25 replies to this topic

[Kilroy]

A short animated fan film in which a small group of battlemechs must disable an orbital defense cannon to secure their dropship's landing.


Created using Newtek Lightwave, Adobe After Effects, and Adobe Premiere. Still images and HUD edited with GIMP. Rendering powered using my hamster, Steve, and his treadmill.



This time I decided to put a bit more focus on detail involving the HUD, as well as showing some of the lesser known aspects of Battletech lore, such as the actual "jump" of a jumpship.


The music is of course by the venerable Timothy Seals.

Edited by Kilroy, 22 February 2017 - 09:32 AM.

[Rook CY]

Nice work. Nostalgia just flooding back to me now. Well done.

[Kilroy]

I've decided the next short will focus on first person POV from the perspective of a mech on the defensive. As usual I'll update again as soon as I have a general environment made. Any suggestions/desires on what you would like to see next would be appreciated.


Above are a FC Bombadier, a DC Jenner, and a civilian hover transport that I am considering using.

[Burning2nd]

very nice... you guys will find that running the mw2 soundpack mod will make the game much more .......

[Pariah Devalis]

Very nice job! Have you considered a video from the perspective of infantry? Say, in a city? A toy among giants?

[Tordin]

Wow! That was amazing. Really nice work there, keep it up and I bet you fellas will go far

[Kilroy]

Pariah Devalis, on 20 February 2017 - 08:28 AM, said:

Very nice job! Have you considered a video from the perspective of infantry? Say, in a city? A toy among giants?

I'd really like to do something like that. The main issue, at least from the way I see it, is that I'd need several people to provide voices for the infantry. Sadly that has never really been a reliable thing for these fan animations and I doubt I could really do much with my own voice.

A secondary issue is just that I'd have to create a lot more detail for scale. When I'm just doing giant walking tanks I really only have to worry about the macro details of the scenes. When it comes to infantry I'd need to provide lots of small scale details for them to fit in. Not a deal breaker, but something I'd need to spend a lot more time on.


But yeah, I'd be up for it if I had support from other content creators for sure.

Edited by Kilroy, 20 February 2017 - 05:15 PM.

[Kilroy]

Work in progress renders. I still have to add a lot of smaller details to the scene.

[Bishop Steiner]

Kilroy, on 20 February 2017 - 12:36 AM, said:

I've decided the next short will focus on first person POV from the perspective of a mech on the defensive. As usual I'll update again as soon as I have a general environment made. Any suggestions/desires on what you would like to see next would be appreciated. Above are a FC Bombadier, a DC Jenner, and a civilian hover transport that I am considering using.

that's a nice Bombadier.... which is saying something as that is generally an arse mech, both in stats and renders. But I rather like your basic redesign.

[Kilroy]

A little bit of information on the next video and the channel in general relating to Battletech.

Edited by Kilroy, 26 February 2017 - 10:35 PM.

[Kilroy]

I think this little guy can find a home somewhere in this short film. WIP.

Edited by Kilroy, 02 March 2017 - 04:17 PM.

[Kilroy]

Another update. Progress on the newest animation is sort of on pause as I work on the Urbie contest, so here's something to hopefully catch some interest from those who want to contribute some.

[Kilroy]

Might as well post this here too.

[Kilroy]

Another update video on animations in general.


I'll try to post a few renders for the "Colony/Escort" animation in the coming week, though I'm focusing more on the Star Wars project to mix things up a bit.

I do still need voice actors as I only have a single person who has sent in their audio files at the time. There's no rush, but I need to know if I should dedicate time towards trying to tell a story or just show neat visuals.

[Bishop Steiner]

I would like to help, at least on MW stuff... but would warn I am a terrible "actor", have a terrible voice and well, have no clue how to do it.

[Kilroy]

None of us are exactly professionals with our acting, so I don't mind. Anyone is welcome to try!


I'd also welcome collaboration on the visual aspects, though what that entails would probably vary heavily based who is doing what.

For the upcoming MW short, I'd also welcome some brainstorming or requests before I plan things out fully. The only thing I've really solidified is that I'm going to do a lot more POV shots and the general "plot" will revolve around a mech lance trying to defend a colony.

[Bishop Steiner]

Kilroy, on 25 March 2017 - 07:56 AM, said:

None of us are exactly professionals with our acting, so I don't mind. Anyone is welcome to try!


I'd also welcome collaboration on the visual aspects, though what that entails would probably vary heavily based who is doing what.

For the upcoming MW short, I'd also welcome some brainstorming or requests before I plan things out fully. The only thing I've really solidified is that I'm going to do a lot more POV shots and the general "plot" will revolve around a mech lance trying to defend a colony.

Yeah, still trying to find the time/mojo to do some pilot pics, have to admit, am very out of practice with peoples.

Heck, as an Idea, would love to see you animate one of the Deputy Dawg Fan Fiction entries! (I may be a bit biased, though!)

[Kilroy]

Bishop Steiner, on 25 March 2017 - 05:20 PM, said:

Yeah, still trying to find the time/mojo to do some pilot pics, have to admit, am very out of practice with peoples.

Heck, as an Idea, would love to see you animate one of the Deputy Dawg Fan Fiction entries! (I may be a bit biased, though!)

I'd need to look them over to see if any are short enough and appropriate to be translated to a video.

One thing I would like to try is a series. Nothing huge. Just the usual 3-4 minutes videos. I sort of started to do so between Zero-G Skirmish and Outpost Assault using the same Hellbringer and dropship. Sadly I couldn't tell much of a story with only visuals and no pilots, so I let that fall to the side until I could get some people to help me make an IS centric vid. Still something I'd be up for.

Edited by Kilroy, 25 March 2017 - 06:03 PM.

[Bishop Steiner]

Kilroy, on 25 March 2017 - 05:53 PM, said:

I'd need to look them over to see if any are short enough and translated to a video.

One thing I would like to try is a series. Nothing huge. Just the usual 3-4 minutes videos. I sort of started to do so between Zero-G Skirmish and Outpost Assault using the same Hellbringer and dropship. Sadly I couldn't tell much of a story with only visuals and no pilots, so I let that fall to the side until I could get some people to help me make an IS centric vid. Still something I'd be up for.

https://mwomercs.com...iction-contest/

I think Barantor's short would be about the right size and complexity.

[Kilroy]

Bishop Steiner, on 25 March 2017 - 06:01 PM, said:

https://mwomercs.com...iction-contest/

I think Barantor's short would be about the right size and complexity.

Something on that level could work, though Barantor's story seems to rely heavily on internal thoughts. The rest of the story could be adapted of course but that element would be missing.