Zoidzilla (Gojulus)
 

So I wanted to immortalise this blast from my past in 3D. Well, it was already 3D, but you know...
Don't ask what methods I use to model stuff. I guess it varies At the moment, it's just a collection of pieces. Nothing has a name, even. Sloppy, but nobody is paying me; I'M the boss here. It's not posed at all cus I just find it easier to keep everything oriented straight until the end.
No idea if I'm gonna map textures onto it, or just create a bunch of materials. I've never really explored what you can do with the hypershade cus it makes no sense at all. It's more fun to take a UV map into Photoshop and just go wild, but it always looks pretty fake...like a video game, so...I dunno. I'll post more pics as I finish it
[IMG]http://thumbnails112.imagebam.com/36...a361956357.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://thumbnails110.imagebam.com/36...3361956359.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://thumbnails110.imagebam.com/36...7361956361.jpg[/IMG]

UV map painted textures shouldn't look fake..

Cool man - great start. Are you doing the new or classic toy

Had a go at this myself awhile back (the new toy) and will be getting back in to it soon now I built me new PC.

Check it out here ...
http://simplymaya.com/forum/showthread.php?t=39806

I assume it's the classic, since I've had it since...I dunno..the 80's I guess. I liked the old zoids when they looked mechanical and you could see all the moving parts. Then they tried to go for a sleeker look like everything else, and they ruined it. I'm not even sure I have all the parts, I guess I should try assembling it. I don't have a diagram or anything, I'm just holding the pieces in my hand and guestimating. I might even try to animate it. I assume that if I make all the parts into rigid bodies, then rotate the bits that rotate on the real thing, then it will HAVE to move like the real thing. Which, if I remember right, was a very jerky affair.

Oh, I never saw the link. That's awesome. I guess that's the newer version? I'll have to too a nice render when mine is more complete, but I'm waiting on a new mouse. My middle button died, so it was a pain in the butt positioning the camera. Guess I should have just made another perspective cam and opened another view

oops. I think I deleted my reply instead of editing it. Yeah, mine is the old version. It's from the 80's I think. I have all (I hope) the parts in a bag. Did you ever finish yours? It looks awesome.
I never really tried any modelling before. I used models I found online in video projects. This is my first from-scratch model, alongside a model of Carew castle, inside and out, that is going to take me forever. Yup. I live in Wales, too.

Edit: Guess I never deleted it. Well, it sure disappeared for a while

Yer I was going for the new one.

I have built many a toy from just having it in my hand - but a quick google search never hurts hehehe.

Yer never worry about the renders until its done :-)

I meant to do some work on it today cus it's sat there for months. I ended up spending hours cleaning up messy geometry in a few places, then realised it would be quicker to just re-make those parts. I was gonna upload progress pics, but I'll wait till there's some progress. All I did today was add some of the detail stuff that people loved so much on 80's toys. Pipes and random mechanical looking bits like on the ships in the original star-wars movies. I also gotta figure out how to properly upload pics here.

Oh, and was it ever finished? I followed the thread, but it ended suddenly.

No real progress here. Just turned on the mesh in the display so y'all can see how lazy I am. I generally just make all the little bits and put them together. You won't see many complex single meshes
[IMG]http://thumbnails109.imagebam.com/36...8362949994.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://thumbnails112.imagebam.com/36...d362949995.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://thumbnails110.imagebam.com/36...b362949998.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://thumbnails112.imagebam.com/36...f362949999.jpg[/IMG]

Anyway, I spent most of my time cleaning some really messy meshes. I don't know if they were unfinished or if I somehow created a ton of extra geometry without realising. Anyway, I couldn't let myself leave without modelling something, so I added the cooling fan thing you see here, and the pipes and stuff below it and to the right.
By the way...it's the first time I ever used the Duplicate Special option. Seriously. I never read the manual or watch tutorials. It's all trial and error, but I'll be using that a lot in future.

Edit: I just noticed that I've used the smooth dealie. You can see it in the post before this one. I was just looking at it and some of the edges didn't seem to be doing anything. Why did I do that? I have no idea. That was months ago



[IMG]http://thumbnails109.imagebam.com/36...5362970966.jpg[/IMG]

Since this is my first proper model, and I haven't touched it for months, I keep finding stuff and thinking, HUH? For example, this piece in the tail. It appears I've applied a smooth node at some point, but, since the piece has flat faces AND curved faces, some of the geometry doesn't actually do anything to alter the shape and is pointless.
[IMG]http://thumbnails110.imagebam.com/36...f363062390.jpg[/IMG]

So, I've manually deleted unnecessary edge loops and verts:

http://thumbnails109.imagebam.com/36...a363062392.jpg

Now I gotta go see if I've done anything stupid elsewhere.

