Macross: Gamma Crisis

[Aurel Tristen]

I have been dreading posting this here for a long time. I'm not exactly sure why, but I get the feeling that with all the hardcore, and super leet hardcore Macross fans here, it might get quite the negative, or skeptical reaction. Despite this, I decided to post anyway. There is too much raw talent here to pass up.

Macross: Gamma crisis is a fan OVA based off of SDF Macross and Macross DYRL. It initially started out as my personal project to see what I could do outside the limitations of the SWF format. I wanted to be free of the file size limitation, and especially the content limitation. I couldn't make scenes as spectacular as I wanted to because the file size would go through the roof. After a little thinking, I concluded that this would be a great team project, and with other contributers, it could only get better. I recently launched a small webpage to cover the basics of the story, characters, and what positions where available. ( http://www.robotechflash.com/gamma ). So far, the reactions have been great. We have a little team going, and our voice actor cast is growing (with more than 8 applications for the lead role so far)

If you read through what I have there and think to yourself "wow, this idiot doesn't know poo about Macross," you can't fix a problem by complaining about it, join the team as a continuity writer! If you think my Valkyrie looks like crap, lets see what you got, join up as a 3D effects artist. What would it hurt? If the project fails, you're left with some great examples of your own work that you can see in context of other elements, such as CG backgrounds, music, and voice acting, but the only thing thats going to kill it is the 'it can't be done' attitude.

**Closes eyes and waits for death to rain from the sky**

[the white drew carey]

It's not that it sounds like a bad idea for a fan-based story, it's just that the name sounds pretty damned lame.

I'm not trying to offend you in any way here, but I'm assuming you came up with "Gamma Crisis" as a cool sounding name, and then wrapped the story around it (justifying it with the addition of the Gamma Reflex Warhead).

I don't know... Macross: Gamma Crisis sounds just as silly as Robotech: Shadow Chronicles. It reminds me of some of the silly names for things that I came up with... in 1984... When I was 9.

As of now, the only thing I have against your project is the name. I look forward to seeing how this will progress.

p.s.- Zentrodi... with an 'O'? Trying to avoid a lawsuit?

p.p.s.- If the noun is possessive and ends with an 'S', you must add an apostrophe, but omit the second 'S' (only in text, although it is pronounced the same). Macrosses should actually be Macross'.

Edited December 2, 2006 by the white drew carey

[the white drew carey]

p.p.p.s.- Chase Blacksmith? I also really loathe character names which are supposed to sound cool.

Want to make them realistic? Grab a phonebook, randomly turn to a page and lay your finger down. The closest full first name is what you use. Do it again for the last name.

Edited December 2, 2006 by the white drew carey

[akt_m]

I guess there are no limits for macromedia flash, i did once a small macross animation, can't upload now because i cracked my cpu core and it is impossible to find any AMD socket A to buy, now i'm using a old notebook thus i can't acess any files on my hd or dvd backup... What i did was instead of saving in .swf i just exported to .avi using divx or xvid. So if you draw all the frames and background on photoshop you can almost do anything you want. Anyway good luck with your project.

[Aurel Tristen]

Gamma rays are a form of electromagnetic radiation. Reflex weapons, witch are essentially nuclear weapons renamed because saying anything about nuclear or atomic weapons on national TV in Japan in 84 would have been a bad idea, normally generate massive amounts of gamma radiation. Changing the formula (don't take that word literally) can change the balance of radiations released by the reaction. This fictional gamma reflex weapon happens to produce many times more gamma radiation. If you can imagine what would happen if many of these weapons where used at once, or in close succession, you might end up with quite a bit of gamma radiation. Quite a crisis... a Gamma crisis. But hay, its a community project, if you can come up with a better name, I will be more than glad to use it!

I don't see whats wrong with Blacksmith, and I definitely don't want the names to be 'realistic.' The names are carefully picked to FIT the character. That name happens to be the name of a real person. I'm sure he would be delighted to know you think his name is cool.

