HARDCORE MODELING!: 80's Cartoon: Macross Valkyrie

[MistaFraggadeliX]

Here's a picture from a Dutch model-kit site, with a really good looking model of a VF-25.

http://albums.modelbrouwers.nl/coppermine/albums/userpics/11516/DSC01130.JPG

Thanks to poster Wolfe177 of www.modelbrouwers.nl (http://www.modelbrouwers.nl)

[MarioGuillermo]

Great choice man, the Valkyrie variable fighter has always been my favorite mecha design. In the mid-90's I did a transforming VF-1S with the old 3D Studio release 4. Those were the days. Look forward to seeing were you take this. Good luck!

[MistaFraggadeliX]

Ok, so I've been reading up a bit on Robotech, and it's pretty complex... Turns out I want to model the VF1-S type Valkyrie, in 'Gerwalk' mode. Probably without the 'Space-booster' pack it has on it's back in the drawing.

The Photograph of the model-kit is a VF25-J from another series of Robotech...

Also orthographic views of the gerwalk Valkyrie a pretty hard to find, so I've been modelling the surrounding in stead for now...

I've actually ordered a model kit, 'cause these things are just too sweet. :D
You gotta love this Interweb-thingy, back in the actual 80's I had to cycle three to four towns, just to hunt for a model kit... (and I never did find a Valkyrie) and it also helps that I have a bit more disposable income than when I was eleven.

[MistaFraggadeliX]

So, I finally got something to show for, it aint much but you gotta start somewhere, right.
I've got a wing and a piece of fuselage. These things are just horribly intricate and I take my hat off to all the animators that drew these things by hand in the early 80s...

http://www.kumquat.nl/download/extra/cgSociety/wingWIP.jpg

http://www.kumquat.nl/download/extra/cgSociety/fuselageWIP.jpg

[FICTIS]

Keep it up! It looks good so far, I can't wait to see a Valkyrie in full 3D!

[TheRazorsEdge]

Nice choice and good progress! WIP progression shots like the ones you are posting are always appreciated. :)

Cheers!

[MistaFraggadeliX]

Here are some some more WIP pictures. NURBS were converted to polys and a lot of vertex pulling was done. Some detailing hes been done.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_efGzwIxKFyo/SctSkTghr8I/AAAAAAAAAFU/2ypqUoJ9wsI/canopy-wip.jpg
Here's some close-ups of the canopy...

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_efGzwIxKFyo/SctSk12kUVI/AAAAAAAAAFc/isFZRf6m03U/nosecone-wip.jpg
And here's the nosecone. I've booleaned out the hole for the canopy and have coaxed the vetexes around the hole to line up with the actual canopy. The back of the nosecone has been cut and morphed to line up with the fuselage.

I have taken the day off work to get some real work done today... I'll be posting more later today...

[MistaFraggadeliX]

I'm working in Autodesk Maya 2008. My system is a MacBook 17" (first gen.) with 2Gig's of RAM.

Copyrights belong to Harmony Gold USA and Tatsunoko.... i guess
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmony_Gold_USA)

[MistaFraggadeliX]

Got the better part of the fuselage done today. It needs a bit more detailing but i'll add that later on. I'll leave it at this for now and continue on to the main air-intakes and arms.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_efGzwIxKFyo/ScvSeV9BhmI/AAAAAAAAAGA/pMW5cp0boQ4/s576/WIP-fuselage.jpg
Building the fuselage consisted of extruding edges and getting them to line up with the ortho's. I only have a top, bottom and sideview, but no front. So it took a bit of educated guesswork.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_efGzwIxKFyo/ScvSeIj8sUI/AAAAAAAAAF4/BZHoFVeYmJA/fuselage-top-front.jpg


http://lh3.ggpht.com/_efGzwIxKFyo/ScvSeORbVeI/AAAAAAAAAFw/MOgwTwv6pbc/fuselage-bottom-front.jpg

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_efGzwIxKFyo/ScvSWqGIk-I/AAAAAAAAAFo/iSZTHa0iQ7I/fuselage-front.jpg

[lucycat]

Looks like you got a great start, looking forward to seeing your progress.

[the-woz]

Hi, first post here.

I've done a VF-1S and have many reference images, you got a good start, as long as you don't want make it transformable.

The nose cone and frontal fuselage is more triangular:

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/5185/front.gif

And here is a CAD drawing showing the interior, landing gear, etc (It's a VF-1A variant, but the only difference is the head/laser turret):

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/5081/side.gif

And here you can find the instruction sheets and decals for the plastic models:

http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/models/hasegawa/hasegawa.htm

And here you can see detailed pictures of the finished plastic models, very helpful:

http://www.macrossworld.com/macross/magazines/_magazines_hobbyjapan2001-2003.htm

Browse that site, there is a lot more info in there.

[MistaFraggadeliX]

Wow, thanks Woz. These are amazing. I already had a pretty good side, bottom and top, but these will be very helpfull indeed.

