Steampunk Myths and Legends Entry: Brad Autry

#1

Brad Autry is entered in the “Steampunk Myths and Legends” update: View Challenge Page

Latest Update: Work In Progress: First of many adversities

#2

My camera is currently broken so here’s a written concept until either i get the camera fixed or a little 3d mock up created.

For those unfamiliar with Daedalus, he was said to be the key inventor for King Minos and also was the father of Icarus. Among the inventions he was said to create you’ll find the essentials for carpentry (Axe, Saw etc. . .), plumbing, the minotaur’s Labyrinth and the Wings that Icarus used in his attempt to escape. (probably Daedalus’s worst invention as Icarus plummeted to his death) Though it is said that his apprentice (also his nephew) contributed in most of his inventions, his workshop had to be astounding to witness. Especially since his nephew is said to have invented a way to transport a soul into a machine.

Now imagine the workshop if you will. An ancient Greek architecture with majestic arches, columns and brickwork. A recession in the center of a large rectangular room, perhaps a domed side room with alchemy tests, ocular skylights to illuminate the workshop by day and grand candle holders for the late night hours. Bookshelves full of personal journals and trinkets. bits of incomplete and failed adventures spread around. His current main focus would be the manufactured wings for his son’s escape. An innovative adventure into the creation of steam power with crude and elaborate gears, florescent gasses illuminating glass tubes and piping. Shiny brass polished for aesthetic confidence and brilliance in simplistic design.

Daedalus the Steam work Inventor.

Inventions I plan to Steam Punkifize:
-Saw
-Axe
-Plumbing Display
-Labyrinth Model
-Minotaur
-Tools
-Goggles
-Time pieces
-Advanced Axles
-Armour
-Projectile weapons
-Flame Throwing Device
-many others. . .

Many of these items wont be too hard to conceive due to the excessive amount of references already punked out, might take some ideas from Gnome Accessories in certain movies and games. All in all this will be fun and very very challenging coming up with bobbles and accents to make everything look functional, necessary and Steamlike.

Will have the concept up soon I promise.

#3

Spent today inbetween naps working on the start of my Icarus Wings. Just playing around with ideas and setups. The right combination of gauges, gears and cylinders is actually quite hard to make look functional. And this is sort of the direction I started.

#4

And here’s where I’ve gotten to up to now.

What you’re looking at is the beginning of the center of the wings. the part that will be on Icarus’s Back. on the left, the Left Wing turbine powering the wing in a Train wheel motion. Center would be the steam powerplant and then a heatsink type barrier to protect Icarus from the heat of the steam creation.

#5

So in the mean time while i get my camera working, here’s a few really horrid 3d mock ups so you guys have some idea visually where Im headed.

This one is the basic set up that the workshop will be.

#6

I went ahead and did some rough blocking to show somewhat what the wings are going to resemble. once again i’ll get my actual drawings up at a later point.

#7

Further work done. added Joints (though unhappy with the connections) blocked wings and the first of the wing powering mechanisms. Also some cushions. More to come later today.

#8

Further advanced the modeling of the wings. Accents that i will put on at a later time will give it a sharper and more rigid appearance. The mesh on the back end of the joints are supposed to be very thin almost transparent cloth that keeps the wind pressures different on each side of the wings. Gears will accent the back end of the wings and create an actual steamwork feel to the machine.

#9

Submit entry button isnt working atm and wanted to get this posted before heading to work.

Played with shaders a bit, duplicated some geometry just to break up the open spaces. and detailed the cloth up a bit. When i get home I’ll work on the far end of the wing’s base mesh and create new geometry for the wings.

#10

I only had a little bit of time today so decided to spend that time tweaking the material of the wings. Still need to play a little bit with the specular but for most part that’s the material the base will be.

It’s not a project that Daedalus would have been able to commission brand new materials for so i want it to look like he has to piece things together off old failures.

After staring at this image for a while, I’ve decided that Im going to change outer wing part to scale vertically both up and down and feed to a 3rd wing section. If it’s going to be the center piece of the final image, It’s going to have to be grand and lavish.

#11

Did some more playing with the room to get a better idea how the room will look.

Daedalus would have been a very clever man with many many experiments in even more crafts, so naturally he would have built a worktable to adhere to that fashion. A Giant circular table would allow him the most workspace with the least amount of traveling from one end to another. For his larger experiments (such as his son’s wings) turntables would have been very useful. Why build one when u can have three at triple the cost.

Entrance into his work area is adjacent to the entrance to the forging area (inside the depression to the right) since he would often need new metal bits and trinkets he would rather have less walking distance from the work area to the forge than when walking inside the room.

The recesses that are visible in the back work as both storage for books, tidbits, sketches and smaller inventions also serve as support columns for the Domed ceiling. In addition to being one of the earlier domed roofs in history, it also took in another advancement. It’s Oculus recesses nearly the height of the dome to provide a more pronounced and focused light to the Work area creating a spot light effect.

#12

I envisioned Daedalus as being a heavier set man, but with signs of fatigue, malnutrition and just a general sad feeling towards life. Here’s a current sculpt of him in the early stages. Just getting the foundation set for his details.

#13

been putting in 15 hour days at work over the weekend so havent been able to work on this any, but as I was sitting here sculpting in Zbrush I just thought of an idea. Not really a legend, but a movie is a myth. Steam Punked out scene from “Krull.” Perhaps a scene where Krull (I think the hero’s name is Krull), the shapeshifter (in the form of the tiger), the cyclops and the princess are walking out of the fortress. Sorry sleep deprivated ideas are fun. I think mostly I was just thinking how cool his shuriken could be if it were steam powered.

#14

Finally an update. Lots to say. Many hours + Computer meltdown = restart. So in the updates to come you may see a few repeated updates, it’s just because I lost all my files in a Hard Drive loss. :frowning:

Anyways enough of the excuses, on to the update!

So when recreating the room set up, I’ve decided upon a few things. I’ll start with the lowest part of the floor. I found some images of the Temple of Herakles and absolutely fell in love with the floor there so I used its design for the bottom floor. The step will be redesigned to be of matching lavishness. Hopefully I’ll come up with a design that I’m happy about for the “top” floor as the rock tile isn’t impressing me at all.

The walls base texture is a work in progress and will most likely change, but I’m pleased with the wall accents that were inspired by a building on broadway in New York.

The Arched Shelving area’s will still receive a lavish overhaul as I’ve barely started the scene fillers. The dragon’s head and the shield will remain, but the minotaur heads will be gone except for the one beneath the shield.

The table:

The leftside platform will be designed as the concept area, filled with drawing and sculpting trinkets. The middle platform will be the primary construction area (where the wings will be housed), and the right side will be the intricate construction area (where engine parts etc. . . will be found). In the forge area, I will add a water trough, smith tools, weapons, armor and other little trinkets hanging from the ceiling.

Undecided yet if I want a grand wooden door in the doorway or if it will be a curtain (as King Minos probably wouldn’t want Daedalus to be able to lock him out of the room.

But all in all I’ve restarted and back on track. C&C appreciated.

#15

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