Super Metroid Container (WIP)
polycounter lvl 9
Hello there!. I decided to start a new mini-project to do during the weekend and finish up during the next week, to add to my portfolio. Hopefully it's alright to add it, anyway!.
What I've decided to build is the Metroid container that shows up at the start menu of Super Metroid:
I will use this image and another one from the Super Metroid cover to use as a base, but I will modify it a tiny bit.
For one, I will slightly change the scale of the elements. I will bring it to UDK so I will try to make most of it stick to the grid so I can re-use certain elements around if I ever think about making the scene larger. I will also do both monitors the same (panoramic) but one of them rotated so it has a look similar to that of the original start menu screen.
Here is the scale I came up with:
For now I will do the high-poly model. Then will bake it all down to a low-poly game-ready model. I also plan on having 3 kinds of wires. The very "thick" ones at the bottom, another plain one with lines every now and then, and lastly a small plain one that will be reused for the top and for the computer wires. I will also just scale it down a lot to make thin wires that are not in the original concept.
I will also make the computers a bit more modern. Right now they look like what they are. An image of "modern computers" painted during the 80's. I will also try to make it more detailed than the cover I linked. That model is too... flat. Overall I will try to go somewhere in-between Halo and Killzone, hopefully. But retaining the orange lights, the green screens and the blue lighting.
Wish me luck!. I will start modelling now.
PS. Oh, and if I have some time, I will try to model a Metroid too, and put it inside the capsule in the center. I sketched out some Metroids some days ago.
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Edit // I gathered some 3 extra pics that can help me out get an idea of the environment. All taken from Super metroid's opening:
What I've decided to build is the Metroid container that shows up at the start menu of Super Metroid:
I will use this image and another one from the Super Metroid cover to use as a base, but I will modify it a tiny bit.
For one, I will slightly change the scale of the elements. I will bring it to UDK so I will try to make most of it stick to the grid so I can re-use certain elements around if I ever think about making the scene larger. I will also do both monitors the same (panoramic) but one of them rotated so it has a look similar to that of the original start menu screen.
Here is the scale I came up with:
For now I will do the high-poly model. Then will bake it all down to a low-poly game-ready model. I also plan on having 3 kinds of wires. The very "thick" ones at the bottom, another plain one with lines every now and then, and lastly a small plain one that will be reused for the top and for the computer wires. I will also just scale it down a lot to make thin wires that are not in the original concept.
I will also make the computers a bit more modern. Right now they look like what they are. An image of "modern computers" painted during the 80's. I will also try to make it more detailed than the cover I linked. That model is too... flat. Overall I will try to go somewhere in-between Halo and Killzone, hopefully. But retaining the orange lights, the green screens and the blue lighting.
Wish me luck!. I will start modelling now.
PS. Oh, and if I have some time, I will try to model a Metroid too, and put it inside the capsule in the center. I sketched out some Metroids some days ago.
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Edit // I gathered some 3 extra pics that can help me out get an idea of the environment. All taken from Super metroid's opening:
Replies
Again, what do you guys think?
Anyway, I will keep updating!. The model showing up in UDK isn't meant to show how the low-poly model will look, just the scale. The real low-poly will have more details (though I might have to cut down on the cylinder sides a bit, maybe.. because things can get quite high poly, haha). Anyway, I will work on the high poly first and then worry about the low poly.
Thanks for the comments!.
Keep it coming!
It's been nighttime since I last posted so I've not done much, ouch. But I just changed the height of the monitors and also took a front view screenshot. Again, this is blocking-in so don't mind the intersecting areas and the many missing small parts!.
I think the monitor height feels right now. What do you guys think?
Since this is going to be a 3d asset, it might be an idea to take a few more ideas from the sort of 3/4 top down (not sure what the angle is called) reference you've got, since that gives a better idea how the monitors are supported. Blocking in the connecting arms for the monitors would definitely make them look less "floaty"
Also, I think the central tube looks like it is just clear glass all around, rather than having 4 supporting struts.
Great idea for a model though, can't wait to see your progress.
The support for the monitors won't be what I showed, though I guess it's my bad because I didn't explain it correctly first.
As for the central tube, yeah, I will definitely go with all crystal, but check the cover for the game:
At first the cover of the game was one of the very vew things I had for reference when I did the base mesh, but it seems like all the in-game stuff has just glass.
