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Mass CG project ...


Aztek

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So... what were the details of this project?  What was the intent?

The intent is to do a mass composite shot of 3D Macross models that members of our little community have created. The plan rigt now is to set our models with Wolf 13's SDF-1 Macross as the centerpiece. If I am wrong, let me know.

BTW: I was mutmp1, I changed my nick to waylandcool because that is my name everwhere else. Just an FYI

Edited by waylandcool
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AZTEC:

That's a great head on your model. Tell me, any more shots? And are you considering your model done?

DOK:\

Sick.... I love the tin look of the valk. Beautiful background. Are all those pieces rendered?

Dat

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BTW DOK:

I began to try to use some of those techniques you were telling me about in order to smooth some of the sharp edges out. Though none of them are represented here, I intend to go through the whole model to see if I can't remove some of those hard edges and keep the ones that make sense. Thanks for the tips, if you have any more keep em coming. I;ve already done new upper legs/intake sections so it looks better than these you see here with the wweird geometry. I'll post as soon as I get em set up.

Dat

Edited by DatterBoy
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DB, I think what amazes me most is how fast you got that thing togeather! Might not be the best VF-1 we have here but it certainly competes, and you did it in no-time.

Waylandcool (artist formerly known as mutmp1): My model is not so much the centerpiece so much as the background. We're still trying to figure out exactly how the composition will be. It would be sweet if we could have a REALLY big poster-type image with the Macross in back and all the various smaller Mecha in front. Once we're at that stage I guess we'll trade sketches or something. Heh, if it were up to me I'd do it door-sized :p Would definitely have to add detail to my model for that tho.

Evil Monkey: Glad you like the Big Mac. Check out my page HERE for more pics... check in the CG gallery and especialy the Animation gallery for the transformation sequence.

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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 :unsure: )

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 ...

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AZ:

Man, I don't even have gills.. Gonna redo the head altogether since I've got too many hardlines in it and it was a rush job to begin with anyways. Your head is smooth as sin and looks great to me, even though I know there are more variations with much more detail. It seems to me that I cold keep working on my valk forever and it may never be completely finished cuz there's alaways some way to make it better. Not even gonna try and texture until the modelling is done. Got any more recent pix then?

Here's the fixed up upper leg I was talking about earlier. Yet another tweak to the model. Will likely do it again at some point to get that rounded look like yours and Doks:

jet%2010.jpg

WOLF:

Thanks Man, I wouldn't say no time since the model really has sucked a lot of time outta me. It's almost become an obsession.

Dat

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AZ:

Man, I don't even have gills.. Gonna redo the head altogether since I've got too many hardlines in it and it was a rush job to begin with anyways. Your head is smooth as sin and looks great to me, even though I know there are more variations with much more detail. It seems to me that I cold keep working on my valk forever and it may never be completely finished cuz there's alaways some way to make it better. Not even gonna try and texture until the modelling is done. Got any more recent pix then?

Here's the fixed up upper leg I was talking about earlier. Yet another tweak to the model. Will likely do it again at some point to get that rounded look like yours and Doks:

jet%2010.jpg

WOLF:

Thanks Man, I wouldn't say no time since the model really has sucked a lot of time outta me. It's almost become an obsession.

Dat

Man, this thing looks great in fighter! I do agree that the head needs work. It looks a bit too small in battroid.

Oh, BTW.... 1st to 100!!!!!!!

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What? No 1J love?

vf-ij_series.jpg

And yes, I do know Miriya (or Millia as it were) is not supposed to have a skull on her heatshield, but that was my first "repaint" from the 1S I was making. ANd I also realize Max's heatshield should be blue. I stopped working on these when I realized the model had issues that should be worked out in a master before messing with variations.

Dat

Edited by DatterBoy
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Dat,

Looking GREAT! LOVE the proportions of it. I'll have to repost some shots to show mine off to better effect, had some weird lens settings that made my legs appear "stunted". And yeah, all parts are modeled, the only texture on there is on the chestplate and heatshield, and even there, all the panels are modeled in. The background is just a quickie thing from Google, I just wanted a ruined city type thing and that was the closest I could find in 10 mins

Az, yeah -- I am also tempted to do 1/48 style gills

Wolf, let's shoot for door-sized then! -if not shaped. I think we need to do a shot that's wider than it is tall, as we'll have a lot of mecha standing side-by-side, and a waist-up shot of your Macross in Storm Attacker mode will also be wider than it is tall. As for detailing - The model as a whole looks more than detailed enough - if anything, I guess hyper-detail the right arm, as that's going to be the part that actually is in the foreground....

