6 replies to this topic

[Mister Bob Dobalina]

In knowledge of the effort that go into the design of a MWO Mech and all the texture work that goes with it (check out the MWO PGI videos), I am not proposing this lightly.

I am sparing you of the details, but got very, very fond of the WLF Wolfhound the last few weeks. The only thing that really bugs me is, that the head is not really explicitly "Wolfhoundish" at all. And that's one feature that has been emphasized in the Lore extensively.

So here's something I quickly stomped together ( I am not that much of an Illustrator, sorry).



I would make the "eye" windows glowing slightly as a texture, the color bound to the texture colors. The "eyebrow" and middle "nose" window I would tint darkish (at least as seen from the outside).

Again, sorry for the crude, sketchy look. I was aiming for a more Anubis style of the head as it is very distinctive in his features and very distinguishable from other Mechs. May the approaching resizing might be a good chance to do it?

Edited by Thomster, 30 May 2016 - 02:52 AM.

[Akillius]

This picture is how I remember wolfhounds about 25-30 years ago.


But the battletech books did have some variations of appearance over the years.
http://www.sarna.net...tleMech_Gallery

[Mister Bob Dobalina]

Max Rickson, on 30 May 2016 - 06:41 AM, said:

...
But the battletech books did have some variations of appearance over the years.
...

The illustrations are really diverse to say the least, so I always ran with what my imagination showed me reading the books. And especially M. Stackpole had some very detailed and distinguished descriptions on how the Wolfhound really looked like the Avatar of a wolf. I just thought that boxy head it has now isn't really wolf-ish.

Even this would be more canine than what we have now (regarding the head of course):

Edited by Thomster, 30 May 2016 - 08:40 AM.

[Karl Streiger]

well afaik there are 3 head versions in existence (4th Succession War BattlePack; TRO3050, modernized 3085? Version with HPPC) + the MW4 appeareance,
Make it 5 when you count the MWO version, but i don't think this version is properly.
Maybe the later should have been more the kind of the 3050 WLF-2 head.

[Akillius]

so... obviously no-one noticed my link to Sarna's image gallery!?.

What I posted wasn't sarcasm, or sentimental crud, it was supposed to be the start of an image based experience of official/canonical images on sarna. And it was also meant to correct the reference to lore.
There's already 4/5 official common designs and 1 experimental...





















Experimental:

^since ears up design is experimental it should be very rare sight.

Edited by Max Rickson, 01 June 2016 - 04:12 PM.

[Mister Bob Dobalina]

The main discussion will rather ignite about what's more canonical: Text or image? I would tend to go for text, in that case the novells Unfortunately I only know the german translations, so it'l take a while to get together the relevant text passages in english. Like I said I always felt the novells are very descriptive of the Wolfhound having a very wolfish head and the "ears" being clearly visible (there was a quote in the likes of: "He gratulated the designer in his mind for this idea to incorporate the sensor arrays in those ears" or sth. like that. I am gonna compose all the relevant quotes regarding the Wolfhound from the novells and (if i can) the TRO.

[GI Journalist]

In the novels, Phelan Kell describes how he has painted his Wolfhound using IR paint, so that when the enemy views his Mech using thermal imagery, they see the snarling jaws on the head of his Mech, named Grinner.