10 replies to this topic

[Tirick Fire]

So, for those of you who missed it this is for MoonUnitBeta's contest, found here: http://mwomercs.com/...est-unofficial/

I have been posting my progress on the G+ community, but as I get closer to a final design I think it is time to start 'showing my work' so to speak, here. I am not an expert 3D modeller by any means. I've played with modelling, but my focus is mostly on models designed to assemble well at a really small scale (1:1000 is my latest scale work), which does not lend itself nicely to 'good' 3D models. The idea of making a new model, entirely from scratch is intriguing, and I absolutely love the MAD 'mech. I will be utterly delighted to see one of these in game, whatever the final design ends up being.

That said, knowing the original was off limits, and generally not liking the 'reseen' version, I have chosen to go back to the source, so to speak. I scoured the first Grey Death Legion book, Decision at Thunder Rift, for all of the passages that describe the MAD in detail. Why that one? It was the first book ever published, and features a MAD (albeit as an enemy) prominently, even having the image of the 'unseen' version gracing the front cover. What I found was quite interesting.

From Decision at Thunder Rift - William H. Keith:

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"The Marauder did not share the humanoid appearance of most 'Mechs. Instead, its 75 tons of arms and armor were molded into a crablike body mounted on a pair of oversized legs that knifed back and down in a forward-leaning, digitigrade stance."

"A pair of arms hung suspended from just forward of the leg joints, each mounting a heavy particle cannon and a laser in over-under mounts where hands and forearms might be expected in a living being. The massive tube of a 120 mm rapid-fire autocannon balanced above the body, completing the battle machine's armament."

"What he had heard was a Marauder, twelve meters tall and massively armored, hung with weapons that gave it a lumbering, top-heavy look."

"Almost in slow motion, the armored monster straightened slightly, then brought its right arm up as though pointing. Recessed in the swollen bulk of the forearm were a pair of the 'Mech's primary weapons, a medium laser and the massive bore of a particle cannon."

" There was one such nexus where the legs joined the body, under that flat head. "

"Squat and ugly, its crab's body on back-canted legs, there was no mistaking that 'Mech design. Especially with its rapid-fire cannon levelled across massive dorsal armor"

"The black and gray Marauder's eight-meter legs gave it a tall and spindly look, and its dorsal-mounted autocannon rose a full two meters above Grayson's cockpit Of all the BattleMech designs, Grayson thought the Marauder looked the most sinister, the most deadly. The movement of scanner antennae on either side of its low-mounted cockpit suggested the twitching mouthparts of some monstrous biped crab. Each arm, with vastly swollen vambrace and gauntlet to accommodate the paired PPCs and lasers, created an image of raw, unstoppable power."

TL;DR: Crab like, with digigrade legs, oversize forearms and lumbering 'leaned' over look.

Immediately, I began to hunt for good pictures of a 'crab', which seems to be the predominant descriptive element. I wanted to find something that looked like a crab while not looking like the 'King Crab' which already quite solidly fits that description. What I stumbled across, was a true monster of a crab: the Coconut Crab, found in the tropical islands of the western part of the Pacific. I have pictures linked below (they are not my own, obviously). I really wanted to somehow replicate that menacing look of the second picture, with that flat squat body and long legs. I'm not certain I fully captured that, yet, but I'm getting there.

Coconut crab:

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So, enough text, here are my current progress shots. I am missing a fair bit from the middle, but many of the key components are in place. I believe thus far I've captured the essence of the narrative description, what remains is whether or not my interpretation is utter rubbish. I'll continue to post progress as I get major parts done. If I finish early enough, I may tackle texturing. as far as scale goes, this stands about as tall as an Atlas' shoulder, or around the same height as the top a Catapult's 'ears'. In this I think the Catapult is actually too big, but much of this design's mass will be in the torso under the dorsal armour.

What remains, clearly, are arms to support those massive forearms, something I am still sketching out. I also have some more greeble bits to add to the finished parts, and will need to finalize the torso elements. Once the torso is finished, I have to find a good way to model a join between it and the the AC5 on the back. The current 'mount' is as such, essentially a placeholder.

Current Progress:

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Cockpit/Head:

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PPC/Arms:

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Legs

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AC 5

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Some of the above progress pics are a little out of date, as I've made improvements and changes to the modeled parts. These changes will be reflected in the 'Current Progress' sections above, as well as further progress pictures as they develop.

