Walking Turret / Mech thing
polycounter lvl 13
I'm working on improving my portfolio's nextgen section, and I'm working on a sort've futuristic (50 years not 500 years) mobile turret / AA gun sort've thing.
The turret is designed to fold up and fit on the back of a truck for easy transport, and then the pilot flips up the front, gets inside, and the base unfolds into legs, walks into position, plops itself back down, and then the guns unfold.
Since this is going in my portfolio and I'm trying to get a job in the industry, I'd love as many hard and brutal crits as you guys can give me.
Right now I'm not sure if the detailing is too random / disjointed style wise or not.
Any crits you guys have would be much appreciated!
The turret is designed to fold up and fit on the back of a truck for easy transport, and then the pilot flips up the front, gets inside, and the base unfolds into legs, walks into position, plops itself back down, and then the guns unfold.
Since this is going in my portfolio and I'm trying to get a job in the industry, I'd love as many hard and brutal crits as you guys can give me.
Right now I'm not sure if the detailing is too random / disjointed style wise or not.
Any crits you guys have would be much appreciated!
Replies
the shapes and detail at the moment seems fairly arbitrary and not hugely thought out (although it could come together more when it gets nearer completion)... but if you don't have a solid concept drawn out (or even roughly lowpoly modelled to get the masses and main shapes), it might end up a bit confused in terms of design and function.
especially with highpoly modelling, you really should nail the design and idea before you get into the modelling, otherwise you might end up bogged down in random detail.
if you've got a concept, post it! if not, see about drawing one out (doesn't even need to be visually impressive, just enough to get the ideas all laid out comprehensively).
hope that helps, keep it up!
wheres the engine?
What will it bring to the soldier. Right now it's a quick death due to lack of armor and being put in a high risk position. It needs more protection. Military equipment is more in the form fits function rather than the design it and they will come mode. The legs don't bring an enormous advanatage. It can move into position from a truck-but it costs so much that we don't have enough to protect our line.
What this is is a semi-mobile machine gun emplacement. But can it do the job better than a regular dude with a machinegun, a loader, and a box of bullets?
The leg (which is something I've thought of doing myself) really only has one scene for it in a movie, and in a game would be better served by a fully capable leg. The folding capability really isn't going to wow anyone after the one "intro" scene and it's not got any real combat advantages that can be associated with it.
The design concept is pretty much right out of Matrix 2 or 3 (I didn't see those movies, just read the Cinefex magazine detailing them)
In terms of sticking with the design concept. With mechanical work, it's really good to block out your overall shapes and get a weight allocation.
Also something like this needs to be modeled with a sense of threat. You've got some military looking panels and such, but there's not a sense of menace in the machine yet.
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looks like a good start, but do you have a concept?
the shapes and detail at the moment seems fairly arbitrary and not hugely thought out (although it could come together more when it gets nearer completion)... but if you don't have a solid concept drawn out (or even roughly lowpoly modelled to get the masses and main shapes), it might end up a bit confused in terms of design and function.
especially with highpoly modelling, you really should nail the design and idea before you get into the modelling, otherwise you might end up bogged down in random detail.
if you've got a concept, post it! if not, see about drawing one out (doesn't even need to be visually impressive, just enough to get the ideas all laid out comprehensively).
hope that helps, keep it up!
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I don't have a working scanner at the moment. I do have concept sketches and I also roughed out an early prototype for movement and stuff. My problem was a my concept sketches were primarily for the main form and not for the greebles/details and so I was sort've tossing those on willy-nilly with a bunch of reference for panelling and details on my second monitor. I'm still concepting out the detail but I'm liking the new look of the legs a lot more. I still have more to add, however.
Does the overall shape and design not sit right or was it the shapes of the details and such that didn't sit right?
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uhm... one thing i would say is lacking in your design. is that the way the leg joints are designed, that thing will only ever move in a forward direction. i would add a ball/socket joint either at the knee, or at the hip.
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It's hard to see in the angled view but the hip joint is actually a ball and socket. Originally I had it as a hinge but someone else pointed out that he wouldn't be able to turn.
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pilot is very exposed
wheres the engine?
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I have extended the front plate down to cover more of the cockpit. The engine will be going underneath the cockpit, between the legs, and will have an armor plate in front of it as well. The rear will probably be exposed as a weakpoint/for maintenance/to look cool. So his weak point is his balls, but he'll be wearing a cup in front
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When you're modeling military equipment. Put yourself in the position of the officer ordering a soldier to put that equipment on.
What will it bring to the soldier. Right now it's a quick death due to lack of armor and being put in a high risk position. It needs more protection. Military equipment is more in the form fits function rather than the design it and they will come mode. The legs don't bring an enormous advanatage. It can move into position from a truck-but it costs so much that we don't have enough to protect our line.
What this is is a semi-mobile machine gun emplacement. But can it do the job better than a regular dude with a machinegun, a loader, and a box of bullets?
The leg (which is something I've thought of doing myself) really only has one scene for it in a movie, and in a game would be better served by a fully capable leg. The folding capability really isn't going to wow anyone after the one "intro" scene and it's not got any real combat advantages that can be associated with it.
The design concept is pretty much right out of Matrix 2 or 3 (I didn't see those movies, just read the Cinefex magazine detailing them)
In terms of sticking with the design concept. With mechanical work, it's really good to block out your overall shapes and get a weight allocation.
Also something like this needs to be modeled with a sense of threat. You've got some military looking panels and such, but there's not a sense of menace in the machine yet.
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I guess right now the advantage that the turret brings is a large gun (25mm rounds) and sensor equipment. The whole concept I have for the scene this is going to fit into is the notion of a mobile battlefront, so I've got a bunch of other compact/prefab type stuff (communications equipment, etc, and not all of it has legs
Updates!
Ghostscape. You're working on improving your hipoly modeling skills, so I don't think the practicalities of your design has much significance if you can make it look awesome.
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I hope I've made it more awesome
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Now, you don't have a highpoly model. You have a lowpoly model with some chamfered edges and very thin straight lines all over it. Where's the medium frequency detailing? Look in the orthagonal views; all your planes are aligned with the camera. That doesn't make for an interesting look.
Here's an excellent exercise: Skip your mech. Start designing boxes and cylinders. My sketchbooks have pages up and down with the stuff. Draw a few dozen cylinders, and make them all look unique and interesting. Hint: Your model is contstructed purely from boxes and cylinders.
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I think I've added medium level detailing with the seat, controls, boxes on the side, and the ladder. I understand what you're saying about it being a smoothed out low poly mesh before with very small details.
As for the boxy look of it, I wanted it to look sort've boxy because it's going to be fitting in with a bunch of other modular/boxy equipment.
I started the boxes/cylinders exercise - Basically detailing/greebling boxes out is what you're talking about, right? Detailing out the shapes sort've like how you've done these boobs?:
As for practicality, I'm not really going to go too deep here because there are many flaws which people have already pointed out, but a prominent one is that it doesn't look very stable. It would work fine on a smooth surface, but on rougher terrain, like say a hillside, or a tundra, it would teeter on rocks and other things when those 25 mills go off. I would suggest making the legs more articulate so that it can stabalize itself on such surfaces. Maybe add some muzzle breaks on the guns for stability and recoil absorption? The bores for the guns also look much larger then 25mm, but that could be a perspective thing. Last but not least, are those angled cylinders on the front by the cameras smoke genade launchers, or sensors? If they are grenade launchers then they are too small and there should be some on the back as well.
What you have right now does actually look pretty neat and well constructed, but the points I, and others, have brought up are key to a good design. Keep going, and let's see where you take this!