chillyche

Thanks, man. I'm pretty proud of how those came out. If I could just muster the dedication to throw some wrinkles and details on that suit, that'd be finished. Anyway, right now I'm rebooting the female body base mesh. Checked out your gallery. There's some cool stuff in there. I've only messed around with poser a few times, so I'm not really sure what the workflow is. Besides modelers, we're still looking for texture artists, concept artists, storyboard artists, as well as some web folks (I put all the eggs into the Mercury's Word website basket, and have been ignoring the macrossaria.com site), and some additional writers for Mercury's Word content.

What is the poly count of that bad boy?

Okay, after a long hiatus of real life stuff, I'm back, and I'm back in 3ds max. I'm doing the 9-5 thing until August (well, 10-7 really, with that stupid 45 minute commute on either end), so it won't be the crazy hours of on-the-set life, but more like a normal working stiff. In addition, my girlfriend is out of town all summer, which means I'm gonna have to do something with my free time, and why not freaking get back to work on this thing. Aztek and Doc G and Rod and Dan and DatterBoy have been posting again, and these guys are like the heroes of Macross Modeling to me (all we need is JayLew to show up), so I'm inspired to get back on my game. The goal is to revise our protagonist, Alex Yokohama in the next few days, and present her, alongside her beau, Rafe Townsend. Meanwhile, I'd like to make another recruitment request. The Macross Aria team is awesome, but from time to time one of us falls off the map to move, get a new job, get married, get deployed, get our stuff stolen, you name it... so I welcome fresh talent, fresh faces, and people with varying skill sets. Come on over and join the party!

Aw man, this is looking sweet. I forget, are you using Maya or Max or something else?

So far, the first three comments here are by three of the heaviest hitters in the macross fan-modeling world, imo.

Biting somebody's steez is the sincerest form of flattery...? Says the guy doing an animated fan film... ha ha ha, oh man. At least credit goes where it's due.

Listen, I think I speak for all of us when I say that there just isn't enough data on the Edible Valkyrie for us to judge any inaccuracies. Heck, we're not even sure if it has a TV or DYRL style cockpit! Your wife is awesome, dude.

The VF-1BD variant.

So, we're getting ready to do another issue of Mercury's Word, to provide more back story for Macross Aria, and expand this often unexplored time in the Macross universe. Since it's been a while since the last release, I thought I'd bump the thread, remind everybody of the site (http://mercurysword.macrossaria.com), and most of all, invite people to participate. We're looking for a few more writers to help flesh out this particular issue. Mercury's Word is a fictional, in-universe publication tailored for the crew of the ARMD-08 "Pegasus" during its assignment as part of the newly formed Eden Colony Fleet (SCG-004). Essentially, MW (coincidence?) is an aggregated news source, pulling relevant articles from other publications and journalistic sources, so while some articles are written by MW staffers, others are taken from Amalgamated Press, Popular OverTechnology, Deculture! Daily, Eden Times, etc. Of importance to pilots and other crew of the Pegasus are stories about UN Spacy, Culture, and Science/Technology. Pop culture is huge, although, out on the frontier, it's possible that some are exploring alternative and more underground forms of music. It's only been a few years since the armistice, and human and zentraedi alike are learning much about each other, about protoculture, and about the mysteries of the galaxy, so there's something exciting a new in the science/technology news just about every day. Having just settled Eden, there are still many ecological and biological surveys under way. Meanwhile, short range scouts, and the first long range colony ship, the Megaroad-01 are discovering new wonders across the galaxy. Finally, though SW1 has been over for nearly five years, the UN Spacy is still engaged in operations around Earth and Eden and in other, less known locales. New hardware is being introduced, and old technology phased out. If anybody is interested in writing some articles to be included in this issue of Mercury's Word, or any future issues, let me know, and I'll tell you what we're looking for (there are a few specific articles we'd like to see, and room for things we haven't thought of yet) and we can get to work!

Don't need the final effect too quickly. But I do need sort of a test shot pretty soon. I can provide a simple background shot, and you (and anybody else who'd like to give it a shot) can just make a single bug. I can do the compositing. Heck, I could even render it if you save the bug as an fbx file.

AWESOME.

