18 replies to this topic

[Sparks Murphey]

Since starting in guardian wolf's Clan (Jade Falcon) Occupation RP, I've been working on a redesign model for the Enforcer in an FD style. I was going to wait until it was finished before uploading (I'm normally shy with my work) but after a nervous 12 hours where I thought I'd lost the entire model, I think its time at least some of this saw the light of day. Legs are on their way, when I get free time.

The 'Mech itself is a custom build for the Solaris 7 arenas, replacing the normal AC/10 with a PPC and a bunch of heat sinks. The Gemini Stables logo on the nose is from camospecs.com. I'm intending to do a different arm model to represent the -4R version, but that'll have to wait until I'm done with this.

Model in 3ds Max, textures with GIMP and Apophysis, rendered in mental ray.

[JP Josh]

i think it looks good so far

[Tronchaser]

Nice! Wish I had the creative ability to do this!

[Steel Raven]

Looks great, I would add a little more armor to the sholders and up the size of the AC.

[Armored Yokai]

Nice

[chewie]

erm

yea


keep at it, cant make it run if it aint got legs

[Alex Iglesias]

I'd reccomend reducing the head size by about 20-25% or so, and beefing up the shoulder joints and upper arms a bit.

[Joseph Calvert]

Alex Iglesias, on 11 May 2012 - 09:22 AM, said:

I'd reccomend reducing the head size by about 20-25% or so, and beefing up the shoulder joints and upper arms a bit.

I have to agree. But the detail is awesome man, I would love to see this when your done.

[Max OConnor]

I applaud this effort. The Enforcer is one of my all time favorites and I'd love to see a nice redo on it while still keeping the original look.
The recent resculpt for the TT version made me want to puke quite honestly. I thought to myself, not only did the original NOT need to be fixed, you really messed it up. Ah well, I'm sure the final product will be quite good. Please keep up the good work.

THIS is what an Enforcer should look like.


NOT THIS

Edited by maxoconnor, 11 May 2012 - 10:53 AM.

[Trevnor]

Yeah, good work! As Alex said, reduce the head size some, and beef up the shoulders a bit. Look at the nice reference pictures that maxoconner so helpfully provided. I may not be a modeler, but I know the work that goes into it. So good job!

[GrimJim]

Tronchaser, on 10 May 2012 - 08:16 AM, said:

Nice! Wish I had the creative ability to do this!

...and the time...

[Sparks Murphey]

Thanks for the feedback and kind words, folks!

I've done a little adjusting today based on comments. The head is now 10% smaller; I'd have liked to go smaller still, but beyond that, the pilot starts having trouble fitting into the thing. (My number one grumble about canon BattleTech 'Mechs is that their cockpits are generally not big enough to fit a pilot in, based on a 12m height.) I've also added to the shoulders somewhat, extending the upper armour plates and bulking out the joint.



You can also see the start of the hips going in here. I'm working on the feet and lower legs at the moment, since they're the most iconic part of the legs on the Enforcer. Traditionally, they're almost solid, with no apparent room for pivoting. If anyone's got any suggestions on how to translate that into a more functional design, while keeping the broad styling, let me know! For the moment, I'm aiming for a pair of slanted plates either side of the foot assembly.

Oh, and HDRI sky image by just-Nate on deviantArt: http://just-nate.dev...mages-109988135

[Sparks Murphey]

Okay, final version is done. Still got an AC/10 to build for the standard version at some point, but for now, here's a couple of pics of the current build:




And a render with an environment (city models supplied by DAZ Studio):

[Evgeny Bear]

this seems to be my mech!

[Joseph Calvert]

Awesome job, Sparky! You've done justice to a much loved mech.

[Adridos]

Nice model.

You have it rigged, why didn't you make some more postures of it?

[Sparks Murphey]

I actually only have it pseudo-rigged: each section (torso, shoulder, upper arm, lower arm, etc) is a separate object with the pivot point for each at the point where it should pivot. There aren't any bones, except in so far as each object is its own bone. With a well-laid out hierarchy, that's enough, skinning just gets in the way.

The downside to doing that is that axes are generally fine, but often have problems with curves between keyframes due to unexpected orientations. I *think* I've got this one sorted out fine for some animation, but haven't yet had time to test it out.

The lack of time is the main slow down here; I've picked up a small contract doing some paid 3d modelling, and that is eating up time that could be used modelling BattleMechs. Clearly, my priorities aren't straight . At least its paying for a copy of 3D-Coat.

[Sparks Murphey]

Okay, here's a version of the Enforcer in its pre-Solaris 1st New Ivaarsen Chasseurs paint job. Credits to Hayden for the FedSuns and 1NIC logos.

[Hayden]

Sparks Murphey, on 21 May 2012 - 11:56 PM, said:

Okay, here's a version of the Enforcer in its pre-Solaris 1st New Ivaarsen Chasseurs paint job. Credits to Hayden for the FedSuns and 1NIC logos.

Haha, nice work, but I don't even SEE the first NIC logo on here

EDIT: Oh, oh, wait! There it is, right shoulder!

Edited by Hayden, 22 May 2012 - 12:12 AM.