lil' chick walker

[Sandpiper]

Here's what the leg will kinda look like...except for the top part...you get the idea

[riltis]

I am really excited about your sketchs (sweet detail). What a great concept to have a chick getting tired of hopping around. Get your model on...
:buttrock:

[briancole]

check out all those gears and such at the joint!
sketches look good - > can't wait to see the model in progress:thumbsup:

[Sandpiper]

Here's my chick

[Sandpiper]

Ok, I couldn't help myself. Just one more sketch to explain the vision. I promise I will start modeling TODAY!:thumbsup:

[Shaykai]

hahaha that is so cute "positive attitude" lol, that made me laugh. I can't wait for the model. Is there going to be an animation?

[Sandpiper]

We'll see about the animation. I'll have to learn how to rig a model to do so, but it sure would be fun to have it come to life!

[riltis]

I really like the concept of the chick walker's torso looking like an egg. Thats all for now...

[Sandpiper]

Well, looks like I lost half my thread. I'll start adding back the images that were there before all the server changes.

[Sandpiper]

here's the wireframe for now...more updates later today.

[Sandpiper]

here's more. stay tuned...

[briancole]

let's see that knee joint worked up with all those cool cables and gears...:bounce:

[ThirdEye]

Cool! 3D package?

[Sandpiper]

Max 5 w/ Brazil :wavey:

[r0bal]

The concept is nice and detailed. Cool work with the modeling so far :thumbsup:

[Sandpiper]

Working on the connection area. I will get more detailed as I go...any comments so far?

[Sandpiper]

here's some detail...

[MukMan]

HOw did you get from some flat polygons to that grill on the leg?

[riltis]

Man this project is coming along very nice. I have to say I really like the subtle detail...So far the connections look very believable. I really like that you are staying with the "egg" concept in the connections of the leg. Keep jammin...

[Sandpiper]

Not much of an update, but I thought I would show the new knee detail and the holes punched in the upper part of the leg. I will have some tubing coming out of those holes plugging in somewhere in the knee....:)

[Sandpiper]

Here is an updated shot of the knee area. Nearly complete as far as modeling. As you can see, I went with a lil' hydraulic system, or that's what I'm going to call it. :)

[Sandpiper]

a taste of the wireframe...lots of polys I know...

[Sandpiper]

Pleeeease don't hate me for posting three in a row like a newbie. Bear with me. It's a big update! I won't post another till I made lot's more progress...

[Shaykai]

Don't feel like a newbie, i can tell from your model that you aren't one. Your walker is coming together nicely.

[Sandpiper]

Even though I have tons of modeling work to do, I couldn't help but test some materials out for the knee. I'm using HDRI with Brazil...

[Shaykai]

I love the materials!!! I can't wait till this thing is done.

[SawedOff]

yea i like the clear tubing, its pretty sweet and the metallic material looks realllly nice, great work so far

[riltis]

DUDE!!! THAT THING ROCKS... I L O V E THE MATERIALS!!

That being said I can't just give you total props without a little critique. Do you think the hoses are a little long...I wonder if this thing was to really walk that the hoses would get tangled in the knee construction. Just an idea..

Keep rockin:beer:

[Shaykai]

I would agree that the back of the knee tubes should be shorter, but in the front it would keep them how they are because when you bend the knee the hoses are going to get stretched.

[Sandpiper]

Thanks for the comments everyone!

The hose issue is one I meant to explain before. This chickwalker will be able to squish down to make it shorter and also it will be able to be taller than it is now too. When I was modeling the hoses, I had them short enough to reach from one connection to the other connection with the shortest path, but after thinking about it, I wanted to make sure that these hoses wouldn't pop off when it moved around. I mean, I really want this thing to be agile. The back of the knee should be able to rise even higher than shown to be able to lurch the body downward (as if pecking the ground). I plan to animate it sometime after modeling and texturing to show what it was meant to do.

Keep the critiques coming!

[Shaykai]

Yay! so you ARE doing an animationg ;) I can't wait. Keep up the awesome work.

[Sandpiper]

Yeah, it will probably be a little while, but after thinking of the possibilities, I thought it would be fun to see it alive. It's going to be a rigging challenge for me!

[Sandpiper]

working on the link to the main eggish torso...I'm thinking of doing some more tube work as well...

an overall:

[Sandpiper]

detail:

[Sandpiper]

sorry, last one...a little wireframe shot from behind...that's all for now!

[Dirk_P_Ho]

If it isnt any trouble, I'd like to see a low-res (unsmoothed) wire of the knee area. I've just discovered this thread and im fascinated. Looking great.

[wiklander]

Really cool design :thumbsup:

Can't say I like the transparent tubes though...
other then that it's great :)

[MCGrund]

Hi Sandpiper,
I really like your concept, the only thing is that one part of the legs (the one with the cables) looks very fragile and I wonder wether it is strong enough to carry the torso...but who knows maybe the cockbit is made out of eggshell.

oh, what happened here?