And about flash, take a system with 1 GB of ram, load a 4+ minute animation with an explosion effect that is a 50 frame PNG sequence with Alpha transparency and watch as flash is brought to its keens, freezing for a good 10 seconds every time you click the mouse. Its impossible to work with if you want good effects. Sure you can export it to a reasonable quality AVI, but it also starts to crash and or create corrupt AVIs when you start exporting higher quality video, at higher resolutions and frame rates.

Zentrodi, Zentradi, Zjentohlauedy, Zentraedi... the point is still the same in the end. I started off with the o variation a long time ago, and kept with it because all my files used that spelling variation. I doubt that spelling will be seen in the final OVA, as some of the team members are Macross fans as well.

[the white drew carey]

Nanashi, I do know what Gamma radiation is...

Either or, from what I read of the story summary, it seems a major portion of the plot is the forces which are unhappy with the sudden embrace of the zentradi, not the Gamma Reflex (reaction) Weapon.

Yo8u may have a friend named Blacksmith, but that doesn't change the fact that it is not a very common surname nowadays (I was friends with a guy in high school named Chase Bentley... not that's hard to top), I think it just sounds a bit too contrived, like Rick Hunter or Jack Archer.

Oh well. I'll leave this project in your capable hands. Keep us updated.

[THOR]

bad thing about the gamma ray bombs is that they turn the enemy into an army of incerdible hulks!

sorry...

i gm'd palladium Robotech in college and used names of friends from my highschool so i could put a face to the npc's. who knew little jim yankee would be so cruel to the zentradi....

Edited December 4, 2006 by THOR

[Aurel Tristen]

LOL, I love the E=MC2 inspired poem in your sig Thor

[Aurel Tristen]

Well, the first video is out. I'm hoping someone here will say "thats crap, I can do better" because in that case, join up! The VA cast is almost full, we have 3 3D artists, 3 writers and are still looking for artists to draw and or animate the characters.

This video is available at Youtube, but the Stage 6 version is HIGHLY recommended over it. The Stage 6 version is the same resolution as the project (400 x 700) and is of good audio quality.

Stage 6 full quality

YouTube low quality version

[scott8539]

dude that blew me away!!you got skills.

[Aurel Tristen]

Just a little update here. This is a short video I put together just to show some of the new animation. Originally it was going to be a video for Craft Animation to show them how we have put there great plugins to use, but I didn't have enough missile footage finished yet. The two big scenes that I loved in this are the approach to Macross Island (note the addition of the ARMD ships already attached) and the shot of The Macross's modular transformation.

No high quality version of this one, sorry. If you haven't, watch the Stage 6 video posted above. And as always, still looking for new team members. 3D models, cell animation and sound engineers primarily.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NgdadjHgbc

[Mechmaster]

Looks like a fun project, I don't have time to become actively involved myself but I've recently made most of my Macross CG models available to the public domain following a request by another forum member.

They are all in Maxon's Cinema 4D format and of varying quality as I made them some years ago but if you can use any of them then feel free. The download page is here - http://www.mechmaster.co.uk/macross/macross-dl.html

Good luck with the project.

[Dante74]

Wow! Thanks Mechmaster! If you don't mind I'll download the models too.

I'm just getting into 3d modeling with 3DS and these would be great study objects. Do you know any way to convert them from c4d files to 3ds files?

[F-ZeroOne]

One question: whats the music you used in that clip?

[Aurel Tristen]

The music is by Immediate music, the song is the 60 second version of 'for which we stand'

Thanks Mechmaster, This will actually make things go a lot faster. I Didn't really want to make models of some of the Destroids, and I have been putting it off.

[TheLoneWolf]

Very nice visuals, especially with the fall of the ship, but there seem to be some unusual camera shots involving the SDF-1. Is this because the SDF-1 model isn't complete yet?

For a 1 minute clip, it's very impressive. If this project does take off please don't neglect story and character development in favor of flashy visuals. Good luck!

[Mechmaster]

Thanks Mechmaster, This will actually make things go a lot faster. I Didn't really want to make models of some of the Destroids, and I have been putting it off.

No problem, it will be good to see the models put to work rather than just having them sat around on my hard drive moaning about how long its been since they were last used.

Wow! Thanks Mechmaster! If you don't mind I'll download the models too.

