26 replies to this topic

[InnerSphereNews]

[Vanguard836]

That crab looks pretty sweet

[TheEra]

no in-game events this week end !?!?!

[Tennex]

Marack Drock, on 15 August 2015 - 06:26 PM, said:

Is it just me or are the mech models just getting lower in detail with every pack? Great stuff but is it just me?

This one looks good to me. But its hard to tell the quality when the animation and textures arn't even shown.

They've been doing designs that are closer to original TRO lately. Which made the Zeus and Grasshopper way too lanky and makes this games' art inconsistent imo. Doesn't look like they fit into MWO. Though they do fit in the art below, but notice how different the victor and quickdraw would have looked if they used this style:



They recycled Alex's art for Catalyst for Zeus and Grasshopper which looks inconsistent next to the mechs in MWO.
The grasshopper design just sticks out like a sore thumb in this game. I'm glad they didn't use that victor and quickdraw at least

Every weight class should have a girth range for the limbs and overall feel. So the art design is consistent and there isn't issues with getting lanky tall mechs.

But the crab's cylinder shaped torso has grown on me

Edited by Tennex, 15 August 2015 - 07:41 PM.

[Sereglach]

The Crab looks great. However, one question:

In the instagram previews of the crab camo specs it shows the crab with both open-faced, talon-like claws and the enclosed king-crab-like claws for both sides. However this preview shows one option on each side. Is there going to actually be some way to choose the claw aesthetics of the Crab, or are different variants going to have different types of claws? I'd really love to have a symmetrical Crab (chalk it up to OCD or something), especially for the Resistance Variant (that armored right claw with the added "teeth" is pretty sweet looking).

[Sigilum Sanctum]

Marack Drock, on 15 August 2015 - 06:26 PM, said:

Is it just me or are the mech models just getting lower in detail with every pack? Great stuff but is it just me?

What are you talking about? The Crab model looks like one of the most detailed and polished models we've seen yet...

EDIT: Bombadil said Aug 20th for blood pact. That's false, it should be Oct 20th.

Edited by Sigilum Sanctum, 15 August 2015 - 08:48 PM.

[Bombadil]

Sigilum Sanctum, on 15 August 2015 - 08:46 PM, said:

EDIT: Bombadil said Aug 20th for blood pact. That's false, it should be Oct 20th.

Thanks, had Oct 20th written down, but I think I had said August so many times by that point it just came out. Annotated!

[Kodyn]

PGI are the only people I can say I want to get Crabs from...

I'll be waiting on the CBill release, but still, very much looking forward to those, should be nice little med laser boats. Hopefully with some nice defensive quirks on the arms like it's big brother.

[Rat of the Legion Vega]

Ugh. That in-game model may be fairly faithful to Alex's preview art but this only confirms in my mind that it wasn't a great redesign to begin with.

Let me explain. Like the Ebon Jaguar, the Alex/PGI crab misses the main point of the mech: to be low slung and have a small frontal profile. The Ebon Jaguar ended up being wider than an Awesome when it should have made up its mass with a long nose (cross section from the side).

Similarly this crab in-game model has a stunted nose and "shell" (compared to Classic BT art) that only seems to constitute about 1/4 of the mech's height. Instead, the bulk of the mech is made up by very tall legs and a large exposed crotch/stomach region. This leads to the comically hideous lanky/janky look it has going on right now.

I think it would look much better if this crab's leg and crotch/stomach height were reduced while the size of its signature shell nose was increased in length and diameter to be a greater proportion of its total size.

.

Edited by Rat of the Legion Vega, 15 August 2015 - 09:36 PM.

[Gas Guzzler]

Rat of the Legion Vega, on 15 August 2015 - 09:19 PM, said:

Ugh. That in-game model may be fairly faithful to Alex's preview art but this only confirms in my mind that it wasn't a great redesign to begin with.

Let me explain. Like the Ebon Jaguar, the Alex/PGI crab misses the main point of the mech: to be low slung and have a small frontal profile. The Ebon Jaguar ended up being wider than an Awesome when it should have made up its mass with a long nose (cross section from the side).

Similarly this crab in-game model has a stunted nose and "shell" (compared to Classic BT art) that only seems to constitute about 1/4 of the mech's height. Instead, the bulk of the mech is made up by very tall legs and a large exposed crotch/stomach region. This leads to the comically hideous lanky/janky look it has going on right now.

I think it would look much better if this crab's leg and crotch/stomach height were reduced while the size of its signature shell nose was increased in length and diameter to be a greater proportion of its total size.

.

I'm guessing the T-pose is what was shown, and in actuality it will sit lower (legs bent more) So.. keep that in mind.

[Frytrixa]

Thanks for the Weekend Update

That Crab looks awesome!
I hope they'll add some eyecandy to the ®-Variant like shown at the concept art.



The Shoulder // The Knees // The bulky claw...

Edited by Frytrixa, 16 August 2015 - 03:40 AM.

[Desintegrator]

Great design of the new Crab !
Looking forward to see em on the battlefield.

[LORD ORION]

*sees the crab's dillybopper spotlight exposed over a ridge*

LIGHTNING BOLT!

*crabs CT errupts into a flaming explosion, and it falls over*

[Grayson Sortek]

Love the design... Maybe get rid of the dish network satellite receiver or make it lower. I don't need to get cored because someone thought it would be a good idea to get HBO in the middle of a pitched battle on some insignificant rock floating in space.