[briancole]

yeah, i was gonna point out that spot that 'twisted ankle' showed you.....i know you and your perfect meshes can't allow that....

materials and design are looking sweet.....i still say you should design it for night walking as well by adding some lights, even if you have a 'day' shot....

is this chick going to be armed?.....you never know when some predator will storm the coop....

[Sandpiper]

crap! I was working on something on the other side of the leg and must have grabbed those vertices on accident. I can't believe that I missed that! I'm on top of it right away!!!!

wiklander: The tubes will be filled with fluid sometime. They are empty for now. Hopefully you will like them better after they are done. I still have some work I plan on doing for the tubes so stay tuned...

twisted-ankle: I agree with your concern for the knee area's stability. I'm still trying to figure out how to make it look more stable. If I can't, then I will just have to justify it somehow. :cool: Does the connection to the body look stable? My problem in all this is that I want to make it look very agile but still look sturdy.

bigfatclown: I think it would definitely look cool to have some lights on it. Great idea. This model has got so much left to do on it....

Dirk_P_Ho: I have some updates I would like to do first on that area, then I will post a wire frame. The only parts that have a smooth on them are the gray colored parts. All the metal stuff is just primitives cut up and reshaped...

[grury]

thought maybe would b a good idea if u use some sort of springy pipes, something like a hoover pipe (but transparent, so u can see the fluids inside) that allows to contract and stretch, would also b easier to animate by using the sping modifier...just a thought. otherwise i love it!

My WIP thread (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=31747)

[Sandpiper]

maybe an example image or a website that I could see some samples? I don't really know what a hoover pipe is...great suggestion though!

(I fixed that blip in the mesh everyone! :D )

[wiklander]

Ok, I'll wait for the finished version before commenting the tubes again ;)

[MCGrund]

Hi Sandpiper,
the connection to the body looks fine to me.

[grury]

I guess i should have said Vacuum cleaner pipes, instead...:)

Vacuum cleanerz... (http://www.davesvac.com/eureka.html)

[Sandpiper]

Ahhh...now it makes sense Gru. That's a good idea. I'll definitely consider it. Maybe I'll just use a couple of them or something like that to keep it interesting.

Here's what the profile of the knee looks like. Still looks pretty sturdy to me because I have that back pipe holding up a lot of the weight. The torso will be pretty much hollow anyway, so it's pretty light. I haven't made any of the changes to anything else, just re-rendered a side view for better understanding.

[lerpiedood]

That has gots to be one of the coolest mechs I've seen. But does the knee rotate, I can't really tell, if it rotates, how it rotates. All I can tell is that those pistons lift the upper leg part up and down. Also does the middle leg rotate on that axis? It seems like it does but I'm not sure.

[Sandpiper]

There is a thick axle right where all the pistons meet in the middle there. The cap for the axle is the circular piece you see there...make sense? Next update, I'll try to get a good shot up close so you can see all that...

Yes, the "middle leg" does rotate around that newly modeled connection. I was hoping that modeling it circular would give it a "mobile look".

also, the bottom part of the leg will be able to move up and down too just like the upper part...

[Sandpiper]

all right...check out the new tube addition. I made the blue tubes double up and have small connectors to hold them together. I also closed up the back of the knee...will post another render possibly later this afternoon....

I also made the knee area (axle) a little bit bigger for strength...

[karabo]

Excellent model.
My only concern is that with all those tubes and stuff sticking out of the knee area, it would make the walker more susceptible to sabotage by someone severing some of those pipes. I guess it all depends on just how vital those pipes are to the operation of the walker. If they are really important, would you really want them exposed like that? Just a thought.
Keep us updated.

[Sandpiper]

I think I like them this way, otherwise what fun is it to hide the pipes??

Besides, it's not a war mech...just a walker...

Seriously, I appreciate the insight. :)

[Sandpiper]

Last update of the year...I'll be back with more progress after New Years! It'd be nice to get some more c&c when I get back! Thanks everyone...:wavey:

[Skyraider3D]

one word: brilliant! :thumbsup:

[Trion-5]

this idea is great....
this would have to be a love or peace machine, not war!

2 crits
1. I know the texture for the metals are temp, but they look like they are diecast which is a very weak metal (think hotwheels)
2. About sabotage to the hoses? I think the chick would mistake them for worms!

[Sandpiper]

Thanks for the replies!

Skyraider3d: Thanks for the encouragement. :)

Hellrender: Tutorials eh? I never thought this thread would come to the subject of tutorials, but nevertheless, I'll think about it.

Trion-5: Thanks for the crits. I'll keep the hot wheels thing in mind. They are definitely temp for now, but so far I think they are sorta close to how they will look in the end. Also, keep in mind that the concept for this thing is that this chick has actually made this machine himself so I'm sure he won't eat the tubes.

