Not exactly fanfiction, more a 3d project

[classicdrogn]

But, you can see some spiffy views of a Macross-inspired mecha I came up with (loosely based on the collage-mecha I was using for an avatar for a while) and even learn my real name if you follow this link:

Edit: See the Imageshack link below - facebook may or may not be playing games, and stupid Yuku doesn't show the link correctly anyway because it has a ! before the last /, and the URL gets truncated at the !. I really, really miss the days of good old, simple EZboards...

Basically, the story is that one of the Macross Five guys (half Meltran, mom was a Quadrono, with the reflex speed that implies, dad is a descendant of Ernst Udet. The unarmored paint job is based on Udet's WWI plane, including "Du Doch, Nicht!!" on the back) who was turned into a pilot-zombie by the Protodeviln started a business called Valuata Hostile Animal Control using Elgerzorns salvaged from that planet where they were just abandoned in the series, in order to deal with earlier, presentient experimental creatures that escaped into the wild and infest Valuata space. Come another generation, the company is building their own design and his daughter takes this craft and the max-loadout armor to offer their services when the bug things I can't remember the name of attack first Macross Galaxy and then Macross Frontier, since they're used to fighting things resistant to mormal weapons. The AZ-156 has an SES system built in at the shoulders, carries a speaker pod gun and has the Valuata legacy spiritia imaging, drain beam, and capture fields, and when ranged combat just won't do there's always the Barrier Sword.

Plus plasma cannon, triple lasers, and a huge load of missles, ala Female Power Armor - basically, take one of those, make it transformable, add the Coral Snake fully-transforming Super Armor with it's medium and heavy missiles, two more cannons, and big spotlights, and the Macross F 'EXgear' micronian power armor/cockpit system as well. Munchkin as all hell, but I don't care, I like it that way.

- CD

Edit to fix link. Also, if you replace the modeled missiles with a texture map on the launchers, the polycount is around 5000, which is feasible for gaming on modern systems. Not that I'v had any success at making a game, but it could happen... someday... maybe...

...yeah.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[hmelton]

I don't use facebook, so I'm not sure what I'm supposed to see with the link.

But is this the picture one of the mecha your referring to?

http://www.facebook.com/p...53M&size=normal&usedef=1

The page that pops up has the above image, what I assume is your name and something about signing in to connect.

To see your mecha do I need to be a member of Facebook?

hmelton

God Bless

[classicdrogn]

Hmmm. Apparently so. Blow that for a game of soldiers, I'll put them on Imageshack or something. Will post again with link when it exists.

ETA: what it says on the tin

http://profile.imageshack.us/user/classicdrogn/]%[link=http://profile.imageshack.us/user/classicdrogn/]http://profile.imageshack.us/user/classicdrogn/]

- C D
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Star Ranger4]

Images are awfull dark.. what 3d Program and light rig are you using for the renders?
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

[classicdrogn]

The GERWALK action pose is lit only by the gunfire and the spotlights built into the shoulders of the armor, except for the one on the guy in the foreground. The rest are lit by a pair of lights with their position slaved to the center of the model and the camera, so they stay a certain distance away from the camera and always point at the center as if on a radial crane right over the model's head. One is close to directly overhead, the other is about arm's length (the mech'as arm, in this case) off to the left of the camera.

Software is Blender, using the built in raytracer. Simple, fast, strong enough - and free as in beer as well as coding.

HAHAHAHA okay, right, Blender is anything BUT simple, especially in the initial learning curve, but speed and power you betcha.

- CD
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[classicdrogn]

Huh... I didn't realise it before, but none of these pictures show the little Valuata-type gunpod in the stowed position - it clips to the lower leg, in the obvious gap where the wing folds (especially noticeable in the Battroid shots) with the half-thickness back end (where the ammo clip goes) slipping between the folded wing and the leg. It just kind of hangs out there in Fighter mode, causing drag, but the folding wings require the legs to be narrow rather than the canon Elgerzorn and Panzerzorn that have a compartment there that the gunpods pop into and a firing port near the knee. The two big black Valuata beam rifles on the left shoulder mount can separate into two pieces and mount in the same leg slot - each part is canonically a weaker beam gunpod on its own.

With my fondness for energy weapons that provide unlimited field reloads by recharging from the mecha's power system I'd have gone for that, but there's already two on the shoulder, and the CAPE (Combined Ammunition & Personal Equipment) pod (mounted over the Barrier Sword scabbard on the right shoulder hardpoint) and fin/leg clip racks carry 34 reloads for the Valuata 35mm gunpods, plus one in each pod itself, and there's always those critters who are resistant to energy but still susceptible to lead poisoning via large caliber injection. The CAPE also carries four clips for the speaker pod gun (40mm? May actually be 75 mil, I can't remember) which can be cross-loaded on the ground with the Coral Snake armor's shoulder mount cannons' internal magazines; between the lot there's plenty of ammo to go around for at least a fight or two. Heh, and the "Big Willie" external fuel tank, snicker... you know you're taking munch a tiiiiiny bit too far when...