I intend to make hins thing transformable, but for this competition i'm just going for a cool pose in Gerwalk mode.

I'm curious as to how your Valkyrie turned out.

[the-woz]

Hi, for you model to be transformable, you'll have to make the nosecone, cockpit, front fuselage and rear fuselage separate objects.

Here's a render of my old VF-1S model, it's made on Truespace, and at the time of this render I didn't had enough machine for a better quality render.


http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/6333/vf101.th.jpg (http://img16.imageshack.us/my.php?image=vf101.jpg)

[MistaFraggadeliX]

Wow Woz,
That's one slick looking Valkyrie... I hope I can get mine to look as good as that :applause:
And thanks again for the ortho's. Especially that transparent sideview was helpfull.

Here's some more updates. I've been working on the legs/engines. I got wrapped up in the details i put the paneling and landing-lights on the top in stead of the bottom... I fixed it already though with a little cutting, pasting and re-aligning.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_efGzwIxKFyo/SdIRxZd2SEI/AAAAAAAAAGs/XJwWUWzfaYw/s640/Leg-WIP.jpg

I've also started cutting up the fuselage to get the thing fully transformable..

[MistaFraggadeliX]

Another WIP-shot. I've been looking at some movies on youTube where guys show how to transform the Valkyrie and I've got a pretty good grasp on how the whole thing really works... I just hope I'm done modeling by next week.... time flies...

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_efGzwIxKFyo/Sd5U18fqIiI/AAAAAAAAAHM/zQ7nA7soVOc/s512/wip-fuselage.jpg

[MistaFraggadeliX]

And here's what i've got so far...

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_efGzwIxKFyo/Sd5XAhmSq-I/AAAAAAAAAHU/S2vK3HOw2kw/s800/work-so-far.jpg

[FICTIS]

Lookin' good!

Hope you have time too, you did a very good model so far!

[theKid123]

looks great ...
hope to see it transform too ...

[T0BER]

I adore Macross Valkyries, modelled one myself many years ago (still in my avatar too) - if there's one thing I remember it's that it took alot longer than I thought it would to complete, especially the texturing. It's kinda like having to make 2 models instead of one where as I thought i would only have to make one model to get two forms. :argh:

I have several VF-1 toys and kits, they all transform slightly differently but the basic principle is the same as far as the layout of parts. The key differences are the leg swingbar and the heatshield (often a separate piece). I would advise looking at the Yamato 1/48 as it probably has the best solutions. I can scan some reference images of how the designer envisioned the VF-1 to transform if you like... it uses a swinging mechanism unlike any of the toys or kits have tho.

It's looking good so far. :beer:

[TheRazorsEdge]

Sweet progress here!

I cant help but think what a great idea it was for those guys to turn the way-cool Tomcat design into a futuristic spacefighter/transformer.

Anyways, I hope you'll have enough time to finish and am keeping my fingers crossed.

Cheers!

[the-woz]

Nice progress there!

I see you're going for the toy look. Good decision, that way it will look good in both fighter and battroid mode.

[MistaFraggadeliX]

Dispite (or rather because of) the long easter-weekend I didn't find any time to make any real progress on my model. However I did some more work yesterday-night and early this morning... I have to put some more detail on the booster-thingy that folds out of the fuselage's back and I still have the arms to do... :hmm:

However, as a fighter it's starting to look pretty complete.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_efGzwIxKFyo/SeXHjbFv53I/AAAAAAAAAH0/WrP4J0Swp1g/s912/fighter-mode.jpg

and here's the wireframe:

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_efGzwIxKFyo/SeXHjX-WFyI/AAAAAAAAAH8/bsTnJNBrGrE/s912/fighter-mode-wire.jpg
http://picasaweb.google.nl/lh/photo/rQEDSNQziM0z-kGrFRQo1w?feat=directlink

[MistaFraggadeliX]

I also did a quick and dirty Gerwalk-pose (without the arms, that is). No rigging involved yet, just a bit of parenting and rotating stuff :p

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_efGzwIxKFyo/SeXHjTGZSgI/AAAAAAAAAIE/0dlJ-uACp6w/gerwalk-pose-1.jpg

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_efGzwIxKFyo/SeXHjgv8bgI/AAAAAAAAAIM/x5z5yCoVc_Y/s720/gerwalk-pose-2.jpg

[FICTIS]

Great progress, it's a shame you wheren't able to make it to the deadline. I hope you will finish it, can't wait to see the final model!

[MistaFraggadeliX]

Here's a rendering of the Valkyrie in fighter-mode. The backdrop, flares and afterburners were added in Photoshop. Background Artwork by Robert Hurt. NASA/JPL/Caltech.

