Shields-skintight or bubble?

[Lazarus]

I have searched, and haven't come up with anything on this, my sincere apologies if this has already been discussed.
My question is, are SW shields 'skintight' to the vessel, say a few millimeters over the hull, or perhaps even integrated into it in some way, explaining why in some cases it seems that hull damage occurs before shields are taken down. Or, is a 'bubble' shield projected out from the ship?
In books like the X-wing series, the bubble idea is shown (stuff to the extent of 'the incoming fire pounded the shields, and the protective bubble shrank slowly around the cruiser')
There are even some quotes, in books like the Corellian trilogy, where solid objects actually seem to pass through shields ('we're inside their shields!'), again in this case suggesting a bubble.
I would expect that a skintight approach would be far more effective, in order to prevent enemy fighters etc being 'inside' the shield when it is activated, however perhaps the practicality is that the shield can only be projected in a symmetrical shape from a certain point?

[Sharpshooter]

Beats me. One consensus is that the shield is actually a geometric form of sorts fitting around the ship that possesses innumerable faces, which would work with Han's quote about angling the deflectors from ANH. On the other hand, Ambush at Corellia mentions while Han is doing a shield test on the Falcon that, if circumstances went against him, the ship might very well just roll onto its backside, or something of the sort, which could only be done with a spherical shield.

My money's on that it's more of a writer's perspective thing of sorts.

[Elheru Aran]

In one of the Lando Calrissian books-- barely canonical, I know, but good enough for me-- the shields are described as normally being a few inches from the skin, or in some extreme cases, part of the skin itself. It can, however, be broadened to several metres away from the ship itself; Lando cracks an asteroid in half doing just that while inside.

[Darwin]

shield effects are shown quite clearly in TPM, when Anakin raises the N1's shields. In this case, they are skintight. Both kinds may still exist.

[Adrian Laguna]

Movies suggest, for cap-ships, a shield that conforms to the shape of the hull and hovers a few meters over it.

[AK_Jedi]

In TPM, Anakin's fighter had shields that conformed to the hull. These are seen when the fighter powers up after crashing. Also, I believe the proton torpedoes launched at the trade federation battleship detonated fairly close to the hull.

On the other hand, IIRC, some screenshots from Saxton's site show turbolaser shots beginning to splinter some distance away from the blockade runner. I think that these shots were supposed to show how the deflector shield splintered incoming shots.

So it would seem that different systems are used in different cases. My guess would be hull-conforming shields for fighters with shields extending further (a few meters or more) in the case of capital ships.

[Ender]

TPM shows the truth of the matter - both.

A normal shield will form in a bubble shape. However, when two shields connect, they merge into another shape joining the two. Thus skintight shields are achieved by a series of connected shield projectors across the hull. This is the interiro edge of the shield mind you, there is still the volumetric effect that extends far out beyond them.

[Lonestar]

In TPM, Anakin's fighter had shields that conformed to the hull. These are seen when the fighter powers up after crashing. Also, I believe the proton torpedoes launched at the trade federation battleship detonated fairly close to the hull.

This was especially noticable(sic) in the opening battle of ROTS

[Vympel]

Yeah, I have two frame by frame sequences (more or less, I got lazy near the end) of the two torpedo vs battleship shields in TPM- one is barely noticeable, fired before the one everyone knows (you can scarecely see the blue dot about to impact the hull), which is of course the unsuccessful shot at the Droid Control Ship dish, which creates a fucking enormous explosion but does nothing to the dish.

A cool effect is a blue sort of corona flash just before the typical "fiery" explosion starts.

[Alan Bolte]

I think ray shields might have a smaller dropoff rate than deflectors, such that their volume is much more noticible. Also, I think 'angling' deflectors probably just means adjusting what angle is receiving the most protection.

One big question remains: how are shields projected around objects from a remote location? The big obvious example is the shield generator at the Battle of Endor. Other situations include the ray shield trap from RotS

[Connor MacLeod]

Anakin's fighter shields in TPM were hull-hugging, whereas droideka shields and gungan shields were hemispherical.

[Winston Blake]

One big question remains: how are shields projected around objects from a remote location? The big obvious example is the shield generator at the Battle of Endor. Other situations include the ray shield trap from RotS

In both cases a part of the shield was 'touching' the projector (the 'neck' down to the moon and the tips touching corridor roof/floor), and the exotic forcefield effect of lightsabers is formed into a defined shape at some distance. I guess shields can be told to take on arbitrary shapes and sizes, which might require more power to sustain than the normal 'volume-vs-surface-area' bubblular arcs.

[Darth Wong]

A spherical shield would allow more braking distance for a "cushioning" effect to dissipate the inertia of incoming projectiles and beam weapon pulses. However, it increases the target profile of your vessel and probably decreases the shield strength by spreading it out over a much larger area.