Contest: Defensive Structure
Moderators: MR.D, Moderators
I don't have any of the Nanoblobs unit models, but just imagine this about 2x larger than the AA Intimidator.
I edited the animation to be a bit smoother, should be a little less odd looking when the gun fires.
I saw a documentary about old WW2 artillery pieces that inspired the recoil system with this style of cannon.
The WW2 guns were true popup guns, they would hydraulicly extend up to fire, then recoil pushed them back down and into a locked position for reloading, and to be covered behind a bunker.
They would spring up, fire, and hide all in 1 cycle, I thought it was pretty neat.
My model was just for fun.
Argh still wins IMO
I edited the animation to be a bit smoother, should be a little less odd looking when the gun fires.
I saw a documentary about old WW2 artillery pieces that inspired the recoil system with this style of cannon.
The WW2 guns were true popup guns, they would hydraulicly extend up to fire, then recoil pushed them back down and into a locked position for reloading, and to be covered behind a bunker.
They would spring up, fire, and hide all in 1 cycle, I thought it was pretty neat.
My model was just for fun.
Argh still wins IMO
Here's the OBJ version. No uvmapping yet- haven't had time.
I'm glad everybody liked that piece. I wasn't trying to steal the show, folks- just demonstrate a few things. I really shouldn't participate in a contest I'm judging, but I wanted to do a tricks/pointers bit about how revision is the mother of really nice low-poly modelling
The tapered cone has a secondary piston, which you will be able to see now that I have put up the wires- it will recoil forwards with the recoil, as a counter to the force of the cannon firing. Sorry I didn't make that clear. And yeah, smoke/fire coming out is definitely par for the course.
Here's where the contest stands:
I'm going to keep this open one more week. I have a lot of work to do for another project this week, so I'm going to give everybody a chance to clean up their drafts, now that you can see the standard I'm aiming for.
I'm hoping to see Erom's entry and perhaps one last revision from the lead models for this show:
Keithus's designs look like win, with just that last bit of revision, greebling, and attention to detail. They are very nice, straightforward mechanical designs, that just need the final touches to give them a properly mechanical feel.
Maelstrom's entry would have been a strong contender, but it has some seam problems, is inefficiently modeled in places, and generally needs to be cleaned up more. If you'd be willing to do another revision, I can always look at it one more time.
Dash's second entry looks like win for replacing the Holder, if it had a more solid-looking tower. I will not edit your work, Dash- I'd lose your elusive style in the process, and I don't want to do that. So, if you lack time to revise it, I will almost certainly do something with FX to suggest some sort of anti-grav support.
Rattle's entry was extremely imaginative, and I am sorely tempted to find a home for it.
Crampage's entries were both extremely interesting, but I'd like to see a revision that was fully cleaned up before making final decisions.
Das Bruce's entries were competing with Mr. D's for sheer originality, mechanical design, and flair. I was very impressed with the concepts and attention to mechanical detail, guys. To secure a win, though, they'd have to meet spec- in Das's case, that would mean adhering to the art standards and zero welding flaws, in Mr. D's, it would mean a much more refined model. As I have seen both of you do top-notch work before, absolutely no disrepect is meant- I was impressed and filled with glee, looking at these delightful designs.
Mildesign and Nemo are tied for sheer originality of concepts. I was very intrigued by the catapult concept, although I admit that I'm probably not able to do it justice on the time-budget I have allotted.
And lastly, Snipa gets a gold star for putting forth the time to try and give it a go. You're more than welcome to try again, Snipa, now that you've had a chance to look at the competition. Unlike most art contests, I believe that being able to see everybody's meshes is very instructive- it not only shows you the finished art, but also shows you a lot about process and technique which, along with pure creative skill (which is, imo, overrated) is what separates the good from the bad In short- modeling, like any serious art form, is about keeping one's nose to the grindstone. Trust me- I don't win any prizes for my hand-drawn techniques, I cannot model anything more complex than a crude bowl with clay, and don't ask me to paint anything that isn't a little metal figurine (I'm quite good at that, but it's not really painting). I just keep modeling like a reverse Michelangelo- I keep adding bits until I have the finished work. Preferably small, simple, very low-poly bits, which simulate complexity without actually adding much
I'm glad everybody liked that piece. I wasn't trying to steal the show, folks- just demonstrate a few things. I really shouldn't participate in a contest I'm judging, but I wanted to do a tricks/pointers bit about how revision is the mother of really nice low-poly modelling
The tapered cone has a secondary piston, which you will be able to see now that I have put up the wires- it will recoil forwards with the recoil, as a counter to the force of the cannon firing. Sorry I didn't make that clear. And yeah, smoke/fire coming out is definitely par for the course.
