I had written it out last night with the idea of posting it. I will probably set up a new thread for it in the tutorials section of the forum so folks can find it easier.
Your rope is flabbergasting, I can do eye splices with and with out whipping in reality, but in 3D I find the idea appalling.
I could nitpick the splice it self but frankly that would be stupid, almost no one knows how to make one any more let alone that the third strand is a pain in the ass.
I cant believe you made that in ZBrush, and now I have a horrifying new goal, to make one of those my self!
I also see (I think) a Pelican Hook in there, I love Pelican Hooks, they are amazingly useful and can save your life if you need to be able to get rid of something in a hurry.
This is an amazing sculpt, like everyone else I cant wait to see more.
Thanks for the help with the tutorial problem and for the tutorial for making rope!
Cheers!
Mealea
Thanks loads for the rope tutorial Dave! Much appreciated.
Wow, thank you! This is great and an easy way to create a rope like this… or cable or what ever!
I’ve try it out and it works fine for me 
Thank you for sharing!
Jörg
Thanks for the tutorial David. It really helped!
Who would have thought a rope could be so artfully done, bravo! Cheers, david 
Thanks for that great tutorial on making rope Dave. VERY creative use of the Zbrush tools. It’ll be very helpful for many of us.
The rope adds a lot to the looks of an already great build. All very inspiring. You have the Zbrush hard surface modeling down to a fine art. Kudos.
Ezra
@Mealea; Thanks, the wipping on mine hides the fact that the splice is not “anatomically” correct ;). I think it would be possible to use ZSpheres directly to make the splice but that is probably not necessary for most situations. I look forward to seeing what you do with your rope :).
@Zeber2, @jovomo, @47merce, @chalkman and @EZRA52; Thanks and I hope you will find it useful. I will enjoy seeing what you all will use it for.
Stay tuned as I hope to post a tutorial on how to use ZSpere rigging to manipulate and combine the rope segments.
Cheers
Dave
wow Dave just checked out your links - sorry didnt notice them before your no stranger too 3d the frame explode is awesome !! any schooling - training - self tought ? i started in 99 at the school of hard knox 
i only use lightwave and zb both awesome apps . surely like too meet sometime.felt like sometimes i was the only one near by into 3d -
keep on !!! 
small_orange_diamond - p.s and great tut too !!
Man that’s some work. Just to think of all the pieces you have had to make… eesh. By the way, how big is your file? Do you retopo? Man, to think, that not even a few years ago, none of this was possible with ZBrush. It’s great to see more and more folks like yourself, doing (showing) more of this hardsurface sculpting (and not just big robots and soldiers in high tech armour). Keep up the great work ‘D’-
@ Gary Komar; Thanks Gary, I am pretty much self taught with the help of Gnomon Workshop and Digital Tutors DVD’s along with inspiration from sites like this. Not to mention the videos so many ZBrushers and Pixologic have generously made available. I’d be happy to meet up sometime email or private message me when you get a chance
@ Dragon; Thanks again! The file size is just shy of 5.5 million polys. I haven’t retopo’d anything yet. I’ll see if I need to increase resolution to detail wood grain etc. on some of the parts.
Here is an update; I re-coiled the rope as I wasn’t satysfied with the first one, I think it looks more realistic now. I added a base with some grass (using FiberMesh) and lighting (using LightCap) to get a feel for presentaion. Plus I finished several small nuts and bolts. I still have to build the sponge bucket and of course add Materials and Textures at some point.
C&C as always are welcome.
Dave
Attachments
The Cannon looks fantastic Dave. Love the grass pedestal too. Exceptional work. Very precise.
Ezra
small_orange_diamond will do Dave - the cannon looking great fibers too !!
Here is the sponge bucket that will hang from the axle bracket between the ramrods.
Attachments
I finally migtrated over to Windows 7 from XP and I’m as giddy a kid at Christmas. I loaded my 50cal Machinegun which weighs in at 17 milion poly’s and there is no slow down when moving and orbiting it around the canvas. I can work with dynamesh and cut holes in meshes etc. with no glitches. I’m looking forward to getting some more projects up and running and finishing others.
HAPPY ZBRUSHING to ALL!
Grats Dave! Welcome to the 21st century!
Thanks, it was a long time coming. I still have just 4 gigs of RAM for now but in ZBrush that supplies a max polys per mesh of 15 million polys. I’m looking forward to exploring some ideas I’ve had that were just not possible before. Not to mention I’ll be ready for Z5’s 64bit power.
With the skill it took to make that rope and then splice it I think you could get by with 64k and Dos.
GRIN!
@Mealea, thanks; have you given the rope thing a try I’d love to see what you could do with it. BTW your lates work is really nice.
Hi All,
It’s been a while since I posted anything on the forum. I was swamped with some VFX work and now that its done I’m getting back to some personal projects. I’ve had a chance to do a bit more on the 50 Cal Machinegun. I have built an M2 Tripod and the T & E Mechanism, as well as, finishing up some small bits here and there. I’m thinking about swapping out the barrel jacket and barrel to fit more to the style that would be found on a 50 Cal tripod. Using alot of the Z4R4 features; anyway it’s good to be back and I hope you enjoy. As always crits and comments are welcome.
Here is the M2 Tripod
and the T & E Mechanism (traversing and elevation mechanism)
