Aztek

Rod, Do you already have a bumped texture? I see some rivits on your panels. Subtle touch. Looks great. BTW, are they "buttonhead" rivits? Most high speed aircraft have countersunk rivits and fasteners. Just a though, and possible suggestion ...

Love the weathering, but does it xform??

Wolf, I could see cut and pasting about a hundred valks in front of the Mac as an ideal alternative to rendering that shot MBS was talking about. But one render with a hundred or so valk spaced at varing intervals under the same lighting solution would look pretty nice.

I've thought about that too, mbs ... I'd just mock up the scene and take a week vacation while it renders. that's an @ssload of polys ...

I have the intructions from my cyclone. I could scan em if you need me too. PM me your email.

LOL, good point to a statement made a few posts up, I shoulda quoted you. And DG, I like that mock up you did. I dig the depth the perspective contributes.

Wolf, good point. I currently have a -1s head only, so any variant of mine will be a -1s. I got strike and regular fastpacks. I'm about 60 percent done modeling the booster/electronic kits for the ELINT I'm working on. I just have the head, dish, and the large antenna that runs perpindicular to the centerline of the valk. Once my texture templates are complete, it shouldn't be a prob to churn out renders of diff COLOR -1s variants, but untill I finish my ELINT or model new heads, I'm stuck with -1s. Dammit, I forgot I have to rehash the fwd fuselage to tweak it for the two seater. DB, I think most people who texture and model realistic looking mecha have either first hand knowledge of various real world machinery and equipment (aircraft, tanks, military equipment and artillery) or have done extensive visual and MECHANICAL research to get the right look. Slapping a "DANGER INTAKE" texture by an inlet is semi-realistic in itself. Mapping grease and fluid stains swirling INTO the intake from rivits is a little insane, and graphicly intensive, but is as *real* as it gets. ** Yes I have a seperate map for my intakes ** On that note DG, Have you thought about mapping smudge/abrasion markings along the arc that your inlet covers retract on your intakes? Even subtle smudges that define the arc would look pretty damn pimp on a closeup shot looking in to the intake as if inspecting it. What do you guys think about some real life refs for those trying to get the weathering just right? I could shoot different shots depicting actual weathering on the low-vis Air force paint job for an A-10. It's not an F-14, but oil streaking across the wing doesn't know whether it's on an A-10 or a Cessna. I got a new digital camera and I'm itching to do it. Lemme know.

Hey Dat, Are you going for a CG *toy* look or *real life* look? I'm assuming from the detail and quality that you're churning out that's it's the latter. I think most of us started out as modeling a toy (mine was the chunky monkey) but eventually ended up driving towards a realistic look version. I only ask this cuz of the 1/60 hip hinge look. ??? It looks great if you keep the 1/60 style ... I'm totally not nitpicking, just curious about your angle.

DB, Thanks, but that head shot is WAY old. I had to tweak the gills and I'm tempting on making the head mirror the Yammie 1/48 head/neck/gill design. Right now, my neck is attached to the head. (as it should I guess ) I think it will be a cold day on Mercury before I'd consider my valk done. As long as my wife keeps letting me upgrade my comps, I'm allowed more power for polys. I went from an 18 k poly model to an 18 k poly nose section and over 180 k total with fast packs and landing gear in about a year and a half. AND it's about only about 30 percent textured. I wish I had half the time some of the cats here have to model. 5 kids and the Air Force suck every ounce of energy from ya ...

Nice composite DG, your textures are looking tiiiiite. As always Wolf, your SDF-1 rocks ...

oops.

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Since the old board is gone and not *with us* any more, I figured we should migrate it here. Here's some old renders to jump start the project again.