Greeble

For the objects used in studies of object and facial recognition, see Greeble (psychology).

A cube and its greebled version

Greeble effects on a Lego spaceship model

A greeble (/ˈɡriːbliː/ GREE-blee) or nurnie is a prominent detailing added to the surface of a larger object that makes it appear more complex, and therefore more visually interesting. It usually gives the audience an impression of increased scale. The detail can be made from simple geometric primitives (such as cylinders, cubes, and rectangles), or more complex shapes, such as pieces of machinery (cables, tanks, sprockets). Greebles are often present on models or drawings of fictional spacecraft or architectural constructs in science fiction and are used in the movie industry (special effects).

Etymology

The earliest recorded use of the term "greeble" found to date was by those working at Industrial Light & Magic for the special effects of Star Wars. They also described this design method as "guts on the outside".

Ron Thornton is widely believed to have coined the term "nurnies" referring to CGI technical detail that his company Foundation Imaging produced for the Babylon 5 series, while the model-making team of 2001: A Space Odyssey referred to them as "wiggets".

In science fiction

A filming model of the mother ship from Close Encounters of the Third Kind

In fictional spacecraft

Due to the inherently fantastical process of designing a fictional spacecraft, the use of greebles has become something of a staple in the visual design of countless science fiction properties, where they serve as an easy method of adding perceived depth and technological complexity, often by emulating the exposed instruments and other technical elements seen on many real-life spacecraft. One of the earliest applications of the concept can be seen in the visual production of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) where they were used by in the designs of spaceships to fill blank spaces with random, seemingly technical details.

In such physical models, greebles could be anything from parts of raw plastic cut into various shapes, to eclectic parts of shop-bought model kits—the latter being a common kitbashing technique. For instance, in Star Wars the original Imperial Star Destroyer was constructed from a plywood frame and adorned with sheet styrene. Panel lines were cut into the styrene, but the ship looked too bare. Hundreds of model kits were purchased, which the model department cut apart and attached, along with more sheet styrene, to the ship's surfaces, with these large areas of ancillary details serving to make the ship more believable for the audience. The greebles themselves served only to fill space and had no specific in-universe functions in the ship's design, although later many of them would be given a specific function by fans or technical illustrators for fan guides. A plastic soldier was part of the greebling on the Executor. Star Wars modelers utilized many kits of WWII submarines, whose pipes, cranks and knobs worked well for the exteriors of starships and weapons. When the crew was done they had several submarine hulls left over, some of which were used in the creation of the EF76 Nebulon-B Medical Frigate seen at the end of The Empire Strikes Back. George Lucas said the ship reminded him of an outboard motor.

Another example of greeble application was the Battlestar Galactica model for the original 1970s series, whose hull had pieces from a wide assortment of kits, including Apollo orbiters, Saturn rocket boosters, F-16 fighter jets, and various tanks.

Plastic model sprue

Given its origins, greebling is most often associated with the type of large city-like spaceships made popular in Star Wars, but has been generalized to refer to any dense covering by different (usually mechanical) components. Similarly, Borg starships (and drones) in Star Trek are heavily greebled using leftover sprues from previous kitbashing and photoetched bits.

Other uses

During production of the first Star Wars movie, Tunisian Customs enquired about a part of C-3PO's costume listed as "assorted greebles". The producers allegedly described it as "something that looks cool but doesn't actually do anything."

Greebles are also used to enhance interior sets. In Star Trek, corridor walls were decorated with interesting-looking bits and pieces. Pieces of pipe poked out of walls, usually with several fittings and a label implying it was an important part of the ship's infrastructure. In the movie Alien, the interior of the ship Nostromo was thoroughly greebled. Art director Roger Christian said, "Let's have a go at it. So we recruited some dressing prop people, got a hold of several tons of scrap, and went to work on the Nostromo's bridge... encrusting the set with pipes and wires and switches and tubing... then we painted it military green and began stenciling labels on everything."

Automated greebling

Greebles implemented in computer graphics using bump mapping

In 3D computer graphics, software can be used to create greeble patterns, making it unnecessary to manually create large assortments of precise custom geometry. This is a process well suited to automatic, software-based procedural generation, particularly if a great degree of control is unnecessary or the greebles are small on-screen. Most greeble-generating software works by subdividing the surface to be greebled into regions, adding some detail to each new surface, then recursively continuing this process on each new surface to some specified level of detail. Similar algorithms are used in the creation of fractal surfaces.

See also

• Fractal
• Kitbashing
• Diapering
• Bump mapping
• Horror vacui

External links

• Staffan Norling's comments about greebling
• Starship Modeler: an invaluable resource for science fiction modeling
• buzzGreeble for modo
• Greeble plugin for 3D Studio Max
• Greeble plugin for Realsoft 3D
• Greeble plugin for trueSpace
• Greeble plugin for LightWave
• Greeble script for Blender
• Greeble script for Autodesk Maya
• Greeble script for Cinema 4D