'56 Chevy Nomad Transformer

#71

Kam-art:
The speech test animation was pure Maya Software. No mental ray, no occlusion. Just a cheap, quick render, and that mat is meant to emulate a car body speckle… but if you look really close, you’ll realize that they’re hardly circular. I need to go to a car show and get some references before I finalize the materials.

STANER:
Yeah, I’m just animating under the theory that there’s also some magnetic kinematics going on. If it gets to the point where it’s getting really implausible looking I’ll re-rig it with some kind of connecting geometry.

Snowcat:
Thanks bud. I’ll try and get it done ASAP.

LittleBeru:
Yeah, I considered placing the hand somewhere else, but the idea I’ve always had is to have him transform in a push-up pose. Movie Ratchet kind of does that. I’ll probably put some Vector constraints on his bones and make his elbows push out a bit more to the sides.

#72

Yeah, about the animation, I looked into it, and it’s just too linear right now, but it can be fixed quite easily. You’ll probably notice it when you’ll finish the arms.

And keep up the good work. I’m trully amazed by what you’ve done here. You might want to submit that to ILM before they gear up the production on Transformers 2! :wink:

#73 
   I was thinking the same thing when i saw transformers movie...but yeah if it looks cool then why bother your self with technical stuff:)
   
   i just dont get it! why this thread don't have *****yet???  peapole who have voted this thread less than 5 stars will regret later! and they will ask themselves? why i didnt gave 5...heh:)

i think they should allow to chance your vote…because many threads gets better and better:scream:

#74

i think they didnt gave it a 5 star cuz this treat is atleast a 7 star if u ask me ;p

#75

Small update.

Yeah, I’ve been swamped with work, but still manage to work a couple hours a week on Nomad, mostly weekends. I’ve rigged his upper body, essentially finalizing placement of everything that will be blue. I’m needing to “invent” lots of mechanical parts just to fill this guy out, but oh well, that’s how it goes. They’re probably won’t be an animation update for a couple weeks while I finalize all the guts.

-Brian

#76

Allright, I’ve continued modeling the interior. The base of the dashboard and steering wheel are done. I’ll model the Steering wheel attachment next along with all the buttons on the dash.

-Brian

#77

What intrigues me about this is the concept of the Transformer. The car you chose is a classic model, and I really like how you took it upon yourself to make the actual Autobot replicate that “old timer” feel. It’s such a solid design. I really love the look of him having a buldging belly, and the detail in the face mimics that of an older man. Really solid stuff, man, and the model and rig looks awesome. I cannot wait til the final piece. I hope you carry the concept all the way over to 3D.

#78

Thanks Shuggs. I’m definitely trying to give him personality and an Ernie Borgnine-esque character.

Here’s an animation update:
Nomad: Arms, Legs, Rig, Guns, animation test

P.S. It’s got lots of problems right now (mostly rig popping and speed issues). View it in High Quality.

#79

i agree, i like the looks of your transformer. i Hope that i can get my to look as solid as yours is. any tips on designing the head?

#80

Hey Jay, I’ve seen yours and the Saturn looks sweet. When I went about designing the head I kind of studied the concept art for the film. Initial head designs were very ninja or samurai inspired. The heads themselves looked like masks. As the film concepts plugged along it became pretty obvious that they wanted to make the good guy’s faces more human or mammal like. (Iron hide totally has a cow face). Just look for something in the automotive anatomy that might humanize your dude. The Chevy’s oil drip pan just works perfectly as a beard.

#81

Alright, I’ve started shader work and lighting setups for Nomad. There’s very limited painted texturing going on right now. I’m considering a couple different color options that I’ll render and have people pick as the best color option. Also there is a new grill (which when animated looks very cool, all Driven Key).

It has issues right now with this hyper reflective Blinn. It looks like a couple of the leg parts have shifted slightly and the gaps are obvious. I’ll try and find a way to fix that without pulling and snapping points, but I’m running low on time.

This week I’m working on color, simple texturing, and I intend to finish modeling chrome accents and glass frames.

#82

Update:
Shader, Color option test:

#83

blue is really the collor u used during to whole project…kinda belongs to it. but i really like the red also…no matter which u use it will be amazing =)

#84

Hi there.
I must say that i like all 3 different tipes of color options but i think u should stick with the blue one which u started with.The model is amazing and so is the transformation.I realy can’t w8 for next update.:bounce:

#85

Blue. I have yet to see a Transformer owning that color. It’s a brilliant-type of blue and I think it fits the personality type of the character more. That and I’ve enjoyed seeing the color on him throughout the updates. Stick with blue. :slight_smile:

#86

SantoAnderson - just checking on your stuffs outside of the dsf - omg your model renders are sweet man! - and the tranformation animations on youtube look amazing!!

far out this is gonna look awesome - great stuff :slight_smile:

#87

Thanks Embryotic,
Yeah, I need to get back on this project. I’m in the middle of changing apartments, and when I start in on this project I am a hermit for days. I guess the final color will have two options: blue and white, or blue and wood paneling. There will be an update in two weeks.

#88

Yo Santo, the Nomad is really looking amazing! How did you do the sectioning of the body panels if I can ask? Like do you have a flush solid piece and a bunch of sectioned pieces that you go back and forth and key the visibility on? Or do you just have the idividual pieces so flush you can’t see any seams? Sorry if it’s a dumb question, just really had me wondering haha. Thanks.

#89

this looks absoulutly amazing !!!How the hell do you model that…omg lol :scream:

#90

Crap, I totally spaced the update. The last render job was too much for my MAC, so I’m moving everything over to the PC.

Ngan: The sectioning has the simplest explanation. I built the car panel and split the pieces manually. I extract the pieces, and then re-combine the meshes without merging edges. Extrude the combined mesh, and re-separate the pieces. It’s like clockwork. Though you need to save an unanimated version of those pieces, hidden somewhere, because all these constraints will easily ruin it’s initial frozen position if something decides to screw up. The divisions happen thanks to a combination of basic keyframing, multi parent constraints, and driven keys, all of which are attached to a basic skeleton.

Wilexx: Lots of patience and no social life. :wink:

I just need to get this bizness finished so I can go on to other projects. I’m so close, and my machine dies… crap…