Macross - Phalanx
 

Hey Guys,

It's been awhile since I've made anything meaningful in Maya and wanted to knock the rust and dust off and start getting back into it. (Can't evolve from being a well meaning but unskilled noob without Practice Practice Practice!) ;)

So here it is one of the mecha from one of my favorite childhood cartoons. The main goal is to cover many of the basics in all areas of modeling/texturing/animation/rendering/effects.

I've got a little bit more to do as the inside of the missile housings aren't modeled and the leg joints aren't done. All the reference images show just a big block joining the hip and upper leg together. This is good for a cartoon but doesn't seem to be very practical so I want to make it different.

I also want to try something with texturing to get a certain look. I'll see if I can get it to work without looking like crap.

Looks like a good start mate...I LOVE mechs. Ever since I played Mechwarrior...bahahaha love em.

Will look good when textured mate.

cheers bullet

Looking good CGWolfgang, any wire shots.........dave

Thanks for the support guys!

I'm right there with you Bullet. This mech has been a blast to design. (Hopefully I can get the extra blasts in there)

Here is a quick and dirty update before I go to bed. (Only got to model for an hour tonight... :zzz: )

I hope the wireframe is clear enough I just used a screengrab to net the images.

As I get closer to texturing I'm still debating a more photoreal look or getting into toon texturing. Or maybe something in between....

Bahahah Im sure you will squeeze a blast or 2 in mate. I LOVED Mechwarrior...it still is the BEST Mech game as far as Im concerned. I heard they were going to make a movie?? If they are I will be there...its close to Predator in my all time faves.

This looks good mate...up to you what you want to texture as/in really mate. Me...personally..Ive said this before....slick shiny ships etc....just dont cut it I reckon. When I see images I lok for the dirt..mud..grease..laser or ammo blast..real stuff. I will overlook a shiny one straight away..personal preference of course.

Im sure whatever you do it will be just fine mate.

cheers bullet

Just one quick update at the end of modeling. I didn't duplicate some of the parts from one side to the other just yet until I map out the UVs for texturing.

Beware of the attack of the really tall checkerbot!!!

Just finished UV texture layout for this guy and wanted to make a quick post to see if anyone spots any glaring errors with the way the mapping is working.

Well after posting in my post asking about you the bloody e-mail dropped this one in...so much for timing LOL. Have you scaled the UV's properly mate?? Just askin as when I did my Spitfire the squares were ROUGHLY the same size..that doesnt appear to be the case on the mech...I could be wrong. It does look nice mate...the model so far...I think you have done a good job.

cheers bullet

The squares won't always be roughly the same size on things with a lot of parts like this, best way to think of it is that the smaller the sqaures are, the more detail you can put in that area

:beer:

Also, looks good CGWolfgang, are you gonna me annimating a scene with this or just stills? Would be sweet if you made a battle scene :beer:

Oh ok acid.....I will remember that mate thanks! learn something new everyday.

cheers bullet

No problem, it's probably not a proper technique to use though, it's just one I've been using recently :p

Thanks for the positive feedback guys!

Bullet - The squares are different sizes at the moment mostly because of different scales on the texture maps. Currently I think I have four or five different maps to encompass all the parts. I think it might be too many maps but I didn't want to shrink all the parts too badly just in case I manage to make a decent ammount of texture detail.

Acid - I would love to animate it but to tell you the truth when I started I didn't have an endgame in mind. I imagine thats why it takes me so long to do anything Maya related because my workflow is crap.

Although I do have all four major mecha designs (Spartan, Phalanx, Defender, and Monster) A still somehow showcasing them all would be something to do.

Maybe not right away but definitely something to come back to. Make a mech here and there and then put them all together in a final still.

Sounds pretty close to my normal worlflow :p

Would be sweet if you get 'em all done, good luck man:beer:

Finally got done organizing my texture files and laying out the base colors/decals. The image is just color with AO overlayed in photoshop. Going to start dirtying it up and doing the diffuse/specular/bump maps now.

Lookin good mate...waitin for the dirt/mud

cheers bullet