:cool:

[Sandpiper]

Here's what I've done since I came back from vacation. I've been working on the foot area. Really trying to keep a little bit of a chicken theme somehow. I thought the design would look neat and be interesting to animate...Next should be the actual inside of the cockpit!:insane:

[Sandpiper]

Let's call this a frontal....

[IDownupI]

Look soo clean Good work

[Sandpiper]

Sorry...one more for overall context and proportion...

[tobyWong]

The one thing that bothers me alot is I don't get how this thing could walk; If it lifts one leg, it would just fall over because the legs are attached to the sides, not undernieth it. It's pretty cool none the less tho.

Peace,
-Toby

[Corn Dog]

Pehaps it hops like a real chick???

[tobyWong]

Do real chicks just hop? Hehehehe... that'll be pretty funny then.

Peace,
-Toby

[Sandpiper]

You got it Corn Dog! I didn't even think about it walking with alternating legs....guess I never mentioned that small detail. :)

I modeled up the feet like this so it could actually propel itself. It's also got those hydraulic shock absorber type connections for a smooth ride when it's hoppin'. Thanks for the insight fellas...

[Sandpiper]

It's almost done. The only things I have left to add/change are:

1. Add some different materials for the "windowed" areas on the legs to contrast against the whiteness of the rest of it.

2. Adjust the lighting just a tad more (you can see it kinda got too bright on the left leg there).

3. Add small lights for night vision abilities.

4. The friggin' chick himself! (Might have to make that a completely different wip thread!)

5. Rig and animate the whole dern thing. (Yikes...I haven't rigged anything before--this model should be quite a challenge for that:hmm: )

Any comments before I carry on?

[WarAngel]

THATS SOO COOL!!! :D Great materials also! Keep it up :D

[garyturner]

nice look:thumbsup:

[Sandpiper]

Yep, it's been awhile folks. I've been too busy to do anything up until lately. I've been modeling up the lil' chick for the walker. I plan on putting some sort of fuzz on it, but don't know any free plugins to use quite yet. If there are any suggestions for something like that, let me know! I still have to rig the model and detail out certain things like the wings and feet and such. I also need to start on the brainwave headband thing...

I've been told that the glass front doesn't really show up on the front either, so maybe I will throw in some thin lines to make a sort of grid or something.

[riltis]

The model is looking great!! I was wondering if you were planning on detailing out the interior of the egg. Your chickie may need to see a console with some guages and blinking stuff. Let me know what you think.

[Sandpiper]

Riltis: I was thinking about that, but I'm not sure what I want to do yet. I may have some gauges coming from the interior walls facing the sides of him. And as you know, the headband with the wires running up to the top of the shell from the inside....nice suggestion...;)

[riltis]

Okay, for the second time...

I think a couple of consoles that contour the inside of the walker body would look really cool. I also like the idea of having a console over the chicks head that would help to illuminate his face and upper body [blue light :) ] Which brings up the lighting of the interior. I would assume that the only light that would illuminate the interior of the walker is the console lights and gauges? So maybe the over all interior lighting is too bright. Well that is all for my rambling thoughts. I am always amazed at your updates :eek: , keep em coming!!

[Antimatter]

the chicken walker looks awesome :buttrock: :bounce: but my only real comment right now is that i think the chicken looks possed :) i mean look at the glow of its red eye EEEK!

[blackwulf360]

:surprised Wow...that's all I have to say...

[SPIDER2544]

dam dude thats one hell of an evolution

i really liek the concept really cool desigh naand since i am working on something similar its cool to see waht other people are doing

and might i also add ....dam thats a lot of polys

[Gentle Fury]

incredible work!

all i wanna know is.......WHY HASNT THIS BEEN PLUGGED YET?????


PLUG PLUG PLUG PLUG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[strogoff]

now that`s some supercool designwork. I love the way you actually made the form of the outer chickenthing. But i think you should integrate the chicken more into the cockpit. at the moment it sits just there. it does not seem to pilot the walker, yet.

AWESOME !!!

[Sandpiper]

Wow! Thanks for the comments everyone! I was hoping my lil' chickwalker wouldn't be forgotten.

Riltis: Spot on. Great suggestions...I'll have to think about the cockpit exactly. It's definitely an important part of the design...

Antimatter: Yes, he does look possessed for the moment. I'm still working on the fella, so I just put in some placeholder materials for now. More to come...

Blackwulf360: Thanks. :)

Spider2544: I'm curious to see your similar work. I love feeding off others and being inspired by their ideas. And yes, damn, it IS a lot of polys. I think it's ok for the detail of the design. I wish it was less and I could make it less, but it looks so much better when the modeling doesn't look faceted.

Gentle Fury: Thanks for the kind words and exclamation marks. What do you mean by plugged though? I hope that's a good thing!

