star trek bridge virtual background

Den of Geek

Best Geeky Zoom Backgrounds for Virtual Meetings

Using Zoom can be much more fun than your average conference call. Here are some great geeky backgrounds for your next virtual meeting.

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The spread of the coronavirus has forced many people to work from home and communicate via virtual meetings on Zoom and other free video conferencing services . While it turns out that virtual meetings are about as exciting as real-life meetings ( unless you’re planning to play games with your friends ), Zoom does offer one amusing advantage that makes them more exciting: customizable virtual backgrounds.

As far as the Zoom backgrounds available, there are tons of great ones to choose from, including more than a few backgrounds based on your favorite shows and movies. It’s actually possible to upload just about any background you want, but to get you started, we’ve highlighted some of the best geeky backgrounds that we’ve found around the internet.

Before we dive into the background, here’s a quick breakdown on how to upload a custom background image to Zoom:

• Go to the Zoom app’s settings menu.
• Choose the Virtual Background option on the left.
• Click on the Plus icon on the right side of “Choose Virtual Background”
• Upload your desired background image file from your device.

You can also swap between background images by clicking that Plus symbol again and choosing another background image file. Now, here are the best nerdy backgrounds we’ve found so far:

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Game of Thrones, Westworld, and More From HBO

HBO got in on the Zoom background game fairly early on with this collection of favorites from the premium network. The Silicon Valley and Sharp Objects backgrounds are surprisingly subtle and all-around awesome, but nobody is going to blame you if you choose to sit on the Iron Throne from Game of Thrones .

It’s slightly disappointing that HBO didn’t dive deeper into its catalog for these official backgrounds, but you can always make a custom image that lets you address your co-workers from the front of a New Jersey pork store or the Gem saloon.

Download HBO Zoom Backgrounds Here

The Incredibles, Finding Nemo, and the Pixar Collection

The Pixar collection is not only instantly recognizable, but the crystal clear visuals of the best Pixar movies happen to make them the perfect candidates for Zoom backgrounds.

Thankfully, Pixar has already posted an official collection of backgrounds for your amusement. You can’t go wrong with The Incredibles background , and the Toy Story cloud wall background also works shockingly well for just about any situation.

Just be careful using that Up background. Times are tough enough without having to remind people of that movie’s opening minutes.

Download Pixar Zoom Backgrounds Here

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The Simpsons, Family Guy, and the Rest of the Fox Animated Lineup

Few networks have access to as many iconic animated series as Fox does, so we were thrilled to find that the Fox team has sent out some quality official images for your custom background.

The Simpsons couch is an obvious winner here that just about everyone will be able to appreciate, but we’ve got to send some love to those Bob’s Burger backgrounds. It’s just a shame you can’t change the name of the daily special on the chalkboard.

If only there were background images devoted to the many cancelled Fox series over the years. We need some Fastlane back in our lives.

Download Fox Zoom Backgrounds Here

DC Comics Is Offering Everything Awesome

We’re not going to get into a whole DC/Marvel thing right now, but we’ve got to give a special shout out to DC for offering some of the best looking official Zoom background images of any major company.

These animated stills are not only stunningly well-drawn, but they offer a variety of creative background scenarios that will instantly set you apart from your Zoom friends. I mean, just take a look at that awesome Gotham by Gaslight -style background. You also have to love the Fortress of Solitude options, which not only look great but are oddly appropriate right now.

Download DC Comics Zoom Backgrounds Here

Marvel Lets You Zoom into the MCU

Not to be outdone by the competition, Marvel posted a few official Zoom backgrounds on its website that offer you the chance to sit in front of a few different corners of the Marvel universe.

The bulk of these selections feature the MCU films, which is honestly pretty hard to complain about. Granted, it’s a limited selection of options, but the fact you get a few options from the colorful Thor: Ragnarok is good enough for now.

The two comic-style options are also pretty great, but we need some quality X-Men backgrounds ASAP.

Download Marvel Zoom Backgrounds Here

Star Wars Millenium Falcon (and Pretty Much Everything Else)

Since it doesn’t seem like the Star Wars team has entered the Zoom backgrounds arena yet, you’re left relying on the many fan-made backgrounds that have already been created.

We’re particularly fond of the Millenium Falcon image you see above, which is not only clean and recognizable but also feels natural for conferencing purposes. We also highly recommend finding a way to put yourself in the Jedi High Council room or Emperor’s throne room. The cockpit of the Millennium Falcon is another good one.

Download Star Wars Millennium Falcon Zoom Background Here

Star Trek Options for Every Generation

At the risk of playing favorites, few series lend themselves quite as well to awesome Zoom backgrounds as Star Trek does.

From official collections that transport you o the world of Picard to unofficial options that take you to the original Enterprise bridge and Next Generation holodeck, the wealth of Star Trek backgrounds out there highlights the franchise’s incredible futuristic visuals and creativity.

Now, if someone could find a way to put us on the Enterprise video screen with the captain looking at us from the foreground, we’d be eternally grateful.

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Download Star Trek Zoom Backgrounds Here

The Power Rangers Are Here to Mightily Morph Your Zoom Background

We shouldn’t be surprised that the Power Rangers have our back during these difficult times, but this official selection of themed Zoom backgrounds is still very much welcome.

This wave of official options mostly focuses on the old-school Power Rangers series, but since we all know that original Power Rangers are the best Power Rangers, you should be able to find something that you love.

We kid, folks. We kid because we love.

