Last few days have been busy, but not busy with my WIPs. I was trying to get a new cut of my reel out to DNEG has I heard they had some imminent openings. I wanted to send my 2010 reel, but my wife wisely – she’s always wise – to include at least DBX. And so I did. But I also thought of including some of the WIPs here. However, I don’t like putting WIPs into my reel, and none of these models are in a stage that I can show them to someone and not blush. So they stay here until they get up to spec. Here’s my latest progress on the Dante, though: further blocking out of the arms and the M2 machine gun placements.
WIP 012 Jan 2011 – Arm and Gun
Ammo boxes are out behind the upper arm. Belts will go running from the guns to the boxes.
Shaded of M2 'beta' model (a.ka. finished pending change of perspective)Wire of M2 'beta' modelShaded of M2 close-upWire of M2 close-up
I think I ended up with too much detail based on my initial idea. I think the problem is that, unlike production, I don’t have a modelling end goal; there is no particular shot I’m modelling for so it’s tempting to load the model with details. When I was modelling I was maintaining edge sharpness as if the model was going to be viewed close-up. I was justifying all this effort with by thinking that I could present the M2 as its own piece. It is a pity not to aim for a high-quality model in any part of the model, but I am sacrificing everything else for it. It’s very tempting though, simply because when I look at my photographic references I can see so much detail in it; you show me details and I’ll be fighting hard not to incorporate it. I’m a bit obsessive, I’ve learned.
Switched through various music, but Sound of Music (especially Edelweiss) was my company yesterday. This morning I switched to the bootleg CSI soundtrack by John M. Keene – not the official soundtrack: that was okay but when I go looking for soundtracks, I mean soundtracks, not a compilation of various artists.
The ubiquitous Browning M2 is used in many countries, and the Philippines is one of them. The M2 is mounted on both vehicles and helicopters.
For Dante I’ve decided that I’m getting rid of the rotary saw and convert the robot into a gun platform, putting in a slew of M2’s (dual?) on the arms and back and make it look a bit crazy; looking forward to finding how the ammunition belts are going to feed. Also, hoping to have time to get an M60 (another old one) GPMG sticking out of the cockpit.
The picture above is my block-out stage. Like the other detailed parts of the robot I don’t plan to detail it to the centimetre because it’s too impractical (resource-wise).
I figured I should just redesign the arm as well. Pulled off some pictures of drilling rigs and designed the shoulder based off that. Right now they’re just the usual blocked-out geometry, but it should be easy enough to detail.
Speaking of detail, I spent a day and a half coding a script that would help me with moving edges along other edges consistently. LightWave Modeler doesn’t have a tool like Maya’s Insert Edge Loop where you can insert an edge at an absolute distance from the nearest edge. This gives you a consistent hardness of edge. However, Maya does not have a way to make this metrically consistent as well; you’d still have to eyeball the edge’s hardness. What I did was a script that records a set distance (defined by selecting two verts; the script measures the distance between those two verts), and then selecting an edge, then running either the A-side script, or the B-side script, or the nearest-side script. Running the side script will bring the selected edge towards a particular side (defined by the order of the selection) in absolute distance from that side edge. (When I get a chance to create a plugins page I’ll upload it.)
(Will also be posting another model I’m improving. It’s a Russian T62 battle tank that I did years ago that I want to reassess. I did it in a fashion that is totally unacceptable for me. But I’m planning on using the geometry (which was done reasonably accurately) and just cleaning up the mesh.)
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 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.
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.
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 2010WIP 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.
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 2010C240 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.
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) robotOriginal "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.