Oh man. That's wack. As a filmmaker, I'm not as anti copyright as people might expect, though I do believe the old modality of intellectual property needs an extreme makeover. But what I do think is stupid, is Bandai pulling down a one minute thirty second video. In no way is posting that content hurting their sales. If they were selling a one minute and thirty second video and you posted the entirety of that, then that would be one thing. Except that the audio is your remix. Sort of a collage art. It's mashup, although I don't think you could get away with that argument in court, since the point of a fan-dub is to stay true to the original intent, rather than to alter it. Still, it's just general dickishness that pulls clips down from youtube. Entire episodes I understand (though don't necessarily agree with), but a clip is just stupid. Heck, seeing cool clips online HELPS generate buzz and potential sales. Interestingly, a few years ago, BAEN Books decided on a radically different strategy to counter pirating. They decided to release some of their stuff, really whatever they felt like, for free, digitally. They made the excellent point that people have been LENDING each other stuff for years. Libraries lend out media. I think it's a little different with books, because they are better consumed (so far) in paper form, so people will still want to buy and read books (or get them from the library) and they have a duration, a shelf-life. Whereas TV series, well, maybe 10 out of a 100 are the kinda thing that people will look back on and want to see again and again. The rest, if they're lucky, will get some netflix views. Still, I think that Bandai could learn a thing or two. Beating up on its fan-base is a straight bully move, and letting Hik leave that clip on his site doesn't cost them anything in future sales, and potentially GAINS them fans. It's just a blind policy bust.

Okay, so, right off the bat, I apologize for making a completely non-macross related post. But, hear me out, and it might make some sense... As some of you know, I make my living as a camera assistant on independent features (with the occasional commercial, music video, short, or editing gig on the side). Recently I've been segueing into shooting, and this summer I'm DPing a short film that has need of some VFX. The deal is this: on set, I meet a lot of production people, crew people, but not so many post folks. But here on Macross World, I've seen an incredible pool of talent, from professionals and hobbyists and passionate amateurs and everything in between. The film I'm working on has a ridiculously small budget (I was told to cut my very modest lighting request IN HALF), but it's about dreams and reality fusing, so it has need of some visual effects. A lot of it we're doing in a more old-fashioned in-camera trickery kinda way, but there's a sequence which the only reasonable way to accomplish it -- on a budget -- is to use CGI. It goes like this. A woman kneeling on the floor is swarmed with insects. What? Not valks? No, not valks, not destroids, not even TV helmets or variant paint schemes. Nothing Macross-ish at all. But again, this community is home to some fantastic artists. I'm basically asking if anybody would like to take a SHOT at this. Maybe even whip up a spec model? I can't promise any pay (I'm not a producer, but I'm fighting for this, versus animatronics or stop motion which I think will cost more in the long run and be less likely to look good on this kinda budget). What I can promise, if I can convince the producer and director to go along with this, is a credit. It's a kind of a joke in the indie scene (no pay, but great crew, a credit, and a copy of the film when it's done!) but that's the deal now. For those of you that do in-game models, this is well below your pay grade. WELL below it. I reduced my own DP rate by a third so we could hire a key grip with a shred of experience. And my AC will be working for free, as a resume building. But for anybody who just wants to pitch in and make something fun, flex their CGI muscle at all, this might be for you. I'm posting it here in fan works, versus one of the other sections, because you guys are the MWers that I know and know what you're capable of. If that's over-stepping the line, then I apologize, and we can move this post elsewhere. If you're interested at all, send me a PM, or heck, just respond here. Whatever. Thanks everybody.

You guys are wicked fast with your modeling. Really impressive. I like the cockpit a lot. I'm sure somebody is going to mention that the dials and readouts are not canon for the Block-6 cockpit layout. Personally, I don't mind that much, although I did notice it immediately. I don't think it's going to hurt your storytelling at all, just might ruffle some feathers. Still, keep it up... Any chance we'll see something having to do with the storyline soon? Even just a hint?

Totally. Take the serious computer plunge. Using suped up gear makes all the difference. This past fall I finally upgraded from 4gb ram to 8gb. I moved to a 64 bit OS and upgraded all my productivity software. It's great. Although I'm still getting crashes here and there. Far fewer though. Totally. Take the serious computer plunge. Using suped up gear makes all the difference. This past fall I finally upgraded from 4gb ram to 8gb. I moved to a 64 bit OS and upgraded all my productivity software. It's great. Although I'm still getting crashes here and there. Far fewer though.