Download Power Rangers Zoom Backgrounds Here

The Office Offers a Pretty Much Perfect Background

There’s actually quite a few Office -related Zoom backgrounds out there, but it’s hard to do better than this one.

The iconic interview background from The Office is not only an incredibly clever background for Zoom meetings, but it’s honestly one of the few that you could probably get away with using in an official capacity.

It’s that blend of nerdy and professional that you just have to love.

Download The Office Zoom Background Here

The Good Place Is Here with a Slightly Too Accurate Background

Much like The Office , there’s no shortage of Zoom backgrounds from The Good Place . However, in our hearts and minds, there’s really one option that stands apart from the rest.

That “Welcome! Everything is fine” background is one of the best we’ve seen for the current moment in our history. This one is so accurate and perfect that you might actually want to be careful with how you use it.

Download The Good Place Zoom Backgrounds Here

A Pee Wee’s Playhouse Background for These Tough Times

There are a few things we really love about this Pee Wee’s Playhouse theme. First off, it’s actually pretty well-framed for this format, which is always a subtle plus. It also features quite a few callbacks in a relatively small amount of space which, again, is a bonus for easter egg lovers. It’s also a wholesome and colorful reminder of childhood that will surely put a smile on anyone’s face.

Download Pee Wee’s Playhouse Zoom Background Here

Twin Peaks Offers a Background Strange Enough for Reality

We live in some pretty strange times, so it only makes sense that you might turn to a background that’s just as strange.

While we fully support any references to Twin Peaks , there’s something to be said for the strange serenity of these red room backgrounds. They’re subtle enough to fool anyone not in the know but recognizable enough to be easily spotted by the Twin Peaks crowd out there .

The only thing better would be you sitting on a couch that Bob is menacingly crawling over. Actually…could someone get on that?

Download Twin Peaks Zoom Backgrounds Here

Archer Backgrounds for When You Want to Be a Spy

For all of your espionage needs, why not download FX’s new Archer Zoom backgrounds that transport you straight into the office of the International Secret Intelligence Service? It’s perfect for strategy meetings or simply for some high-level office gossip. Just remember to clean up your desk at the end of the day. Leaving a mess is how you get ants.

Matthew Byrd | @SilverTuna014

Matthew Byrd is Games Editor at Den of Geek and an entertainment enthusiast living in Brooklyn. When he's not exploring the culture of video games, he's…

‘Star Trek’ Fans Can Now Virtually Tour Every Starship Enterprise Bridge

An interactive web portal explores the vessel’s evolution over nearly six decades

Daily Correspondent

For decades, many “ Star Trek ” fans have imagined what it would be like to work from the bridge of the starship  Enterprise , the long-running franchise’s high-tech space-exploring vessel. Through various iterations and seasons of the series, created by  Gene Roddenberry in the ’60s, the bridge has remained a constant, serving as the backdrop for many important moments in the show’s 800-plus episodes.

Now, die-hard Trekkies and casual watchers alike can virtually roam around the Enterprise’s bridge to their heart’s content, thanks to a sophisticated and highly detailed new  web portal that brings the space to life.

The site features 360-degree, 3D models of the various versions of the Enterprise , as well as a timeline of the ship’s evolution throughout the franchise’s history. Fans of the show can also read detailed information about each version of the ship’s design, its significance to the “Star Trek” storyline and its production backstory.

Developed in honor of the “Star Trek: Picard”  series finale , which dropped late last month on Paramount+, the portal is a collaboration between the Roddenberry Estate, the Roddenberry Archive and the technology company OTOY. A group of well-known “Star Trek” artists—including Denise and Michael Okuda , Daren Dochterman, Doug Drexler and Dave Blass—also supported the project.

“Through new technology, we can bring audiences back in time as if they were there on set during the making of ’Star Trek,’ providing a window into new dimensions of the ‘Star Trek’ universe,” says Jules Urbach, OTOY’s CEO, in a  statement .

The voice of the late actress  Majel Roddenberry , who played the Enterprise ’s computer for years, will be added to the site in the future. Gene Roddenberry  died in 1991 , followed by Majel Roddenberry  in 2008 ; the two had been married since 1969.

The portal’s creators also released a short video , narrated by actor  John de Lancie , exploring every version of the Enterprise ’s bridge to date, “from its inception in  Pato Guzman ’s 1964 sketches, through its portrayal across decades of TV shows and feature films, to its latest incarnation on the Enterprise-G , as revealed in the final episode of ‘ Star Trek: Picard ,’” per the video description. Accompanying video interviews with “Star Trek” cast and crew—including William Shatner , who played Captain Kirk in the original series, and Terry Matalas , a showrunner for “Star Trek: Picard”—also explore the series’ legacy.

The interactive, 3D bridge models contain a surprising level of detail, right down to the consoles and turbolifts. The site, however, has so far been hit or miss for users, suggesting that the team behind it may still be working out a few of the technical kinks, reports the  Verge ’s Sean Hollister. And as Kyle Barr writes for  Gizmodo , one big downside is that the models don’t contain any “Star Trek” characters, who he says are “the beating heart of the show and its ideals.”

“Sitting in the captain’s chair, with all the stations empty beside you,” he writes, “is enough to make one wistful.”

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Sarah Kuta is a writer and editor based in Longmont, Colorado. She covers history, science, travel, food and beverage, sustainability, economics and other topics.

