"Mad Dog" - Mechwarrior

[thondal]

looks nice... but maybe a little thought would be to go for a more mechanized look, more harsh, not all those smooth lines... just a thought... ;)


-thondal-

[Simon]

Thondal: I'm going to panelling later on to break up the smoothness, although I want to keep some smooth areas.

Just been blocking out the legs. They still need some work, but I've worked out the balence issues.

http://www.machinestudios.co.uk/hosted/Demo/mechwip4.jpg

[Simon]

Just a quick update. (replaced above image)

[LH117]

I like this robert,It looks like a big truck,I think if more detail on his leg,maybe better!

[Simon]

Thanks. :)

http://www.machinestudios.co.uk/hosted/Demo/mechwip5.jpg

Heres a few more details on the legs.

[wangman]

nice so far...
the main concept/idea of it is a bit bowring, if you see a standard mech it look like yours.
so try to get a new style also it could look more technical. and it should be more detailed.
keep it up.

wangman

[MrBrick]

That little Cockpit up there is looking cool. Can I see a closer shot?

This was my favorite Mech from this universe next to the Mad Dog and Hatchetman. I remember the old Battletech cartoon (which kicked ass). It was a good balance of 2d and 3d animation. Watching the mechs fight was fun!

Why don't you go for a complete custom job and out fit the thing with every piece of equipment you could want?

[Flakk]

nice so far...
the main concept/idea of it is a bit bowring, if you see a standard mech it look like yours.
so try to get a new style also it could look more technical. and it should be more detailed.
keep it up.

wangman

First of all, I strongly, strongly disagree. As soon as I say "mecha" people seem to think of Gundams.
Second, this is a model of an existing design in the MechWarrior franchise. Read his first post again...

edit: And that thing looks obscenely HUGE! :p. Is that the cockpit up there? Didn't realize it was so big :).

[Simon]

Many thanks for the comments guys.

I knew that this design might cause some annoyances as building a mecha is very unorigional and rethinking an old idea can always annoy the purists.

My design is based loosly off the old battletech design although I really want to try and make it much more as the illustrations were always made from the models and now war machine would be so plain and undetailed. I'm going to add lots of detail and really bring this monster to life.

Mr.Brick: Hehe yeah I'll work on it more tommorrow and post a shot of a close up. I decided to design a reinforced cockpit , as I think the usual ones are way to exposed and wouldnt withstand anything. Also its a duel seater cockpit. (I've taken a lot of inspiration off apaches)

Flakk: Haha, I'm going to more of the sense of scale with the little details, stuff like luggage, supplies etc. the sense of scale will be much more apparent when I get some of that in.

-Simon

[SpiralFace]

Yeah, A Battletech model!!!

Sorry I'm a big fan of the series.

Its looking realy good so far. The base model is looking great, But as a fan of the series I will say that there are a few things that can be ironed out to make it look like a true Mad Dog.

The first thing that stands out above everything else is probably its armaments.

Largen up the outer lazer units to define the Large Pulse Lazers. The Missles should'nt stand out as far as you have them. They should only poke out just alittle, as they stand they look like individual rockets on a stick instead of a working missle system. (Don't forget when your working on the back to make an exaust system.) Try to intigrate the armaments a bit better into the chassis. Right now the Lazers are looking like they are just tubes slaped onto arms.

As far as the misslepods, they are looking abit small. The targeting aray on the top of the
misslepod should come to the same height as the the cockpit.

Incase you have'nt seen the resin cast model, you can see some pics here. (http://armorcast.com/) It should be under the Battletech model section. If your into actual model building, the Timber Wolf and the Mad dog Kits are top notch.

If you want good orthographics to use as image planes, I sugest picking up Battletech, Tech Readout 3050 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=8325242858&category=377) for a good front veiw orthographic for the Mad dog (As well as all the original Clan mechs.) They even have great illustrations of many of the very little known mechs. A must have if your a fan. There are some Side Orthos floating around in some of the older books, mainly the original printings of the Phonix Saga of the novel series.

If none of this is makeing any sense, PM me and I'll try to get you some orthos to use as referance so you can check your scaleing on some of the things.

Looking great so far, and I hope it comes out great. Always good to help a fellow Battletech fan out.

[chris89]

when i say "mechwarrior " or "mech" , people think about this kind of mech
when i say "mecha", people think about the gundam type mechs
i dont know why...

anywayz, i like the model, though some parts arent as detailed as the other. i'm sure you'll detail it some more in the progress.
the front part still is looking very soft and round compared to the design of the mech.
also, i remember that in the cartoon they never had the same weapons on both arms. maybe make a different, bix, laser on the other arm :)

good luck! i really want to see some updates

[Flakk]

Flakk: Haha, I'm going to more of the sense of scale with the little details, stuff like luggage, supplies etc. the sense of scale will be much more apparent when I get some of that in.

