Air-Bike Project
polycounter lvl 10
Been trying to hone my skills (currently using Softimage) to build a good asset to go on the portfolio. I've been inspired to work on this using themes and inspiration from the aircraft of Bioshock: Infinite. I feel like I'm really far from pro, seeing a lot of these other industry grade pieces around here but I figured you were the best people to talk to about this.
So I wondered what it would be like if you could attempt to realistically cross an airplane with something that could support a rider (like a motorcycle) and I came up with this...
Most recent changes shown below...
So I edited the overall design a lot but I think this better reflects what I'm going for. Landing cycle has been decided to work as an arrested hook/lock system and is based off of utilizing a rail for both landing and take off.
The wing length has been increased as well as the engine size. The rear tail has been built with a biplane wing structure to better compensate for the extra weight due to the engine. The vertical tail flaps have been slotted in behind the rear wing set to keep the design more streamlined. Additional support has been added to compensate for light materials used in the wings, materials that would not realistically be able to hold up in complex air maneuvers.
Going into modeling smaller fine details and am getting to wonder what would be a good next step in taking that detail up a lot higher (for scratches, seams, etc). Questions would be where are some good resources for creating those fine details and what's a good method to unwrap a complex mesh back in XSI.
So I wondered what it would be like if you could attempt to realistically cross an airplane with something that could support a rider (like a motorcycle) and I came up with this...
Most recent changes shown below...
So I edited the overall design a lot but I think this better reflects what I'm going for. Landing cycle has been decided to work as an arrested hook/lock system and is based off of utilizing a rail for both landing and take off.
The wing length has been increased as well as the engine size. The rear tail has been built with a biplane wing structure to better compensate for the extra weight due to the engine. The vertical tail flaps have been slotted in behind the rear wing set to keep the design more streamlined. Additional support has been added to compensate for light materials used in the wings, materials that would not realistically be able to hold up in complex air maneuvers.
Going into modeling smaller fine details and am getting to wonder what would be a good next step in taking that detail up a lot higher (for scratches, seams, etc). Questions would be where are some good resources for creating those fine details and what's a good method to unwrap a complex mesh back in XSI.
Replies
While getting my hands on Ps has a questionable price I think it would be a necessary step in the long run. I currently use Gimp but it's features seem to be quite limited but it has worked decent enough for me so far. Things like getting the wood to look right and bringing out the correct wear and tear still concerns me a lot. I almost get the feeling Gimp may be somewhat inadequate for the job since it handles layers in such an odd manner. I certainly am taking this slow since I want to take as much time as I need to do this correctly.
Landing gear might be a bit tough to add for this design; your best bet might be a bicycle/outrigger layout as seen on the U-2. I just don't see how a proper tricycle layout would work.
The landing/takeoff cycle could be figured out several ways too since this was built with the tech of Infinite in mind. Taking off by dropping out of air ship bays, landing by utilizing a rail hook on top of the craft, etc. There are a lot of possibilities for it really and I guess you could say it's sorta a fan made spin off as to what I could see in the game. Thanks for the pointers though, I think I can manage to rework some of the back to improve on things a bit.
I just made the engine and prop bigger and redesigned the tail section so that the hull sloped right down to the curve of the engine. Then with the thinner tail and the bigger engine they both complement each other a bit more, or so I hope.
I seriously should start trying to figure out if Sculptris can get me some of the details I'm looking for. Wasn't sure if it was just a 3D painting program or more of a modeling application as well.
I want some weathered look, some scorch damage around the bottom lip, and some small dents and nicks in the metal. So currently that is what I got going for the nose. Any tips for Sculpting would be really appreciated right now.