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New Roddenberry Site Offers Virtual USS Enterprise Bridge Tours, Including Ships From ‘Star Trek: Picard’

| April 27, 2023 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 67 comments so far

Roddenberry Entertainment has been working with technology company OTOY on “The Roddenberry Archive” for the last few years with the goal of creating a digital archive of the work of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. The initial focus of this project has been virtual recreations of Star Trek ships bearing the name USS Enterprise, and they have just launched a brand-new portal where you can tour the iconic bridges.

Tour the Enterprises

The new free web portal includes many iterations of bridges for ships named Enterprise across Star Trek history. You can tour the different ships via a timeline and expand into each bridge for a 360-degree tour. In some cases, bridge details include working turbo lifts and consoles.

Roddenberry Archive Enterprise portal

The portal includes the new USS Enterprise-F and USS Enterprise-G from Star Trek: Picard .

Enterprise-F bridge

A visit to Veridian III

Season 3 of Star Trek: Picard did an update on Star Trek history, adding to the events of the movie Star Trek: Generations . This includes the saucer of the Enterprise-D being recovered from Veridian III and restored by Geordi La Forge at the Starfleet Museum. The new virtual tour reflects this update to Trek history.

Recovery of the Enterprise-D

This includes a short video showing the recovery and a certain Vulcan visiting the grave of James T. Kirk on Veridian III.

Mini documentaries

The Roddenberry Archive is a collaboration that involves a number of key figures in Star Trek history who helped build these iconic ships, including Denise and Michael Okuda, Doug Drexler, Daren Dochterman, and now Picard production designer Dave Blass. They are also getting help from Picard showrunner Terry Matalas, Star Trek star William Shatner, and Q himself, John de Lancie.

This introductory video narrated by de Lancie gives you a brief history of the USS Enterprise.

Another new video released today focuses on the USS Enterprise-D, with a history of the bridge design and details about the reconstruction for Star Trek: Picard .

They also released a preview of their extended interview with William Shatner.

For more about the Roddenberry Archive, see the Deadline report about today’s announcement and visit the new web portal at roddenberry.x.io .

Find more Star Trek history at TrekMovie .

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Here’s hoping we get the Rodenberry-Archive Vol 2 Blu-Ray then.

yes, please

The post Star Trek Generations video was very cool.

it was but also didn’t make much sense. Why would Spock have any memory of the Enterprise’s destruction over Genesis, and why would he be reflecting on that in TMP era? Weird. Technically awesome but weird

Spock probably didn’t see the Enterprise destroyed, but Kirk did. Could a Vulcan mindmeld with a dead human? Doubtful. He could with a resurrected one, though. Hmm.

Anyway, these videos do have a weird scattered memory vibe. It will be interesting to see what comes next.

Maybe because his Katra was in McCoy.

Oh, good point.

Exactly. Spock’s body did not witness anything but his Katra aka soul did via McCoy

Spock didn’t witness the destruction of the Enterprise but McCoy did. And they had a pretty in depth mind melt katra sharing session going on at Vulcan

Awesome they brought back Leonard Nimoy digitally. These, along with Yeoman Colt, would make great Short Treks.

As I understand it, that’s not a digital Nimoy, it’s an actor made to look like him with makeup and so forth. Whatever they did, it looks amazing.

It was an actor, then they put Nimoy’s face on it digitally. It’s not the actor’s face.

According to their website, it was makeup and prosthetics. There’s BTS pics you can find there.

Following the rabbit hole of Lawrence Selleck, that is one hell of an amazing transformation. I’m nearly speechless.

Yeah, if someone looks THAT much like Nimoy — dude, you’re Nimoy. :D

Lol, sure it’s not. Dude, trust your eyes and don’t overthink this.

There was a lot about this awhile back, the guy’s resemblance is amazing in b-t-s imagery. I think there was some digital sweetening that actually soured the look, because the imagery as I recall had a CG feel, whereas the guy just being shot looked like the real deal.

Interesting!

What has Colt?

Showing the sets of the Cage.

Someone from the original pilot and Yeoman Rand’s predecessor.

No, I knew who Colt is; I just wondered how she came up here.

Big shout out to the team who created the makeup and prosthetics for Spock. They’ve done amazing work.

TOS bridge, so sweet. Movie era bridge, awesome. Star Trek IV bridge, sooo good!! Colors, displays, function. Star Trek V/VI – probably the best (not sure why I like the white color scheme in IV). SNW best bridge ever? But TNG, Ent D,E,F… suddenly space is at a premium and they make no sense, walls of non function and/or stations way off that no one can communicate with the Captain. No wonder they need chairs for the shrink on the bridge after that. The TNG, I now think it would be soo funny if the carpet lit on fire, that’s got to happen in Lower Decks. The only thing on the F I like is those consoles getting some heads up displays, I guess that might work to make these far off stations useful and able to communicate with the Captain. Anyone shocked Shelby got phasered from the front as opposed to someone just walking in the door and shooting her in the back? All that wasted space with no function. Someone give the G a new bridge. Cool video with Spock. Though in the one scene where he recalls the Enterprise falling through the Genesis Planet atmosphere, pretty sure he should be wearing the red monster maroons (the best Trek uniforms!).

The various bridges we never saw- from Star Trek Is, Planet of the Titans, Phase II- all look really cool.

It would be cool if some of these came into canon.

In fact, with the 32nd century drawing in more mid-70s Space 1999 design language, some of these might work better there.

