Tage

Thanks Sildani! That means a lot actually :-) Oh yeah sorry - I meant new client project pitches. I work at an advertising agency, and that's how we get new business. Basically a potential new client goes 'we need to sell more stuff' to a bunch of ad agencies, we go 'you can sell more stuff this way' and show them a bunch of work. Then you hope they find your way the best way and give you all their advertising work to do for the next few years or so. Normally you do about 3/4 of these pitches in a year, as it's pretty taxing on everyone. So 3 in a row within 2 months has been particularly erm... challenging...... This morning I was looking at my 1/60 red VF-19 Fire, VF-17S, blue VF-19S and looked at the gap next to them on my bookshelf and thought 'Soon...' :-)

Hey Chaps - yeah sorry, been rather busy with work since my last post. 3 pitches in a row means a lot of late nights and weekends, so often felt like the last thing i wanted to do was pop back on the computer when getting home at 2am to work on the VF-5000 haha. BUT! the end is in sight. and really there isn't that much left to work on him. Hoping to finish off the leg fast packs this weekend, then after that it's 'just' detailing with panel lines. My good friend has offered up his work's 3D printer for test printing, so i'll just have to buy the reels of material. Thinking of opting for a sort of wooden material actually, as it looks easy to manage post print... will be a nice experiment anyway. Then also have to order all the screws to size :-S So yeah - will give a proper update over the weekend. thanks for sticking around - sorry this really has been a long project. Although, already excited about my next project after this one (just have to get this one done first!!!)

Yeah, sadly not me. Love Experten's work though. Good to see how his VF-5000 is looking. Particularly the leg fast packs... I'm currently just finishing them up myself. I was thinking of a way of still having them without cutting even more away of the wing parts... Otherwise there'd be a huge gap between the legs/engines and wings when the fast pack isn't on – keen for it to look smart and tidy with and without fast packs. Looks like he's just cut a slot out of the leg fast pack so the wing parts rests in there. Doesn't look too bad actually. I'll post up more of an update where i'm at once i'm happy with this leg fast pack :-)

Thanks guys, glad you like it. Had a bit of a think on the arm and gunpod, i think pegs are the way to go as the previous indent was actually pretty deep when i measured it. This way is a little more hidden. So marked in red is where the pegs will go, and i've created seperate handle parts that'll also peg into the gunpod itself. So there is a plane and then a robot arrangement for the gunpod. For the plane arrangement, these plugs will help hold those arm parts nice and together in the middle (you're only seeing half of the plane in that second picture). And i was thinking about creating a seperate handle part for the gunpod anyway that'll have a ready made hand holding it, as creating a fully (even semi) functioning hand that articulates is going to be a bit tough due to it's size. So! Apart from putting anything else like pegs in to keep things together while in each mode (which i'll do at the very end), mechanically speaking in the basic sense – he's complete! Everything else is now finesse. haha Onwards and (sorta) upwards!

Sooo, finally got round to do the extra pointy ankle and wrist parts that will eventually end up yellow. I was going to start on the leg packs next, but thought since those, and any other additions or edits i have to make are just for style, and aren't mechanically important – I wanted to make sure he works properly turning into a bot. So after moving things piece by piece, editing as i went, i think i've gotten to a good place with him. Again, still a few things to edit stylistically, but mechanically, he's pretty much set now. I have a few concerns that i'm going to have to have a think about.... Firstly the arm... it just looks a bit too messy. Actually I did a quick fix as i was uploading these pics. That piece on the right side of the arm that i edited is actually really important to make the arm piece flush against the engine/leg while being a jet, and then turns and needs to allow the tail fin enough space to tuck inside the arm itself. Anyway, it looks a little fuller now... Secondly on the arm still that other cut (mini T shape) is actually how i was going to get the gunpod to fit under the jet... but i think it just makes his arm look super ugly. So i may have to abandon that thought... Maybe i should use some clip... I'll have a think Other stuff... Not too sure i'm happy about how i've done the ankle, particularly the part that is on top while being a jet, that becomes the back of his heel in bot mode. It looks a bit overly high/long. This is actually because the arms overall are a little thick and high, even comparing it to the line art. It's just so they have enough room and can fit all the very complex mechanical bits that extend the arm out. There is a bit of height i can cut away... but it won't be as drastic as it probably should be. I'll have to lower the heel of his foot too if i do that.... If i change one thing i have to change a dozen things! haha. Want to make sure the wings slide fully together when he's a bot. The nose ends up sitting a little low compared to the line art, (size matters guys. However, I want it to be a bit smaller, said no-one ever.... i'll stop there i think) but that's as high up as it can go as the top of it butts up against the head/neck section. Not too sure how to change that without some sort of changeable nose part... again, needs some more thought, and my 11:40pm brain isn't up to the task currently. Still need to edit the head to be the right version As a nice surprise, the rather bulbous canopy actually has enough clearance for the heat shield to slide over, which was my main worry. But i still will make the canopy to be less round for sure. And i need to edit the mechanics of the heat shield just a tad more. And there's so many more little things.... I've still got a way to go before i'm happy with it though. So all in all, it's been a good last week or so. But yeah, finding it interesting the few mechanical vs. style choices i'm running into. I'll just have to do my best to make the best compromises throughout. 'Compromises' makes it sound like i'm giving in... maybe 'design choices' is the better wording, haha. Also only now just starting to get worried about how much sanding this bad boy is gonna need once he's in reality! haha! Cheers guys, chat soon.

