Thursday, April 26, 2012

The Mammoth has hands!

Mammoth Butt

Haaands!

He can now lift heavy objects

It's all about the perspective

Which arms will he use now?

and from the back

Mammoth butt with garage doors

The Mammoth now has a neck.
We have Megazord hands!!! whoo hoo! The little buggers took a bit longer to make than I thought they would, because they had to have opposable thumbs that look mechanical, but work like human hands, while still feeling like they belong to the Megazord and fitting inside the Mammoth.

After a bit of research ( the pictures of the life-sized Gundam in Japan helped a whole bunch) and trial and error, I am pleased with the results. I may still tweak them as I finish Megazord, but for all intensive purposes they are done. All that's left to do is the head/ shield, which should go a lot quicker than the hands.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Nearly completed Mammoth Dinozord model

Something seems to be missing

Holy butt, Batman!

The nearly completed Megazord arms

And from the back
And we have finally got the Mammoth nearly completed. All that's left is the Megazord hands and the Mammoth head plus a few minor details. I should be done with the model by tomorrow or Thursday, which means I will be able to get onto the Pterodactyl by the end of the week. Thankfully the Pterodactyl is the easiest one of the bunch since it only has five moving parts and doesn't need to transform into any complex robot part (unlike the first two models).

anywho check back tomorrow for the completed (or just shy of it) Mammoth.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Mastodon/ Mammoth Dinozord WIP begins

The Mammoth as Megazord arms

Front view of Rex sporting Mammoth arms

The beginning of the Mammoth Dinozord
After a few days of working out some kinks with redesigning the Zord to make it usable in both modes I have gotten going on the modeling. This one is easier than the Rex, but he has his own challenges to make up for it. I am pleased with how it's coming along, and expect to be finished with him pretty quickly. As with Rex this one has temporary textures until all modeling is finished.

Friday, April 13, 2012











It's done! It's done! It's FINALLY done! Now before you all get too excited, I'm talking about the modeling, not the rigging or texturing. I just did a quick test pose using constraints to make sure he worked right. Needless to say I am excited and very pleased with how well he's turning out.

I'm thinking that I'll model all the Zords before I tackle texturing and rigging just in case I have to make tweaks to the Rex, after all he is the center of the Megazord, so if he isn't working the whole thing will be off.

Oh, and if anyone knows where I can find an inexpensive, complete Dragonzord toy that's in decent condition, Please let me know; I will be starting in on Dragonzord here within a few months and would like to have it for reference purposes. I have found the toys to be great for helping me to figure out a couple of things while modeling that the pictures and video footage doesn't as well.

Anywho, expect the next update to be the beginning of the Mammoth/ Mastodon Zord.

Monday, April 9, 2012

T-Rex dinozord nearly complete

We have open vents...

...closing vents...

... and, of course, shut vents.

The arms look like the suit actor's costume...

...But move like a machine.

Rex is almost ready to rumble

"I will eat you!"

"Do I have squatter's rights?"

Just the tail and minor tweaks left to go.
Well, the model is almost finished. I only need to model the tail (the one pictured is just a stand-in) and tweak a couple of minor things (namely the horns). It was a little bit challenging figuring out how to give the arms the feel of the suit actor but actually make them work like they should (folding up for Megazord mode) I originally had modeled them like the toys showed, but with a few tweaks, but the didn't feel right. sure they worked perfectly but they felt like the toy, not the zord. I am very pleased with how it turned out.

I should be done modeling Rex within a couple of days. then it's off to rigging. and then the next one (Probably the mammoth/ mastodon).

Thursday, April 5, 2012

3d megazord WIP

Finished Megazord head with temporary textures
Finished Rex head with temporary textures




Finished lower legs
Nearly finished legs (front)
Nearly finished legs (back)

Hello All, I realized it's been a while since I've updated, so here are a few quick renders of what I've been working on. I am undertaking a bit of an interesting exercise: Taking the three models of the Power Rangers dinozords (suit, transforming model, and Megazord/ Daizyujin) into one useable cg model/ rig.

So far this has taken a lot of creative problem solving (especially since the legs have a different pivot for the hip with each of the three show models), and it's been challenging but extremely fun to tackle each problem as they come up.

I will be updating regularly from now on as I progress through the modeling, texturing and rigging. You can also find my work on my Deviant Art page .

Enjoy
-Stephen