Why "CAPE?" Because it already had a crown (the extra head armor and antenna array) and a sword.

- CD, can go on at considerable length about his mecha designs if given half a chance

ETA: Oops, I tell a lie; the right hand 35mm gunpod can be seen stowed in the SUO battroid shot facing stage right with the sword out. I really love that sword, BTW, I'm strongly considering carving one at human scale out of hardwood - probably black walnut, since there's several of those that need to be dealt with at my uncle's place.

ETA2: for readability, and to note that the SES system is built into the hexagonal panels on the shoulders - they pop open at the top edge and have speakers in both sections
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Rod.H]

Hmm, it also looks like big plastic blobs to me (kinda like an unpanel line inked Ingram). It will improve once you add a texture map and/or bump maps and the obligatory running & nav lights. Add a decent starbox & ground plane and you'll have it.

[hmelton]

I have to pretty much agree with Rod H, I can sorta see the Mecha, but the first and second page of pictures really just looks like a collection of shapes and blobs "modern art" or what camouflage experts tried to go for with Dazzle paint.

for example this painting http://en.wikipedia.org/w...Drydock_at_Liverpool.jpg

The goal of Dazzle paint jobs was to rob a external observer of the ship of the ability to fully classify what they were seeing.

Dazzle camouflage was't so much about hiding as it was about making it hard for a person eye to lock on to the target and gain useful information from seeing it.

They hoped to make it nearly impossible for a observer to be able to determine the size, speed and heading from simply watching the ship.

If I hadn't been prepped with knowledge of what I was looking at I would have a hard time guessing it was transforming mecha that changed into an aircraft.

In terms of a fanfic stories and ideas these images make me think of something alien or a war where technology has made optical imaging systems, for whatever reason the primary method for tracking and aiming at targets.

hmelton

God Bless

[classicdrogn]

Well, the primary enemies it's designed for either sense spiritia/life energy and thus make camoflage irrelevant, or are kaiju with borderline intelligence and basic biological senses. I'll also agree that the max loadout SUO version is very visually busy - and completely unaerodynamic, to boot, but such is often the case with mecha shows. Although I did make a particular point of keeping the underside mostly clear, so you can increase angle of attack to thirty or forty degrees and power along on the equal and opposite reaction of the air bouncing off the bottom of the plane.

The actual color scheme of the Coral Snake armor is basically just go-faster stripes on the color scheme of the poisonous reptiles it's named for; in continuity this was the first production unit and got a special 'airshow paint job' instead of the standard functional grey. It was switched to Illemina Udet's green-brown-white personal fighter from the red-maroon-grey hangar queen it usually stays on because she doesn't usually use the armor (one is assigned per squad, and she prefers point to heavy gunner) but Company President Daddy put his foot down and declared that over equipped was better than under equipped when heading alone into an active combat zone. (If she negotiated a contract for the company's services, the rest of her usual squad would be sent along, without one they can't afford to send a whole squad and the support ship to carry them. While I never thought ahead that far, it would probably be called the Anvil Ferry (complete with Warner Brothers anvil fairy nose art) and be a Zentran-style Stealth Frigate (part of the original Macross 5 fleet) or one of the Valauta frigates) Out of continuity, I wanted a transforming super armor ala the VF-25 for my Macross-verse mecha, and by Primus I made one; choosing between the two paint schemes for the base mecha was quite difficult but seeing the Miliya Fallyna red reused in Macross F for Clan Clan decided me against it once I realized how similar what I had was to a variable Queadlunn Rau - one ripoff is enough, and the obvious comparison between her and Micheal and Miriya and Max only detracted from their story's development.

Purple cockpit swooshes are the same as on the Elgerzorn (which I really, really love - easily my favorite of the Macross setting designs) and it is in fact an Elgerzorn-style full armored hatch with inner escape/life support pod that has a full virtual environment rather than the traditional clear canopy - it's impossible to fly if the electronics go out anyway, and given the acid-spitting, armor-chewing, sheer nasty viciousness of some of the critters they've faced, two layers of energy conversion armor (plus the fusilage section it retracts into and the spade nosecone over that in battroid form) is just a prudent level of caution., the ability to eject from your escape pod and still have EXgear Micronian Power Armor to fly away in is just an added level of security. (Actually, the best way to breach the cockpit in battroid mode is just under the chin - there's a boarding hatch there where the pilot can climb in or out with a bit of difficulty if for some reason the unit is unable to transform, which can also blow off to allow EXgear-only emergency ejection - the head blows off first to clear the path, then the hath, then the pod hatch unde it, then the EXgear closes up from seat form and shoots out. Trying to shoot or chew in from any other angle puts at least four layers of armor in the way)

As to texture and bump maps, they could only make it better but they're a pain in the ass to set up and without any application for the design (game or movie, etc.) I lack the motivation to do all the fiddly little bits. Besides that, I like the semi-metallic finish on many of the red and yellow parts, which texture mapping would cover over.

