Council Science Fiction

New Concept Art – Praesepe Prime

Imperator — Thu, 13 Feb 2020 20:03:39 +0000

Concept Renderings

This scene originally began as a lighting experiment for other models but became much more. These are two conceptual renderings of Enler’s homeworld of Praesepe Prime from my novels. Both are the same model taken from different perspectives, one day side, one night side.

Praesepe Prime – Day

Praesepe Prime – Night

For those interested in the technical side of things; all textures in this scene (with the exception of the cloud layer and star background) are procedurally generated. This includes the ocean, land, surface lighting on the night side, atmosphere, planetary rings, and several other surfaces. I would actually like to improve on these textures, but that will have to wait until I have more processing power at my disposal. The current surface already uses about a dozen fractals to produce the land, and adding more will drastically increase the amount of memory required to render the image at a decent resolution. That said I have several other renderings of this scene in the post processing stage, so expect more images like these. Along with this scene, I also have several more renderings of the CAESAR that will be posted soon.

Short Book 2 Update

Editing continues on Book 2. It is still too early to estimate a release date, but I will try to maintain my goal of releasing the first teasers within the next four weeks. Book 2 is longer than book one and has multiple converging plot lines, so maintaining continuity is a priority. This has made the editing process proceed a bit slower than Book 1, but I do not want to sacrifice quality in an effort to rush it to release.

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New Art

Imperator — Sat, 01 Feb 2020 20:21:28 +0000

First CAESAR Art

CAESAR Concept Rendering

This is the first concept rendering of the NOVA Galactic vessel CAESAR that appears in my books. Expect more renderings of this model in coming weeks.

For those interested in the technical side of things, this model presented several unique challenges. By far the greatest of those was lighting. As described in my books, this vessel has a highly reflective hull, meaning that in the black of space, it simply reflects space, making it almost invisible. For that reason I chose to render this model in an atmosphere. However, I am experimenting with several other lighting environments including planetary rings and binary stars. Check back in coming weeks for more art and news on Book 2.

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Still Here – Some News and Updates

Imperator — Mon, 30 Dec 2019 19:37:59 +0000

Return to More Regular Postings

Sorry for the long absence, I have been involved in a business startup that has taken up much of the time I would have been devoting to creating blog content. With the time available I have been focusing on editing Book 2, and I have completed the first editing pass. A number of cuts, additions, and rewrites have already been made, but several more passes are still necessary. Book 2 is taking a longer time to edit than Book 1. This is because of the number of converging plot lines and the need to maintain continuity.

Expect the first teasers for Book 2 within 4-8 weeks, depending on developments in the editing process. Also expect a number of other new posts, including artwork, over the next two months.

Note on New Content and Potential Spoilers

Some upcoming content may have spoilers for Book 2 content. Most of these will be minor, but there may be a few that are more significant. Most notable is an updated character listing that is currently in development and will contain Book 2 characters. For the time being, I intend to keep this listing separate from the Book 1 listing. In any case, all content with potential spoilers will be marked as such, and I will try to ensure that such content is only shown on the respective content pages and not on this sites main page.

Site Updates

There have been significant behind the scenes site updates recently, any errors encountered are likely due to this and should be resolved shortly. Thank you for your patience.

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Major Book 2 Announcement and Some Art

Imperator — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 19:21:48 +0000

Book 2 Update

Once again it has been some time since I posted. Real world concerns have been consuming much of my time for the past month. However, I can now officially announce that the first draft of Book 2 is complete. Now will begin the process of editing, adding, cutting and rewrites as needed. It is still far too early to estimate a release date, but the first teasers will be available this summer. Stay tuned for more updates.

Some New Art

At the suggestion of a friend, I have decided to post some early renderings of some of my previous art. These show various stages in the development of the final models that I use for my rendered artwork. Keep in mind that most of these are simply for my own visualization and as such will be of considerably lower quality than the finished renderings (textures may appear blotchy). See the image captions for more details on each stage of development.

This is the earliest rendering of the design before any texturing or major detail work is done.

At this stage more detail work is completed and an early texture has been applied to most of the model.

Here additional detail has been added as well as some model lights. Early textures are still applied to most of the model.

Here is the model in brighter lighting for visualization purposes. I have also started to refine the textures.

At this stage the textures are much more refined and I am experimenting with overall lighting.

This was a lighting experiment regarding the ships ventral thrusters which are active in this rendering. There are also new more detailed models for some of the weapons and other exterior details.