Two more weeks on set, then I've got a post prod gig at MTV. Last time I did that, we finished the first edition of Mercury's Word...

I talked to Ren a while ago. Gotsomething else on deck. Don't know the status of this.

I have lots of questions, by the way: Poly count on that VF-27? How is it rigged? Did you do the rigging, or was that part of the commission? The VF-1 I rigged was done very early in my rigging "career" and if I had it to do over (I do) I would do it very differently. I'm curious about doing more IK/FK blends, or even designing some motions in MotionBuilder, so I can also use that FBIK that for some reason Maya can do, but Max doesn't really do. My animation presets that I created were pretty sloppy, since some of the stuff is turning on and off keyframes for constraints and limits on rotation or preferred angles. Particularly any switch from Gerwalk to Battroid or back involves the knees totally changing their preferred angle and their limits. Maybe the key is simply a blend system that uses one set of bones for the Battroid mode, and another for the Gerwalk mode?

I will totally release any model I make for Aria to the repository (perhaps with some constraints). I love crowd-sourcing and open-source art and media projects, so long as the original authors get credit for their work. For people who are just dabbling, then they might be inspired to try their hand at something. For instance, in Aria, one day I decided I needed shell casings for the GU-11. It took me about a minute to model something that matched the line art. It's kind of a lame contribution, but ordnance is easier to model than a fully rigged transformable valk, or something organic like a human pilot. There's always a place for contributions of many kinds. If I REALLY wanted to get my hands on that VF-27 model, but knew I didn't have the skill to make it myself, I might be pushed to try to at least model a FAST Pack or something. It'd be worth it to learn, if I could then download and play with somebody else's more advanced model. Also, that model looks great for it's complexity level. I expected the wireframe to be twice as dense, based on the renders. Are you using a turbosmooth or meshsmooth modifier on it? What cel shader do you plan on using. Currently I actually own finalToon, which is mostly pretty great, but lacks a couple of features that Illustrate! has. Likewise, Illustrate lacks some of finalToon's functionality. There is a "personal edition" of cebas FinalRender r3 (which includes finalToon) for under $200 which is great, but it's already outdated, as there is a 3.5 out now. I haven't much played with Max's built-in Ink'n'Paint materials, because they were really slow when they were first introduced, so I've steered clear. However, my understanding is that they're pretty good now. Um, but the point is, we still haven't settled on an exact cel shading look for Aria yet, and I'm always interested in what other artists doing. Our trick will be finding something that works with our CGI characters, and feels like an entry in the Macross universe, but being the only fully CGI entity so far, it has room to establish its own aesthetic.

Ky_trails. 3GS max Macross modelers secret weapon 3ds! Stupid, autocorrect.

Hey folks. I've been on set this month so I've really slowed down on the modeling. This movie is bonkers, by the way, and weirdly enough, features aliens and music saving the day. That's all I can say, but it's VERY different from Macross (or RT for that matter). You've seen progress on the Rafe Townsend model and flightsuit. And the jumpsuit is probably half done. The wrinkles are really giving me some challenges,conceptually, but I just have to sit down on the weekend and figure it out. I'm really excited to rig this guy up.

What the?!!? What are you working on? That looks rad!

Yeah, for some reason the glass turns opaque at that point during the turn (which is looped which is why it happens every time). Im not sure if that's just a glitch or some sort of angle-based limitation. More testing is required. Next he goes into mudbox to get some wrinkles and folds in that suit. Then I have to figure out whether to then make a low poly scoot based on the folded high poly model or to just always use the high poly model with no turbosmooth modifier, or to use normal mapping (which won't cause any ink lines to be rendered but will allow for shadows). Any other modelers wanna weigh in? Are your models using smoothing modifiers at render time, or have you smoothed them in the sculpt?

Now with texture mapping! And something weird happening with the lines through the helmet (note the moments where it loses transparency). It also takes about seven times longer to render those lines through the glass, so, obviously I'm going to have to come up with a better solution.

The latest ship looks great. I just finished UVWs on the Rafe Townsend model, so I'll post that in Aria thread soon.