When I think of Earth: Final Conflict, the first thing that usually comes to my mind was their "Global Link" communicators. Coming a good ten years before the first iPhone, it seemed like a mindblowingly nifty idea, especially the way the large screen sprang out of a handle seemingly too small to contain it. I recently saw someone who reminded me of the alien Da'an, which made me think of the show (and therefore the Global Link), so I decided to try to make one.
I went through the entire first season, taking screenshots in every scene where I saw them in use, and a couple where they were just clipped to people's belts. (Digression: man, Blu-Ray has really spoiled me. The DVDs' NTSC resolution is just so... disappointing.) So far, I've been unable to find the right size and kind of spring to make a miniature window-shade-like assembly for a hero prop, so I decided to start with static opened and closed versions. I whipped up a 3D model in Blender:
I have no idea what the actual dimensions should be, but I estimated six inches from top to bottom, not including the camera housing.
It printed pretty well... though after I printed it, I realized I'd not gotten the back shape quite right. I fixed the model in Blender, but decided to go ahead and paint up the flawed prints anyway, since they looked reasonably okay from the front.
Not happy yet with the silvery paint, but I'll keep experimenting until I've got a hero version to paint. (And yes, I did a terrible job getting into the crevices on the black bit, which I didn't notice until the camera flash made it painfully apparent.)
Like (some of) the props, they have a belt clip on the back, though it's really only useful on the closed version:
(Screen image simulated)
For giggles, an assembly diagram I generated in Blender:
I went through the entire first season, taking screenshots in every scene where I saw them in use, and a couple where they were just clipped to people's belts. (Digression: man, Blu-Ray has really spoiled me. The DVDs' NTSC resolution is just so... disappointing.) So far, I've been unable to find the right size and kind of spring to make a miniature window-shade-like assembly for a hero prop, so I decided to start with static opened and closed versions. I whipped up a 3D model in Blender:
I have no idea what the actual dimensions should be, but I estimated six inches from top to bottom, not including the camera housing.
It printed pretty well... though after I printed it, I realized I'd not gotten the back shape quite right. I fixed the model in Blender, but decided to go ahead and paint up the flawed prints anyway, since they looked reasonably okay from the front.
Not happy yet with the silvery paint, but I'll keep experimenting until I've got a hero version to paint. (And yes, I did a terrible job getting into the crevices on the black bit, which I didn't notice until the camera flash made it painfully apparent.)
Like (some of) the props, they have a belt clip on the back, though it's really only useful on the closed version:
(Screen image simulated)
For giggles, an assembly diagram I generated in Blender:
