First attempts

[voodoodad]

haha I recognized that depressed little robot from the movie, but it should have a bigger head imo! nice progress on the gun, but try to add more sharp edges.

You're right about Marvin's head. I meant to correct that when I was working on it, but forgot. I'll fix it when I have the chance. As for the gun, I'm just roughing out the major masses right now, with some concepting of the smaller details. I'll have to go back and sharpen everything up when I'm close to finished.

Thanks for the comments, Uber!

[voodoodad]

Some more progress.

[Dragon]

Thanks again Dragon! I was looking at some of your hard surface stuff the other night and that's part of what yanked my own hard surface trigger (so to speak)! Really like the hot rod you're working on.

Voodoodad, I am glad I was able to put a 'little spark' into you to do some hard surface sculpting. I hope to finish the HotRod this week (we'll see-).
You know, 'IF' you need some more guidance on making weapons in ZBrush (or simply inspiration), I think there is no body better at doing so than Etcher (Geert Melis). You have to view his amazing work here (when you get there, start scrolling down):
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthr...257&viewfull=1

Or his amazing website:

http://www.geertmelis.com/

About your weapon, I am digging the CONCEPT, very cool looking. Very futuristic like. Can't wait till you start giving it that 'sharp' look (as uber points out). Keep going my friend, keep going.

[voodoodad]

Oh, my frikkin' GAWD! Etcher is amazing! That tutorial is gonna save me no end of heartache. Don't know how I missed it, but I am eternally grateful to you Dragon for pointing it out. Saying you're gonna clean things up in the end and actually knowing how to do it are two way different things.

Thanks again, Dragon!

[Dragon]

Ha, ha, ha... your funny. But, I know you WILL get 'there'. Just to let you into a little secret, I have been working on my HotRod image for over a year now. But, it has not been so much about MAKING the thing, but learning ZBrush to get the results I want, in between helping my wife raise our children, my 8-10 hr a day job, vacations, running kids to the hospital when they get sick, fixing the car, writting people, talking to family on the phone/skype, studying anatomy (drawing with a pencil and paper-), etc. But, one thing is for sure, I am a very patient man and I HOPE by the end of THIS MONTH that I finally finish THIS FIRST FULL 3D image I am working on (as I have so many others I am looking forward to do, only I know it's not going to take me as long on the next ones).

So, what I am trying to say is.. YOUR DOING FANTASTIC-

Yes, Geert is something else with ZBrush.

[Etcher]

@ Dragon: quote:"helping my wife raise our children, my 8-10 hr a day job, vacations, running kids to the hospital when they get sick, fixing the car, writting people, talking to family on the phone/skype, studying anatomy (drawing with a pencil and paper-)" dang dude, you managed to describe exactly how my days look like... , seriously, I'm glad I'm not the only one who's struggling to get some sculpting done -> looking forward to seeing that hotrod finished

@voodoodad: the hardsurface worx seem to be comin along nicely -> experiment and exercise are key -> keep goin

glad you guys found some of my worx inspirational/helpfull

[voodoodad]

Etcher I'm downright thrilled that you replied to my thread! I followed your step by step for the pistol last night, and though I got some of the shapes and proportions off, it still came out looking ten times better than I could have managed without reading it in the first place. Some of your techniques are things I haven't even seen in some of the pay-for-play hard sculpt dvd's and I learned a lot!

Thanks for teaching an old dog some new tricks! Gary (aka voodoodad)

[voodoodad]

Quick edit of Marvin the Paranoid Android.

Edit; anyone else think that Marvin looks like he was made from leftover toilet parts?

[voodoodad]

Last update for today. I reworked the body design and integrated the things I liked about the first one. Got some weird results from the last time I took the arm canons to shadowbox (they started out round and ended up square) but I'm gonna work with it the way it is and modify that part cuz I kinda like it.
Edit; forgot to add that I really like the Bladerunner matcap on this one. My thanks to whoever it was that came up with it.

[voodoodad]

Finished the over all body design. Now I've gotta create a million doodads and widgets to make him look cool. I'm also experimenting with transparency on the ****pit window and hope to eventually design a fully functional looking ****pit interior to go with it.
If you guys see anything that looks overtly wrong please let me know. I have a hard time being objective.

[Dragon]

@ Dragon: quote:"helping my wife raise our children, my 8-10 hr a day job, vacations, running kids to the hospital when they get sick, fixing the car, writting people, talking to family on the phone/skype, studying anatomy (drawing with a pencil and paper-)" dang dude, you managed to describe exactly how my days look like... , seriously, I'm glad I'm not the only one who's struggling to get some sculpting done -> looking forward to seeing that hotrod finished

@voodoodad: the hardsurface worx seem to be comin along nicely -> experiment and exercise are key -> keep goin

glad you guys found some of my worx inspirational/helpfull

ETCHER, right back at ya, I too am glad that I am not the only one 'inching' along with this cool 3D sculpting stuff-.
Ya man, I too am looking forward to seeing my HotRod done... eesh-
But, on another note, wow dude, you actually came to check out voodoodads work, that totally rocks on your part my friend. I have loved your work with ZBrush nearly from the first days you started posting. I have downloaded many of your tutes so when I finish my HotRod image, I can 'huncker down' and do them. Yes, you are VERY 'inspirational and helpful'. Hope I can lean on you if I have questions (don't worry, I won't act like a fan boy at a comic-con and breath over your neck-). Best.

VOODOODAD, HOLY C**P dude, that looks amazing. Really! Well, sorry about all the excitement, but I love all the 'Mech' stuff. One of my all time favorite games to play was Mech Warrior... that game rocked. I think there is a new version but you have to buy Cryengine or something like that in order to run it. Anywho, awsome work here Gary. I am keeping an eye on ya-

[voodoodad]

Thanks, Dragon. Feel like I made a lot of progress today. Learned a lot about what works for me and what doesn't too, and totally revamped my workflow so needless to say it's been a long day.

Last update for the night. Added a kind of plain-jane engine for the moment, some leg armor and the beginnings of an area to slot some pneumatic piston/shock absorber type thing-a-ma-bobs on the legs.

Having a blast putting this thing together. Mostly sitting and staring at my screen till an idea pops into my head and finding a way to make it work.

[voodoodad]

Dragon, I hope you catch this post but I didn't want to take up space in your thread on a question about my sculpt.

I'm trying to keep things looking as if they could be functional, but at the same time look cool. That leaves me with a problem concerning the engine. I've decided to cut a bigger hole in the middle part of the lower body of my mech, and make the engine almost twice as big as it is now, because frankly as small as it is it doesn't look like it could lift one of those huge feet let alone drive the whole machine. But (and there's always a but) for this thing to look like a viable piece of war machinery, in my opinion the engine wouldn't be exposed at all. Leaving me with a dilemma, should I make the engine bigger and cooler looking or should I just scrap the exposed engine and add more armor plating in front of where it is currently? Or if someone can think of something between those two options, pleas drop a line here. Wracking my brain when there's not that much brain to begin with is giving me a headache...

Thanks for any help given, Gary (aka voodoodad)

[asecbrush]

Good progress!

[Dragon]

Dragon, I hope you catch this post but I didn't want to take up space in your thread on a question about my sculpt.

I'm trying to keep things looking as if they could be functional, but at the same time look cool. That leaves me with a problem concerning the engine. I've decided to cut a bigger hole in the middle part of the lower body of my mech, and make the engine almost twice as big as it is now, because frankly as small as it is it doesn't look like it could lift one of those huge feet let alone drive the whole machine. But (and there's always a but) for this thing to look like a viable piece of war machinery, in my opinion the engine wouldn't be exposed at all. Leaving me with a dilemma, should I make the engine bigger and cooler looking or should I just scrap the exposed engine and add more armor plating in front of where it is currently? Or if someone can think of something between those two options, pleas drop a line here. Wracking my brain when there's not that much brain to begin with is giving me a headache...

Thanks for any help given, Gary (aka voodoodad)

Hey voodoodad, attached are my 'suggestions'. To let you know, I spent 10 yrs in the Army so, while viewing your Mech, I tried to think 'real world'... the Mechs are cool, but, let's just say they were real, the first thing we have to think about is 'HUMAN LIFE'. And then you think about what is the purpose of this machine? i.e. it is a human being that is driving this Mech and then what is the purpose of the Mech i.e. to kill tanks? To kill flying machines? To kill troops? Is it going to be used in the jungle, arctic, ocean, etc? So, looking at what a military already has, can give you an idea how to design your Mech... make it more 'believiable'. So, as I looked at your Mech, I quickly threw some ideas together (as you will see below). M3 Tanks weigh about 70 tons and their engines are in the rear ( they mainly shoot forward so they want to make sure their main power source is not facing the enemy). And then their is their weight, 70 tons, man, that is alot of steel. But, they need it for the protection of the tanks it self, but mainly for the 'human' crew inside. So, 'maybe' you can put the engine in the rear (this 'I' think gives your Mech 'Thickness' that heavy duty look). And I imagine a Mech like yours would probably weigh almost if not more than an M3 Tank. So, I suggest giving the legs some EXTRA support for all that weight. I think the engine you have now under the Mech actually could be instead a multie rocket launcher (it looks like one already). So, before I write a book here, I hope my 'two cents' helps here. But remember, play around with it, i.e. keep give it 'style' and don't concentrate so much on the real world stuff I just mentioned (only use that info to 'kinda' give it that somewhat real feel, but, this is art your doing, don't loose the 'cool style' either). Best.