Oh ok cool, i see. Yeah that's super smart. I'm always zooming way in, trying to find the centre of the point i want to rotate from, and even with revealing all edges or whatever it is called that the 'k' shortcut does, it often ends up just getting a bit too busy looking to find exactly what i want. And wow yeah those feet look great. I'd love to see him kick a VF-25, or grab one like an eagle would heh. Nice.

Wow yeah this is really really amazing mate. Bloody great work. With your 3D model and those arrows that point out the articulation, are they there for you to quickly locate the area to then use the rotate tool if you want to rotate it? or is there another use for them? Asking for my project as i've just been clicking the rotate tool, finding the middle of the joint i want to rotate it, and turning it to make sure i've got enough clearance etc... just wondering if there is a better/quicker way of doing it. Plus your colours make it look fancy. :-)

Ah ok, random it would do that. i'll keep an eye out for premature ungrouping of stuff. Man this stuff is haaarrrddd. thanks for your help. Not far to go now though! :-)

So there are meant to be some leg fast packs, but they are fairly flush to the leg itself... sorta like the VF/YF-19 leg packs. Nothing really stands out about them, but i'll do them for sure. I'm still figuring out the best non-destructive way to attached all these so they can come off and be put back on. There's an easy permanent solution of glue or screws, but to make it a bit more toy like would be nice. And yeah hah, he is a chunky little monkey. Ah thanks Xigfrid! Yeah i ended up exploding each object, then re-grouping it. Did find it funny that it was happening on some objects and not others, then when you mentioned about the axis change thing, i realised that's probably what i did on those particular objects. I'll try to remember to re-explode an object after i'm done fiddling with it if i change the axis on it. I had forgotten that groups can be a bit of a pain sometimes. One other odd bug i'm running into often that's slowing me down is that it seems like SketchUp likes to simplify my edges sometimes... I thought it was because i was working to a small scale as i know it doesn't like that so much. So as part of me re-exploding everything i made everything about 100 times bigger, so technically i'm working on about a 1/1 scale now (lol) But anyway i'm finding it is still trying to do the same thing... I notice it especially when i actually copy and paste a section of a part to work on in its own space just so it's a bit easier, then when i come to bring it back to where it's meant to be, (like snapping it back to a corner) there's sometimes like a hairline crack where the edges don't meet up... And it's not until i really zoom in that i notice it as it's so so small. Is there a setting i'm missing that tries to simplify my geometry or something? I'm at work at the moment so will put a couple photos up tonight to try and show what i'm on about a bit clearer. But yeah, it's just a pain to do an edge 2-3 times over to match up. And now i've scaled up i've noticed that some of the parts i've fixed in the past have gone back to having a hair line crack. So my clean up stage before i hit print is going to be HEAPS of fun. Thanks dudes.