Strogoff: You're absolutely correct. The chicken does need to be integrated. He will definitely fit better into the design in the end. I just couldn't wait to actually put him in the cockpit to show the scale and all that. Stay tuned...

I don't know when my next update will be on this thing, but I will strive to make these changes and get this thing going again.

[briancole]

i agree with riltis, however i wouldn't just contrive some control panel when you have put a lot of thought into how the chick walker actually works....maybe there are some gears and stuff the chick controls that come from the connections of the legs and the shell....and/or maybe the chick sits on some kind of seat so that his feet can control some kind of pedal system....either way you need to bring that chick up to speed....either make it completely real or completely cartooney....

super work->also think about this for animation purposes.....whatever your sequence is you can start out with a chick's eye view where this huge chick walker dominates, but then you can cut to the human perspective where you see that this thing is still kinda small ->what is it like 9 inches high?

such a cute little chick walker!:drool:

[Corn Dog]

How about a little chick helmet/mind control and chicky boots or a beak apperatis. But keep him cute and fluffy.

(All I do is make recommendations on this board, no skill/time to model/animate or even learn :shrug:

[strogoff]

Come on, show us an update :-)

[monkeysweat]

That is one of the most original and funny ideas I've seen in a long time. Nice work too.

[Sandpiper]

I'm working on it! I only have time to work on it at lunch at work, so little gets done at a time. I will tell you that I'm working on the control system and starting that over. He was supposed to rotate this bar that he is standing on, but I thought that was stupid, so now he will have a seat to sit on and will have two levers to control the legs....stay tuned for the post.:applause:

[Sandpiper]

It's kinda hard to get a decent look at the cockpit because it's so small, but here's where I'm at so far. I plan on making him a seat so he can lounge back and enjoy the ride too! More to come everyone....:bounce:

[riltis]

I really like the new lighting solution. Keep jammin on the detail of the cockpit. Update...Update...Update!!!!:buttrock:

[Gentle Fury]

Originally posted by Sandpiper
It's kinda hard to get a decent look at the cockpit because it's so small, but here's where I'm at so far. I plan on making him a seat so he can lounge back and enjoy the ride too! More to come everyone....:bounce:

The chick is just a temp right???? I think this would be bad ass if he were either cartooney or ultra-realistic.......right now he looks kinda like a toy. Would be a shame to have such a kick ass vehicle with a fake looking chick in it :)

[briancole]

i have to agree with gentle fury.....we wanna see a cool chick!

->i have to comment on the lighting in the cockpit as well, is that just a temp solution.....it looks like the chick would be so blinded with how bright it is in there that he/she wouldn't be able to see outside->maybe that's why his eyes are red:twisted:

-if it's during the day, i would think a cockpit would be filled with natural light, but at night just a little illumination from his control panels....anyway, give the cockpit less light, it would help take the attention away from that ugly chick.:insane:

[Sandpiper]

Yes, the chick is temp as well as the lighting in the cockpit. I needed to model up a quick version of the chick so I could get an idea of how the interior of the cockpit would work. I would like to model a chick like the one in my earlier sketches, you know, the one with the positive attitude. :thumbsup: Something cartoony. (although I like the hauntingness I get from the fake chick's stiffness and his red eye....j/k)

The lighting is as such because I want everyone to see the detail that I have placed in the cockpit as of yet. I plan on making it really cool and realistic, just as you guys suggested. Don't worry everyone, I don't want this thing to turn a corner in qualilty by using bad lighting and an ugly duckling....thanks for the crits. More to come when I can!

[lapin]

i like your Chiken war battle trooper !!!!
Some great materials on the old image.
Don't like the reflection inside.
:bounce: :beer: :thumbsup:

[Sandpiper]

not really an update, but I took out the frankenstein chick and turned off the lights I had in the cockpit. Now it's just the skylight and the hdr...

[Sandpiper]

Here's a shot of the seat that the chickadee will sit on in the cockpit area. I've decided that until I finish modeling this whole thing, that I will strip all the materials so the modeling can be read better. :D

[MCGrund]

Now that you took the horror chick (tm.) out you can get a much better clue on how the interior is going to look like. And I say it's going to look good. The seat is looking very ergonomic and comfortable (colani-design, eh?!;)). The chick will have a good ride (or hop or whatever). I also like the cables (don't know the right term) attached to the handles. How about adding some shock-absorbers under the seat?:shrug:

[Sandpiper]

GREAT idea for the shock absorbers! That totally goes with the design intent of this thing...I was wondering what was missing! I'll keep adding detail as necessary also....

I didn't realize I copied someone's chair design! Whoops! I guess that can be considered a good thing...

Thanks for the great suggestions twisted-ankle

[MCGrund]

I went to a presentation of this Colani guy the other day (He is pretty well known in Europe). He is totally into this round and ergonomic design kinda thing. Maybe he even invented it I dunno. This fella has some pretty cool and innovative ideas and a really funny way to express himself for sure. You should check his work out one day (though you don't have to like all of his designs:eek: :hmm: )

Originally posted by Sandpiper
Thanks for the great suggestions twisted-ankle
You're welcome, har,har. :cool:

[Sandpiper]

Here's the model without all the texturizing. I also am just lighting it with the skylight, no HDR for now. I need to do all that later when I'm done modeling. I got way too far ahead of myself....:surprised

[Fede]

Hey sweet model.

Can't believe i have missed it till now.

Any chance you can elaborate on any tips on the modelling or the HDRI setup you will or are using please?

keep it up, later

[iconboy]

stupid question, how did you get the tubes blue and see thorugh? i mean, although they are see through, they still have this 'fullness' to them i cant seem to ever get in my models! :(

[Sandpiper]

Well, that's not a stupid question first of all. What I did was loft a circle within a circle and assign a two-sided transparent material to it. Makes it take longer to render but it's worth it. Hope this helps! :thumbsup:

[HoodZ]

if thats a chick walker how would a chicken walker look like? :bounce: :applause: i'd imagine its probably twice the size :beer:

this is great btw!

[Sandpiper]

SPRINGS! Attached some shock absorber things...

[briancole]

this idea's gettin bettah and bettah....

glad you took out the chick, that'll be a project in itself for ya...

keep rockin!:buttrock: :xtreme: :airguitar :drumrock:

[MCGrund]

The shock absorbers look great and fit perfectly into your design.:love:

[Sandpiper]

Time for the chick! Here is where I'm at so far with the face...it's kinda square in the shape of it all, but I kinda like it. I'm trying to figure out how to do fur when rendering with Brazil, so if there any tips for that, let me know....comments are welcome as this is my first toonish attempt at a character...:D

[Sandpiper]

bigger version of camera shot since we can only use 20 kb images now

[Sandpiper]

Added some glasses with a red tint...I'm hoping that the refraction will make his eyes look slightly larger thru the specs so he looks like he's kinda smart and dorky. Just compare the eyes from the previous post and you'll see that they are smaller....also added some nostrils to the beak.

[MCGrund]

That's a really good start Sandpiper. I like the toony look of your chick.

[darren_t]

thats great stuff. reminds me of some other work. the robot chick. with the guns inside it. great piece of work. love the leg detail.

[Sandpiper]

working on the neck....I know it looks like a baby's head or whatever, but I kinda like it:D

[strogoff]

Hey, why don`t you post any updates? iI want to see more of it, please. BTW, the face of the chicken reminds me of a character from Chickenrun (dunno the name), very cool.

[Sandpiper]

Aw man, I would love to, but I've been swamped at work and have no free time to work on it anymore. As soon as I can get back to it, I will. Thanks for the interest!

[briancole]

i've heard that one before.....do you work with those people from ninjai.com? ....you're just out there surfing again, right?:p

[Sandpiper]

Here's an update on the body of the chick. I'll be putting some work gloves on him and some nice lil' birdie feet. I know chickens don't have navels, but he needs one here. :) I'll keep tweaking him and get him looking more smooth, but here's the latest!

[Waters]

I'm a big fan of this robot walker of yours, wish I had half your creativity. Great work...:applause:

[Sandpiper]

I've had to put the chickwalker aside for a bit. Too many projects going on at work right now to even open the file! :argh:

I'll be back with updates when I can...

[briancole]

you sure you're not busy animating it? nice avatar by the way

[Sandpiper]

I was thinking about changing it actually. I'm not too satisfied with it....

I'll animate it the thing after I model up the chickie. I can't wait to do all that stuff....

[Sandpiper]

sorry for the delay e'rybody...

added feet and hands...will add more details to certain areas and start texturing what I can...

[Sandpiper]

another

[Sandpiper]

last one

[Izu]

that chicken scares me....:cry:

[briancole]

i'm stuck between whether the feet should be simple like you have it, or represent the way chicken feet really are, maybe this image will help.....also are the joints (knee joint) going to be reversed like real chickens, or human like - like foghorn leghorn?

[Sandpiper]

Swirly-chicken: Didn't realize my chick was so scary! He's modeled emotionless right now so please understand the icy stare....

BFC: I'm not sure what to do about the feet and detail. I may mess with making them kinda segmentedish, but not sure right now. The picture you attached was really jacked up lookin!

[JasonA]

this is a very cool project. I like how this is coming together:)

[Randuin]

wow that is just AMAZING :) want to see more of your work definitely :)

[S_3D_A]

This is absolutely hilarious. I don't know I just giggle when I imagine the little guy controlling that big thing.

[Sandpiper]

I'm really looking forward to bringing this guy to life and getting him to be a true character. I feel that the modeling is pretty much complete and I will start to rig all this up. (YIKES-never rigged anything before!)

[Fetus23]

sandpiper!! This chicken walker is looking fantastic!.. I love the design you've got going on. The little bird is nice too :)...Good luck with the rigging of it all.....im looking foward to your final...animation??? :D...

:beer:
fetus

[Sandpiper]

fetus23: thanks for the encouragement! Animation? Yes. That's the plan. I'd like there to be an actual story/plot behind it other than just a simple walk/run cycle, ya know? It's gonna be a WHOLE different thing for me.......:scream:

[Sandpiper]

10000 views!!

(not that it matters....) :thumbsup:

thanks for looking....

[briancole]

forget little animation...i'm thinking we're witness to the start of a blockbuster movie! :buttrock:

[hesido]

Hi man. It is a really good and positive attempt to work on "sweetness" next to all the gore and aggression in the avarage 3d composition!

How do you plan to animate the cabling on the knee joint? With some kind of physics engine or a clever use of morphmaps?

I am doing a robot arm and I'll probably leave it without cables (with each part having their own bluetooth wireless mechanism for controls and electricity passing thru joints ;-) so I don't have to model them haha) but I am asking just in case, maybe I'll get an inspiration from your plan :-)

[Sandpiper]

honestly, I haven't thought about that part yet. I'm going to start with the basics and see which parts I think would need to animate more. I'm pretty sure I will start a new thread for the animation part of this so I don't tick off the mods with a huge lengthy thread! :)

I think I'm going to rig it all enough at first to at least have a decent posed shot to bring this thread to a close....

[Sandpiper]

Hello e'rybody:

I've created his bones and rigged him with some controls for his head, fingers, toes, and eyes. I'll have to mess with morph targets for his face later. I just want to get him posed for now. Of course, I still have to bone and rig the entire chickwalker itself as well. :eek:

Right now, I'm skinning him and trying to get the mesh to move right and all that. I've been using the max tuts as well as tuts from MaxTD.com (http://www.maxtd.com). Good stuff there. I'm so glad he made those things!

Just wanted to let everyone who cares about it at all, that I'm actually working on it!

[MailMan]

Damn really nice work so far, can't wait for your next update :)

[Maya Ayanami]

Looks very promising. I really liked what you have done with the toes.

You must feel so proud to have given birth to such a cool desing.

[hwachai]

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

very nice process....

well done, man!!!!!!:applause: :applause:

[Sandpiper]

Got him sitting in the cockpit now. I will be working on his "helmet" type contraption now and getting this thing ready for Expose'! (Not that I have a chance, but it's a goal...)

[Sandpiper]

See the cool egg shaped levers?! :)

I'd like to work on his expression on his face, too. He's starting to creep me out after all this time!:eek:

[robo3687]

that is soo sweet..............



i want one:thumbsup:

great work

[The Cross]

Impressive.

[Velk]

Hey this is fantastic!! I just found this thread today:hmm:

My only point of concern is that your chick's head looks a little owlish, maybe its the glasses that do it?

Anyway beautiful model I can't wait to see more.

[Sandpiper]

Velk- his face has always had this owlish thing going on...I was trying to keep him from looking too much like Tweety Bird from Looney Tunes.

And you're right, the glasses do make him look owlish, but they do make him look smart eh?

[Velk]

Yeah I would agree - maybe he is Inventor Chick;)

[TyKeiL]

lovely project and work, i mean wow!! awesome.

i think the thingt hats creeping people out is the lack of smile, and the fact that your chick is soooooo offtap,

shrink the pupils some, he's not that far in the dark.

looking good,

[Sandpiper]

What does "Offtap" mean?

I'll be sure to work on his face a bit and give him some expression....

[TyKeiL]

go ans spend some time with ravers get into the plur take loads of drugs, and youll be offtap

dilated pupils=off there head on drugs=offtap

ps: i do not endorse any stated or inferred actions based upon my post.

:):thumbsup:

[Sandpiper]

I think you just totally nailed the expression on my chick's face. "Offtap" is right on based on your definition. I gotta fix that so he looks more cutesy smart....

[Sandpiper]

I worked on his face some....hopefully he looks less offtap now. Took some cheek off, shortened his head height, added eye lids, stretched the beak to smile more, added smile lines....Is it better now??:wip:

[Fetus23]

haha! Cool little chicken! :)..He looks very pleasant and cute now. Have you plans to put feathers on him? I also like the shot of him controling the egg walker....very nice. When do we get the animations!? :) :wip: :wip: Keep going sandpiper its coming along very well!!

:beer:

[boxcrash]

Yeah I have to agree with Fetus, this is great!!!I love it!!!!:thumbsup: :wip:

Also about the tutorials at maxtd, the guy is really cool and so nice of him to provide them, but I might have missed something, but some time ago I built this rig and also downloaded it as well to make sure, but I could not find and did not mess with it to terribly long even after I constructed mine, but the fact that pulling the pelvis down, it does not. With some rigs such as Micheal Comets rig tutorials and following his Charc creators that his pelvis helper/point when you pull it down the feet stay planted, depending can move off the balls/heel, and the knees bend correctly like a jump and land you can do rebound and absorbtion in the joints, not sure if this makes sense.:hmm:

But with his tutorial rig I noticed it does not, did I miss something?

[Sandpiper]

Fetus23: Thanks for keeping up with my progress. I was hoping the "facelift" would help out. I was going to put feathers on him, but I don't think I will have enough time to get all that done by the end of this month (Expose'!). I have a little tuft of feathers on the top of his head, but you may not be able to see that in my shots....Animations WILL happen, I just don't know when....Gotta think of a solid story, then I will take it from there (I have a few ideas already)...my day job keeps me too busy to even have time to seriously get into it as much as I want.

Boxcrash: I think you may be right about the pelvis thing, but I wasn't too worried about that because he's sitting anyway and I had to move his feet up against his stomach. I'm sure I'll have to face that problem sometime, but all I have to do is add another helper control and I'll be set!

[boxcrash]

Originally posted by Sandpiper
Boxcrash: I think you may be right about the pelvis thing, but I wasn't too worried about that because he's sitting anyway and I had to move his feet up against his stomach. I'm sure I'll have to face that problem sometime, but all I have to do is add another helper control and I'll be set!

COol, I was just double checking to make sure it wasn't just me, and yes that is a simple way to solve it.:)

[TyKeiL]

much happier chick, still the pupils are too dilated for my taste

and theres a crease running over his forhead from his nose, looks a lil funny,..

other than that, he's looking much beter and happy :))

[Sandpiper]

Back in the cockpit! His head may be looking up a little too much though....

TyKeil: So you're thinking I should make the black pupils smaller huh? Oh and the crease you see on his forehead is typical in chicks (only reason I modeled it that way!)

EDIT: Replaced image because chickie's left eye was moved over about an inch in the model and it looked screwy....

[Soterialive]

All I have to say is that I absolutely love the concept! It is incredibly original, I could definitely see alot of different things happening with him in his "travels". I must say that it took me like 2 hours just to get up to speed with all these posts!! I didnt just want to post something until I completely read everything, so there is my feedback, please keep going! And to reiterate someone elses post, I think it is wonderful to have such a positive model and idea amidst all the gruesome models and guns and such! Hats off to you man!

[ssloan]

This thing's great, i hope you get exposed for it. just a comment on the last picture. i get the impression from the smile that he's happy to see me or that he's a crazed chicken trying to run me over. lol, gerat job :scream:

[Sandpiper]

I HAD to add this....he's got a brand new chain of eggs for when he is embarassing his bullies...see next post for where the eggs will come out...

[Sandpiper]

Should have more details of this area sometime this weekend...

Then I will finish posing him for Expose'. For real this time!

[Sandpiper]

Here's the first of two shots I've submitted to the Expose thing. It'll take just a few secs to download, but it'll be worth it!

Expose shot #1 (http://www.geocities.com/jrs00jaw/index.htm)

I lowered the resolution so it wouldn't take eons to download for everyone to see.

The other shot (a fully posed full-of-action shot) should be ready to view tomorrow afternoon sometime. It takes a real long time to render that high of resolution in HDRI. At least on my machine! Lots of geometry too! :buttrock:

[PAnick]

I dig the detail at the joints. I always have a problem with doing a working joint...cool looking, but working. :D

[Sandpiper]

Does everyone see the image ok now? (See two posts above this one)

[percydaman]

yes we saw it and demand more!!!! ;)

[Irie]

amazing concept. cant wait till you fluff the lil guy up some more! give him some of that early chickie fuzz

[Sandpiper]

Here's the other shot:

Expose Shot #2 (http://www.geocities.com/jrs22jaw/index.htm)

[MattChew]

whats the poly count?
nice model :bounce: :applause:

[MCGrund]

Very cool rendering. :applause:
How about some motionblur?

[Sandpiper]

Twisted Ankle: Yeah, I was gonna do all that blur stuff, but I was torn between losing the detail and blurring the legs (I'm also afraid I would make it look stupid because I haven't messed with motion blurring much :thumbsdow )....plus, I didn't have time because I just submitted this morning!

MattChew: Here's your count--

chickie itself: 24665

walker: 406844

entourage: 212484

TOTAL: 646057 :surprised

[Kel Solaar]

Huhu! that's final picture is very funny :thumbsup: I love the concept :)

[MattChew]

Originally posted by Sandpiper
MattChew: Here's your count--

chickie itself: 24665

walker: 406844

entourage: 212484

TOTAL: 646057 :surprised [/B]
woah.. 646,057 polys.. it is a really highly-detailed model though.. cool.:drool:

[Sandpiper]

Yeah, I was anticipating some high res shots so I didn't want a lot of jagged looking geometry because of lack of face count. Guess it was worth it (or I hope!)

