Titan

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  • Kai

    A visual tale of the future. Amazing diploma thesis at the UDK Berlin by David Löhr.

  • Kiggen0

    Nice. some music from sunshine.

  • emulgator0

    The whole thing is completely 'sucked' from Sunshine...
    A pitty...

  • bobbylocksville0

    Its alot a bit like TITAN AE..
    http://www.google.co.uk/search?q…

    Looks good though....

    Its so hard to be original these days

  • Not_Ghey0

    the concept art is nice, the story is nothing original

  • Not_Ghey0

    like their logo


  • Not_Ghey0

  • kelpie0

    the story doesn't really do anything or go anywhere, the voice over is hackneyed, the visuals are a string of sci fi terraforming and spaceship cliches, but the graphics are great and the shots gorgeous for a student piece and its really well done so in the context, top marks

    • Agreed, but the we make you wonder logo does rock!Not_Ghey
  • kelpie0

    I'd have been really impressed if this was made as a part of a thesis on the science of populating new worlds, as I originally thought, by the way. It looks like a really corking lead in to a paper on the subject

  • DavidLoehr0

    I appreciate all the comments. Yes, its hard to be original. I fully admit that this piece is inspired by a lot of science-fiction visuality that we all have digested multiple times. For sure. Its really really hard to get off the already beaten track. I guess thats the case with almost all the stuff 'out there'.

    What we have seen in the cinemas sets the benchmark for criticism. But one cannot help it – when working in the same direction, every output is automatically set in context to those productions.

    There are a lot of open ends, unfinished thoughts and a whole lot of interpretation and imagination in Titan. Well, at least its a point to progress onward from. And isnt it all about that?

    All the Best, David.

  • Kiggen0

    Great work David.

  • eatbreathdrive0

    Grab the ost from Red Planet, u ll be blown away!

  • erikjonsson0

    I loved it. damnit its great!

  • robotron3k0

    very impressive, very creative. of course your story line needs help and some fresh ideas, but you can work that in. one thing to keep in mind, Titan will still not be livable until Saturn is ignited as a sun, then it can easily act like a second Earth... (think about it.)

    keep up the great work! cheers!

  • Pupsipu0

    It's pretty well done, good visuals, sounds, the voiceover is noticeably lower quality, but that's understandable.

    The science/philosophy part is too dated and cheesy though. I guess it's hard to find the time to really research all the technical details and make a more accurate prediction about the future, but then it's safer to make everything look more out of this world.

    Kinda cheesy to make a big deal out of a colony on Titan, Mars would already be colonized by then.

    and no robotron3k, you don't need to ignite Saturn, and wtf.

    • you gotta know your science if you do sci-fi. the current Cassini mission has 72 lbs of plutonium just for Saturn.robotron3k
  • DavidLoehr0

    Well, there will be far more background information when we will launch WMYW and feature the project there. For those who care now: a very very brief summary of thoughts and research:

    Titan is -180°C cold and has 0.6g gravitation. Furthermore the atmosphere is composed of Nitrogen and Methane (its the ONLY other atmosphere in the whole solar system that has a high Nitrogen composition besides that of Earth). All the details here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tit…)

    There is a NASA document on their planning up until 2045 to be found here: http://images.spaceref.com/news/…

    Titan is in their focus most definitely and not from a scientific / research standpoint, but also from a ressource standpoint. The really only problem is: its far away and too cold. But from all the other facts its the most suitable colony environment. There are hydrocarbons in the atmosphere or as liquid streams on the surface, which can be used to generate fuel or plastic components. Water Ice makes up the solid surface. Oxygen is bound there and the hydrogen can be aswell used for energy generation. How necessary a water supply for living there is, should be self-explanatory.

    Like being said, its far away, which means the colony has to be autark and not dependent on supply chains. Mars or Moon can be supplied from Earth far more easily.

    So the whole concept of the colony is to build it there in-situ with the ressources at hand. Thats where my concept of "growing"-architecture comes from. Basically Titan is being seeded by autonomous factories (the 'spheres' that fall down) who generate plastic compounds out of the hydrocarbons in the atmosphere and planetary crust, grow into a shell, isolate it thermacally and then begin to transform the atmosphere in the shell into a breathable one. What is no big deal since the native atmosphere is mostly made of Nitrogen. Deep frozen seeds and vegetation inside the 'seeders' will be released into the shell and start to grow on the terraformed piece of Titanian land inside. A biosphere will be created over several years. The shell maintains the necesarry balance and regulates the biological processes inside. To keep the balance more easily the climate inside the shell will be a very nordic one, close to 0°, since most of the Titanian crust is made of water ice, so the soil needs to be permafrosted. The plants and vegetation are prepared and modified for this climate; I thought of lichen, fungi, pinetrees and the like.