-Simon

Hehe, I was more refering to the games, pictures and whatnot. Sizewise that is. The game I'm playing right now, Mechwarrior 4, has no real good sense of scale and it kinda lacks atmosphere, so I never really thought of how big they are supposed to be.
Anyway, keep it up : >.

[Simon]

Ok sorry for the lack of updates.. been doing my freelance lately and havnt had the time.

I've remodeled the lazers to something much chunkier and destructive looking. I also fixed the issues mentioned above with the scale and missile pods. now for the big emptey spaces

I'm going to add more of the small detail with the texture maps as the polycount is getting a bit much for my humble machine to model on.

Next Im making the base.. this is going to be fun.. :D

Shadow Slayer: WOOT thanks man, great help. :) I'll make this model as good as I to satisfy your batteltech cravings. (although no promises on it being 100% accurate! - I gotta stylise this beast)


http://www.machinestudios.co.uk/hosted/Demo/mechwip6.jpg

-Simo

[SpiralFace]

Hehe, I was more refering to the games, pictures and whatnot. Sizewise that is. The game I'm playing right now, Mechwarrior 4, has no real good sense of scale and it kinda lacks atmosphere, so I never really thought of how big they are supposed to be.
Anyway, keep it up : >.

Yeah, the only games that gave a good sense of scale where the mech commander games. All the mechwarrior games where'nt all that great at showing that. I think the only game to hit the nail on the Head with the entire Scale thing was Mech Assault 2. The one where you can get out of the mech and steal other peoples mechs and vehicles.

But as far as the scale goes, Battletech mechs are'nt all that big when you compare them to their Japanese cousins. Think of the Cockpit of Battlemechs as a very small Dune buggy with armor plastered around it. The novels always speak that the cockpits are insanely cramped and crowded with equipment, and how well built people are sometimes just given the bigger mechs just to have enough room to get in the cockpit.

The Mad dog itself should be about 3 storries high. So not that much bigger then your average house.

Here is an Image (http://classicbattletech.com/images/gallery/Battle_of_Coventry_Cover@1024x768.jpg) of another mech with Battlearmor infantry around it to give you a sense of Size. Its not a Mad dog itself, but its design is in a similar weight class to give you a sense of scale, a Mad dog's legs should go up just alittle bit higher then this designs legs as this design is obviously built to be smaller then the Mad dog. Which brings me to something I missed in my first critique. Around the cockpit and around the hip, is that supposed to be railing for a walkway? In my opinion, you whould'nt need it. As the image should show, mechs are too small to need a railway built into them. In the Books they simply just have a rope ladder in the cockpit if they have to get out of the thing in the feild.

Its looking good so far. I think you can still afford to bulken up the lazer units abit, but thats just my personal veiw. And don't worry too much, as I won't nit-pick at the entire model, just the broad stuff to get the profile to look right. I understand you want your own creative freedom. And beleave me I like up dated designs of some of their mechs. I did one myself awhile ago. I'll stick it in my CG portfolio once I get the time to dig out the images again. I am just glad the advice helped since they don't realy do a good job in the games of realy chizzleing out the universe these guys are from. If you have any questions about stuff that pops up in your referance feel free to ask. And if you want more pics of The Mad dog, Check out the Wall paper section of Classic Battletech.com. (http://classicbattletech.com/index.php?action=gallery&start=18)

Good luck, and its comming out great.

[Simon]

Heres a quick composite. I did just for a bit of fun. The scales not right..

http://www.machinestudios.co.uk/hosted/Demo/maddog.jpg

Shadowslayer thanks for that reference!

I'm using the railings as luggage racks. I'll make it more obvious as I get going more.

I'll bulk up the lazer a bit more!

[Simon]

Again more details...


http://www.machinestudios.co.uk/hosted/Demo/mechwip7.jpg

[Simon]

http://www.machinestudios.co.uk/hosted/Demo/mechwip8.jpg

Started the texturing.

Edit: The front panelling is exagurated. I'm going to brighten this up and fix the pannels as they should be more subtle. The mech will also have a gloss finnish later on, I need to brighten it up too....

[Simon]

And so it continues!

http://www.machinestudios.co.uk/hosted/Demo/mechwip9.jpg

...Still needs those fixes.

[SpiralFace]

Heres a quick composite. I did just for a bit of fun. The scales not right..

http://www.machinestudios.co.uk/hosted/Demo/maddog.jpg

Shadowslayer thanks for that reference!

I'm using the railings as luggage racks. I'll make it more obvious as I get going more.

I'll bulk up the lazer a bit more!


This scale is actualy dead on to what it should be, If anything, the human chould be SLIGHTLY larger, but you have the general Idea dead on. (As far as the human compared to the mech.) So don't worry too much about everything and use this to pretty much referance what you'll do if you want to add luggage attached to those racks and everything.

So great, your on to textures, I got another sight for you then :) This one is one for the actual Battletech miniature game. They have many miniatures painted up in different Paint schemes according to their Faction as well as Their individual unit affiliation, complete with breif descriptions of the paint schemes in case you like the concept, but not the individuals paint job. You can also grab their unit's logo off the sight for use as a decal, although their faction affiliation's are'nt offered, although you could probably easily produce the images by just google imaging the name of the affiliation.

So here (http://camospecs.com/) is the sight. If you want images of just the Mad dog, click the Mech list tab on the side and scroll down to Mad dog (vulture) and it will produce all the mini-images of all their painted mad dogs in their library from all different affiliations.

If you don't like those paint schemes, feel free to look in the gallery, and just click any Clan affitiation. The Mad Dog is a very common Clan mech, so if you go with any clan paint scheme affiliation,you should be fine, although the Ghost Bears are known to use it more then any other affiliation (Which is why you'll see more vultures painted up in their scheme.)

Once again hope this helps. Good luck its comming out great.

[Simon]

Wow thanks man. That site is great! I've been needing a logo, but I couldnt find a good site! Glad I have a battletech fan on the thread to keep me in line.

This mech is a clan machine salvaged by merc's. (hence the questionable paint job and skulls and crossbones!) So basicly its going to be a ghost bear mech. I'll make the missiles red and put on a faded ghost bear logo!

- currently working on the pelvis.

- Simon

[irwit]

Great modeling job, shows some serious attention to detail. Keep it up :o)

[Simon]

Shes coming along.

So many billion things to do!

http://www.machinestudios.co.uk/hosted/Demo/mechwip10.jpg

[Wintermute]

That's looking pretty sweet! nice details too!

My very first 3D model was a Timber Wolf / Mad Cat, about 10 years ago using Infini-d 2.5!! I'll have to dig up one of the old jpgs. I was using the ortho views in the 3050 Tech Readout to build it too. I think I did a Mad Dog / Vulture as well (they have the same legs)

keep it up! :beer:

[CatsEye]

Hey Simon,

Lookin' good. The main thing that gets me about the textures right now is that the upper half is real worn down but the lower half is in pretty good shape, I'd tend to think it would be the opposite. Other than that... seems a bit dark. Anyway, keep it up! I'll talk to ya in a bit :p

laters,

g.

[SpiralFace]

Ah good old merc mechs. I whould'nt worry much about putting the Ghost bear logo on the missles themselves, as the clans trade with each other for supplys and munitions, I doubt they whould plaster their logos on their munitions. I whould'nt put on a full Clan logo if your makeing a merc mech, as the clans (Expecialy ghost bear) have no love for Mercenarys, and never trade to them. Merc's usualy come into clan technology through battlefeild salvage. And mercenary units are known for simply painting over the older color schemes of their battlefeild salvage. If you realy want it to look great, I whould have bits of the original paint job show through some of the chinks, and have an area where you simply show bits of the original logo on it but I whould'nt put an entire clan logo on it.

That site I showed you with the mini's also has a very large group of mercenary paint schemes as well as their logos as well.

I'm not going to critique the texture yet simply becuase I know you just started it alittle while ago, I want to see where you go with this before I critique.

[Flakk]

I think the textures are too dark. It's drowning all the detail :(

[chris89]

i have to agree with Flakk, the textures are so dark i cant see the great detail you modelled :(
dark brown, or a bit greyish looks good on mercs too, maybe you could give a shot

[Simon]

Hey

I brigtened this guy up. And recoloured him. Although I made it too bright blue and it looked sickley, so I desaturated the image in photoshop. (I'll do it in Lw next time.)

Its got some big splotch marks where I'm currenntly painting so ignore those! :p

http://www.machinestudios.co.uk/hosted/Demo/mechwip11.jpg

[chris89]

that seems to be allot better :)
i like the feet btw

[Simon]

You liked those feet? How about now!!

http://www.machinestudios.co.uk/hosted/Demo/mechwip12.jpg

So much to do So much to do!

