[WIP] Walking Robo House - Environment

chriszuko

Hello everyone!

I decided while I wait for replies to resumes and what not that I would go ahead and start a new environment. I wanted to do something interesting and a bit odd which made me kinda stumble upon the idea of a walking house. I know I am not the first one to think of this, but I think it would still be neat to make an interesting scene out of it. The style I am shooting for is sci-fi legs that connect into a house that resembles the qualities of a tree house.

So here is what I whipped up in the last couple hours.
Concept images


Quick photoshop concept using those references above.


Quick Idea for a scene where the house is in the middle of a canyon (This is the part where I may need a few more creative minds for)


And lastly some progress on one of the feet.



I'll do a few updates over the course of this project until it is finally completed in however long it takes. Comments, Critiques, Suggestions, and ideas are appreciated!

Mstankow

I am very excited to see how spider house turns out. I love spider tanks and a spider house is like a step up.

SaferDan

This is an awesome idea! I am excited to see how it turns out!

Wonkey

Hey Chris, This looks like it will be really freaking cool!

chriszuko

Thanks for the comments

Here is a little update. I managed to mostly finish the leg up. Right now I am seeing if what I have currently is good for the functionality of what i need this robo-spider-house-thing to do.
Heres some pics




As always, any input is greatly appreciated!

Mgoblue412

I love the legs on this they look pretty sweet. Are planning on doing and animation for this or just a still image?

chriszuko

Thanks!

I had an idea for an idle animation in whatever position I end up using for it, but I wasn't intending on doing a walk cycle or anything like that.
If I do get crazy ambitious though, I'll rig it up with working pistons and shocks just to make it easy for me to pose it... but we shall see (:

Mgoblue412

That leg just looks like it would have a sweet animation to it.

P442

I think it would be cooler if the legs were attached to a cylindrical base that the house rested on. You could even put a little garden on it as well.

chriszuko

That is an interesting idea... I'll definitely consider it (:

Thanks!

ErichWK

You said your leg was finished. Is that your hi poly? Or are you just making a lo first.

chriszuko

I am modeling low poly, then I'll throw it in either 3dcoat or zbrush... most likely I'll be using 3D-Coat/photoshop mix.

Sparkwire

The toes should have some articulation or a joint in the middle.

chriszuko

Hmm... I saw that a bunch in the references, but I don't see how they would be driven? More pistons? So much weight on the feet, I would think the best thing to do is to keep the toes as simple as possible and use them for stability.

You have a reason as to why there should be a joint in the middle?
Thanks!

Sparkwire

It would be to conform to the ground, which would improve stability, plus having only the tips of the foot touching the ground looks off.

chriszuko

I probably should have positioned it better in the render, but the idea was to plant the foot on the ground completely flush to the surface. However, I shall do some experimentation with the joint idea tomorrow cause you may be right due to the fact that the ground isn't always flat. (:

Thanks Much Appreciated!

Sparkwire

Ah, I see what you mean. Completely missed those pistons there.

ErichWK

You probably don't need to use a sculpting tool to create the high poly. I'd recommend just good old fashion hard surface modeling.

lordsme

Awesome idea!

chriszuko

Now that you mentioned it... thats not a half bad idea!
Idk why I didn't even think of doing it like that, maybe sculpting programs have been drilled into my head so much that I just overlooked the simple method.
Thanks!

chriszuko

Thanks!
Thats what I need to mess around with more... the idea is that the leg has malfunctioned during the crossing of the canyon.
Any ideas?

chriszuko

Alright Thanks!

Wonkey

it could be dangling above water for a guy to be fishing from

chriszuko

Wonkey: Interesting Idea lol, I may mess with how whoever lives there gets their food usings that idea.

P442: Back to what you said about the cylindrical platform. I did take that into consideration and made each end have an extra bump out. Not quite cylindrical at all, but that idea helped develop this one. Thanks!

Here is a quick update as to where I am. I started back up working on it this morning. UV'd the leg, and started the actual house. I am going to keep working today, but i figured I'd post again just in case any other good ideas are mentioned.




The biggest thing I am trying to figure out is what I am going to do with the silhouette of the house itself. As you can see its just pretty much a straight line... Gotta get past that hurdle and get the rest of the wood placed (of course the wood still has to get beat up, but so does everything else).

Thanks so far as always much appreciated!

Dismembered

Perhaps you could do something like this:

(The Weasley's house from Harry Potter)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_yHUbRw6ONdI/TTbwIkJ6RmI/AAAAAAAABe8/sw5Tue3VTSg/s1600/The-Burrow-ronald-weasley-16573586-500-655.jpg

Maybe not exactly, but maybe it gives you some ideas to kick around?

Jungsik

sweet..that looks awesome

chriszuko

Dismembered: Thanks, That actually might inspire something. (Go figure you think of harry potter though at such a time haha)

Jungsik: Thanks!

Dan!

it's losing some personality in the silhouette, IMO it's lacking some of the charm that your reference has. Maybe push the proportions of the house or legs.

chriszuko

I can see what you mean Dan... I'll have to mess with some stuff in order to get some charm back. Although most likely more charm and character will come when I start to make the wood and metal pieces that are perfectly straight now a bit wonky and distorted. Thanks!

Here is a bit of an update from yesterday showing what I have for the inside of the first layer at the moment. I am still deciding where the bits and pieces of plywood on the walls will go, but that will come in due time. There is a hole in the middle for the section because there will be a platform that can be lowered in that spot in order to do maintenance or to just leave the house itself. For the indented portions of the walls, I am planning on having tools and stored fuel cells for the robo-legs... in which you can now see the power stations in each corner.

As always any critiques / ideas / whatever else is appreciated and welcomed! Thanks!

chriszuko

Hey all... new update.. I've been busy finding a new place to live cause I recently found a job!! anyhow... whilst I wait for the nights to pass these upcoming weeks I shall continue to robo house it up!
heres a small update of the 2nd floor and roof.




Now as you can see... the roof is a bit plain. I am trying to browse some sort of solar type roof which may be a mix between real solar panels and ones that are shaped as the actual shingles of the roof.. like these.




Please... if you have any ideas regarding the roof and what I should do as far as shingles... go ahead and say so because Im kinda bouncing ideas around at the moment.

Thanks!! and everything is appreciated!

c0ldhands

Couple words of advice, dont spend time on rendering blocked out objects, all that AO rendering is not necessary this ealy on. I would also advice to start off with a concept that a good concept artist made if you dont have the eye for form/design and color, also makes life easier.

roosterMAP

Lol, I wanna see that thing animated.

Good wk so far!

chriszuko

c0ldhands: Thanks for the advice! Yea this is gonna be my last AO shot for awhile, the other ones took about 5 min to do. This last one took about 12 min. I can handle 5 min, but it was starting to get too high. As far as the concept goes, I have done something like that in the past but this time around I wanted to see what it was like to just completely make something from scratch. I do agree it is much easier to have the color/design/form/style all completely defined from the start.

roosterMap: Thanks... me too (: