CGTalk - Battletech Clan Omnimech Madcat/Timberwolf

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ThreedyModeler

08-01-2009, 05:23 PM

It's been a while since I've done a personal 3D project, so my friends and I decided to have a little modeling challenge, inspired by a particular papercraft model (http://www.nebulastation.net/timby.php) that popped up on the internet, as well as the announcement of a new official Mechwarrior game (http://pc.ign.com/dor/objects/18954/mech-warrior-project/videos/mechwarrior_trl_phoenix_70709.html).

So, we're all building the Clan Omnimech Madcat/Timberwolf, which has always been one of my favorites, along with the Marauder and Vulture. We have no real set limit on polycount, textures, etc. But I've decided to shoot for the 50k range, including cockpit. Which I figure is still reasonable for a high-end game engine, with games like Project Gotham 3 pushing 100k for a single car.

Our goal is to have them done by the end of September, including texturing. No animations necessary, although I will likely do at least a test animation once it's finished.

Here's my progress after the first two sessions, about six hours of actual modeling.
http://www.malomations.com/taber/cgtalk/madcat/wip_03.jpg

And here's my current progress, probably a total of 12 hours so far.
http://www.malomations.com/taber/cgtalk/madcat/wip_04.jpg

And here's a wireframe.
http://www.malomations.com/taber/cgtalk/madcat/wip_04_wire.jpg

Current polycount is sitting right around 24,000 ... and I still have a lot left to do, especially in the feet, backside, and detailing the cockpit.

Thanks in advance for your crits and comments.

noaah

08-01-2009, 09:06 PM

Lookin good! Seems a bit high poly though.

ThreedyModeler

08-02-2009, 03:20 PM

Yeah, I agree, this would be a pretty heavy model for realtime, but I kind of wanted to work at a resolution a little higher than I'm used to (characters in the 1k - 10k range.) Plus, with games like Uncharted with main characters pushing 20k-30k, I figured a Mech could be a little more, since all of its animations would be simple translations, rather than vertex deformation as in an organic character. I think that's why Project Gotham 3 gets away with upwards of 100k models... just wheel spin and body roll to animate.

In any case, I'm trying to stay under my budget (hence why I posted here)... and if it still seems too heavy, I'll likely make a low-poly version of it anyway and just bake out the details to a normal map or texture. But if you guys feel like this thread would be better off in the 3D Stills WIP forum, I can have a mod move the thread.

Thanks!

ThreedyModeler

08-08-2009, 04:31 AM

A little update. It ended up being a pretty busy week at work so tonight was my first chance to work on it. Polycount is at 26,669 at the moment. Still a lot of detailing to do. Will probably leave a good bit of it for the texture, though.

http://www.malomations.com/taber/cgtalk/madcat/wip_05.jpg

gsokol

08-08-2009, 05:08 AM

I think if you leave a lot of the details to texturing, your model will look inconsistent. You area already heading towards high poly, so all the plates and minor details should be modeled out, imo.

Keep going though, I like the progress!

ThreedyModeler

08-10-2009, 04:06 AM

Small update. Didn't get much more time to work on it this weekend ... only a couple of hours.

http://www.malomations.com/taber/cgtalk/madcat/wip_06.jpg

ThreedyModeler

08-14-2009, 04:23 AM

Another couple hours work. Focused on the legs, as well as trying to make the joints work realistically. I've come to the conclusion that this mech as designed can't really work. LOL... so many things bash into each other as soon as you start moving it around... and it's almost exactly built off the schematics. Oh well, I'll figure it out!

http://www.malomations.com/taber/cgtalk/madcat/wip_07.jpg

SpiralFace

08-14-2009, 07:11 PM

Looks pretty good so far.

The feet look really flat. Many of the clan mech's that have the bird feet have "talon" like pads on their feet, so the last toe makes the rest of the foot "hover" a bit above the ground for extra traction. The feet as they are now look very flat.

Overall its looking pretty good so far.

Personally, I kinda preferred the bulked up Cats from the later Microsoft versions of the game. As the original design always struck me as pretty "spindly" for a mech that was at the top of the Heavy Chassis class.

Keep it up.

ThreedyModeler

08-16-2009, 07:06 AM

@SpiralFace: Yeah, I agree... I'm not happy with the feet yet either. I'll probably end up redesigning them before I call it done. I really want them to have that "gripping power", since I'll probably do a beauty render with one of the feet resting atop some rubble or a defeated mech... and I want to toes to look like they are grasping it for stability.

As for the bulkiness, I always liked the MadCats for how relatively agile they were for such a large mech. I guess I'm trying to push that even farther with my interpretation of it, giving it design cues that might make it seem more nimble and graceful when I animate it. It's probably going to look a lot more fluid than anything you've seen before from a 75 ton mech. :D

Anyways, here's my next set of progress. Probably spent about 3 or 4 hours on it tonight.

http://www.malomations.com/taber/cgtalk/madcat/wip_08.jpg

And since I took the time to go back and properly model the arms so that they could be rigged, I couldn't help but do a quick pose with her! ;)

http://www.malomations.com/taber/cgtalk/madcat/timbyPose01.jpg

SpiralFace

08-17-2009, 06:34 PM

Ok, now that it is starting to get posed up I feel like I can comment on a part I omited from my other post because of the WIP status of the model as a whole.

The center torso is looking very bare bones compared to everything else. It is missing some of the Key characteristic's of the main mad cat. Mainly Under slung Machine guns that protrude under the cockpit, as well as the Side mounted pods for its Medium Pulse lasers.

Even if your going with an custom variant of the Omni, the basic archetecture for the mech would still be in place with just the weapons missing and holes patched up with armor.

And speaking of variants, I'm not sure if your trying to go with a cutomized load out variant, or stick to Battletech's main "Primary" config of the machine, but if you are going to go with the primary config, there are some little things that should be added to the machine.

Mainly, an extra row of Missiles to bring the LRM's up to LRM 20's, the ER medium lasers underslung against the large lazers in the arm pods, as well as the details that I mentioned above.

Overall though the mech is coming out really good. Keep it up.

ThreedyModeler

08-18-2009, 02:23 AM

Don't worry, I was gonna get to all those details you mentioned :) From the schematics (http://ppc.warhawkenterprises.com/intshots/timbspecsheet.jpg) I'm modeling from, I'm definitely building a variant, not the primary configuration.. although it's close. Thanks for your eye for details. Sounds like you're pretty familiar with Battletech, so keep the feedback coming! I definitely want to stay on track! :wavey:

ThreedyModeler

08-19-2009, 03:25 AM

Small update. Got the lasers added, along with the beginnings of some detail on the torso chassis. Also started hashing out some other designs for the feet/toes. Still not happy with it, but they seem better than the originals. Plenty more to do... :wip:

http://www.malomations.com/taber/cgtalk/madcat/wip_09.jpg

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