@KDR:
I'm just musing critically here for a second, so of course feel free to ignore all of this if you don't like what I'm saying- these are just my opinions of course.
The head could be a collection of cameras, on flexible mechanics- fun stuff to animate and give the mech a living feel, especially when otherwise still. It could just be a blank box with a vague porthole- depending on scale, that may be all it needs. Or an armored box with sight blocks, like a modern tank. It can still be head-like without giving the impression that we're looking at a scaled-up dude, basically- right now, this looks like an infantry guy, not a mech. It doesn't have a sense of "big" about it. It needs greebles that clearly suggest scale and give it a bigger feel.
Same thing goes at least triple for the arms and chest. The left arm just has a closed fist. Why even bother? What good is one hand, when the other arm doesn't even have one? If it's supposed to be a functional device for manipulating things, why not just have two small grabbers that use a common "shoulder" but have separated "elbows"?
For the gun arm... why all the patently-useless areas? Why have an extended forearm, or a piece that suggests an iron sight, on a futuristic firearm that is supposedly mounted on a futuristic mech using all-seeing sensor technologies? I like the ammo drum, but how is the mech supposed to physically change it? Where are spare drum mags? And if it only traverses on two axes, why all of the mechanical detailing suggesting more, when IRL you wouldn't need them? Just turn the torso, turn the shoulder, and you have your angle. Why make it more complex than it needs to be?
Then move to the chest. It's a box that looks like a human torso. Ok, that's all well and good, but you have options there. For one thing, if the pilot is sitting up above, then what's there? A powerplant? Suggest things to the viewer- give us more visual clues.
The legs are fine, but generic. Would be more interesting with feet that articulated differently- just a minor concession to the concept that this isn't a big human we're looking at, but a mech.
I guess that what I'm saying here could be boiled down to three things:
1. It's not a very inspired design. Unless you're working from some Anime source that requires this particular look, I'd be more adventurous and find something more unique, if I were you. It's perfectly possible to make something that looks humanoid and isn't "evil" looking but isn't just a scaled-up dude in a suit of armor. There are literally hundreds of Anime designs out there- and you ended up with something straight out've Patlabor- surely you can give us something cooler than that
2. I think that you're cutting more polycount than you should, unless you plan for bazillions of these guys in the mod. It needs some detail work, to suggest a sense of scale.
3. It's one thing to suggest the human form. It's another thing to simply scale it up. I really don't care for Anime mecha that just look like suits of Medieval armor with guns- they just look impossible and unrealistic to me. A really winning design would make more concessions to the fact that these are not only machines- they're war machines, and would look at function over form.
At any rate, that was probably harsher critique than you wanted, and feel free to ignore me- I've been staring at walk-cycle scripting too long today
@Rattle:
Are you looking for something to do? I'm working on something where we need modelers who can skin and do mechanical designs, and we need all the help we can get.
. Guess I could attach two spare drums to the left hip. Would leave the ammo pretty exposed to enemy fire and close to a critical joint but meh. Back mounted wouldn't work, there's a jet engine there to facilitate movement.