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_efGzwIxKFyo/SebexMiNwZI/AAAAAAAAAIU/OMQRz34aZC0/s800/FinalRender-Fighter.jpg

[MistaFraggadeliX]

Well, it's far from complete but this will be my last post before friday. The arms are quite done yet. and the hands are really just placeholders. I know some of you were wondering, but i'm definately gonna continue working on this model to have it completely modelled, textured and rigged to transform into all 3 modes and have walkcycles on both battroid and gerwalk. I'll also put in a landing gear for the fighter mode.

But for now: Here's the gerwalk

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_efGzwIxKFyo/SeeLhkiUeTI/AAAAAAAAAIc/oOZ28-quKeo/s912/FinalRender-Gerwalk.jpg

[Nikolay116]

Hello,

I admire your work and wondring how many polys does it have?

[theKid123]

good job..
too bad you weren't able to finish to whole thing before deadline ... hope you will continue to finish it and texture it after the contest is over ...

[MistaFraggadeliX]

Thanks everyone for cheering me on. :bounce:

I'll definately keep working on this thing. I'm gonna redo the hands to make them fully articulated and rig the whole thing to be fully transfomable into all 3 modes.

If I stll feel as ambitious when I'm done with all that, then I'm also gonna try and build a low-poly mesh and use this one as a basis for a normal-map and put the whole thing in a game-engine (I'm thinking Torque) so everyone can walk/fly around with this thing.

By the way: Where would one move his forum-thread if he continues to work on it after the challenge is over?

[Nikolay116]

You have experience with Torque? Otherwise maybe you could help me, if you make low poly model with normal map. I am working on macross game for some time myself, and did a coupel of models. We could exchange models if you want to http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=73&t=753593

BTW, nu woon ik in Delft!

[MistaFraggadeliX]

Cool, nog iemand vanuit Nederland ;)

But I'll keep the rest of my reply in English, so others can follow what's going on...
I saw some of the transform-movies you made and they looked very good (although some movements looked a bit too hasty, but with a little re-timing they would look truly awesome).

As far as my knowledge of Torque goes: sorry I have none whatsoever, I only stumbled upon it googling for a free/cheap game engine with Mac-compatibility that supports normal-mapping. So I'm no help there.

When i'm done with the Valk I'm happy to share it with you to put into the game, as you seem to have quite some stuff put together already....

Given time and opportunity i'd like to be able to maybe contibute some more models.

...and how did you end up from Russia in Holland? Just curious:cool:

[Nikolay116]

although some movements looked a bit too hasty, but with a little re-timing they would look truly awesome.


Thank you. It was just a quick render to attract interest towards the project. I started recently introducing transformation into the game.


As far as my knowledge of Torque goes: sorry I have none whatsoever, I only stumbled upon it googling for a free/cheap game engine with Mac-compatibility that supports normal-mapping. So I'm no help there.

From what I heard Torque is rather bad egnine, even though it is commercial. I would recomend either Blender Game Engine or Panda3D. They are both free, based on Python, work on Mac. It means you don't have to compile them, since Python is a scripting language.


When i'm done with the Valk I'm happy to share it with you to put into the game, as you seem to have quite some stuff put together already....

Given time and opportunity i'd like to be able to maybe contibute some more models.


There is no hurry, if you can finish at least one good quality low poly model in 1-6 months - that will be enough.


Cool, nog iemand vanuit Nederland ;)
...and how did you end up from Russia in Holland? Just curious:cool:

I am just a PhD student here

P.S. seems like mods deleted my original thread, so keep in touch. I am not gonna garbage this theard, since it is yours. Just in case my email seminnikolay + gmail, in youtube I am Nikolay116. Wish you good luck with your work and stay motivated.

[Lapis]

Hey nice Valkyrie, umm I made my own VF-1A last year and I'm thinking of remaking it this year. I have a question to ask. It looks like with some of your geometry you are like using another object to cut into the plane to make those dents. Just wondering what you are using to do that cause it'll be really usefual for me when I remake mine.

Thanks Hope to see it textured

[MistaFraggadeliX]

Hi There Lapis,

Thanks, Your Valk looks pretty great too. Funny: I've made a relatively hiPoly mesh and i'm going to remake it into a lowPoly mesh for use in a game-engine. You seem to be going at it the other way around. ;)

Anyway, I made the panellines by cutting the polys along the lines showed in my ortho's. Then I selected th newly created lines and beveled them. (effectively making them into double lines.) Then I selected the newly created quads and tri's and extruded them inwards and Tadaaa....

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_efGzwIxKFyo/SdIRxZd2SEI/AAAAAAAAAGs/XJwWUWzfaYw/s576/Leg-WIP.jpg

It can get pretty tedious, but the results are pretty good, I think. (But if anyone has a smarter process, i'm all ears)

[WyattHarris]

It can get pretty tedious, but the results are pretty good, I think. (But if anyone has a smarter process, i'm all ears)
That's a pretty solid way to do it. Using image maps is always an option but if you can afford the poly count it's usually going to look better.

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