Roddenberry or paramount should buy the “stage 9” called simulation/recreation of the entire enterprise d interrior which was shut down by cbs years ago. Such a huge shame, this had so much potential and looked sooo accurate and photorealistic!

I think at least one developer from Stage 9 is working with Roddenberry on this project.

So when I met Shatner on the TOS bridge set recreation in Ticonderoga, NY for his 90th birthday celebration, I brought along my little 360 camera so that I could capture VR video of the legendary captain back in his chair. He and his PR team were so fascinated by the camera, and I implored them to consider doing a 360/VR production with Shatner while he’s still around, as a way to sort of immortalize the experience for future generations, since we really are on the cusp of creatunig truly immersive virtual worlds, but Shatner may not be around for much longer. I wonder if in some way my conversation with them was the spark for this project, because I really think it’s important work – future generations, I believe, will think of 2D video the same way we think of old, silent film. But with the leaps and bounds being taken by AI, not only will they be able to recreate the sets in some future virtual environment, but probably recreate the movies too as an interactive experience where you’re literally there. I am hoping I live to see the day when I can join Kirk and co as a member of the bridge on any one of their greatest adventures :)

I think this has been in development for quite awhile. One of the companies involved, Light Field Labs, was apparently already on the fringe of this project when I interviewed with them early in the pandemic, nearly three years back. Correction: it has been in the works much longer, see this old trekmovie story: https://trekmovie.com/2018/10/23/roddenberry-entertainment-joins-project-to-build-real-star-trek-like-holodeck/

Where is the season 2 TNG bridge and the versions from Yesterdays Enterprise, Parallels, All Good Things and Generations?

Hasten to add what was done is incredible to be sure!

There are definitely a few omissions to address.

Academy-award nominated production designer Tamara Deverell is responsible for the 1701 bridge as it appeared in Discovery S2, but the narration credits Jonathan Lee for both the Discovery and SNW versions.

Lee is responsible solely for the tweaked SNW version after the set was moved to a new, permanent soundstage.

Deverell made the effort to recreate the paint and plastic colours of the original, getting input from the 1701 recreation in NY state.

Really rather shabby omission given she’s the only woman head production designer in the history of the franchise.

I would expect the Official Archive to ensure these kinds of citations to be accurate.

Thanks for pointing this out, I’ll make sure it’s addressed on the website!

Thanks for your response.

I hope the voiceover on the video can be corrected though.

Deverell did the kind of deep dive work to recover the colours of the original, and deserves the same kind of acknowledgement that’s being given for the reproduction of the Enterprise D bridge.

This is documented in many articles from 2019. It raises genuine questions about blindspots and biases in the archive. Perhaps a featurette documenting the creation of the new 1701 bridge would address this.

See for example this from SyFy

https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/star-trek-discovery-designer-reveals-how-uss-enterprise-bridge-and-colors-returned?amp

Heh, these things take time, you know? Eventually, we plan on having all in there ;)

In the meantime, your video is out getting tens and hundreds of thousands of views falsely telling people that every major Trek production designer was male.

Don’t you see how a correction on a website and we’ll get to it when we get to it is not an adequate or appropriate correction for the kind of error that never should have happened?

It’s weird that they have complete bridges for seemingly small variations of some of the bridges, but the Enterprise D’s biggest changes, from Generations, aren’t represented.

That Generations short with Spock showing could use as post-credits or part of special features for a Generations Blu-Ray release.

Yeah that is incredible.

love the 360 bridge views, only wish they’d retconned the obvious CRT monitors on some of the sets

Considering they are working from a historic perspective, they should be faithful to the original.

If they were CRTs on set, then they’re CRTs. Same with the TNG consoles having visible screws. We’re recreating them as they were built. :)

Holy smokes. This is a lot of content. This is all shockingly amazing work.

I could enjoy this a lot more if they didn’t have to kill Stage 9 and other similar projects for it that I was frankly a lot more excited about

Not only is this not responsible for what happened to Stage 9, but also now several Stage 9 devs (including myself) are working on this full time!

Same. I was so excited about Stage 9. I kept up with it’s development since it started and couldn’t wait until it was complete just for it to dumped.

Hey what is 765874 ?!? I don’t suppose it could be a secret code to more of the Spock / Regeneration story. I want more!!

https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/J._Mia_Colt

“ Her service number was 765874.”

Looks like a high-end “fan-film” coming down the Pike soon. Pun intended.

Oooohhh exciting. I don’t get why they didn’t have Colt in SNW honestly, or at least a cameo and then have her transfer. I mean she was in the Cage! Wow, good catch on Colt’s service #. Guess I am not the TOS fan I thought I was to not have considered that!

This all looks amazing. Spock on Veridian III wow! CGI has come so far today seeing the saucer section. And that Spock was on the mark.

But I truly love that video discussing the history of TNG and the E-D. It’s crazy a week ago I was watching that ship and bridge in live action again on an IMAX screen. Never thought we would see it again, much less in that format. TNG and the Enterprise D has been my home ship for 30 years now and I have to thank Terry Matalas and everyone responsible for bringing it back to all us fans! This is the happiest I been as a Trek fan in decades.

Thank you again.

Well said! 👍

It still doesn’t feel real they found a way to bring the D back in canon. It’s really surreal and definitely have Matalas to thank for it.

That scene with Spock was beautifully heartbreaking

This is the icing and the cake.

The Enterprise-G (aka Titan-A aka Stargazer) bridge set looks great when you can actually see it with the light on! I hope that if Legacy is green-lit, they turn the lights up on that bridge!