Here's where the contest stands:
I'm going to keep this open one more week. I have a lot of work to do for another project this week, so I'm going to give everybody a chance to clean up their drafts, now that you can see the standard I'm aiming for.
I'm hoping to see Erom's entry and perhaps one last revision from the lead models for this show:
Keithus's designs look like win, with just that last bit of revision, greebling, and attention to detail. They are very nice, straightforward mechanical designs, that just need the final touches to give them a properly mechanical feel.
Maelstrom's entry would have been a strong contender, but it has some seam problems, is inefficiently modeled in places, and generally needs to be cleaned up more. If you'd be willing to do another revision, I can always look at it one more time.
Dash's second entry looks like win for replacing the Holder, if it had a more solid-looking tower. I will not edit your work, Dash- I'd lose your elusive style in the process, and I don't want to do that. So, if you lack time to revise it, I will almost certainly do something with FX to suggest some sort of anti-grav support.
Rattle's entry was extremely imaginative, and I am sorely tempted to find a home for it.
Crampage's entries were both extremely interesting, but I'd like to see a revision that was fully cleaned up before making final decisions.
Das Bruce's entries were competing with Mr. D's for sheer originality, mechanical design, and flair. I was very impressed with the concepts and attention to mechanical detail, guys. To secure a win, though, they'd have to meet spec- in Das's case, that would mean adhering to the art standards and zero welding flaws, in Mr. D's, it would mean a much more refined model. As I have seen both of you do top-notch work before, absolutely no disrepect is meant- I was impressed and filled with glee, looking at these delightful designs.
Mildesign and Nemo are tied for sheer originality of concepts. I was very intrigued by the catapult concept, although I admit that I'm probably not able to do it justice on the time-budget I have allotted.
And lastly, Snipa gets a gold star for putting forth the time to try and give it a go. You're more than welcome to try again, Snipa, now that you've had a chance to look at the competition. Unlike most art contests, I believe that being able to see everybody's meshes is very instructive- it not only shows you the finished art, but also shows you a lot about process and technique which, along with pure creative skill (which is, imo, overrated) is what separates the good from the bad In short- modeling, like any serious art form, is about keeping one's nose to the grindstone. Trust me- I don't win any prizes for my hand-drawn techniques, I cannot model anything more complex than a crude bowl with clay, and don't ask me to paint anything that isn't a little metal figurine (I'm quite good at that, but it's not really painting). I just keep modeling like a reverse Michelangelo- I keep adding bits until I have the finished work. Preferably small, simple, very low-poly bits, which simulate complexity without actually adding much
Cramp: the barrel seems to short somehow, especially at the back end. Looks imbalanced and a little wimpy. Apart from that: sweet model!
One general suggestion for space grunge: antennae/sensors/spiky bits. Can Spring models have textures with alpha channel transparency? That way, a small array of different spiky antenna thingies on one side of that forked bit would add some more detail at next to no cost. Even if you modeled them, a spike antenna would only have 4 tris. Or is there something that makes stuff like this entirely unreasonable?
One general suggestion for space grunge: antennae/sensors/spiky bits. Can Spring models have textures with alpha channel transparency? That way, a small array of different spiky antenna thingies on one side of that forked bit would add some more detail at next to no cost. Even if you modeled them, a spike antenna would only have 4 tris. Or is there something that makes stuff like this entirely unreasonable?
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- Posts: 70
- Joined: 29 Sep 2006, 00:32
1700 polys for a Holder!? Are you sure about that?Argh wrote: Dash's second entry looks like win for replacing the Holder, if it had a more solid-looking tower.
Anyway here's the model, do with it what you want.
http://www.savefile.com/files/311819
I made the tower get much larger at the base.
BTW, the smoothing seems to have been screwed up in exporting it from 3DSmax, but I dont really know anything about .obj files.
.wings / .obj
Ok, ive redesigned basically everything. Its no longer totally steam punk like the last one. Its still got the big cogs, but now thats a big lazer cannon cause lazors pwn joo. I was imagining the gun charging up slowly with a growing energy ball in the cage bit, before lobbing this BFG style green ball of pain at the enemy. If I can work out how explosion scripting works, ill give it a go of making it myself.
Its lower poly than before, at only 1608, so you can greeble it more if you want. The UV map is propper this time, no wierd bugs and stuff. If theres any way i can model it more efficiently, or make the UV map better, give us a hint, I'm happy to learn.
Kudos to Das Bruce for the improved base design
Mine's going slowly, I'll post a better shot when I get the chance. Basically I think the gun came out too big compared to the base, and I've wasted too many polies.
The SuperBall Gun - ballista + gumball machine?