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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.

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AZ:

Yeah, I did start modelling after the 1/60 for sure cuz it was all I had for a ref. But as time goes on I definitely want to move towards realistic. IN the beginning, I just wanted to have more Yammie's so that was what I was going after. But now, I want the thing to be able to hold up to a real world background, so that's what I am going for. The hips are definitely 1/60 but trying to move towards 1/48. Hopefully in the end it will be much more like what your looks like. FOr now, I am content with the toy look until I learn how to texture map and do proper lighting. This stuff is still kinda new to me so I'm gonna take it slow.

Nitpick away, it makes my stuff better. Last night I increased head size cuz I got some feedback about it from COMMANDER MCBRIDE and others such as DOK have commented, so every bit of

DOK:

Hey, all your panels are modelled in? WHat technique are you using for the panel lines and panels? Booleans? Or are you cutting them with the cut faces tool? Making panels is a real pain in the butt, so I kinda stopped doing it outside of a few main ones on the arms and the chestpplate for character, but I really want to get some on the fast packs and the nosecone but the booleans are killing the polygon integrity. Whatd o you suggest?

Dat

Edited by DatterBoy
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Hey gang,

Since I've never been very successful at describing my suggested composition for our big group shot, I figured I'd make a visual aid. This is exceedingly crude (I had 10 minutes upon getting back in from lunch early) but at least gets the angle across. The white "blob" under the mecha is meant to be the right ARMD arm of the Macross, specifically the top deck of it, projecting hugely into the foreground. Almost as if it were doing a "Daedalus Attack" right at the camera, with the mechs standing atop it.

What do you guys say?

post-5-1061562007_thumb.jpg

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Thats deffinitely a cool possibility, Dok. But I was also considering, since we might have enough Mecha, to do the full macross verticaly, possibly with one ARMD closer to foreground, and have Valks flting between its legs, bellow the ARMD, above, etc.

In this case tho, I'll deffinitely have to upgrade my textures or something.

AZ, I still very much want to get you that Macross, especialy since I could use some help getting the textures to a high enough res (at least for the ARMD in Dok's version). Believe it or not, the SUBHUMAN SCUM IDIOTS at the phone company have somehow managed to leave me dsl-less for months. The problem is they essentialy have a monopoly on DSL here and the other broadband alternatives either suck or aren't even available (no cable modem in my area). So I guess I'll have to deal with it and send the stuff some other way.

Who was it that had volunteered to set up an FTP? I don't have enough webspace, and theres no way I'm doing the ftp thing with Dial-Up!

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ALL:

Was wondering, what is it that makes your models look more ral as opposed to l ess toylike? I have been struggling with how to do this What can I do to make my model look more like a real fighter/robot and less like a toy? Off the top of my head, I know textures would do great since you can add weathering effect, but what about materials, polygon details, things like that? What do you all do?

Dat

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When it comes to the model itself, its mostly materials. When it comes time to animate, theres other things that can be considered.

The level of detail is important, and also in >some< cases toys are made thicker in parts because a piece might be too small to hold certain weight, etc. Keeping said parts sleeker might help. Erm, I think.

EDIT: I seriously think that you VF1 people should include more than one version of your model in the final pic each... if you've made it transformable you should be able to show off more than one mode ;p

Edited by Wolf13
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Dok, what I would love to see is a door-length, CG poster version of THIS. Excet the Mactoss would be 3/4 view with one ARMD extended so we can see the Destroids. The trick is that this image is too much SDF-1... We'd need the VFs to be closer (more on the background would be sweet, tho) so that the Macross is reduced to background image, not the main subject but seen through a VF screen like here.

post-5-1061569248_thumb.jpg

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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.

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Glad you revived this thread here.

I hope you guys are still considering me doing the composite in Photoshop. It will be really fun to get to work with all these great models.

That is the first time I've seen the Macross! WOW! It looks amazing. :blink:

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Dok, what I would love to see is a door-length, CG poster version of THIS. Excet the Mactoss would be 3/4 view with one ARMD extended so we can see the Destroids. The trick is that this image is too much SDF-1... We'd need the VFs to be closer (more on the background would be sweet, tho) so that the Macross is reduced to background image, not the main subject but seen through a VF screen like here.

What you guys need to do is make a hi-res desktop of that with the SDF-1 in full view, and globs of fighters...

That would be awesome. So long as it's dark and such like the original. I'd SO use that as my desktop. ^_^

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