I'm just getting into 3d modeling with 3DS and these would be great study objects. Do you know any way to convert them from c4d files to 3ds files?

Help yourself (see above comment)

As for converting the files, try the shareware version of quick3D from here - http://www.quick3d.org/index.html

If that doesn't do the trick you should try Googling "3d file converter" and see what it finds, I seem to recall that there were a couple of other freeware programs available for this sort of task.

[F-ZeroOne]

The music is by Immediate music, the song is the 60 second version of 'for which we stand'

Okay, thank you!

[Aurel Tristen]

No problem, it will be good to see the models put to work rather than just having them sat around on my hard drive moaning about how long its been since they were last used.

Help yourself (see above comment)

As for converting the files, try the shareware version of quick3D from here - http://www.quick3d.org/index.html

If that doesn't do the trick you should try Googling "3d file converter" and see what it finds, I seem to recall that there were a couple of other freeware programs available for this sort of task.

Looks like its going to be tough to convert. None of my conversion software can read it, and google turns up nothing (except more people looking to do the same).

Anyway, its probably better for me to re-do them. I need the practice, but ether way, I'd love to see some renders .

The SDF-1 model has been done for a year or so, but the story is not about it anymore. The only shots that it is included in are the flashback scenes showing what happened. The shot with the Macross in attack configuration flying toward Earth was done on my OLD computer when I was home for Christmas leave. At the time, my laptop had crashed, and It looked as though it wasn't going to recover so all I had to work with was my old models that where over a year old. I don't think it even had a texture. The second shot was just distant to show the whole scene. Coincidentally, I decided to work on the Macross yesterday while on CQ (A 24 hour guard shift kinda, so I had nothing better to do) and I made some major improvements. Now I'm glad I haven't done any close up shots because I would have to re-do them.

TheLoneWolf, we just got our first keyframe animator the other day (from this very forum actually) and the other team member who is doing concept images of the characters hasn't finished anything yet, so all the videos have is special effect shots done by myself. Soon I hope to include some of our talented voice actors (almost the whole cast is.. cased) but I don't want to do so until we have some animation to go with it. The other thing I want you guys to remember is that the primary purpose for this project is to serve as a collective demonstration of the teams skills to be used in portfolios and such. It only will showcase our work, but our ability to work and function in a team.

[scott8539]

Looks like its going to be tough to convert. None of my conversion software can read it, and google turns up nothing (except more people looking to do the same).

Anyway, its probably better for me to re-do them. I need the practice, but ether way, I'd love to see some renders .

The SDF-1 model has been done for a year or so, but the story is not about it anymore. The only shots that it is included in are the flashback scenes showing what happened. The shot with the Macross in attack configuration flying toward Earth was done on my OLD computer when I was home for Christmas leave. At the time, my laptop had crashed, and It looked as though it wasn't going to recover so all I had to work with was my old models that where over a year old. I don't think it even had a texture. The second shot was just distant to show the whole scene. Coincidentally, I decided to work on the Macross yesterday while on CQ (A 24 hour guard shift kinda, so I had nothing better to do) and I made some major improvements. Now I'm glad I haven't done any close up shots because I would have to re-do them.

TheLoneWolf, we just got our first keyframe animator the other day (from this very forum actually) and the other team member who is doing concept images of the characters hasn't finished anything yet, so all the videos have is special effect shots done by myself. Soon I hope to include some of our talented voice actors (almost the whole cast is.. cased) but I don't want to do so until we have some animation to go with it. The other thing I want you guys to remember is that the primary purpose for this project is to serve as a collective demonstration of the teams skills to be used in portfolios and such. It only will showcase our work, but our ability to work and function in a team.

if you want i can export the c4d to 3ds.you may lose some uv-maps.

Edited February 9, 2007 by scott8539

[Aurel Tristen]

if you want i can export the c4d to 3ds.you may lose some uv-maps.

Sure, give it a shot on one and we'll see if it works.

[scott8539]

got 3 going your way nanashi.

[Aurel Tristen]

Wow, Mechmaster, these models are mind blowing! It took me a good 15 minutes just to render one using advanced lighting!

For anyone else who is curious: