'56 Chevy Nomad Transformer

#1

Update (August 20):

Updating from my cell (phone, not prison):
Color Render

OK, here’s my current 3 month project. I really liked the Transformers film, and I knew I had to make my own photoreal Michael Bay-esque transformer. I figured I’d pick a car with personality and voila, I picked a Nomad. That’s the thing I didn’t like about the movie, they had so many commercial shots, with the camera constantly tracking on the Chevrolet logo. It was like a car show. So I picked an oldie, and I’m going with it:

I did a concept sketch for the alternate mode, again it borrows heavily from the Bay designs.

I’ll start modeling this week. This one’s gonna be a bear alright.

#2

A closer look at the head:

#3

Looks great. Nice car! Can`t wait to see the model… I saw the movie yesterday at the cinema and i was blown away it was fantastic…

#4

that chevy looks like fat lady transformer:applause:

#5

amazing concept and what an idea huh. cant wait to see results from it =) ill keep my eye on this one

#6

First modeling update. Okay, I’ve got a reference model of the car, I’m starting with the engine, and I’ve chosen to begin with the air cleaner. It’s pretty low on the poly count side, coming in at about 4000. That X-shaped mesh is taking up a lot of polys. Keep in mind an air cleaner is about the size of a pie plate. Imagine the size of a fully transformed robot, and it might clue you in to the potential size and poly count of the finished product, and the detail level I’m going for. I think I’m starting to understand why it took 38 hours to render one frame for the movie.

Thanks for all the support guys. I’m just as excited as you are to see this thing finished. But it may be a while.

#7

looking great! just seems to me u might get in trouble with a poly count that high. defently want to see more!

#8

Hey all, the feedback’s been awesome so far. Misael, these polys are going to kill my computer eventually so I might as well enjoy them while I can. I’m keeping it relatively low poly where I can. I don’t plan on smoothing any portions of the engine. So far that wire mesh has more geometry than the rest of the engine combined. Ultimately all the detail will be in the texturing (which is in an extremely early stage) and bump mapping.

#9

wow…cool ^^

#10

If that gauze mesh is taking up so many polies id suggest using mapping alpha/bump instead because even up close it doesnt look that great, i think its because of the chrome - dont think itd make much difference and ud save a lot of polies…

#11

Well it continues. After studying the engine I’ve decided that the head will require a redesign being that the majority of the skull is inside of the engine. I want to incorporate piping and engine parts into the face. Hopefully I’ll finish the engine tomorrow. I need to get back to my Strange Behaviour Entry.

Scot, yeah I tried achieving the gauze effect with textures first, but it was actually rendering longer than straight up geometry. At least with the current setup you can see through the gauze and get a glimpse of the rotating fan blades. That and the occlusion pass shows up better with actual geometry in there. Good suggestion though.

#12

OK, the base engine is done. Bear in mind there will be LOTS of cabling, wiring and plugs going on which will help liven it up a bit. I had the chance to see some classic car engines, in the frame, this week and realized that I’ll need to use LOTS of rust and a lot of layered texture to make this look realistic. I’m considering going with the seafoam blue pearl body color. Fire engine red doesn’t hold up well to age.

Question: Does anyone know of a good shader tutorial to achieve that “speckled” body paint look?

#13

may i just say it looks simply amazing? its great! just wondering…how ur gonna animate with it? isnt that gonna be very very hard?

please keep it comming im hooked on this one.

#14

Thanks again Misael. It’s coming together exactly as I have planned. [Emoticon: Mr.Burns “Excellent”]
Here’s the head redesign. I’ve thought up a pretty useful way to have the head transform and it will be inside of the engine block. After seeing the movie I realized that Michael Bay loves to randomly rotate innerds, and the ILM models are VERY kinetic, with LOTS of little pieces always moving. I’ll have to teach myself how to get simultaneous movement using a script.

#15

Here’s a slightly more pissed off version of Nomad. The character should reflect this type of demeanor.

#16

Hi man!

wow! with your new updates this thread is start to be very interesting :thumbsup:

head disaine looks awesome i like pissed off version:twisted: looks cool!

i wanna see bigger images from that engine and also would be nice to see clay or just screencaptures from viewport:) ooh… and wire would be nice also

#17

woooooooow nice, amazing work, super head :thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

#18

Hey guys. I’m happy you like the new design. I had to draw thinking how it would transform out of the engine block. That’s something I didn’t get much from the movie: the heads are giant masses of steel somehow concealed in the belly of the car. As soon as I start modeling the face, and have a general feel for the geometry, I’ll do an animation to clue you in on where I’m going with it.

#19

cant wait to see it

#20

Thanks M. Here are the clay and wire shots.

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