While the SNW bridge set is fun, it seems too busy.

Amazing. Wonderfully executed. All of the videos. (Although wonder why they would envision raising the D’s saucer with cables and not tractor beams, but whatever)

All very cool. I hope one day we get something in VR that’s as good or better than the Stage 9 recreation of the Enterprise D was. It’s such fun to be able to virtually tour those familiar sets. It was a great bonus feature to some of the old games too like Elite Force and The Fallen.

OTOY and Spock make-up BTS – https://home.otoy.com/roddenberryarchiveaug22/

I hope this portal is made available for vr headsets soon.

I’m really happy to see so much attention given to my favorite ship in the franchisee lately. The Enterprise D will probably always be my favorite although I love the E and A as well.

love all the content being created. hoping they add the generations enterprise-d refit bridge

This is awesome! But, bummed to not see the Defiant. I hope they can add other ships!

I can not find any Enterprise bridge archive on any on the links. Is it down?I can not find any Enterprise bridge archive on any on the links. Is it down?

Same here — it’s nowhere to be found :(

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Send your Video Calls to the Final Frontier!

By Ambassador Kael | Thu 30 Apr 2020 09:00:00 AM PDT

Captains - are those video conference calls we're all doing too many of in need of some spicing up? Don't call from your living room anymore, call from the Final Frontier. Below, you can find 16 amazing Zoom Conference Backgrounds made by STO player Primar13. Take charge of your meetings from the bridge of the Enterprise, or show a little hard-fought peace from the world of New Romulus. Don't video call for the job you have, video call for the job you want. Click on each image to download the full size version.

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Star Trek experience lets you virtually walk around every Starship Enterprise bridge

The roddenberry archive team is working to launch more star trek virtual experiences in the future..

The USS Enterprise has gone through several iterations across TV shows and movies, and now Star Trek fans can explore them as much as they want to online. As Deadline reports, the latest update to the Roddenberry Archive adds 360-degree virtual recreations of the famous Starship Enterprise bridge as depicted in various Star Trek properties. It has the bridge from Star Trek: The Original Series , Picard , Discovery and Strange New Worlds , arranged according to timeline in the new web portal . Fans can click on the version of the Enterprise they want to see and then expand the virtual bridge, which they can drag around and explore to see its beeping panels and displays.

The Roddenberry Archive is a multi-decade collaboration between the estate of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and cloud graphics company OTOY. This is their largest set of digital archive works to date, and it was launched with accompanying videos, including a William Shatner interview with a holographic version of the 1979 USS Enterprise bridge as a background. John de Lancie, who has portrayed Q since 1987’s Star Trek: The Next Generation , also narrates the history of the Starship Enterprise bridge across decades of shows and movies.

The Roddenberry Archive team is working to add more virtual set recreations fans can explore in the future aside from the ones already available. One of the projects they're working on is a 1:1 scale recreation of the entire Starship Enterprise from the 1979 film Star Trek: The Motion Picture .

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The web portal will allow fans to virtually explore the many dozens of evolutionary iterations of the famous Starship Enterprise bridge, across every epoch of Star Trek‘s history, with each bridge made accessible in the timeline as a 1:1 scale, “in-universe,” 360 recreation. De Lancie, who has portrayed extra-dimensional being Q since 1987’s Star Trek: The Next Generation, narrates a supplementary documentary, offering a deep dive into the evolution and legacy of the bridge — from its inception in Pato Guzman’s 1964 sketches, through its portrayal across decades of films and TV series, to its latest incarnation on the Enterprise-G, as revealed in the final episode of Star Trek: Picard.   This combined documentary and exploratory online experience brings the legacy and history of the starship Enterprise to life through meticulous recreations of the filming sets used for production as well as the aforementioned “in-universe” life size, functional immersive virtual interiors. The recreations were produced for the Gene Roddenberry Estate, and overseen by veteran Star Trek artists including Denise and Michael Okuda, who authored The Star Trek Encyclopedia, as well as Daren Dochterman, Doug Drexler and Dave Blass.   The Archive will also, for a limited time, allow fans to try an experimental technology preview through the web portal, enabling them to walk onto the bridges of the Enterprise (boasting working turbolifts and consoles) and explore them in every detail, all from an instantaneous livestream.

You can find out more about this engrossing project at the Roddenberry Archive website and through the OTOY YouTube channel.

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Star Trek Enterprise Bridge: A New Interactive Web Portal Created by The Roddenberry Archive">Take Virtual Tours of Every Star Trek Enterprise Bridge: A New Interactive Web Portal Created by The Roddenberry Archive

in Sci Fi , Television | May 8th, 2023 1 Comment

It’s a rare young Star Trek fan indeed who does­n’t fan­ta­size about sit­ting on the bridge of the star­ship Enter­prise . That has gone for every gen­er­a­tion of fan, every Star Trek series, and every Enter­prise , whose bridges you can see in the new video above from the Rod­den­ber­ry Archive . It begins, nat­u­ral­ly, with the orig­i­nal Star Trek , the show with which cre­ator Gene Rod­den­ber­ry start­ed it all — and for which art direc­tor Matt Jef­feries designed a bridge that would become a mod­el not just for all sub­se­quent Enter­pris­es , but real-life com­mand cen­ters as well. As the nar­ra­tor says, “Jef­feries’ bridge made such an impres­sion that engi­neers from NASA, the U.S. Navy, and pri­vate indus­try have stud­ied it as a mod­el for an advanced, effi­cient con­trol room.”