Hey guys, happy new year and all that. Made heaps of progress, fast pack and connector done, and also a bunch of hands! Peace! I do keep running into this error though that is slowing me down a bit... because SketchUp isn't great at making small things, i've been upscaling certain parts as i work on them in more detail. When i go to save, it creates all these errors across the part i'd been working on. It happens even if i scale it back down to its original size. Not too sure what to do next... as this will really slow me down when i come to add the panel lines and more detail. I'll post it up on a SketchUp forum to see if anyone else knows what's causing it. Any of you guys know what it could be? Edit - It seems to be an error when i scale a grouped object, rather than scale the mesh itself... So it's sort of solved, just a few extra steps to get things working. In other news i think i was a bit too excited before when i said i'd be printing by new years haha. Hope the images display right too. Getting used to this new layout. Cheers

Oh yeah, thanks Xigfrid. Yeah, i hope i can make the canopy a tiny bit slicker looking than it now is, like a happy medium. I was tired from work yesterday and rushed it a bit. Also now i'm worried about the heat-shield clearance that comes from the chest. Like everything on this bot - change one thing and it impacts the rest of it! Oh and i think i know what you mean about the nose actually... it's almost a bit too duck bill like huh? Even though i'm starting to believe it was inspired bit one, even down to the 2 points sticking up where the canopy starts. It is quite a complex curve going from the middle to top or bottom, a long but cut off S shape - sort of. So i may have over done it a tad on the initial angle coming from the middle. Tell you what i should do actually, once i get everything to a 'working' stage... I should take some screenshots matching the angles of the line art and reference i have, put them side by side so then we all can look at it and have an over all shape check. I know i'd find that super helpful as you guys will spot things i've missed through just looking at it way too long.

Thanks dudes! Oh! good question, sorry – i have mentioned that a couple times and not really explained what i meant huh? Firstly – just visually. It's pretty obvious when something is over lapping as you can just see another part digging into another part. I'm using Sketchup to do this, and it shows black lines for edges, so where i see an edge/line disappearing, I know something ain't working. For a super obvious example, I have semi fixed the canopy, so here's a bit of before and after. Before: See how that HUD part i made last round is coming into my nice glass blue canopy? Yuck. I knew i'd have to raise the height of the canopy eventually as it was a bit too slick looking for the VF-5000 anyway. Soooo..... After: Raising the canopy up has fixed the issue, but i've probably gone a bit far... as the whole thing looks a little too bulbous now. But hey, you get the idea – no more rouge edges from that HUD part cutting into the canopy (quick note - ignore the funny looking different colour polygons on where the canopy meets the cockpit, they are basically where 2 flat surfaces are touching, and because they aren't super super exactly the same, the software has a bit of a hissy fit, it's nothing major though) Then sometimes i like to just zoom into a part and see how far something is straying in to then measure how much i need to bring it back. So the next thing i'm going to do is sort out how far in the wings are going into the legs. This shot is half way into the outer edge of a leg part looking inside, with a wider shot for context of where i'm talking about. See that wing part digging in? Egh. Then the other way i check, is basically just selecting the part that's going to move at it's rotation point and just rotate it in the direction it's going to move – and then some. And again, you can just see if something is bumping into another part while you do that. You can probably see the parts where things rotate in some previous screen grabs - they are basically anywhere you see a small circle on a surface. That's where the screws will eventually go. There's actually only like 2-3 parts that actually slide - everything on this just rotates really. Also Sketch-up does have some animating features... but i think they are a bit rough to use. I'll be honest and say i probably haven't researched it enough to definitively say either way. But my character 'rigging' setup so far is just grouping sections with subgroups upon subgroups - that should make sense when I start showing pics of the thing transforming finally sorry. And because he's quite a complex beast, i'm not too sure i'll be animating anything - Printing this guy is going to be difficult enough! haha. I'll see once i'm done though. Oh and finally i'll be up to about 80 or so parts once i'm done. Thanks guys - any other questions do please ask. I think it helps me get round to fixing things quicker too haha.

Hey guys, just a quick update. Still just going along the whole model, making sure it has no overlaps and making things a bit neater here and there – i swear i've had to redo the arms about 5 times chopping bits off here and there – as making one change means it impact on all the other arm parts! The main parts that are left to do and are hard to see on screenshots are where the wings hit the legs, and where the body meet the arms. Been working a little bit on the cockpit too for a bit of detail. So technically all that's left to do apart from cleaning things up, are making the pilot, seat, canopy (as it still is a bit too sleek looking), a few hands (fingers won't move sorry, but there will be a few poses i'm hoping to get done) a quick semi-redo of the head. I also want to make a few little pegs and holes to help things clip into place to keep things sturdy in both modes. Also have to measure the screw length for all the joints but that shouldn't take too long at all. So all in all i'm hoping with a couple more days off work coming up and then the holidays, i should be hitting print around new years. :-) cheers

Bit of an update, fancied doing something a little different so started and finished the Gunpod. Even figured out how to make thing back part slide out super basically. More next week!

Hey man! Thanks for the advice, yeah i think i need to look at that, especially along the main body. It does have some serious curves along some parts at the moment, like the nose. But I keep forgetting to hide the dark edge lines before i take screen shots of my progress. So i think that's also possibly what's giving that slightly blocky look at the moment. Ah yeah, what i've possibly done too is mistake that hinge part that connects that stabiliser for another.. as there about 3 parts all the same shape, but slightly different sizes from the model i'm basing this off, and the instructions are a bit confusing as to which hinge bit should be used where. And they're in Japanese hah.

Oh! Yeah if you mean those bits – they are just the pivots for the back wing parts (stabilisers/stabilizers). They look a little massive at the moment so will dial them back a bit - may even have a think about creating more of a sliding mechanism so those wing parts a bit more flush to the engine block, then slide out and around to form part of his arm. :-)

Are you referring to the part that is a flat looking rectangle on the bottom right side of the second image? If so, that has 2 functions. Firstly it's there so that it fills the gap that would be there between the 2 engine blocks. Sorta like how the arms look on the VF-1 while in plane mode. Secondly once he's a robot, it'll actually swing up to form the under part of the forearm. That's the plan anyway, of course it could go horribly wrong and turn out i've created a 3rd leg by accident or something :-D

Hey guys! Ok update time! Been working away on the arm section. It's been pretty complicated as there's LOADS of little joints and parts interacting, swinging about doing crazy things. Almost there – i've still got to tidy up quite a bit of it, but at this stage is starts to give a really good indication of the overall shape. Again, still a lot to do as too many parts are not close enough or overlapping too far over. So yeah, i'm still on track for my own personal deadline for a year i reckon (May). Plus i have a few days off work coming up, so planning on using those to work away on this thing. IMAGES: Also thanks for you support too, even you – crazy Russian spam bot. Does that mean we've made the big leagues of forum posts? And yeah that's great reference for the pilot!! thanks dude. You ok with all the earth quakes going on down in NZ? I have a lot of friends and family around there and all of them luckily seem to be ok. Next stage is basically tidying up the arm more, adding a bit of detail on the shoulders as they have a few more pointy bits that get split out into sections. Then i'll be making that whole leg and arm section connect properly to the body section (as there's about a 1mm gap) and then after that i'll be making sure everything transforms correctly - expect robot pics then! cheers dudes.

Hey Mate, yeah sorry for total lack of updates. A mix of having a lot of work on and discovering The Witcher 3 (great game) has slowed me down a bit haha. I'm about a 1/3 way through the arm part now though. So should be able to show something off soon (ish) :-)

Yup, mine's shipped from Play-Asia. It is meant to arrive the day before i fly out on holiday for 5 days... i hope it arrives before i fly out! i may get stung with customs fees though which will delay it :-S

Ah bugger, ok. Thanks for the heads up. :-)

Yup, i just changed my psn account stuff... seemed easy enough. Set up a Japanese PSN on the pc, took my memory card out, formatted/de-registered and 'restored' the vita, signed in with the japanese PSN, put in my new card (read 'old' - it's my 4GB card that originally came with my vita) formatted that and i'm good to go (I hope). Anyone know how i can try to find if they have the old Macross psp games on the japanese ps store? Keen to see how much they are. :-) But oh! remember to back up your Cards just in case something happens with them. Have a google for 'Sony Content Manager Assistant' and follow what that says to do.

Ah great thanks. Even having a quick look, i really like the look of the ASF-X Shinden II "Kei Nagase Color" Maybe i should finish a few other projects first hah. But yeah, it's a shame they don't sell the stands on their own. They look good. Thanks again, keep up the good work.

Yeah wow those are great. Quick question actually - what are those clear stands you've used for them? i'd love to grab a few for myself. They look great and looks like you can get some great climbing shots of the jets :-)

Oh wow yeah those cylinders on the arms and legs look great! Nice work Xigfrid!