Coastal Vectors

Starfleet Badges

As most self-respecting nerds are aware, Star Trek: The Next Generation is being re-released in high-definition Blu-Ray discs, one season at a time.
This show captured my imagination while growing up. I used to watch it with my father, as many young kids did. What I have always enjoyed about Star Trek are the philosophical undertones that came from Gene Roddenberry’s idealistic hopes for the future of humanity.
For the release of each season, two of the best, most memorable episodes from that season in theaters for one night only. I thought to myself that if I’m going to be seen in public going to a Star Trek viewing like this, I may as well look my best for the occasion…

I started by drawing the basic profile of the TNG combadge in illustrator. I used screenshots from the show and pictures on Google to get the shape as accurate as possible.

I then Imported the shape into Autocad Inventor and extruded and shaped the model to look how they appear I the show. Once I had the model finalized, I took an STL file and brought it into Carve 3D software and prepared a tool path for use on our CNC machine using a 1/8th inch round nose bit. The bit is too large for this scale, and so not all the detail seen in the 3D model is in turn translated to the wood model.

The next step was to cut it out then sand it down in preparation for painting. I primed it and used gold metal and silver paint to give it its final appearance. Wood is not ideal for this type of replica because the of the grain, but the result is still pretty good I think.

I tried multiple woods and found the best result with ash. I also tried 3D printing on a Maker Bot but found that the step resolution produced very rough models that were unacceptable. To finish the badges off, they were fitted with a strong rare earth magnet, allowing them to be affixed to clothing.

Cosmic Cutie

I just started rereading all the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy books which I haven’t read since I was in high school. Although it has the words “DON’T PANIC” in large, friendly letters on the cover, I’ve always been partial to the green character that is on the front of many of the books.

It turns out that this friendly little character is named the “Cosmic Cutie.” What I also didn’t know is that Douglas Adams vehemently disliked him, and tried very hard to disassociate him with the franchise. It turns out that when the books were first published in the United States, the publisher felt that having this green character on the front of each book would help the readers know that these books are part of the same series.

Even if Douglas Adams didn’t care for him, it’s too late and many of us fans have become fond of the little guy. The version you see above was made in Illustrator. I then took him and superimposed him upon a star field for a nifty iPhone background. Maybe not as neat as digital wristwatches, but pretty fun none-the-less.

CosmicCutieiPhone — (Click for full iPhone 5 resolution version)

Arkanoid Artwork

About a Decade ago, I build a handful of cocktail arcade cabinets with my family. Cocktail arcade cabinets are arcade cabinets where the screen faces up through a table top, and the players sit down on either side of it. We build them all from scratch with nicer materials and build quality than actual cocktail arcade cabinets.

Pictured above is an unfinished (un-stained) Ms. Pac Man cabinet. Once they were completed, we each chose different games to put in our respective cabinet. I chose to put Arkanoid and Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh. Arkanoid is a classic break-out game made by Taito in the 80’s. It’s a bit more fun than just plain-old break-out since it has power-ups, bosses, and some semblance of a storyline.

In any case, one thing that was never completed to my satisfaction was the top. I printed out some power-up keys that were found on many Arkanoid cabinets, but never thought it looked very good. I’d thought about removing the artwork all together as well. But then I decided that it would be cool to print out an actual cocktail overlay as was common in the 80’s.

Many games, such as Pac-Man, Galaga, etc. had overlays that covered the entire top of the cocktail cabinet. I’d never found an Arkanoid cabinet with nice artwork, so I whipped this together. The goal was to look retro, incorporate the actual logos, and power-up information. (Click the image to enlarge) I’d say that I’m pretty happy with the result. The next step will be to print and cutout this design. It measures at 22″ x 32″, so It will need to be printed on a plotter, then laminated to protect it. I will post pictures of the finished result when its ready.