That nar­ra­tor hap­pens to be John de Lan­cie, whom view­ers of Star Trek: The Next Gen­er­a­tion and sub­se­quent series will know as the all-pow­er­ful extra-dimen­sion­al being Q. He’s not the only famil­iar per­former to par­tic­i­pate in this ret­ro­spec­tive project: in the video above appears a cer­tain William Shat­ner, who as James Tiberius Kirk occu­pied the cap­tain’s chair of the very first Enter­prise .

Even those who pre­fer the lat­er, more com­plex Star Trek s have sure­ly won­dered what that posi­tion would feel like, and now they can get a vir­tu­al sense of it at the Rod­den­bery Archive’s web site , which is now offer­ing vir­tu­al tours of the bridge of every series’ cen­tral ship .

“ T he site fea­tures 360-degree, 3D mod­els of the var­i­ous ver­sions of the Enter­prise , as well as a time­line of the ship’s evo­lu­tion through­out the franchise’s his­to­ry,” writes Smithsonian.com’s Sarah Kuta . “Fans of the show can also read detailed infor­ma­tion about each ver­sion of the ship’s design, its sig­nif­i­cance to the Star Trek sto­ry­line and its pro­duc­tion back­sto­ry.” All this comes online to mark the end of Star Trek: Picard , the recent series built around Patrick Stew­art’s Enter­prise cap­tain from The Next Gen­er­a­tion , whose final episode went up last month on the stream­ing ser­vice Para­mount+. For that grand finale, pro­duc­tion design­er Dave Blass “recre­at­ed the bridge of the Enter­prise D ,” and “Picard’s tri­umphant return to his beloved ship brought nos­tal­gic tears to the eyes of more than a few fans,” no doubt regard­less of gen­er­a­tion. Take the vir­tu­al tours here .

via Smith­son­ian

Relat­ed con­tent:

Watch Star Trek Con­tin­ues : The Crit­i­cal­ly-Acclaimed, Fan-Made Sequel to the Orig­i­nal TV Series

Watch Star Trek: New Voy­ages : The Orig­i­nal Fan-Made Sequel to the 1960s TV Series

How Isaac Asi­mov Went from Star Trek Crit­ic to Star Trek Fan & Advi­sor

William Shat­ner Nar­rates Space Shut­tle Doc­u­men­tary

The Ency­clo­pe­dia of Sci­ence Fic­tion: 17,500 Entries on All Things Sci-Fi Are Now Free Online

Star Trek: World-Build­ing Over Gen­er­a­tions — Pret­ty Much Pop: A Cul­ture Pod­cast #42

Based in Seoul,  Col­in M a rshall  writes and broad­cas ts on cities, lan­guage, and cul­ture. His projects include the Sub­stack newslet­ter   Books on Cities ,  the book  The State­less City: a Walk through 21st-Cen­tu­ry Los Ange­les  and the video series  The City in Cin­e­ma . Fol­low him on Twit­ter at  @colinma rshall  or on  Face­book .

by Colin Marshall | Permalink | Comments (1) |

Related posts:

Comments (1), 1 comment so far.

All the web por­tal links just bring me back to the Rod­den­ber­ry web­site. Am I doing some­thing wrong? I was able to pull up the site with the dif­fer­ent bridges of the Enter­prise but I can’t now. If you could pro­vide me with any infor­ma­tion I would great­ly appre­ci­ate it. Thank­ing you in advance,

Luis Rosa­do

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6 Fun Backgrounds to Use on Your Next Video Call

By ellen gutoskey | apr 6, 2020.

If you’re struggling to find a perfectly decorated wall in your house to serve as the backdrop for your video calls with friends, family, and coworkers, we have good news: Video conferencing platform Zoom lets you customize your very own virtual background.

To do it , log into your Zoom account, go to “Settings” on the left side of your screen, and choose the "Meeting" tab. Scroll down to the “In Meeting (Advanced)” section, and then scroll down farther to make sure the “Virtual background” option is enabled. After that, open the Zoom application on your desktop, click on the “Settings” wheel in the upper right corner, and go to “Virtual Background.” There are a few automatic options, but you can choose your own image from your computer files by clicking on the plus-sign icon.

Now, the only thing left to do is decide which image will best set the tone for your next video call. From the New York Public Library’s Rose Reading Room to Schitt’s Creek ’s Rosebud Motel, here are six of our favorites.

1. The Rosebud Motel lobby from Schitt’s Creek

You can imagine that David is just out of frame, doing his best to carry on a silent—albeit with lots of expressive gesturing—conversation with Stevie at the front desk. (More Schitt's Creek backgrounds here .)

2. Carl and Ellie’s house from Up

If you’re hoping to create a calming atmosphere, look no further than the cozy little sitting room where Carl and Ellie grew old together in 2009's Up . (More Pixar backgrounds here .)

3. The attic study from Knives Out

If your own study isn’t quite teeming with intriguing souvenirs and leather-bound volumes, feel free to borrow this one from the mansion in 2019’s Knives Out . (More Knives Out backgrounds here .)

4. The USS Enterprise from Star Trek

Blame your spotty internet connection on the fact that you’re traveling through the galaxy at the speed of light with this background from the bridge of Star Trek ’s USS Enterprise . (More Star Trek backgrounds here .)

