WIP 01 Jan 2011 – Leg

Dante leg WIP (rear view)

Dante leg WIP (front view)

Yup: here comes the leg. Had initial design hesitations not knowing what to make of it. The problem I have, and it was the same problem I had back when I was doing the movie, was proper scaling and believable parts. That’s why the robots in the movie looked more Mechwarrior than Resiklo; it was easier to block out a whole limb by slapping in panelling or ‘nurnies’. I had added construction-looking braces in keeping with the theme, but for the most part the robots in the movie were more high-tech than it should.

But for my redesign the upper leg is a straight rip from a CASE backhoe arm (construction vehicle). The lower legs were derived from the same; a some supports were ‘welded in’. For now I’ve kept the feet as is, but I will most likely keep with the construction vehicle theme throughout most of the leg because the scale of these parts fit with the size of leg: they are robust enough to be believable and the keep everything within scale.

WIP 26 Dec 2010 – Hip

WIP of hip section (front view)
WIP of hip section (rear view)

Redesigned the hip area. Been mulling about this for quite some time and I figured that the closest thing to a hip I can think of is a wishbone type independent suspension for each hip. Placed surrounding frame bars around the engine and then attached the suspension system in the most stable way; I actually did that in reverse: create the suspension, and then the frames. Sometimes I have to work outside-in and inside-out to get the results I want.

At any rate, this is more or less the kind of design I’m gunning for. But, of course, anything can change.

Quit Sigue Sigue Sputnik and went with Big Bill Broonzy at the end.

WIP 26 Dec 2010 – Dante Torso

Dante's torso; rear view

Dante's torso; quarter view

Started on the torso a week ago and just continuing it now. Modified my Pipe script to create, en masse, the tubing. Saved me loads of time. Spent lots of time working out how the the two arm engines were bolted into the body structure. Still need to iron things out; this includes the hip section. Fighting the temptation to go and detail the torso. I have to hold out until I finalise the proportions of my legs and arms.

I think the original design had some hint of ‘design’, but I don’t think I want to make this robot too pretty; in fact I want it to be butt-ugly. I was thinking of re-arming this robot with loads of .50 cal Browning guns – they’re staple among the Philippine military forces – but my wife liked the circular saw, which I had planned to remove. Gosh, what do I do. :-)

Switched to Sigue Sigue Sputnik after looking at all my music; nothing seemed to fit my non-mood.

WIP 24 Dec 2010 – Engine

Done with this engine – for now (until I reassess it again when I put it in context with the rest of the robot). Total polys: 27163; subpatches: 13080. Have to consider this done and get on with the rest of the robot.

WIP of engine as of 24 Dec 2010
WIP of engine as of 24 Dec 2010 (wireframe shaded)

The problem with references of the C240 was, just as many other things, that I couldn’t get into the nooks and crannies of the engine. In several places I had to make things up. But some pictures (below) provided some info on its construction. The references also suggested using rubber tubes instead of the metal ones as pictured in the references I originally posted.

As I mentioned earlier, I think I feel that I’m getting my old speed back. Yesterday I didn’t work at all (just played a game :) ). Today I clocked about 9 to 11 hours of work. A lot of it has to do with my block-out approach, some handy scripts, and OS-hooked hotkeys (via AutoHotkey). I’ve modified my shortcuts in AHK so that I have a slew of oft-used commands such as Select Connected, Select Loop, and few combination commands such as Select Conncted > Hide Unselected, and the Move and Rotate tools all available using modifiers and the pen’s buttons. Some scripts, both my own and 3rd-party are making hard-surface modelling much easier.

Next up: main robot torso: continuing with the jeepney body and placing this engine at the rear of the torso. Already started on the jeepney early this week, actually.

WIP 22 Dec 2010 – Engine

Work-in-progress: started this engine about three days ago. Blocked out forms first (dark grey surfaces) and then recently started doing some initial detailing. Mix of subd and poly surfaces. Getting my old modelling speed back, thanks to Pearl Jam and Audioslave. Below is the reference engine: Isuzu C240, an engine type commonly used by jeepneys throughout the Philippines.

Engine WIP 22 Dec 2010
C240 Isuzu Engine

I don’t think I’ll be hitting this engine with any sort of obsessive detail since it will be significantly obscured by its placement in the robot.

Recyling Resiklo

Back in 2007 I worked on a Philippine feature film called Resiklo, which was about humans fighting off an alien invasion using technology that utilised ‘recycled’ objects; hence, resiklo, the Filipino word for ‘recycle’. Locally, it received its modest share of praise (I’d like to draw to your attention the Visual Effects award it garnered). It also received its due criticism. Some of this criticism explained the Filipino knack for being derivative, and in this case the point was underlined because Transformers came out earlier the same year; for many people it was like comparing fresh apples to rotten apples.

Granted, there’s not much to be said about the actual Resiklo concept designs that were handed with; they looked doodles from my high school years. There wasn’t much effort behind the concept. And that is why, in my eyes, Resiklo failed: the concept of robots being made out of things we see everyday is not a new idea any more than Transformers was in its time, but it was a cool-enough concept worth developing further. But it wasn’t. In the mad rush to deliver the movie no one could afford to relish and nurture the possibilities that a simple idea can beget.

So, three years later, here I am wondering what kind of robots Resiklo would have had if I had it my way. I’m going to try to recycle a bit from Resiklo and trim away all the uninspired production crap that it was burdened with from its inception.

Introducing “Dante MkII”. Originally piloted by the character played by Dingdong Dantes, the original design was drawn as just a three orthographic pencil sketches, and a loosely drawn isometric.  The main ‘recycled’ object for Dantes’ machine was front end of the jeepney which served as the main torso and cockpit.

Original "Dante" (not its asset name) robot
Original "Dante" (not its asset name) robot (wireframe)

As a start I’ve drawn an initial to-do list:

  • cockpit area looks too modern
  • fix the jeepney torso area making it look more like a jeepney
  • make the hip rotators look more like something recycled
  • get rid of the circular saws or make them more convincing (bigger, maybe?)
  • reassess the right arm and the machine guns underneath; should be more raw
  • reassess the biceps of both arms and make dissimilar; give them more recycled bits
  • centre hip is the star attraction: more details at the back and front, such as parts from engines
  • add some mechanics on the feet to account for lowering of the wheels
  • detail everything in terms of modelling rivets, screws, and panel lines; cause deformation
  • grill stuff like those above the knee need to go! do something else with it
  • thighs are off-motif from the recycled theme; change it to something that fits.
  • find another replacement for the half-cut barrel on the thighs for the other side.
  • redesign shoulders to be more sturdy
  • think of overall parts having more shielding or random recycled stuff. think of loose wires, or rope, or water containers, or ammo, fixed on to the robot.
  • some hydraulic stuff doesn’t seem to be realistically capable of holding weight; add hydraulic tubes to support pistons.
  • back area design is non-existent: think this through
  • the torso-hip connection looks too thin: give it more robustness by increasing the circumference of the connection.

Wish me luck.