Thank you,
Tirick

[Adridos]

Definitely a very interesting take on the classic.

[Tirick Fire]

Some further progress:

I have finished the modelling of the upper leg, adding an armour section and finalizing the hip joint as well as the torso collar. Some further modeling on the carapace has been done, but there is still a lot ouf outstanding work there. The CT has been rough modeled, and will await final design of the arms before completion. This is to ensure that the range of arm motion will not interfere with the side torsi. I will be tackling the arms next.

After getting this far on the joints, I am seriously considering adding an armature once I am done texturing. I have only dabbled in animation a little bit, but it would be nice to even take still shots of the leg/arm rotations.

Progress Shots (whole model):

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Legs / CT base:

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Enjoy,
Tirick

Edited by Tirick Fire, 31 October 2013 - 10:49 AM.

[Pariah Devalis]

Looking good! My only suggestion would be slimming the pods a little, though that might be your end game anyways. Seems so wide, even taking its source crustacean into account.

[Tirick Fire]

Well, the torso and the arms are now 'done'. The torso is a crowded mess of mesh, which I desperately need to clean up before texturing. It can stand a few 'greeble' passes as well, but the shape and form are complete. I have moved the cannon to the centerline, which allows for the carapace to be shrunk to a more accommodating width, as Pariah Devalis suggested. All that really remains to be finalized are the feet, which I have had no revelations on. I want to pay homage to the original 4-toe (2 in front, 2 behind) design. I may look to the Cataphract (MWO) for inspiration,although from my recollection they've departed from canon a little on those.

I abandoned the rear armour 'skirt', at least as it was modelled. It just did not look right, although the back needs 'something' I have not figured out quite yet what. The cockpit is still an empty box placeholder. I am not too worried about finishing it though, as the submission requests only one image, and cramming enough views into one image will not require a modelled cockpit.

I am resolved to texture this beast, but time may be my enemy. We'll see if I can get at least a basic texture done in time for the contest. I think this will (despite the title of this thread) be a MAD-1R, as I want to mark it with SLDF markers and the 3R came out after Kerensky's exodus. The 1R is identical in loadout to the 3R, it just uses DHS and FF armour (with more HS) and adds CASE. Hooray for lostech.

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As an addendum, win or lose, once I have a finished, rigged (yes that's right, I'm adding animation bones) and textured model I will be uploading the final Blender + texture files to my site for general consumption.

Enjoy,
Tirick

[dak irakoz]

Overall looks good, but the part connecting the arms to the torso seems a bit slender

[Tirick Fire]

The collarbones do look small, and I will possibly be adding armour panels to them. It is hard to see, but they are only about 80% smaller than the orbital beams connecting the legs to the hip. Any bigger and they risk looking oversized. This would be a nightmare of engineering in reality, although I'll wager most mech designs are.

[Tirick Fire]

I have finished the foot redesign, and this beast is more of less ready to texture. The carapace (still) needs work, but as I have a lot of work texturing it can hold out for now. I made some changes to the angle of the carapace, partly to correct the 'helicopter landing pad' look that one of the G+ group members mentioned. The feet have been modelled in homage to the original cleft-pair design. They have a fairly large range of rotation, this is to accommodate crouching.

The armature/textures will probably progress simultaneously. Because most of this is mirrored I need to split the mirrored meshes to properly rig, which means doubling texture time. To save on that, I will likely pre-texture the pair, and then split/mirror the texture once the UV is set. Still no guarantee I'll have the texture ready for Sunday, but I'll give it a try. At the least I'll finish up the textures post-submission in preparation for release.

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[wickwire]

man i LOVE that cockpit design!! mechs looks good to!!

[Tirick Fire]

Thank you! I managed to send my submission in. I had hopes of getting the texture work done, but a family crisis has come up that is consuming my time and energy. Once this passes I will continue the work on the textures though, and get the model posted up so those with more skill can monkey around with it some more.

[Bishop Steiner]

well, even if it doesn't win the "Marauder" award, it's a killer take. If nothing else, make it into a Medium "descendant" of the MAD. Those side pods scream Improved JJs to me.

Call it the Praying Mantis and go forth and kill! (or should you win the comp, call it the Marauder and go forth and kill!)