5. The New York Public Library’s Rose Reading Room

Bibliophiles who can’t make it to the library can still pay a virtual visit to the sumptuous Rose Main Reading Room at the New York Public Library’s iconic Fifth Avenue location. (More New York Public Library backgrounds here .)

6. The Werk Room from RuPaul’s Drag Race

Dazzle your coworkers by calling in from the vibrant room where all the magic—and most of the drama—happens on RuPaul’s Drag Race . If you happen to be decked out in an ensemble made entirely of things you found at the Dollar Store, even better. (More RuPaul's Drag Race backgrounds here .)

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Scenes from Star Trek: Lower Decks

Attend your virtual day in Lower Decks style!

Attend your virtual day in Star Trek: Lower Decks style by downloading your favorite Star Trek scenes from the series.

Star Trek: Lower Decks streams exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S. and is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution. In Canada, it airs on Bell Media’s CTV Sci-Fi Channel. The series will also be available to stream on Paramount+ in the UK, Canada, Latin America, Australia, Italy, France, the Caribbean, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland and South Korea.

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Star Trek: The Next Generation - Virtual Background

Explore strange new worlds from the helm of your Zoom meeting with Captain Kirk, Spock, Uhura, and the rest of the iconic U.S.S. Enterprise crew.

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• VFX and MoGraph

Preserving Gene Roddenberry’s legacy and history of “Star Trek”

• Posted by Michelle Galina
• April 26, 2024

This post originally appeared on the  Adobe blo g  on March 21st, 2024.

The Roddenberry Archive is a collaboration between OTOY, The Roddenberry Estate, and iconic Star Trek artists Denise Okuda, Mike Okuda, and Daren Docterman to preserve Gene Roddeberry’s legacy in all media, but especially the history and cultural contribution of all eras of Star Trek . In a multi-pronged approach, the team is documenting Star Trek through interviews with cast and crew members, 3D scanning original props, costumes, and sets, making walk-through digital recreations of the sets from the series and movies, and producing documentary featurettes.

VAD supervisor Mark Spatny, senior hard surface artist Donny Versiga, and motion graphics artist Andrew Jarvis, are a few of the members creating this experience. Check out how they are using  Adobe Creative Cloud  to keep Gene’s legacy alive.

You can check out this project and immerse yourself in the world of Star Trek  here .

How did you first get into VFX design? What drew you to it?

Spatny:  I started working in live theater in the late ‘80s in Los Angeles as a set and lighting designer, and in the early ‘90s began using architectural previz software to design my scenery. I soon found that I enjoyed doing computer graphics as much as the physical theater production, so I transitioned into visual effects where I can combine all those skills. I have since worked on more than 50 TV series and films on-set and in post-production as a VFX supervisor and producer, specializing in both action/stunt/superhero VFX and complex set extensions.

Versiga:  I got my start back in 2000 when I was 16 years old, creating my own custom levels in first-person video games like Doom and Dark Forces . At first it was just rearranging pre-existing assets in a level map, but soon I learned the basics of modeling, texturing, and lighting to achieve more customized results. After a year or so of being active in the video game modding community, I realized that I could merge this newfound hobby with my lifelong love of Star Trek by bringing to life my favorite Trek sets in a 3D digital world via real-time rendering.

Jarvis:  I really took the long way around. I graduated with a degree in philosophy and psychology and started working as a cashier at a coffee shop doing web design jobs on the side. But each job was a little better than the last, and in my free time I was learning  Adobe After Effects , 3D animation and ZBrush sculpting. One day a friend of mine met someone who did screen graphics for film and television, he gave me their number, and I never looked back.

What was the inspiration behind the VFX work on this project? What were you trying to achieve?

Spatny:  Space-themed TV shows have always been my passion ever since I was a kid — Star Trek , Battlestar Galactica , Lost in Space , Stargate , Doctor Who , and anime shows like Space Battleship Yamato and Macross . In 2018, as a member of the Television Academy board, I helped champion giving the Star Trek franchise the Academy’s Governors Award Emmy. So, I’m super excited to finally be working in that genre, helping preserve the history of a show I’ve loved for 50 years.

Versiga:  My goal on the Roddenberry Archive is to not only simply create CG replicas of the sets and props of Star Trek , but also to immerse the end users in a highly detailed and exceptionally immersive virtual tour of some of the most beloved ships and settings of the fictional universe. I want users to feel like they are actually stepping onboard the “Enterprise” via the comfort of their digital devices, in awe of the degree of accuracy.

What Adobe tools did you use on this project and why did you originally choose them?

Spatny:  Premiere Pro is a key editing platform for our documentaries and concept videos. Since we’re dealing with footage transferred to video across many eras and standards, we depend on Premiere Pro’s ability to easily handle a variety of video formats and standards natively.

Versiga:  I am a huge fan of the  Adobe Substance  suite of Adobe tools, particularly  Adobe Painter . I have used the tool for nearly a decade now to add more fidelity and customization to the materials I apply to my models. I originally started using it during the interview process for a job in the video game industry because I recognized that my biggest weakness in my skill set at that point was texturing. I learned via the official tutorials on YouTube and fell in love with the incredibly powerful program. Since then, I’ve been an advocate of Painter in every job I’ve had, even giving tutorials and lessons for those new to the software.

Jarvis:   Adobe Illustrator  is where I spend my most time, but I also use  Adobe Photoshop  and After Effects. I’ve been using the Adobe suite as an FUI (fictional user interface) designer for nearly a decade now so it was the natural choice.