Here is the ship from a different perspective.

This was the first high res rendering of the model from a similar perspective to that which would end up in the final art. Note that the lighting was not finished.

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First Book 2 Promotional Art

Imperator — Tue, 21 May 2019 21:27:45 +0000

The Arcadia Class

Click for Full Sized Image

Here is the first promotional image for Book 2, the massive Arcadia Class Warship. Without giving away any plot spoilers, this immense vessel is approximately 28 kilometers long, and appears in Book 2 as the flagship of a fleet.

For those interested in the technical side of my art, the 3D model of the ship is completely created by me and uses textures that are either freely available resources or are also created by me. The model itself is a little over 500,000 polys, and is rendered using Blender.

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New Art and Book 2 Update

Imperator — Sat, 20 Apr 2019 18:02:36 +0000

New Art

Once again I realize it has been some time since I posted, I intend to be more regular in the future. My workflow was temporarily disrupted by a faulty mouse which delayed the completion of some artwork. However, I now have the my first completed rendering.

Click for full sized image.

This rendering is of the colony ship from my last short story. More 3D rendered art will follow in the future. The first promotional material for my second book will likely be in this format. (Please note that this image uses 24-bit color depth and may look odd on displays that only support 16-bit.)

Book 2 Status Update

While I was unable to finish my artwork for a time, I have been heavily focused on the completion of Book 2. At this time I am currently writing the final chapter. Once I finish this chapter, the first draft of Book 2 can be considered completed and I will begin the process of editing. I will post updates on this process in coming weeks. As editing progresses I intend to release some teasers for Book 2, but it is still too early to provide an estimate of when these will be available.

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Short Story Part 2

Imperator — Sat, 16 Feb 2019 22:34:52 +0000

New Short Story Part 2!

Chronicles of the Expansion War: Episode 1 Part 2

Part 2 of my latest short story is now released. Click the link above to go to the story page and read it now!

For those who prefer, a PDF version of the complete story can be downloaded here:

Chronicles of the Expansion War Episode I: The Battle of Yates - Complete

1 file(s) 427.07 KB

Download

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A New Short Story and A New Content Format

Imperator — Mon, 04 Feb 2019 20:12:37 +0000

New Short Story!

Chronicles of the Expansion War

Episode 1

The Battle of Yates (Part 1)

A Short Story By Gerold F. Eberl III

Click Here to Read it Now!

I had planned to release this last week but because of the length of the story I had to delay it for editing. The overall length of this story means it could technically be considered a novella. Because of this I have decided to split it into two parts, expect Part 2 to be released soon. As usual I will release a PDF version of the full story when I release Part 2.

New Content Format

This is something I am particularly excited about. I have some experience in 3D modelling and design, so for a while I have been considering creating some 3D concept art of ships or locations in my stories, and I finally have something to show in that regard. Below I have included a quick conceptual rendering of the colony ship that appears in my latest short story. This is very much a work in progress, the model, textures, and lighting are incomplete. However, I wanted to release it as a sample of things to come.

Work In Progress – Click for full sized Image

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Something New – A History of the Expansion War

Imperator — Wed, 26 Dec 2018 18:56:13 +0000

This is something new I have been working on. The Expansion War is a massive war that occurs long before the events in my book, over 3000 years prior, so there should not be any significant spoilers for my book. This is a short piece written in the style of a military history covering the first battle of that war, the map above goes with the piece. Over time this may evolve into a series of short stories or other works. For formatting reasons this piece has it’s own page: Click Here to Read it Now

Other News

I expect to have a short story ready to publish in January, I will post more details in coming weeks. Additionally, the first draft of my second book is nearly completed. Expect the first teasers, previews, and similar material soon.

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Book 2 Update and Blog News

Imperator — Wed, 28 Nov 2018 20:34:21 +0000

New Concept Art

Book 2 News and Upcoming Blog Content

I realize it has been some time since I posted, I have recently completed some real life projects that have been occupying much of my time. I intend to return to more frequent posts, and you can expect some major content updates (including a possible short story) in the coming weeks.

As far as my second book is concerned, the first draft is nearly complete. When it is I will move on to editing, during which time previews may become available. It is still too early to estimate when Book 2 will be released, but I will provide periodic progress updates.

I also wanted to post two pieces of concept art that I have for Book 2 and an upcoming short story. These piece along with some others will be part of future posts (Click on the thumbnails at the top of this post or the larger images below to see the full sized versions). Check back for more soon.

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