I think the 'Mechs in MWO have been great interpretations from the source material so far!

[Danielio97]

Well, that Crab looks cool. But I think it should be a little bit lower, since it is supposed to be long, not tall. KGC looks like a crab, but this one is not crabby enough!

Grayson Sortek, on 16 August 2015 - 06:58 AM, said:

Love the design... Maybe get rid of the dish network satellite receiver or make it lower. I don't need to get cored because someone thought it would be a good idea to get HBO in the middle of a pitched battle on some insignificant rock floating in space.

That dish is there because Crab has good communication and targeting systems... Though in MWO that doesn't matter, since every 'mech works same way when it comes to targeting... So yeah, you're right, it is pointless, but at least the 'mech looks how it is supposed to look.

Edited by Danielio97, 16 August 2015 - 08:11 AM.

[NeoCodex]

I don't like it.

The Alex concept art - with the longer and narrower nose, in proportion with more upfront legs - looks WAY better, the ingame model is just way too bulky. And the radar dish, antenae, and all these little details are much more in style; longer, thinner, smaller and estheticaly sharper alltogether. I actually think it's really ugly compared to the concept, similiar like the Dire Wolf ended up. The overall sharp feel that the concept gives - it's not even close.

At the moment very dissapointed. It needs a revision pass to trim the fat and get it more in line with the concept or I'm pretty sure I'm refunding this one.

Edited by NeoCodex, 16 August 2015 - 08:44 AM.

[Iqfish]

The crab has a pretty fat nose...

And with 1K resolution textures = same mush as the other IS mechs.

Also, they could really showcase some of the fan creations most popular threads in these, there are enough.

[Sigilum Sanctum]

Marack Drock, on 16 August 2015 - 02:22 PM, said:

It doesn't have any of the eye candy bits or anything. Hunchback model is one where you can see that they made every edge, and every gap between armor plates. Everything was so detailed it was beyond belief on the older models. But look at these later mechs. Shadow Cat in particular. Its detail is practically all just..... textures.

This one is better than the standard that has been coming but I still think it needs more. Luckily it is a work in progress so I am excited to see how it will improve. I do think the legs are way to thick.

I don't understand what you're trying to say. The crab model is very detailed with its armor, radar dish, antenna, pistons on the shield claw, etc:



Those are all additional details without the model being greebly and unnecessary. Everything meshes together well and has good flow, nothing on this model catches my eye as being out of place. This model is by far one of the most well done I've ever seen. So I really have no idea what you're complaining about.

[NeoCodex]

Sigilum Sanctum, on 16 August 2015 - 03:14 PM, said:

I don't understand what you're trying to say. The crab model is very detailed with its armor, radar dish, antenna, pistons on the shield claw, etc:



Those are all additional details without the model being greebly and unnecessary. Everything meshes together well and has good flow, nothing on this model catches my eye as being out of place. This model is by far one of the most well done I've ever seen. So I really have no idea what you're complaining about.

Frytrixa, on 16 August 2015 - 03:36 AM, said:

It's about the proportions. I really couldn't care less about the details mentioned in weight of how much the proportions are off. The details are there, but noticably out of proportion with the concept, which gives a completely different vibe then the actual model. And mostly the problem is with the short, fat nose. It makes look everything else big and bulky. Also missing the squary shoulder plates from the concept, the ones on the model are more rounded, and just look very different. Since it is work in progress, hope is not lost, but I sincerely doubt the proportions on the nose will change, maybe at least upgrade the shoulder part. But that change alone would make look the front even shorter and.. worse.

It seems the modelers used this design as a reference for the shoulder parts:




Which really 100% follows the original art, and I can't argue with that. It's just that I like Alex's so much better. I just don't understand why make the nose thicker and shorter, maybe it's for gameplay reasons for not becoming the worst hitbox in the game, but it substationally changes the feel of the mech for me. The design looks.. old.. kind of reminds me on the old 1950 cars. The original art might actualy be a bit too stretched with the torso, but Alex nailed it just right, it looks more modern and a perfect re-imagination. Might also be a matter of taste, but there's one thing for sure - there was never before a Crab with such a short and fat torso-nose. At least I didn't find a picture of it.

And this is not.. no. It's not it. The concept is long, short squat head with a sharp look to it, but the model.. The nose should be at least 30% longer and thinner and then the rest. It looks like somebody just smacked it with a hammer. And the more that I look at the actual model the more it bothers me.

Edited by NeoCodex, 17 August 2015 - 04:41 AM.

[Dawnstealer]

Sigilum Sanctum, on 16 August 2015 - 03:14 PM, said:

I don't understand what you're trying to say. The crab model is very detailed with its armor, radar dish, antenna, pistons on the shield claw, etc:



Those are all additional details without the model being greebly and unnecessary. Everything meshes together well and has good flow, nothing on this model catches my eye as being out of place. This model is by far one of the most well done I've ever seen. So I really have no idea what you're complaining about.

Second this - this is a great model.

NeoCodex, on 16 August 2015 - 10:22 PM, said:

And mostly the problem is with the short, fat nose.

But also keep in mind that this model exists in a first person shooter, so you don't want the nose any longer than it has to be to make the point. Otherwise, you end up with a Stalker-esque deathblimp that's easily killed from the side. It still will be, but bring that nose out another 20% or so and it just becomes a big target.