[goodlag]

lol final pic:D :thumbsup:

nice idea great work:applause: :bounce:

[Soterialive]

Fantastic! In Expose shot 1, however, what are the hariline marks exactly? Are they supposed to be stress cracks or was this unplanned. Either way it looks fabulous to me. I was just curious is all.

[Sandpiper]

Those are just scratch marks that were mainly meant for use in the second shot. They were to show that he busted through this wire fence and the scratches were the consequence. Didn't want everything to look brand new I guess...

[Soterialive]

Yeah that was my initial thought, boy you really have thought of just about everything for this model. Again, I really admire this work of yours! and I really can't wait until it is animated. This idea (concept) you have has the potential to make a really good animated movie. This could be bigger than you imagined.

[Sandpiper]

WOW. Thanks for those kind words Soterialive! I REALLY hope I can take it further. Rigging this walker is harder than I thought, but I'll keep messing with it. I would love to see this idea come to life, too!

[Sandpiper]

Well, I'm pleased to announce that my chickwalker made it into the Expose' 1 book! I'm sooo excited! Thank you judges for accepting my work. Woo hoo!! :beer:

I'm working on a site dedicated to the chickwalker and my other works right now. www.cgsand.com (http://www.cgsand.com) There is absolutely nothing on the site yet, so don't even look, just keep it in mind! :)

I also have another announcement to make later this week about this project, but there are details that are being knocked out right now. Stay tuned for that...

[Virtuoso]

Bravo....very nice,fun well executed,quite original,and the texture work looks very nice.I'll keep following your progress Sandpiper.Chickwater is quite the cool creation.:thumbsup: :applause:


PS: Check your PM.See you soon.:beer:

[Sandpiper]

Ok, I'm back with news for those who care. :)

The Lil' Chickwalker won a competition called Discreet 3D Combat hosted by Discreet and www.ventilate.ca (http://www.ventilate.ca). See the interview that Discreet conducted with me about the image(my first interview YAY!!) at this link CLICK ME (http://www.ventilate.ca/issue05/jesse_sandifer.html).

Also, www.cgsand.com (http://www.cgsand.com) is at a decent stage complete with more images and the story of the Lil' Chickwalker. So take a look!

[DrachenVFX]

Hey Jesse congrats on the awards for Lil' Chickwalker. Thats awesome. Also your all's Green Grass Studios stuff is great! I hope to get some image hosting soon so I can get my webiste up and post stuff here. Catch you later

Lee

[Sandpiper]

Sup Lee! I encourage you to post your stuff here. It's great to get comments and help from the other geniuses on the forum. I look forward to seeing your stuff here.

Thanks for the kind words about my project and company and all that! I'm still working on the Lil' Chickwalker but it's hard to do a lot when you got your own biz.....

Right now I'm working on the story a lot more so it's not so arbitrary. Then I'll continue on with getting some animations out and start developing a short hopefully in time for next year's Siggraph! I can at least try right??

[Eagle_e7]

Congratulations on winning those awards Sandpiper:thumbsup:

I really like this image alot, really great work. ;)

[Sandpiper]

See below.....

[Sandpiper]

Hello everybody! I've decided to revisit the Lil' Chickwalker's design now that I've had a chance to rig the original model. It wasn't as animatable as I would like it to be and I thought the design needed an overhaul anyway. So hopefully, it'll be a bit more realistic and fun.

Main changes are:

1. Lower leg has a reversed joint and added pivot.

2. New egg gun under cockpit area.

3. More compact cockpit.

4. More detail in the leg geometry which will lead to more interesting modeling, texturing, and animation.

That's pretty much it for the big stuff. Everything else is just detail.

I've also redesigned Lewis (the lil' chick) to make him cuter and more of a character. Stay tuned for that posting of his new look (not too much different, just smarter)....

anyway, here's the new chickwalker look in pencil sketch and lineart version (may need to click on image for actual resolution):

http://www.greengrassstudios.com/cgtalk/new_design_pencil_small.jpg
http://www.greengrassstudios.com/cgtalk/new_design_ink_small.jpg

[MuffinMan]

great news! can't wait to see more stuff! :bounce:

[Sandpiper]

Here's the first update on the new model. I'm trying to make this version of the chickwalker into something more realistic, yet fun and creative. I've modified the shape of the cockpit/shell as well as started to incorporate the different mechanical setup for his legs. Hopefully, this will allow for a more animatable walker.

I'm going to do a pass over the whole model first and then I'll go back and add more detailing to certain areas that need it. I don't want to get bogged down with the little stuff yet.

any crits/comments always welcome everyone!

these are the quick renders:

http://www.greengrassstudios.com/cgtalk/newmodel1.jpg

http://www.greengrassstudios.com/cgtalk/newmodel2.jpg

[CoreyJAvitar]

Loving it!

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