Who? BlueSmurf
What? Imperator Case Mod
Where? Australia
When? 2003
Why? See Inspiration
Personal Details:
Age: 30
Sex: On tap
Marital Status: Doomed
Occupation: IT Manager
Colour: Dark Blue
Beer: Guinness
Car: Holden Commodore SS
run_to_the_max asks; What was your first
ever case mod/construction and what got you into it?
If you define case modding as the aesthetic alteration of a computer,
then I guess my first case mod was a paint job done to my Commodore 64
done in the mid 80's. It wasn’t until 1999 when I next attacked
a defenseless computer. I’m not sure what inspired it, but case
windows, painting and neon lights were new ideas at the time and it caught
my imagination. The result was BlueBox.
But if you're looking for the root of my construction fetish, then I personally
blame Lego. Ever since I was able to grasp a Lego block, or more correctly,
old enough to know that I could do more with them than suck them, I was
building things out of Lego. The enjoyment I get from building things
persists until this day.
MrMat asks; Will you be modding the pc's
accessories (such as keyboard, mouse and speakers) to fit in with the
star wars theme as well?
I have a few Star Wars model kits that I have eyed up for possible
use. I did for a while consider putting a monitor into a giant Death Star
or putting an optical mouse into a Snow Speeder. At this stage I’m
just working towards getting the Imperator finished, but I reckon that
once I’ve run out of stuff to do, I’ll come back to those
sorts of ideas.
Plastic asks: What do you enjoy more,
and why. The idea development, investigating and planning phase, or the
actual hands on building phase of your projects?
In general, I enjoy the hands on section the most. It’s
the conversion of ideas and imagination into something real, something
that you can reach out and touch that I really enjoy. The development
and planning phase of the Imperator has been a very long one. I actually
started on this project a few months after the GTRPC was built in April
2001. So I’ve been designing, planning and researching this project
for nearly 2 years prior to getting into some actual construction.
The research for the Imperator has been quite good fun. I took two trips
to Sydney to see the Magic of Myth exhibition and spent hours photographing
the 2.59m long model from The Empire Strikes Back, I built a small plastic
model Star Destroyer and I spent many hours on the net reading Star Wars
websites, looking at pictures and pouring over blueprints. All of that
research was put into the 3D AutoCAD model that effectively took me 18
months to complete. Well, I did restart from scratch 3 times and had to
teach myself CAD as I went along.
FreeFrag asks: Innovation and Creativity are obviously
one of your Fortes. This in mind, how, when you're finished the imperator
project, do you plan to make something bigger, better and bolder?
Funny you should ask that. When I initially started planning
the Imperator, I told my friends that this would be my last case modding
project. Why? Because it is simply getting too difficult and too expensive
to raise the bar any further. I have no idea how I would follow the Imperator
up.
Maybe after the Imperator is finished, I’ll be hit with another
flash of inspiration. Perhaps other projects will appear on the net that
will drive me to take the next step. But my next planned project is non-computer
related. I’m going to try my hand at building a wooden model HMS
Victory.
UltimateChaos asks; Are you considering
holding an exibition day upon completion? Everyone wants to come and see
it first hand.
I’m not planning to have an exhibition (all of my other
notable work has either been stolen or no longer in my possession), but
I think I have can provide a good incentive to get everyone to turn up
to an OCAU LAN or BBQ in Perth. So there will be an opportunity for people
to see it first hand.
Why did you choose an Imperator Class SD as opposed
to any other ship (i.e. other SSD, Falcon, Calamari, or even a Death Star)?
Two words: Curved Surfaces. Star Destroyers don’t have
them, which simplifies construction greatly.
There’s a little bit more to it than that though, with casemods
you are always limited in some way by the physical dimensions of PC components.
The Imperator was always intended to hold a full size ATX system with
suitably powerful 3D AGP graphics. When I was brainstorming ideas for
what project to do after the GTRPC, other ships such as Star Trek’s
USS Enterprise were considered but dismissed as not really containing
enough room for a powerful PC.
Another deciding factor was that the Star Destroyer is an iconic ship,
recognizable to a large range of people, not just the hard core Star Wars
fans. Lastly, if you read the inspiration page, you’ll understand
why I chose the Star Destroyer.
titan asks: Have your family and friends
come to accept your passion for modding? Do they avoid eye contact when
you start talking about your latest mod?
I think it’s a universal male characteristic that they
appreciate cool stuff. I’m sure it’s somewhere on the Y chromosome.
Most of my friends have geeky tendencies and I spend a lot of time discussing
ideas with them and they’re always ready to give me a hand with
research or construction.I don’t think my fiancée fully understands
it though. She’s just happy to see me doing something that I enjoy
and she’s very proud of me when something I’ve done appears
on a website, or I get quoted in an article. Maybe she just humours me,
but she doesn’t object to the large amounts of time and money I
spend on these projects. Which is just as well.
Ambush asks; What effect do you think
your The Imperator project will have upon the modding community at large?
It’s hard to answer this sort of question without sounding
conceited. But I’ll give it a try.
To this day I am still surprised when I see a forum discussion
about case modding and the GTRPC gets mentioned as some sort of milestone
or pivotal moment in modding history. At that time, things changed somehow,
and a new generation of non-case mods, beyond the standard window/neon
type thing appeared. I’m not about to take credit for that though,
realistically there are far better people than I out there doing some
amazing work.
But it’s like the boundaries of peoples imagination
had been shifted out a few more notches. I never set out to change the
world, and maybe I didn’t, all I wanted to do was build something
that I thought was cool and was worth sharing with the world. For whatever
reason, people credit me with having some influence on modding during
the period.
As with the GTRPC, the Imperator was about me doing something
that I wanted to. But with everything I do in life, I have to improve
upon what I’ve done before - significantly. It goes without saying
that I enjoy people’s reaction to my work, and there is a certain
satisfaction I get from just blowing away perceptions of what case modding
is. The Imperator is meant to leave an impression on people. It is meant
to make a statement. I don’t know what that statement is, but I’m
sure it says something.
I often read discussions about how modding has stagnated
somewhat. We see some very well done projects with excellent execution
and demonstration of skill. But they’re just variations on a theme.
I’m confident that the Imperator will again shift the boundaries
of imagination in the modding community. If not by virtue of what the
Imperator is itself as an idea, but by the techniques used and practical
knowledge that can be disseminated into the community for use in other
projects. Accumulating knowledge is fun, but sharing it is better.
I think it also demonstrates one of my basic beliefs.
If you can imagine it and see it in your mind, the only thing stopping
you from realising your goals are the limitations that you impose upon
yourself.
Dream it. Build it.
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