tiny, micro-scale furniture, including tables and chairs," Goodson further elaborates. An arboretum, intended to be reminiscent of the refit-Enterprise was also included in the back of the saucer.
Goodson's assurances notwithstanding, the physical model, measuring 119"×49"×13", was to be used for filming purposes only once, only to appear in Star Trek: First Contact. For Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek Nemesis, the model was sent over to the respective VFX-houses for mapping and digitizing but nothing more. In the end the model, known as Lot #107, being part of the 40 Years of Star Trek: The Collection auction, estimated at $8,000-$12,000, was eventually sold on 5 October 2006 with a winning bid of US$100,000 (US$120,000 including buyer's premium). The buyer put the model up for sale immediately afterwards.[1]
Partial physical studio modelsEdit
An enlarged saucer section was built for the ramming sequence in Star Trek: Nemesis. The visual effects supervisors at Digital Domain felt that the close-up scene could only be believably conveyed on screen by physical miniatures so a 1/45 scale saucer section of the Enterprise-E was built as well as a section of the bow of the Scimitar. The 18 feet long saucer was essentially an empty shelled framework covered with sprayed-on polyester bondo with a laminate aluminium foil skin patchwork underneath. The whole was covered with a thin skin of lead, chosen because the soft metal would ripple and bend back on impact. The leading section of the saucer was equipped with an underlying matrix of cardboard compartments, both intended to increase resistance of the lead on impact as well as to show, after retouching, the exposed decks of the ship as she pulls back from the impact with the Scimitar. The model, built by amongst others Michael Morgan, Ted van Dorn and supervisor George Stevens, took six weeks to build and weighed 500 pounds. The model was filled with loose materials that would spill out upon impact to represent debris. The sequence was shot with a high-speed camera and in post-production digitally enhanced by adding and removing elements as well as adding the back-end of the Enterprise.(Cinefex, No.93, pages 107-109) 3D Integration Artist Chris Dawson remembered,"The front end of both ships were constructed in large scale and we had the Ent E race along a track to impact with the Scimitar. The Scimitar is banking. It was all very fast and we had to get the Ent as fast as we could. All shot at high-speed to help with the look of the damage when both hit. Then the back end of the ship was added with a CG model and a lot of debris was added with CG, however, a lot that was captured on film was pretty good. We were able to do the sequence three times with replacement/repaired models."[2] One of the saucer sections wound up as Borg debris in the debris field in ENT: "Regeneration".
Study model and AMT models Edit
The study model Eaves made as a reference for the ILM modellers also wound up on screen in Star Trek: First Contact as one of the golden models in the display case in the observation lounge."For the "E", I had just finished making a big 28 inch study model for the producers here in LA and for the model guys and gals up at ILM. It was almost too big, but there was no time to sculpt another one so it had to do. Herman asked for 3 of each ship because we were now going to have the smashing of the case scene.", Eaves remembers on his blog.[3] Moulds were taken of the model and solid resin casts copies were made (since there were multiple takes of the scene). After smoothing out the surfaces the models (including the study model) were gold plated at ArtCraft Plating. The models were subsequently smashed when the scene was filmed. For Star Trek: Insurrection the procedure was more or less repeated but this time three AMT/Ertl Star Trek model kits (No.6326) were used, solidifying the models by filling them up with resin. They were seen as display models in the observation lounge in Star Trek Nemesis as a script change caused them not to be used in Insurrection.[4]
Eaves and the studio initially retained most of the models but one was sold as part of a complete set of six in the Profiles in History Hollywood Auction #44 on 15 May 2011 as Lot 1550 for $11,000 (for the whole set), and another one has reportedly been sold in an on-line Sotheby's auction in October 2000.[5] The mould taken from the study model was most likely also used to cast a transparent acrylic desk top model which was used in First Contact as set dressing for Picard's ready room. Although the model itself was not seen, its shadow was cast on the wall behind Riker when he discusses Starfleets' orders with Picard in the beginning of the movie. This model was sold in the May 2008 It's A Wrap! sale and auction for $480,00. [6]
The CGI Studio models Edit
For the temporal vortex scene in Star Trek: First Contact the effects team originally intended to use the physical model and composite shots of it with the CG vortex. However it was felt that the CG vortex scene would better interact with a CGI model (much like what ILM had done earlier with the USS Enterprise-B in Star Trek Generations) so a digital version of the Enterprise-E was built by Larry Tan at ILM. Since the vortex effects would obscure much of the details of the ship, the model was built at a fairly low resolution. (Cinefex, No.69, page 110)
For Star Trek: Insurrection, the producers decided to complete the transition into the digital realm and that this would be the first movie completely without the time honoured motion control model photography. This meant that the first order of business was to redo the CGI model of the Enterprise-E, since ILM's version was too low resolution. Digital Muse was one of the companies who made a bid to the model and went even as far as to have a complete model built by David Lombardi[7][8]. Digital Muse lost out on the bid, but shots of the model were used in the teaser trailer for Star Trek Insurrection. (Cinefex, No.77, page 75) The model itself was later featured on the covers of the 2003 Ships of the Line calendar and the 2008 Greater than the Sum novel.