I would be able to reduce some of the geometry by using texture maps instead of multiple materials, though only by a smidgeon. Still, every triangle counts for game optimization.

I recognise the name of the Ingram but I don't know that I've ever seen one to get the comparison. They're from Patlabor, yes? At least you didn't say it looks like a damn gundam, though the samurai-helmet-style 'antlers' do invite the comparison. Can't be helped, mecha design evolved visually from armor designs, so it's just a matter of referencing the same antecendants.

For that matter - anyone who can actually identify the inspiration for the Valauta Hostile Animal Control badge (on the left shoulder, and both engine pods in fighter mode) gets a whole packet of energon goodies. Hint one is that it can be found in Macross materials easily available online, as part of a different whole. Hint two is the chest. Hint three is the colors. The best view of the badge is on the unarmored fighter form, the closest to side-on.

My most frequent thought about this design is how much I'd like to see the face of the enemy pilot who thinks getting on its six is a good idea in a dogfight, as the pod doors open and he stares at the nosecones of 78 missiles...

- CD, my parenthetical comments will TAKE OVER THE WORLD!
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Star Ranger4]

Hmm. I personally would suggest rigging the lights differently, and moving them back a bit. The two light rigs I use most often in my own work are either a "Sun and flash" or something more reminicent of actual stage lighting (2 spots, 45 degrees to left and right of the camera's sightline and pointing down at 45) Alternately just adding a world texture will probably help a bit as well.
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

[classicdrogn]

(shrugs) My biggest adventure in lighting was setting up the hundred or so to do Trek-style 'self lit' lamps on the Wave Convoy trailer - which experience really inspired sticking to the default modeler camera lights and keeping my render setup as simple as possible. The stage lighting setup you mention isn't that far removed from what I've been doing - basically just different positions for the lamps - so I'll probably do something like that next time I'm fiddling with it. I'd kind of like to do landing gear, but that's a whole kettle of fiddly bits to fold it into the nose and upper legs and keep it reasonably toyworthy, which was one of the specific design goals - using modern toy tech it could probably be made as a 5-6 inch figure, doing it at the size of the original Valkyrie toys (or Jetfire) would be a cinch. I based minimum material thicknesses on my VF-25 transformable model kit, and the knee transformation is similar to the Studio HalfEye Perfect Variable VF-4 second run revision.

- CD
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

[Rod.H]

As to texture and bump maps, they could only make it better but they're a pain in the ass to set up and without any application for the design (game or movie, etc.) I lack the motivation to do all the fiddly little bits. Besides that, I like the semi-metallic finish on many of the red and yellow parts, which texture mapping would cover over.

Well, you leave those colours out of the texture mapping.



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Still, to me there is something wrong with the light response with what you've got currently.

I recognise the name of the Ingram but I don't know that I've ever seen one to get the comparison. They're from Patlabor, yes? At least you didn't say it looks like a damn gundam, though the samurai-helmet-style 'antlers' do invite the comparison. Can't be helped, mecha design evolved visually from armor designs, so it's just a matter of referencing the same antecendants.

The main reason for why I said Ingram is because above me PC tower stands incompletely decorated Master Grade models of SV2's Unit 1 & 2, and they are very plasticly shiny. Understandable as in-universe the outer skin is made from fiberglass, plastic & carbon composites.


I also think the mecha seen in Patlabor are a near-perfect fit with what we've seen in most of Macross.

[classicdrogn]

Yeah, if that's a labor it would work well as a police destroid - and while the flying units are pretty good, the centaur-ish poilice variable ground unit seen breifly in Macross 7 seriously needs replacing. Seriously.

Back to my own unit, the finish on the base unit is supposed to be field-deployment matte, but that ended up looking wrong without highlights so I picked it back up to semigloss - possibly a bit too much from your reactions. The armor is airshow-glossy because it's usually on the company 'mascot' airshow plane, the base unit is from an active anti-spiritia monster fighting team. IC-ly, they didn't just send the character in the airshow plane because it was the flight test prototype so it doesn't have the finalised avionics (including the fold booster compatibility to get there in the first place) or any of the built-in weapons, just mockups. OOC-ly, red-maroon-grey does look good but it amuses me to have a mecha in avocado-burnt umber-cream. I probably will texmap those eventually, just to add some char and wear marks if nothing else.

- CD
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows