Roberta, a depth-charge drone + scene
polycounter lvl 19
Does this count as a character? God I hope not.. :poly122:
Quickie overview..
After finishing up the 'mod facade' challenge I quickly moved on to a new scene I want to have completed before the end of the month. The idea came after I saw a concept by Feng Zhu while in search of something to practice my hard-surface high poly modeling on. Not only did I want to get the practice in, but I wanted to do an environment scene that I could make quick enough while learning new things. Much like my mod facade challenge, I'd like this to be buitl in Unreal 3. However, if time does not permit I will put it all together in Max and get it done that way.
Story..
The idea, or story, that I came up with for my take on that concept was that this drone was actually a security measure for an underwater facility built back in the late 40's by some techno-crazed scientists. This drone, or as I've been calling her "Roberta", simply sits underwater chained to the sea floor waiting to be unleashed on an intruder that dares to cross her path. From a distance, she look much like her younger, dumber brother, something the scientists were hoping for. But once she's set in action there's no longer any confusion that she is infact NOT a naval mine.
You see, Roberta's 6-outlet purpolsion system springs in to action, her resting doors open for optimal visual input, and the mother-load is deployed from her inner workings just waiting to be released and rain hell on top of whomever her target may be.
And that's just 1 Roberta. Imagine an entire sea bed just littered with them waiting to be awoken.
The scene..
It'll be an underwater scene showing a few of these drone's resting, while 1 or 2 have been woken up and sent to destroy.
Notes of interest..
Highpoly #1
Highpoly #2
Quickie overview..
After finishing up the 'mod facade' challenge I quickly moved on to a new scene I want to have completed before the end of the month. The idea came after I saw a concept by Feng Zhu while in search of something to practice my hard-surface high poly modeling on. Not only did I want to get the practice in, but I wanted to do an environment scene that I could make quick enough while learning new things. Much like my mod facade challenge, I'd like this to be buitl in Unreal 3. However, if time does not permit I will put it all together in Max and get it done that way.
Story..
The idea, or story, that I came up with for my take on that concept was that this drone was actually a security measure for an underwater facility built back in the late 40's by some techno-crazed scientists. This drone, or as I've been calling her "Roberta", simply sits underwater chained to the sea floor waiting to be unleashed on an intruder that dares to cross her path. From a distance, she look much like her younger, dumber brother, something the scientists were hoping for. But once she's set in action there's no longer any confusion that she is infact NOT a naval mine.
You see, Roberta's 6-outlet purpolsion system springs in to action, her resting doors open for optimal visual input, and the mother-load is deployed from her inner workings just waiting to be released and rain hell on top of whomever her target may be.
And that's just 1 Roberta. Imagine an entire sea bed just littered with them waiting to be awoken.
The scene..
It'll be an underwater scene showing a few of these drone's resting, while 1 or 2 have been woken up and sent to destroy.
Notes of interest..
- She's almost completely made of metal. Her main hull, the giant sphere, is copper.
- She's taken out of the sea bi-weekly to have her payload exchanged which is when mother nature takes her toll on Roberta and oxidizes her copper hull, one repeated drip at a time.
- Referring to this drone as a 'her' may imply there's just one of her. That she's a character all on her own, but I assure you, she's one of thousands resting, waiting...
- I've only got the main asset completed for this scene. I still need to cook up a sea bed, some seaweed, bubbles, chains, etc. That'll be what the rest of the week is for. I'm hoping to have this all done by Friday.
Highpoly #1
Highpoly #2
Replies
nice weathering. I'd probably have put more paint scratched away on the seam of her down-low canister, where things are more likely to strike the edge. that glass looks dope.
not a whole lot reads as water-damage. i'm not sure how to rectify that... maybe algea growing on parts of it? could be as easy a fix as just having the bubbles/floating particles in the render you mentioned
hahahah In YOUR FACE BROME! Next you'll be calling your Pr0n Collection "Reference" LOL
I'm not sure i like the normal mapping on the 'body' of it, though. It looks blobby, and more importantly too bumpy. I'd expect sharp edges where paint has chipped away or it's been damaged, and instead i'm seeing this soft lumpy buildup that i don't quite know what is.
Ged - Thanks man
frettchen - Thanks dude. CGTextures.com if you're interested!
Disting - right on, thanks man! I'm still fighting with it as I'm not exactly happy with how it turned out but I'm glad its working
Sectaurs - As I am sure you're aware copper turns green/tuqouis when it oxidizes. I think the issue I've hit here is the specular on those areas being inaccurate. I'll be adjusting that today.
Bryan Cavett - I'm actually going to try and add in a few sea related things today :P (Seaweed, barnacles perhaps)
Josh_Singh: Nooooo! I feel dirty and want to shower
Kawe: haha, I actually have its master .max file setup to move all in unison and stuff. Not sure how to go about showing that off, though.
SupRore: Ya, I actually had harder edges on it a few days ago and it turned out entirely too noisey. More so than it already is. I went with something software so that some texture appeared in teh specularilty, all while keep it it somewhat 'clean' as to not be visually unappealing. I'll go back and see if I can find a medium area for both.
Not to be a spoil-sport since its looking really kick-ass, but technically the concept has been in a commercial before, however it was smoother and made of chrome and used in SciFi's channel branding a few years back (If I remember correctly at least).
Maybe add a layer of paint that is nearly worn off by now? Something to add more of a contrast in color, so it's not all just kind of rusty/copper brown? The Blue light is a great bit, but maybe like, old red stripes around the ends or something? I agree, a few barnacles would be good in some of the corners.
Post your textures!
Nothing spoiled since you didn't provide a video
Nice try though.
Kawe & Illusions - regardless of its intent, my purpose is entirely different than the one in the concept so lets not worry about what it was meant for when he drew it and worry about what its meant for now, for this piece :P
As for whiping her off, I thought of that but then figured they - whoever THEY are - wouldn't really give a shit since she's more or less a "hunk of junk" to them.
Glad you liked it Xeno.
I'm with Xeno on the glass though, some "wipe" marks would help sell it.
Did you play around with any colours on her screens/lights? The blue is very underwater and cool and neutral, but I could almost imagine maybe a deep pink or red light somewhere on her. Need to bring in her feminine nasty side, especially her jealous rage at her younger dumber brother.
- Roberta in "silent" mode
- A shadow passes by and there's some sound effects that sounds like.. uhm.. something moving through water
- Roberta activates and flies out of camera in the direction of the shadow
Easy and it'll look neat
Not really too inspired by the design tbh. Looking ahead, I'd suggest including Zbrush in your texturing path, take the model in and do some specific surface work there for things that the PS filter / Crazybump just doesn't do very well (Solder, major dents & scratches). I think you could really push the sweet texturing further by doing some specific zbrush detailing and then playing the texture off of those as well.
Not thinking anything major like it was fucking destroyed by a [sword] giant hammer, but subtle things to give the shape more character than a circle. The texture work gives it gobs of character, but the shapes themselves just feel like they could be "livened" up with some subtle destruction/handcrafting.
Here she is with her sisters, protecting something just over the hills there in the background.
Some notes...
initially i was curious on how you were integrating the top "eye" light but you pulled it off really well.
love the texturing
thats all i have to say bynow
Alex
Other then that Pretty nice. Did you do the Water material your self?