Proton Torpedoes

Hi,
I've been wondering about a few things concerning proton torpedoes.
First of all, what color are they? In Episode IV (ANH) the torpedoes are red, but in Episode I, the torpedoes that Anakin shoots from his naboo starfighter are a blue colour. In many of the EU books that I have read, torpedoes are described as being a "bright blue colour" and leaving behind a blue trail. Do they leave behind trails?
I am asking this because I'm trying to create torpedoes in 3ds MAX and After Effects, but I can't decide how to make them, or even what they're supposed to look like.

Any help would be great,

Thanks

 

Well... you could make them the color you want, of course

But since in Episode I you can see they are blue, and in ROTJ there's a shot in which a blue proton torpedo with a trail can be seen, I'd personally make them blue. (the shot is that in which we see the bride of a star destroyer and a TIE in fire, if you want to check)

I've seen them red in some places, too, and they don't look bad. So I think it's more of a personal decision.

 

Well, if lasers can be red, blue, and green in the SW universe, as well as lightsabers for that matter...it is plausible that proton torpedoes can fall into the same abilities. Just depends on the make and model of the torpedoes being launched and what they are launched from.

 

I'd say make them blue, but any color would work.

As far as how to make them in 3ds MAX, there's a fantastic plugin called KY Trail that will essentially do all the work for you.

You create your projectile object, it can be anything like a missle or even and exhaust port on a ship. Then animate it using a Path constraint.

Then apply the KY Trail effect and it automatically generates a particle trail/stream based on it's movement in 3d space. I used it to create the trail emitting from the exhaust ports on a Jedi Starfighter and it worked beautifully. The best part is that the default settings are perfect for a Proton Torpedo.

The bad news it that the plugin is developed by a russian dude so all the help files and the website itself are all in russian.

The good news is thats its free and pretty easy to use.

Here's the jedi starfighter clip I spoke of:

http://www.ryangallion.com/jedi-trail.mov

And here's a link to the plugin:

http://www.lastjedioutpost.ru/Plug-ins.htm

Second one down...

PM me if you have any troubles getting it to work.

gallion311

 

I remember in the old X-wing vs. TIE fighter games, they were blue, but I guess you can make them any color you want.

 

I'm surprised no one has mentioned that in the very first appearance of the proton torpedoes in A New Hope, they were red, and I think that was only due to their engines.

I think the EU books probably decided to use blue because they looked at the Phantom Menace's updated graphics as "more official" than A New Hope.

 

I'm confused. Proton torpeadoes are a Star Trek item. Does any one have an image of where they are in Star Wars. I have no idea what you are talking about.

 

You are thinking Photon Torpedoes:

[image=http://www.mountainproject.com/images/72/12/105907212_medium_ffa9aa.jpg]



Proton Torpedoes look like this:

[image=http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/Tech/Torpedoes/Protorp.jpg]

 

Your link doesn't work for the Proton.

But yah my bad.

 

In the video games... Photon (regular) torpedoes are orange or red. Ion torpedoes are blue.

In any case... Agonizing over the color of a torpedo is rather pointless. As long as you can get the point across that the view is looking at a torpedo, you're in business.

 

Green_Ant posted:
First of all, what color are they? In Episode IV (ANH) the torpedoes are red...


Laughing_Cheese posted:
I'm surprised no one has mentioned that in the very first appearance of the proton torpedoes in A New Hope, they were red...

I'm confused.

 

Let's see...

In A New Hope, proton torpedoes were red. But in Return of the Jedi, they're blue. Then in games as the X-wing series and a lot of EU books, they're blue. So they did them blue in The Phantom Menace.

But since the most canonical sources are the movies, and they appear blue and red in them, you can choose the color you want for a Star Wars proton torpedo: red/orange-ish or blue.

Take care.

 

In x-wing alliance, if I remember correctly, had blue proton torpedoes. The concussion missiles were red. And I think the ion torpedoes were purple.