Environmental Study Robot - Critique / Direction needed

purplekami

Hey guys, just in need of some critique on this next project I started. I'm trying to make a robot that would analyze foreign environments using a set of tools on board similar to the ones the curiosity rover has. I'm starting to implement these features now, but was wondering if I should make changes to the current body of the mech.

First time making a robot this size so I'm still learning what makes mechanical pieces seem functional, I also feel like there's a lot of greeble going on and I'll try to replace a lot of those parts with more pure functional pieces rather than random noise.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

Akash283

I would say focus on balancing small/mid/big shapes.  Right now it feels like mostly a lot of Mid sized shapes defining the silhouette. Look at reference for industrial stuff and notice how a lot of thin (and various sized) wires populate these types of things.

I like the armadillo-esque plating on the back especially because it breaks up the visual noise. You need more surfaces like that to define the form in a more direct, digestible way for the viewer/player.

The shape language needs more definition. Right now it feels like a bunch of primitive shapes densely packed together. Some more nuanced shapes are necessary. They don't have to be complicated tetrahedron nonsense- take a look at Sparth, most of his hard surface scifi shapes are incredibly simple, but they convey the feel of the armor/machine/environment immediately. 

Also take a look at Darren Quach for that kinda stuff. He has really cool organic hard surface mech designs. It will help to break up the cube/cylinder modeled blockiness that you currently have.

Good luck. It's a promising start, and I like the general direction, what you need is to keep whittling it down and making it more visually digestible.