Been too busy cleaning stuff to model much. Spot the 5 sided polygons in the pic...
[IMG]http://thumbnails110.imagebam.com/36...8363159876.jpg[/IMG]

Coupla questions: Anyone know how to set a thumbnail for this thread? Why the fuss about triangles? Is it really a big deal? And why? Every time I make a circle I put a tiny edge loop right in the middle and delete the triangles cus I was told they are bad, but I have no idea why. And is it really a problem to model by just making lots of little pieces? People seem to go to great lengths to "grow" the model as a single piece of geometry, and I don't quite get why. Is it to avoid seams when texturing? Or does it only apply to soft, squishy organic stuff? Or is it to do with what might happen further down an actual production work flow and it doesn't matter if you're just making a static model? I just don't see how it could ever matter in a model like this one.

To get a thumb nail use the "Manage Attachment" to upload a photo( this must be done in your first post of your thread). It has been a industry standard to model in quads but you are right that there are times were this is not possible ( I would try were possible to model in quads as at the end of the day it will make you a better modeller). The way you have modelled your model is fine, if you had made it in one piece it would have been impossible to UV it. One mesh is fine for organics as normally organics are flowing objects. see link it might help you to understand when to smooth or bevel...........dave

http://simplymaya.com/forum/showthread.php?t=36149

Ahh, that was cool. I notice quite a bit of what he described as "artefacting". I have no idea what causes it sometimes, cus I know from the way I modeled the part that the face is totally planar

Today I made the "backpack" looking thing that hides the batteries that make the head light up. I don't have the battery covers, so I kinda guessed there. No doubt the have little details that aren't on mine. I'll have to find a good pic that shows em.

[IMG]http://thumbnails112.imagebam.com/36...1363723227.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://thumbnails112.imagebam.com/36...4363723229.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://thumbnails111.imagebam.com/36...7363723230.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://thumbnails112.imagebam.com/36...c363723232.jpg[/IMG]

And here it is attached to the body:
[IMG]http://thumbnails112.imagebam.com/36...3363723233.jpg[/IMG]

Here's what I got so far:
[IMG]http://thumbnails112.imagebam.com/36...d363723234.jpg[/IMG]

And here's a quick render:[IMG]http://thumbnails110.imagebam.com/36...7363723235.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://thumbnails111.imagebam.com/36...6364448679.jpg[/IMG]

Just did one of the guns today

Today I made the staffernacy cromulator. I also gave it a dumb name, because I didn't know what to call it.

[IMG]http://thumbnails110.imagebam.com/36...1364672036.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://thumbnails111.imagebam.com/36...3365035577.jpg[/IMG]

Lazy day, so I just did this bit and copied a fin over as well. I have no idea what I'm gonna name all these pieces. This bit will probably be the "SCUBA looking de-bigulated fin support"

This piece of armour at the base of the tail has been bugging me. It's a mess.
[IMG]http://thumbnails112.imagebam.com/36...f362949999.jpg[/IMG]

So, I re-made it.

http://thumbnails112.imagebam.com/36...4365069625.jpg

Another question, guys...Look at the image I used as the thumbnail for this thread. You can see there is odd-looking geometry all over the place. That's not actually there; what you are seeing is behind the surface. If I zoom in a bit, it disappears. The pieces aren't intersecting anywhere, and it renders just fine, so why are parts of the model see-through in the viewport?
Oh! Related question! Isn't there a way to render a model and have all the edges visible? I'm sure I've seen such an option somewhere.

Just did the lower jaw. At least this bit has a name.


[IMG]6http://thumbnails110.imagebam.com/36...1365719910.jpg[/IMG]

Had some free time, so I went back to this model. I got so many on the go now, and I've yet to finish any. Why am I seeing edges on these pics, that should be hidden behind other geometry?

Ahhh...I dug out this model again and came here ...annnnd...boom! All the pics are gone. I guess I used a free image hosting site or something. Nevermind. I only have the arms and upper head left to do. Will post pics soon