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Announcing Macross Aria: a CGI fan film project


chillyche

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Hey Vinnie

WHat's Up my man, I thought you died. J/K - yeah it's your old model - Thought you may have given up on it.

What do you take me for, a CF pilot? :lol: I've got red on my aircraft and on my uniform, so I'm good to go.

I go back and forth on the model. The Aria project will probably be the thing to get me to finish it though.

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It's definitely a great CG model. Putting a good skin on it, and rendering it cel shaded could give it a great finish for an anime-style CG show. You can tell a lot of work has been put into that VF-4. Great work, and I don't say that lightly.

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Well, there's a number of things I could think of that would get me to finish it sooner, each more improbable than the first. Big West giving me a pile of cash, knowledge that I'd get to fly it upon completion, catgirl that finds CG VF-4s extremely sexy.

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Well, there's a number of things I could think of that would get me to finish it sooner, each more improbable than the first. Big West giving me a pile of cash, knowledge that I'd get to fly it upon completion, catgirl that finds CG VF-4s extremely sexy.

You make good points.

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disregard this post,

you already have access to people with improved versions of the models I converted from Bothec...

I just noticed your collaboration in the HW2 thread...

Continue business as usual...

Although, we could definitely use some of those Bothec models as placeholders and low-poly stuff until the final models are finished.

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  • 2 weeks later...

If anyone can help out with the modeling it'd be really great. I probably shouldn't mention it but we had one of our modelers leave due to a break in at his place and lost everything, so we're a man down but we're keepin the homie fire burnin.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Here's an update for everybody.

All of the actors have turned in excellent performances. There are a few rewrites that will be going out as soon as the SONG is finalized. Currently, singer and composer Helen Trevillion is taking a stab at our song. An orchestral composer has approached me and is eager to see some footage/storyboards to work with. I haven't hired him, per se, but I'd love to see what he's capable of.

We brought an additional character design artist onboard, and she's been turning in really great work, so I hope to have some of those pieces on display soon.

Akt_m -- we can always use more modelers. As of right now, many of our models are in a state of pseudo completion. I would love to have you aboard, professional or not.

I am about to embark on a week long film shoot in Haiti, so I'm going to be off the radar, but when I return on the 15th, I will definitely update everybody with where things stand, cuz I'll have a week off before shooting continues in NYC.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I could try to do the QF3000, shouldn't be take long to be done. But i won't be able to do it with a good size accuracy as i couldn't find any side/top/front views. Can any of you guys tell me what are the usuall model "specs". Like polycount, one big texture or several smaller, texture size... Also i don't know how to do a model to be used with cell shading.

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http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...mp;#entry690694

That's the list of assets as of a billion years ago. We still don't have much in the way of Zentradi units, outside of the Thurvel Salan which is under construction. I haven't heard from our Nous-J modeler in some time, either.

Cool. So what gets priority? They don't look that difficult except for the 'Nupetiet-Vergnitzs-Class Fleet Command Battleship' which would be insane unless you only see it from mid to long distance.

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The transformable Hero VF-1B with Strike Pack is currently sitting at 175K polys. This includes the cockpit interior. I think I can get that number down quite a bit, actually, although, it will also jump back up when I arm this sucker. Frankly, the model isn't the most efficient in use of polys; there are some areas that are over-detailed, and others that are under-detailed.

For the QF3000, this is a background unit. It's plausible that if the model is cool enough, it might get some shine-time in front of the camera, but it needn't be something we highlight. If it's under 10k, it will probably not get too close to the camera, if it's between 10 and 30, it might.

The cel shading is pretty simple. We start by making simple texture maps, rather than trying to make them photo-realistic, we just go with single shades. Then we apply the maps to a particular texture, and the renderer takes care of the rest. I have been drawing some panel lines directly in the texture, where there's not object detail, but the renderer takes care of lines where there are actual seams in the model. For a non-hero craft, I would expect that we could draw a lot more panel lines directly in the texture. A single texture is pretty convenient, but not necessary for this project.