How did you begin this project? Can you talk about the collaborative process with the art department teams from the TV shows and films, and the process of creating your work from start to finish?

Spatny:  The Archive is a decades-long passion project from Jules Urbach, the CEO of OTOY and the Roddenberry Estate. The CG team currently consists of artists in 6 countries, some of whom previously worked on Trek series and games. They work in a variety of DCC tools, and Star Trek art department legends Denise and Michael Okuda and Daren Dochterman review and approve all the assets we recreate for authenticity.

We work mostly from publicly available reference sources such as screen grabs from the series, blueprints and technical drawings that have been published, and photos from the internet. We also have teams that work with private collectors to scan original props and costumes, and we can scan actors in our Lightstage capture facility in Los Angeles, CA.

Eventually, the finished models are converted to ORBX files to render on the  Render Network , a decentralized high performance GPU computing platform. Real-time environments that users can explore are rendered on Amazon cloud servers and streamed to user’s local devices, such as the Apple Vision Pro , via OTOY’s X.IO streaming service.

Describe your favorite piece or component of the project. How did it come together and how did you achieve it?

Versiga:  My favorite piece so far that I’ve created for the Roddenberry Archive would have to be the Enterprise — a bridge scene at the very end of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home . Fans were only provided with a glimpse of this new bridge in the film, but we knew the set was a heavy redress of the bridge set seen in the preceding three films. However, the big unknown factors were the details of the hundred or so display graphics that adorned the bridge’s control consoles, of which only a handful were ever seen on screen.

Fortunately, Mike Okuda was able to provide us with a copy of the original overview document of the displays that he created during his work on the film, which I used as a guide for creating our digital representations of each display in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. It was a huge honor for me to work on that project, as for the first time we were able to provide fans with an accurate representation of the new Enterprise bridge set from that film.

What were some specific challenges you faced? How did you go about solving them?

Spatny:  Because our artists come from different backgrounds and industries, they use a variety of workflows and tools. One of my biggest challenges ahead is helping standardize procedures and simplify communication with the international team. That way, we can more easily scale the team and pivot our work to new platforms, using the best practices I’ve learned from the VFX companies I’ve worked with previously.

If you could share one tip about any or multiple Adobe tools you used, what would it be? (e.g. favorite Photoshop/AE/Premiere Pro “hack”)

Spatny:  Every week we have a 3-hour art review session with Daren, Mike, and Denise, and sometimes the notes come in hot and fast. We record the sessions and then use Premiere Pro’s transcription tool,  Speech to Text , to help gather and summarize the most important points to relay to our art team. One advantage of this over other transcription tools is that it works on my local machine, not in the cloud, so it has no security issues. That’s a huge plus for companies that depend on proprietary IP.

Versiga:  When I first started using Adobe Substance Painter, I was excited at the ease of adding things like dirt and edge wear to my models’ textures, so much so that I overused it in my early days. I’ve since learned to make my application of those effects far more subtle. For instance, if I’m modeling a clean Starfleet prop, I’ll add very  subtle  roughness variation in the form of light scratches, smudges, and fingerprints to make them appear only slightly used and have a level of realism for up-close inspection. On the other hand, I’ll save the heavier rust, metallic edge wear, dirt, and grime effects for the Klingon props and sets.

Who is your creative inspiration and why?

Spatny:  I keep David Mack’s Kabuki comic books in my office. He’s a brilliant artist who sometimes uses wildly different art styles on every page of his comic. It’s a reminder that we always need to be innovating in both design and technical approaches in our industry. You can never be satisfied with doing the same thing the same way twice.

Jarvis:  For this project, it’s got to be Michael Okuda. His dedication to the franchise and the consistent design style he brought to the screen graphics made Star Trek such a cohesive universe. His work really helped spark my interest in digital art as a boy. Decades later it would be my honor to collaborate with him on Star Trek: Picard , and now at The Roddenberry Archive.

What’s the toughest thing you’ve had to face in your career and how did you overcome it? What advice do you have for people aspiring to get into the VFX space?

Jarvis:  Creating screen graphics for on-set playback can be a very stressful job. In many ways, it’s more difficult than post VFX because you have to be ready for the day of shooting instead of doing your work after the scene is shot. You’ll get conflicting feedback from multiple departments, day-of requests from set, and ridiculous deadlines.

In many ways, it’s more difficult than post VFX because you have to be ready for the day of shooting instead of doing your work after the scene is shot.

My advice to anyone who wants to get into VFX is to just do it. Don’t wait for someone to hire you, just start making things. The barriers to creating your own content have never been lower, and with free software you can create really polished work without a formal education. Put something out that shows off your style and expertise and don’t be afraid to reach out to people who are doing the kind of work you’d like to be doing.

Share a photo of where you work. What’s your favorite thing about your workspace and why?

Spatny:  Working from my home office in L.A. full-time now is a huge improvement over filming on a frozen lake in Canada or at night in pouring rain in Wales. My favorite thing about my home office is my signed photo of the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast hanging over my desk.

Versiga:  My favorite thing about where I work is that it’s from home. Although I miss the social component of working in an office, there’s a very comforting quality to working from home, and I find that I’m able to maintain a greater degree of concentration while I work compared to an office environment.

Jarvis:  That would of course have to be my framed poster of Christopher Cushman’s iconic Enterprise D cutaway poster that hung on my bedroom wall all through grade school.

Michelle Galina

Michelle Gallina is senior product marketing manager, Creative Cloud: After Effects and Character Animator at Adobe.

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