The middle section is full of balls, and a custom projectile to match them would be very nice, I feel. I figure they could be skinned as (Like This http://chaotic.beyondunreal.com/images/ ... rscope.jpg). The top section has two spinning tire-esque objects, something akin to the baseball launchers mentioned earlier in the thread.
5 parts, more to make the balls in the "hopper" move. Tricount is like 2500, so I have some optimizing to do, especially since I want to be able to greeble some more. Just wanted to get some criticism from you all before I continue. It's very WIP - I come from an engineering background, modeling machine parts and things in AutoCAD, and I'm not really used to game modeling apps yet.
Worst part, not in obj or UV mapped yet. Hopefully I can get to that before the deadline.
The SuperBall Gun - ballista + gumball machine?
The middle section is full of balls, and a custom projectile to match them would be very nice, I feel. I figure they could be skinned as (Like This http://chaotic.beyondunreal.com/images/ ... rscope.jpg). The top section has two spinning tire-esque objects, something akin to the baseball launchers mentioned earlier in the thread.
5 parts, more to make the balls in the "hopper" move. Tricount is like 2500, so I have some optimizing to do, especially since I want to be able to greeble some more. Just wanted to get some criticism from you all before I continue. It's very WIP - I come from an engineering background, modeling machine parts and things in AutoCAD, and I'm not really used to game modeling apps yet.
Worst part, not in obj or UV mapped yet. Hopefully I can get to that before the deadline.
Erom:
Nice design, but here are a few points:
1. The "cage" for the balls could be done with a pair of low-poly meshes, with their normals inverse from each other (i.e., one facing "in", the other "out") and a transparency map. Much lower polycount, same basic effect. Making it look good would require a very slick uvmap, however.
2. How is this thing going to traverse in the X direction? I'm having trouble imagining it.
3. I don't even wanna think about making the load animation believable, it makes me break into a cold sweat
If I were making this, I'd find a way to hint at the way that balls are being moved from storage to the firing chamber, and I'd keep it simple. Right now, scripting it to be really believable would be unbelievably complex- the "ammo" would have to shift around, slowly diminishing, or replenished, and making it all work would be a two-week coding project- not really worth it, in the bang-for-buck department. Not to say that I couldn't just cheat and never actually depict that, but it's a factor.
Nice design, but here are a few points:
1. The "cage" for the balls could be done with a pair of low-poly meshes, with their normals inverse from each other (i.e., one facing "in", the other "out") and a transparency map. Much lower polycount, same basic effect. Making it look good would require a very slick uvmap, however.
2. How is this thing going to traverse in the X direction? I'm having trouble imagining it.
3. I don't even wanna think about making the load animation believable, it makes me break into a cold sweat
If I were making this, I'd find a way to hint at the way that balls are being moved from storage to the firing chamber, and I'd keep it simple. Right now, scripting it to be really believable would be unbelievably complex- the "ammo" would have to shift around, slowly diminishing, or replenished, and making it all work would be a two-week coding project- not really worth it, in the bang-for-buck department. Not to say that I couldn't just cheat and never actually depict that, but it's a factor.
If it's being put up for NanoBlobs, it therefore is being submitted under the Creative Commons license. See the notes about the license in the NanoBlobs documentation. So, yeah, I'd say this stuff is all up for grabs. Myself, I'm looking forward to getting one of these puppies skinned and into NB soon
If still confused, please see the note in the rules I originally posted:
If still confused, please see the note in the rules I originally posted:
And once we get to final entries, I guess I could d/l them all and put them into an archive, or something, so that they don't get lost. If there's anything I hate, it's seeing good art go to waste.As usual, the models need to be submitted in OBJ format, and be made available under the Creative Commons rules. Screenshots with submissions are greatly preferred.
I had some more freetime, so here is my last entry.
Crater Maker, much simpler mechanical function than my last 2.
1910 poly unoptomised, I could drop the count down to around 1720 by removing unecessary back faces, I left them for rendering.
Dual purpose Siege weapon, maybe could be an upgraded weapon via experience to unlock the rockets. or make the rockets Stockable?
If you havn't noticed already, I like BIG GUNS
Anyway, here are the goods.
*Short Animation clip of basic function*
http://mrd.str8-6.com/files/CraterMaker_test.zip
Crater Maker, much simpler mechanical function than my last 2.
1910 poly unoptomised, I could drop the count down to around 1720 by removing unecessary back faces, I left them for rendering.
Dual purpose Siege weapon, maybe could be an upgraded weapon via experience to unlock the rockets. or make the rockets Stockable?
If you havn't noticed already, I like BIG GUNS
Anyway, here are the goods.
*Short Animation clip of basic function*
http://mrd.str8-6.com/files/CraterMaker_test.zip