As for the capital ships:

The only ships we really need to get close to are the Thurvel Salan, the Oberth, and the ARMD, which are already under construction. And even with those ships, we're doing base models, and then we will do some expanded bits with additional detail for closeups. Modeling the whole thing at a high detail level would definitely be ridiculous (although, very versatile, and, of course, very memory heavy). The rest of the capital ships will be seen more at a distance, and as such, need not be as detailed. The models in the HW2 mod are too low-poly to use, but models maybe twice or three times the poly count would do. Between 10k and 40k would probably be fine.

Oh, actually, I'd like a decent Zent Picket ship and a Medium Scale Gunboat for a couple flybys, but again, any close-up details can be separate pieces specifically designed for a particular shot.

Since this is a fan project, I understand that people may volunteer based on their particular interests. With that in mind, I would say, if there's a particular unit you'd like to tackle, please let me know which one, and we can get you started. I haven't heard from Venom in quite some time, so I don't know the status of his Nous-J, but that, along with Vinnie's VF-4 are the top priorities, as well as character models. If you're interested in taking over the Nous, let me know and we will figure that out. Otherwise, of the capital ships, the Medium-Scale Gunboat and the Picket Ship are the ones I'd like to see (besides the Thurvel Salan which is under construction).

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Oh, actually, I'd like a decent Zent Picket ship and a Medium Scale Gunboat for a couple flybys, but again, any close-up details can be separate pieces specifically designed for a particular shot.

Since this is a fan project, I understand that people may volunteer based on their particular interests. With that in mind, I would say, if there's a particular unit you'd like to tackle, please let me know which one, and we can get you started. I haven't heard from Venom in quite some time, so I don't know the status of his Nous-J, but that, along with Vinnie's VF-4 are the top priorities, as well as character models. If you're interested in taking over the Nous, let me know and we will figure that out. Otherwise, of the capital ships, the Medium-Scale Gunboat and the Picket Ship are the ones I'd like to see (besides the Thurvel Salan which is under construction).

Okay, how about I tackle the Quiltra-Quelamitz Class Medium-Scale Gunboat (if that's the one) and Picket Patrol Ship. That'll keep me busy for a while if you want to check up on the status of the Nous Jadeul Ger.

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Okay, how about I tackle the Quiltra-Quelamitz Class Medium-Scale Gunboat (if that's the one) and Picket Patrol Ship. That'll keep me busy for a while if you want to check up on the status of the Nous Jadeul Ger.

Yes, those are the ones. Although, I've been told that "Quiltra-Quelamitz" is not an official macross name, for what that's worth. But yeah, that's the ship I'm talking about.

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Get in on the Action!!

Introducing the Macross Aria Cannon Fodder Contest Round 1!!

In addition to the oft ignored Apollo Squadron, Macross Aria features several members of Phoenix Squadron, whom, unlike their namesake, do not rise from the ashes, but rather eat the big pineapple salad. At this point, the Phoenix Squadron VF-1 markings are completely up in the air, along with the squadron logo. This is where the contest begins.

We're opening up the design of Phoenix Squadron to anybody in the Macross World community. Entries will be judged by a number of criteria, and the winning entry will show up on some VF-1s in Macross Aria. The winner will be given a credit as a contributing artist.

The legalities of this contest are so wrapped up in copyright issues (what with this being a fan-production and all) that there's no possible way for me to write a disclaimer here except to say, if you enter you are consenting to us using your design in exchange for a screen credit. Nobody is really going to make any money off of this production, so, you know. The contest is open to anybody who's cool with fan films, whether they're already a part of Team Aria or just a lurker or anything in between.

Good luck, and let the games begin!

There will be a few more contests in the near future, so hopefully we can all take part in this awesome project.

I'm going to cross post this in the color scheme thread... apologies to anybody that reads this twice.

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