Santa Barbara Studios, the effects house that won the bid for Star Trek Insurrection, was very mindful of task given to them. "ILM actually released their Enterprise database to us, which was very nice of them," effects supervisor John Grower said. "It was very helpful in the beginning, because we had all these animatics to create. However, their Enterprise was a fairly low-resolution model, and while we originally thought, 'Maybe we can just add to this database', that process became more trouble than it was worth, so we had Viewpoint Data Labs come down and actually re-digitise the Enterprise using the original miniature." (American Cinematographer, January 1999, page 41) Since there were many models to make in CGI for the movie, it was decided very early on that, due to time restraints, the Enterprise-E would not be modified (though Eaves had modifications in mind). That enabled SBS to sub-contract the digitalization of the the Enterprise-E to Viewpoint. Having access to the actual studio model, the model was scanned (which was at the time a time-saving method compared to building the model in CGI from scratch) and turned into a NURB model under the auspices of Jayme Olsen. Their model was then turned over to SBS for detailing, mapping and animation. For this SBS had dozens of close-up photos taken of the actual studio model to be mapped on the CG-model digitally. "We shot countless textures off the ILM miniature for the the CG model, then assign a dedicated team to the ship – an approach we tried to use for other ships in the show when possible," Grower remembers. (Cinefex, No.77, page 72) Bruce Jones and Eric Saindon were amongst the "dedicated" team. Orthographic views of the SBS model were published in Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 3, Issue 11, page 50. Two slight modifications were done by the CG-team of SBS, smoothing out the bottom of the captain's yacht and adding aft torpedo launchers on the lowest aft of the secondary hull (though included in the blueprints and originally intended as tractor beam emitters, it was not on the physical model), or as Eaves put it, "Being an already established starship, nothing was done to alter the main lines of what had already been seen on the screen, and careful measures where taken when we were creating the Captain's Yacht out of the under-saucer torpedo launcher, so as to maintain continuity."[9]
As to for Captain's yacht, Eaves had not taken its existence into account when he originally designed the Sovereign class, but found himself lucky when he was called upon to find a berthing place for it on his design, "Well I'll have to tell you more about the lucky accident of this working out the way it did!!! I had just started on DS9 when we started working on First Contact and I had never seen an episode of Voyager and only two or three episodes of TNG so I didn't even know that a captains yacht was a new design element to Federation Starships. The Torpedo Launcher on the E was basically a new shape for the dome seen on the previous Enterprises and it just made for a perfect place for a main launcher, My Yacht education didn't come till we started to work on Insurrection and and looking at was on the D and Voyager it only made sense to try and manipulate that launcher area into the Yacht, The lines worked out perfectly so as much as it looks like it was intentional it was incredible luck with how the lines worked and how easy it was to make a Yacht bay out of the lower section of the launcher. had I known more earlier, the design would have happened on FC so I'm the one to blame for drafting something in after the fact."[10]
For Star Trek Nemesis, Eaves got the chance to do the modifications he had in mind. "When that model was done, we got to go out and take pictures of it and there were a lot of little areas where I thought, 'If I had to do over, I'd change a couple of things.' Our original design was a very sleek, sweet profile, but when the miniature was completed-even though the work was beautiful and looked great on film-some of that sleekness had not translated over. So when this show came up, and they were going to be making entirely new CG models, I talked to Peter Lauritson and he said, 'Go ahead and make all the chances you want'," Eaves remembers (Cinefex, No.93, page 104). The Enterprise-E was slightly modified to make her look more streamlined like his original design drawings intended. Extensions were added on the rear of the saucer along the inside edge of each impulse engine, which were then blended into the upper secondary hull. The warp engines were raised up by 1.3% and moved forward slightly by 3.5% (in theory making her in-universe about 12 meters shorter than before, 673 meters instead of 685 meters.[11]), to give the ship a sleeker profile when looking at her from the side. The warp engine support pylons were also modified slightly to appear more streamlined. And the forward part of the secondary hull just under the navigational deflector dish was pulled up tighter and curvier to the dish itself.
Since the script had the Enterprise primarily attacked from behind and above, Eaves also had to design aft facing weaponry, which he had not done originally, to justify the fire exchanges. For this he added four phaser strips on the trailing edge of the warp pylons on the dorsal and ventral surfaces, a twin torpedo launcher on the saucer superstructure aft of the bridge, directly above deck 3 and a single launcher on the spine of the ventral surface above the aft shuttlebay.
Eaves further noted on the redesign:
About this time Star Trek: The Magazine was being produced out of the UK. and they had sent over their version of the E plans for future magazine art and articles. Their art department was phenomenal with all that they did, and for the "E" they really beautifully represented all the various views of the ship. When Nemesis came along there were to be changes and detail additions to the E and the CG work was moving from Santa Barbara to Digital Domain and a whole new group of 3D and practical modellers were ready to take the reigns. With these changes came a request to alter the ship's lines a bit to bring the new ship closer to the original lines from the sketch. Approval was granted, but was to be in two parts. For the E seen in the majority of the film, the drawings provided by Star Trek The Magazine were used to do the subtle line changes, with the additional weapons and launcher details added. The digital model files were provided from Santa Barbera and all was thrown into the lap of Jay Barton at Digital Domain. Jay made a fantastic model and put a beautiful and moody paint scheme on the new retro-ed E.[12]
The in LightWave 3D re-rendered CG model was made up of 1.3 million polygons and 65 image maps, gleaned from newly taken pictures of the physical studio model, essentially using the same methodology as employed for the previous movie.[13]
![[5]](http://www.joseralat.com/uploads/GoldModels/EntE.jpg){kind=link}