Edit: However, for all we know, this drawing could have been done by someone unrelated to Nintendo who received only the original title screen and painted that based on what he saw!. Or maybe not...
ahem, nice pick dood, do it justice PLEASE!!! lol
And I would definitely get a Metroid in there. Give it some character with it and make that thing look vicious. I like the sketch towards the bottom of the page with the small tubing embedded into the Metroid.
Have you looked at some of the Metroid Prime containers in the game? Or even the labs they have in the game? Those could be some good reference points as well.
Ghostscape, yeah, I personally don't think the title screen's character sizes can be used as guideline. It seems like they are too short. If you see on the last pic I posted, while the guy on the left seems to be looking straight, the guys on the right seem to be looking slightly down. I guessed they would be shorter than the UT character so that's why I made it the way I did. But I guess I will take the monitors up a notch so it's easier to see whatever I put in the screens later on. Again, thanks for the comment!.
Alberto Rdrgz, sorry! :P I will surely try to do it justice!.
G3L, hey, hopefully I don't fail miserably. I can already do proper 3D stuff and texturing, etc.. so hopefully this should end up looking nicely.
As for the Metroid, yeah, I would like to add one, it just depends on how long it takes. During the weeks I work 12 hours (doing 3D stuff nevertheless!) so I don't have much time left to work on this except one hour or so before going to sleep.
I don't have Metroid Prime around here right now but I played the first and second back when they got released. I will check on Youtube and see how it's looking, but I don't think I will go that way. I don't want for this to be a simple "fan-art" prop. I wanna give it a unique touch and see if I can do something different but maintaining the Metroid feel.
Anyway, I'm at work now so I won't be able to update much. Will probably work a bit during the lunch and dinner breaks and then at night. So I will update with something at night, hopefully!. Sorry for the delay with new stuff!.
It's still kind of a basic shape.
For the ovals on the base in the original model, I decided to go with perfect circles (looked better than ovals) and instead of just more plain surface (it looks like someone stuck an egg inside there), I've decided to make those circles slots to attach cables for different stuff like water for the container, electrical wiring, and whatever else you might think of. Each circle will be numbered (will probably do that as a floating decal with numbers so I don't spend extra UV spaces for all sides) and most won't have wires attached so the scene doesn't look too busy.
Also, I will be adding many detailed stuff that's just not there in the original drawings. Inside the water (?) tank where the Metroid is floating, I decided to put some grid system that would theoretically work as some sort of water filter or some similar application.
Next thing I will do (hopefully tomorrow) will be finish the bottom piece (add small details, though the smallest ones might be added via Photoshop with nDo or a Zbrush pass), then the top piece I added (though not the whole TOP of the container), and then I will work on all the wires and tubes so I can finish the bottom area and make the connections to the monitors.
Before going to sleep, I worked some 40 minutes getting more references stuff and whatnot, and also tinkered around with the model a bit more. What version do you guys like?:
Not all the details are done. What I wanna know is the big center piece sticking out from the main tube. The one on the left is closer to the original sketch, whereas the one on the right has a more unique shape I think, and also somewhat a practical use (I guess some sort of ventilation system).
Anyway, I just woke up now and recorded a short video while having breakfast. It's just a turntable taken from the viewport:
http://youtu.be/4sv730DYaxk?hd=1
The mesh is acting slightly funny on the corners where the panels are (not on the panel side, but on the base mesh side). I will try to fix it, but if it takes a while and it doesn't show up in the normal, I might leave it alone.
I've been working on the top, trying to make it all in one mesh. But I'm starting to think it should have been better if I had gone with separate meshes. Don't even know if they will look like connected meshes when I bake it into a normal...
Here's a video:
[ame]
I rendered it out with a very shiny material and got some weird highlights that I will need to work on now. So I might eventually end up changing some stuff.
WHen I turn turbosmooth on, it looks like this:
Pretty obvious results, right?. Now, I want that slope to have less of a curve. I basically selected the edges and added some extra edges to get the sharp border:
But as you could expect, I got some ugly results on the curved surface:
Now, I know the reason. But I tried moving the edges more to the center and adapt them to the curve, and all I got was some ugly reflections somewhere else.
I also tried adding an extra edge in the center and move it to the curve edge when smoothed. It looked like this:
Which looks already better, but I still have those edges. Do you guys think it's alright to keep adding extra edges in that portion of the surface and make the curve?
Lemme try it again see if it works..
Edit - Yeah.. I get some ugly stretching bands, but they are fairly small so I guess they won't even show on the normal map. I will go with this for now, thanks!.