    After that piece of habitable land has been established the colonists will follow. Since I assumed that this terraformed, heated piece will still have some Titanian characteristics, the colonists themselves need to adapt previously. They will have to live at 0.6 gravitation, which is probably the biggest deal. So there will be treatments beforehand, which will prepare them for that. That means most probably that they cannot return to Earth, since bone-structure has been altered etc..

    Only bits and parts of this are scientifically founded and a lot is just imagination, but thats how science-fiction works. You have a starting point and then it just spins off.

    Enough of writing now ;)

  • DavidLoehr0

    oh its NASA planning up until 2035 not 2045 in the SRM3 document - sorry for the typo.

  • Pupsipu0

    Well NASA is planning self assembling buildings for the missions to the moon and Mars. Why would a self assembling biosphere be a big step when there is no other practical way to build anything on other planets? The astronauts are not gonna be huffing and puffing in their suits to build themselves shelters on the moon, it's cheaper to send robots ahead than enough oxygen for human exercise.

    Gravity on the moon should also be problematic, but going from one low G environment to another is not as bad as spending years on a 0-G environment like a space station, and people have done that then returned to earth in better shape than they left.

    You probably mean that any offspring of the colonists would develop differently in a low G environment. I hope you looked up whatever scientific experiments were done on insects and mammals giving birth on space stations. Perhaps it's not possible at all, and offspring will have to be grown outside the body in gravity chambers?

    It's one thing to do a little research and make a movie that's science fiction, which you're saying you did. But the way the movie looks to me is like a prediction of the near future, something realistic, based on what we know today. Like the documentaries about how we might go to Mars. Those are a bit different than science fiction about violent aliens or a dying sun.

    So when I see what look like solar panels still attached on what is stated to be a one way trip to a world where there isn't enough sunlight, it seems like a really cool artistic effect, but out of place scientifically. You could have made solar sails look just as cool.

    Seems like you started on sails in your concept art, but didn't find the cooler looking concepts http://www.newscientist.com/arti… and http://www.sciencedaily.com/rele… which would be realistic in combination with a plasma engine.

  • gung_hoek0

    oh boy, is this great.

    this piece absolutely rules the realm of diplomarbeiten, big time. also kudos for switching from the web into movies (I really digged your interactive work too, esp. the 3d). the only thing that bothered me a little is the voice-over, the gorgeous visuals deserve a pro-narrator IMO, but what the heck.

    also, I don´t see any connection to Titan A.E. at all. if I remember correctly their concept was old-ass sail-ships in space, the disney vibe was all over the movie, where´s the connection? david´s concept work is solid and stands on it´s own. his piece builds on and cites other sci-fi flicks just like Sunshine did, or any other half-decent piece of sci-fi since A Space odyssey. there´s basic commons that people come to expect from the genre, and this short DELIVERS.

    I don´t get the complaining, especially considering that this is a solo-project, especially considering where the genre is right now in terms of visionary visuals (down the drain). what is it with you people?

    Und Daniel: Alles Gute! Das Ding ist super-scharf, mach das weiter!! Stretch das auf ne Stunde, die Bayern bringen das in Space Night! Dann Filmförderung, Constantin, zickzack, Kinofilm! Mach den Emmerich! (bloss nicht so scheisse :)

  • gung_hoek0

    I would also like to point out that they say that on Titan, with it´s low gravity and thick atmosphere, man would in fact be able to fly around just by flapping your arms, you´d just need to attach small wings.

    how rad is that?!

  • DavidLoehr0

    @pupsipu

    Yeah, and everything you say there would be probably the base for a different story. Do that by yourself and I am looking forward to it. What I did is just a mindplay in the end and I visualized it. But a mindplay with a CERTAIN research ahead and a very subjective interpretation. I am a designer in the end, not a scientist. And I already admit there are a lot of open and loose ends.

    Also, you could surely put a team of 100 people from all disciplines thinking for about 10 years+ on that. I had half a year and it was only me. So I was just giving a little background information on my thoughts. Thats it. And I bet there will be open ends and loose interpretations on this aswell. It is with all the futurous thoughts. I dont see the hover-cars around that people during the 50s predicted...

    Also just to clarify: There is enough sunlight around the Saturnian System in space (thats how Cassini gets its power...), just not on the surface. My seeding-ship stays in a geostationary orbit as a solar collector and transmits the energy down to the colony as an additional energy source and acts as a orbital mainframe.

    @gung: btw the "wingsuit" in the concepts is exactly for gliding around in Titan's atmosphere! Should be fun!!