Started throwing some base colors down, and dirtying up the body. Got a long way to go, but I like how it's turning out so far.

Doesn't feel like I've accomplished much, but here's an update. Been applying basic colors and arranging UV's as I go.

Mate that is one sh*t hot model....the only couple of things I have in my pic. It was the rung on the port side that caught my eye..as I frequently used to get in and out of very large machines...it was always the access rungs that got my attention and where they were placed...cos sometimes it was impossible to get up the damn thing

cheers bullet

Hey bullet, thanks for taking the time to point these things out.

For the divet, I have images with it there, and some without, so I put it in. A long with the rung, I have some images with the rung in around that placement. But others I have seen have indentations on the side for foot placement, instead of the rung, but I went with the rung instead. I'll upload a couple images to show you what I mean.

Now that I look at my images though, I can see the rung was used on a tank that was lower, and easier to get onto. Think I need to fix that up.

As for what you wrote in the yellow text, I can't quite make out what it says :P

Yeh I noticed the footholes in very late models too...the rung is below the others in my images...no matter mate. On the yellow text...it was meant to mention the square bubble...on all except the latest variant it is there. They must have replaced the rungs and deleted the bubble and added the bevel on the latest variant by the looks of it...

cheers mate

So it's been quite a while since I've posted an update. I haven't done too much work on the Apache itself, but more so on the environment.

I've been working on it for a couple weeks now, and I like what I have, but I don't even know if it's good lol. I've been staring at it for so long I'm not even sure if I'm going in the right direction.

So here's what I have, with a little post work in Photoshop. I hope it's not too blown out, cause it gives the look I want on my monitors here. But I'll tone it down if it's too much.

My only consern is how are you going to animate the grass moving. can it be done in say aftereffects.............dave

Looks good mate!! the reflections on the leaves look a tad bright in contrast with the stormclouds...and maybe the backlight (sun) might be a tad bright. Is the grass poly mesh?? if so it will animate fine with a vortex...but shit mate that will seriously hurt the CPU...I think dave is going in the right vector with AE if it can be done...I know SFA about AE so your call. LOL dig the sphere...expecting some clean cut alien to step out and berate my species for its shortcomings bahahaha.

If this is a waypoint it migh pay for a vehicle and some drums etc in the scene to finish it off??? like a rapid support team or something mate...if that is the intention. In reality (I think) it wouldnt have to land unless it was re-arming/re-fuelling??

Nice bloody job though man...real nice

cheers bullet

P.S maybe some fog effects in the light? just a slight tint?

Cool details skip. The rotors especially looking veeery nice.

Thanks for the feedback guys!

@dave - I was hoping to avoid animating it, but I don't think I'll be able to get away with it, unless I just keep it as a still image. I have a couple ideas in mind, so I'll do a bit of experimenting.

@bullet - Making notes on your suggestions with the sun and the leaves, thanks! Everything in the scene is poly's. Right now it's sitting at about 20 million. I quite like your idea of making this a waypoint, I think it'll make it a lot better than just having the helicopter sitting there by itself. And it'll give me an excuse to model another vehicle. :P

@ben - Thanks! Appreciate the comments!

You could try paintfx and render out as a maya render layer(and its quick), not sure if dynamics link up with paintFX............dave

I had originally used paintFX for the geo, as it was quick, but I found it to give me less control over the shape of the grass. So I modeled a few separate blades and instanced them around. The dynamic control that paintFX gives you would be exactly what I need, but I don't think I can add those nodes to my geo.

I'm looking into a few different things, such as a hair system, nCloth and an IK Spline rig. The spline rig looks to be the best option, but attaching it to the thousand of instances I have will probably be a pain.

You could create a partical field then attact the instances to that..............dave

I haven't done too much with particle instances, but unless there is a way to pin the instances down, so that the force fields don't blow my geo around, I don't think it would work.

I have, however, managed to get a IK Spline rig working. I just rig up the original piece of geo, and all the instances are influenced by the rig. Now I can animate the CV's on the curve, and it'll give me a bit of motion. Unless I take the time to paint the weights, I don't think I'll have a lot of motion, but a little swaying will add a nice touch I think.

You design perfect helicopter.You choose perfect color combination.The image contras is very good.