[chris89]

sweet! its getting better and better :D
i still think the guns should be different on both sides, but thats just personal

[SpiralFace]

I think the large middle armor veign that goes from the targeting aray up to the cockpit is WAY too uniformaly scratched up. Its makeing it look like they are seperate pannels which they are'nt, and its more scratched up there then anywhere else on the model. The feet should probably be that scratched up and the middle veign should be at about the same level of scraches then the rest of the torso. Try to make it more random though.

[Simon]

http://www.machinestudios.co.uk/hosted/Demo/mechwip13.jpg

Ok just a quick update. Im going to fix that main hull shadow slayer. I think your right. I'm unsure why I did it in the first place!

Problem is I'm getting badley limited by my ram at the moment..

-Si

[kirigoi]

Looking really nice, I love the detailing on the feet now...

Just one crit, the cockpit at the top looks seriously cool, but isn't really to scale with Mechwarrior Mechs; that would barely be big enough for the pilot to stick his head in, right? Or are you going for some kinda super-mech?

[SpiralFace]

Looking really nice, I love the detailing on the feet now...

Just one crit, the cockpit at the top looks seriously cool, but isn't really to scale with Mechwarrior Mechs; that would barely be big enough for the pilot to stick his head in, right? Or are you going for some kinda super-mech?

Although I do agree that it might be able to be slightly bulked up a bit (Check the armorcast Model how it bulges at the top to see what he's saying.) I think that the overall scale of it is perfectly fine.

One needs to only look at a carseat and the size of an average sedan car to realy get an Idea of what a cockpits size should be. Things to take in when you look at a car, is how much window is shown for how much a human is actualy siting down in the car to get an idea of how much dept a driver needs compared to veiwing space and to keep in mind that even your smallest car is fit for two, so cleave the profile in half to just fit the driver and you got the size down.

The cockpit does'nt have to be completly seperated from the body to have it look right, as the Mad Dog (As well as many frontline Clan Designs) Does'nt have a seperated head structure meant to house the whole human body, so its ok for the pilot's body to be going into the upper torso of the mech.

The only reason I say you can afford to bulk it up on the top is for the armor and electronics that whould be in the cock pit with the pilot. But this is simply something that you should do if you feel twards the end that it needs to be done, to make it look right, as the Cockpit is meant to be cramped.

[kirigoi]

I see what you're saying ShadowSlayer, but it still looks to me like there's two teeny tiny little seats in that cockpit, meaning that it should be the same length (and half the width) of a car cockpit, whereas it's only a few feet long at most at Mechwarrior scales (~30-40ft tall)...

This picture (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/10/Battletech_cover_legendofthejadephoenix.jpg) of a Timberwolf shows a similar cockpit, and at much larger scale than 99sproth's (and to seat only one).

That was my only problem with Mechwarrior mechs... They should be giant Evangelion-style stomping beasts hundreds of feet tall... ;) I'm gonna get lynched by Battlemech fans now, aren't I?

Anyway, it's still a bad-ass looking model...

[SpiralFace]

That was my only problem with Mechwarrior mechs... They should be giant Evangelion-style stomping beasts hundreds of feet tall... ;) I'm gonna get lynched by Battlemech fans now, aren't I?


I think thats why fans of the Battletech series like the designs, becuase they are'nt as extreame as their Japanese cousins. They are a practical size for what they are, Walking Tanks, and there is no "ultimate" mech made of super rare metal weilding lazer swords that are synonimis with many of the Japanese Mecha series. Or something that is the size of an entire small town like in Evangelion. :rolleyes:

Its a much more practical science fiction series out there, as its very well fleshed out to not only the point that all the technology is explained, but everything is rooted as much in reality as possible. With the exeption of there hyperspace Jumping, but I'm willing to forgive them for that becuase of their explanations of why they need it, and the limitations they put on it. And I encorage anyone out there to give the novels a try as many of them are realy great, although I whould sugest starting with "The Blood of Kerensky" Trilogy.

Battletech is a series for Sci fi fans that want to see a universe at work with war, politics, and character development above all... But with mechs in it. Something that is very hard to find in contemporary sci-fi OR mecha series.

I will be the first one to say that if you want extreame mechs doing backflips, flying through space dealing out a world full of whop ass, it is probably best to look elsewhere, and I'm sure you will need to spend little time finding them in the many series from our freinds in the land of the riseing sun.

[Wintermute]

Looking great Simon! sooo much better than what I managed to build 10 years ago! The Vulture/Mad Dog I have attached here was poorly lit and poorly textured (procedurals except for logos and markings!) Of course this was something like my 2nd model -ever

Keep it up! :beer:

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.