Random WIP 2006-2011

[Peet]

I like it, particularly the feet. You might have to omit the third leg though, it'd be quite difficult to animate it and look decent, if the legs can only rotate around the x axis.

[[Krogoth86]]

Well the "third leg" isn't meant for walking...
It's meant for deployment i.e. it will be moved from its back (where it's attached to while the unit is mobile) down to its "butt" where it will extend to full length. As the whole Mech "hunkers down" in Siege Mode the third leg will make sure it doesn't fall on its back and "absorb" the more powerful set-back of the guns. But this part still is giving me headaches (or at least is going to when the whole thing gets animated) as making the legs look "realistic" in that pose is kinda difficult...

Maybe a view from the back for this:

You can see the space between the "shoulders" on the back where the third leg will rest when being mobile. We'll see how this is going to turn out especially the "hips" are somewhat dislocated there and have to go more to the front. As I wanted to attach the 3rd leg on em I'll have to see how to come around with that now...

[Zpock]

Hmm it's missing that bulk stuff between the body and the leg, that makes it look more beefy and stable, instead of an overgunned AK...

And the head could use an extrude in the middle stripe of quads.

4 guns instead of 2 makes the individual gun seem weaker, 2 guns with added detail would be better in my opinion.

[Peet]

Nice design. One little thing you'll want to change (in case you miss it when you're cleaning up) is this highlighted edge. I think merging those two vertices (on both sides) will make mapping that area considerably easier without detracting from the design in the least.

[[Krogoth86]]

Hmm it's missing that bulk stuff between the body and the leg, that makes it look more beefy and stable, instead of an overgunned AK...

I think that's just a matter of the shown perspectives. Here - have a look at it from the front:

4 guns instead of 2 makes the individual gun seem weaker, 2 guns with added detail would be better in my opinion.

Well I wanted it to be more than just a normal Thud in big...
The four guns also look way more menacing...

Nice design. One little thing you'll want to change (in case you miss it when you're cleaning up) is this highlighted edge. I think merging those two vertices will make mapping it much easier without detracting from the design in the least.

Well - I think there also is a perspective issue here. What seems pretty small is a rather big area which connects the "extensions" on his back with the shoulder gun packs. You can see this when looking at the right side of the picture where this is seen more clearly. Welding this together would have an odd effect as it would merge the different "depth levels" of the shoulder packs and the extension...

[Zpock]

Wait, Is it a thud remake or a new unit altogether?

The missing things I'm talking about are these, this is importantly the main thing in distinguishing the Thud from a generic mech, and make it look coreish:


and this:


Also the gunpods need to be disconnected from the main body so that you can animate the guns tilting up/down, would also look better.

[[Krogoth86]]

Wait, Is it a thud remake or a new unit altogether?

It's going to be a new T3 Mech for my Mod...

Also the gunpods need to be disconnected from the main body so that you can animate the guns tilting up/down, would also look better.

I thought about that but for now I want to keep rotating the whole body so he "looks" at what he fires...

[Argh]

@[Krogoth86]:

The main issue I see with your design at the present is that it's incredibly unbalanced- all of the weight is forward of the two legs. IRL, it'd fall on its face, and the small feet don't look like a stable platform for absorbing a lot of recoil, either.

I suggest some pretty radical changes to the rest state of the legs (that comes with a lot of necessary alterations to the animation, a bit hard tbh) or to move the body back, or add an object on the back to balance things a bit better, and rework the legs and feet to feel heavier and broader.

[[Krogoth86]]

The main issue I see with your design at the present is that it's incredibly unbalanced- all of the weight is forward of the two legs.

Well as I said the place where I put the hips hasn't been the best and so they'll go more to the front. I also wanted the knees to be on the "back" but when looking at it I think I'll put those knees to the front now (also is better for my 3rd leg concept). That should make it believable...

Besides that I now could argue that the barrels don't put the balance point too far to the front as they aren't that heavy in comparison to that Sci-Fi-Mumbo-Jumbo in the backpacks but well - it's just a game...

IRL, it'd fall on its face, and the small feet don't look like a stable platform for absorbing a lot of recoil, either.

Well as said: Those feet are just placeholders as I wanted to check the look and proportions of the legs. They are going to get a bit bigger as they (besides a complete new mesh approach) are going to get "claws" (which then also turn during the walk animation in order no to have just a plain surface but well - toe thingies. With that said you already can see the spaces where the two claws at the front and the one at the back of the foot will go...

and rework the legs and feet to feel heavier and broader.

Hmmm - well as it's an artillery unit and no skirmisher I didn't want to have it as massive as here for example:
http://www.freakygaming.com/gallery/act ... ch_808.jpg

I also like the appearance on the front view but ok - a bit "stronger" leg parts here and there might be good so I'll see if I can tune them a bit...

[Argh]

Sounds like it's going in a good direction then. When I said "heavier, wider" legs, I mainly meant that they should have some good, solid feet on them, sorry, that was not terribly precise- I think the overall dimensions are OK. Adding some toes might be a good way to achieve that, sorry I missed the bit about adding toes there. I like the reversed-knee stance, honestly, the the only problem with it visually is that the main examples we see of this IRL are birds, and they almost invariably have a nearly-equal balance between the front and back. In this case, it'd just be a minor change of position, to make it feel balanced, especially with the toes to give it a lot more area and a greater feeling of stability.

[rattle]

OH MY GOD IT'S LINDSAY LOHAN... no wait. Needs thicker legs.

[rattle]

~830 tris

[smoth]

Rattle, that model, damnit, I love it!

[KDR_11k]

[smoth]

that looks awesome kdr!

[FLOZi]

Indeed it does! Is it for THIS?

[KDR_11k]

Yep. It's still very rough, no light bounce or metal texture and could probably use some more interesting details to break the monotony up. One problem is that in space the old standby, air vents, don't really make sense.

[Zpock]

Cool spaceships will never make sense at all.

[MR.D]

Vents make perfect sense for a craft that can take off from within an atmosphere and break into outer space, and vice versa.

Vents could also be good to regulate heat dissipation and get more surface area to hot running parts that might overheat within a sealed bay.

[Argh]

Or power couplings. Dynamos, cooling systems, solar panels, sensors. Look at spacecraft IRL, they're covered with stuff, seemingly at random. A combat spacecraft is probably going to cover some stuff with armor, but make tradeoffs elsewhere- unlike an atmospheric aircraft, where everything is more-or-less dependent on making the aircraft's flight envelope work, a space fighter could have a lot more tradeoff... moreover, in a practical sense, a space fighter is likely designed so that it basically can't take any real damage, physically. I wouldn't worry about conveying the sense that it's actually armored, unless that's a very big deal in terms of the game design.

Speaking specifically about this design... it's like the people who designed the modern Beetle sat down and designed a fighter. Way too cute, lacks all signs of a practical, ruthless military design. The cockpit, in particular, doesn't work, at least for me. Maybe it'll come together as the skin gets completed- I assume that, for once, you'll actually complete a skin, instead of leaving it half-done?

I really liked the Homeworld approach, where they didn't even pretend their fighters were being piloted by guys looking out the windows:

Go here to see the Homeworld concepts, Relic has made a visual museum.