Desparately needed pics of the VF-27

[Starscream]

Here's the deal. My cousin (who works for Activision, worked on CoD World at War among other things) has agreed to help me substantially on this endeavor since is 3D modelling experience BY FAR surpasses my own (recreational) experience.

I need as many different pics of the VF-27 Lucifer as possible. If anyone has line-art, PLEASE post. The more pics I can get off this thread, the better.

The end result will be high-res 3D Models of the VF-27 (which I will probably just make freely available on here for other fan artists to use). I'll be doing the colors on them... three separate models (Fighter, GERWALK, and BATTROID modes) for each color (unless we get ballsy enough to do transformation sequences). The three colors will be the salmon-red Brera type, the green mass-production version, and the black/dark-gray custom type that I did a repaint of in a thread a few weeks ago.

Also to follow will be the AIF-9V Ghost (Galaxy type), and possibly be the various VF-25 Messiah models (unless someone who has already made them wants to contribute).

Please, be as liberal with posting pics as possible. The more pics I can gather, the better. I've also managed to hand-draw what the Galaxy logo looks like and comparing it to the various times it's briefly seen in Frontier, it's pretty accurate, but haven't had a chance to put it into photoshop yet. If anyone has already done this (a cleaned-up Galaxy logo, or even just the NUNS logo), it'd also be GREATLY appreciated!

Thanks.

V/R

Chris

[Mr March]

My website has some material if it can help...

VF-27 Lucifer (on the Macross Mecha Manual)

Dalong.net also has some model kit pictures, including the manuals with many drawings. Should be useful in many ways

Dalong.net VF-27 Model Kit

Hope that is of some use.

Edited July 9, 2010 by Mr March

[danbickell]

Here's the deal. My cousin (who works for Activision, worked on CoD World at War among other things) has agreed to help me substantially on this endeavor since is 3D modelling experience BY FAR surpasses my own (recreational) experience.

What's your cousin's name? I was one of the art leads on CoD:WaW at Treyarch, so I should know him.

[Starscream]

What's your cousin's name? I was one of the art leads on CoD:WaW at Treyarch, so I should know him.

Jonathan Caso

[danbickell]

Jonathan Caso

Not familiar with him. I looked him up, and he was one of the testers from the basement at Activision. As a developer, we rarely had any interaction with those guys.

I take it he's trying to move up to a developer job as an artist? That's cool. I've often said that getting a job as a tester is one of the best ways to get your foot in the door in the industry. Good luck to him, and you, in your endeavors!

Edited July 10, 2010 by danbickell

[Ganbare]

@Starscream : I hope you can post it in here.

@danbickel : What happen to Infinity?

[danbickell]

@Starscream : I hope you can post it in here.

@danbickel : What happen to Infinity?

@Ganbare:

I left Treyarch last year, during pre-production for Call of Duty Black Ops, for personal reasons. It would be unprofessional of me to comment on the details, but there were similarities to what was going on at Infinity Ward. The difference is that I (a mere art lead) chose to walk away, rather than fight the power like Vince and Jason (co-founders of Infinity Ward) did, which eventually got them fired and prompted lawsuits.

There is a ton of public information about what went down at Infinity Ward. A good place to read up about it is here: http://kotaku.com/tag/callofdutylegalwarfare/

@Starscream:

Sorry about the thread drift! That certainly was not my intention. I don't have much as far as Macross Frontier books, and the VF-27 seems to be completely absent in what I do have. I'd be happy to give you feedback when you get your model going, though.

[Starscream]

It's all good man. It's gonna take a bit. IRL I'm Military (Air Force Aircrew) so I'm constantly on the go. This is something to be done in free time which for me is few and far between. So this isn't going to be up for a while.

[Ganbare]

@danbickle: I understand.

@Starscream : Sorry for hijacking your forum ^^; I'm diehard fan of COD series.

Edited July 11, 2010 by Ganbare

[Doktor Gonzo]

@Ganbare:

I left Treyarch last year, during pre-production for Call of Duty Black Ops, for personal reasons. It would be unprofessional of me to comment on the details, but there were similarities to what was going on at Infinity Ward. The difference is that I (a mere art lead) chose to walk away, rather than fight the power like Vince and Jason (co-founders of Infinity Ward) did, which eventually got them fired and prompted lawsuits.

There is a ton of public information about what went down at Infinity Ward. A good place to read up about it is here: http://kotaku.com/tag/callofdutylegalwarfare/

@Starscream:

Sorry about the thread drift! That certainly was not my intention. I don't have much as far as Macross Frontier books, and the VF-27 seems to be completely absent in what I do have. I'd be happy to give you feedback when you get your model going, though.

Hi Dan,

Since Starscream (whose work I'm looking forward to checking out) has magnanimously granted permission for a certain amount of thread drift between his posts, mind if I ask you what you've been working on since splitting from Treyarch?

[danbickell]

Hi Dan,

Since Starscream (whose work I'm looking forward to checking out) has magnanimously granted permission for a certain amount of thread drift between his posts, mind if I ask you what you've been working on since splitting from Treyarch?

I've been enjoying semi-retirement, finally finding time for all the projects left on the backburner over the years. I've been talking to a few studios, but I'm in no rush to go back to the grind.

Been working on a new VF-1 model, but I haven't got far beyond the cockpit yet, and no texture work yet. Here's a few progress renders of the geo:

[Starscream]

I've been enjoying semi-retirement, finally finding time for all the projects left on the backburner over the years. I've been talking to a few studios, but I'm in no rush to go back to the grind.

Been working on a new VF-1 model, but I haven't got far beyond the cockpit yet, and no texture work yet. Here's a few progress renders of the geo:

That is beautiful. I personally look forward to seeing that when it's completed!

[cannon_fodder674]

something really is brewing up here. that is one sick cockpit! you have to update!

are you working on both the vf-27 and the vf 1?

[Starscream]

something really is brewing up here. that is one sick cockpit! you have to update!

are you working on both the vf-27 and the vf 1?

The cockpit above is danbickel's work.

However, it does tempt me to want to do a full cockpit of the VF-27 as well... granted, there are very few scenes with the cockpit of the VF-27 NOT in virtual mode. I might try to do the regular cockpit, and then a separate model with a generic human model in the sitting position to simulate how the virtual cockpit of the VF-27 looks.

[danbickell]

Yeah, sorry for the confusion! That's the cockpit from my new VF-1 model, early work in progress, per Doktor Gonzo's request. Didn't mean to thread-jack, but hopefully it will draw some attention to the thread.

I'm a big cockpit junkie, myself. I'll probably end up side-tracked on a TV cockpit (loads more detail than the cleaner DYRL design) and nose variant for that before I ever get around to the rest of the valk.

The VF-27 cockpit will be an interesting subject to pull off, especially to do the virtual cockpit. From time to time, I've thought about ways to do the VF-19 cockpit using virtual cameras to generate live maps for it. I'd love to see it done for the VF-27.

So come on guys... Let's get some reference together for Starscream!!

[cannon_fodder674]

oh. pardon the confusion, then.

right, vf-27 linearts. . . .

[Starscream]

Indeed- had a few contributions early on but it's stagnant right now lol. Although I've been MIA for the past week... busy with work and then the past three days straight have been spent surfing my ass off.

[chillyche]

I am now gawking. That cockpit is beautiful. It puts mine to extreme shame. Dear Drawing Board, we will meet again soon, as I am now fleeing back to you.

Oh yeah, and now I'm totally thread-jacking... but, does anybody have any idea what happens when the valk switches to battroid mode... like, where do all those new monitors come from?

[danbickell]

I am now gawking. That cockpit is beautiful. It puts mine to extreme shame. Dear Drawing Board, we will meet again soon, as I am now fleeing back to you.

Oh yeah, and now I'm totally thread-jacking... but, does anybody have any idea what happens when the valk switches to battroid mode... like, where do all those new monitors come from?

Thanks! The last time I started a VF-1 model was 10 years ago (had a month off between jobs), and I never got past the cockpit. People gawked at that one at the time, but it was surpassed many times over in the years that passed. Now that I've been between jobs again, I've finally had the time to go back to the drawing board myself. As I've often told the artists working under me (whenever they would lose data, or have to re-do a model for some reason), "it always gets better the second time."

Nothing improves an artist's work like competition from other artists, and I've always tried to maintain a competitive spirit within the teams I've managed. I would always try to set the bar for the level of quality we would shoot for, and wait for someone to eventually surpass that bar. Then it was time to go back to the drawing board and figure out how to raise the bar higher again.

As far as the battroid cockpit transformation, I have studied all the available reference to death. My only conclusion is that it is anime magic.

With the TV cockpit, the seat moves up higher in the chest than it does in DYRL. With that, and the ambiguous details throughout the cockpit (the lineart and frames from the show seriously lack consistency), there is plenty of wiggle room to make up something workable. The "box" behind the seat must come apart and form the screens. Otherwise, there is no place for it to get out of the way for the seat to be able to move upwards to the battroid position (much less move all the way up to where the head normally sits).

The DYRL cockpit is a different story, though. The lineart is remarkably consistent, down to the details. The seat rotates, but doesn't move up much (if at all). This can be clearly seen in Roy's death scene, and the front instrument console can also be seen down near the pilot's feet in some of the lineart establishing the lower battroid seat position. The rear "box" unfolding to become the battroid cockpit screens is problematic, though. I can't match any of the details (again, very consistent) on the backs of the panels with anything on the "box", or anywhere else in the cockpit. At least the seat being able to move up through the neck area isn't present in DYRL, as this presents another problem with the details on the back wall of the fighter cockpit. Those big vents (and the ducting that has to behind them) would have to get out of the way somehow too. Likewise, the vents present on the exterior behind the cockpit (including the large vent added behind the canopy) would require ducting inside, and this would all be in the way of the TV-style neck exit.

Ok, so are there other places the screens could come from? The arm-rest consoles are out for DYRL, because the lineart clearly shows that the arm-rests extend out from them and angle along with the seat.

Thusly, my plans to make a functional transforming cockpit model will have to wait for the TV version. I've tried to maintain the consistent details from the DYRL lineart in their entirety. I'm adding details where I think they are needed, but I don't want to retcon or delete anything to facilitate the battroid cockpit transformation. I will probably make a separate DYRL battroid cockpit model for this reason.

Then there's the 2 seaters... which need 2 sets of screens, that come from where?!? There's no "box" in the VT-1 or VE-1, and only 1 box in the VF-1D. Pure anime magic there, unfortunately.

I chose to start with the DYRL cockpit because there is so much good and consistent lineart for reference. The design is so much refined over the TV version, that it just seems to be the best possible starting point. In this case, reference is everything.

VF-27, on the other hand, should be MUCH easier. The virtual cockpit solves a lot of problems. This helps illustrate something that might be a lesson to learn in this thread: sometimes, lack of reference can be a huge godsend to the artist. You have to be more creative, but there isn't much to get "wrong" if it hasn't been previously defined.

[chillyche]

Awesome response man, you've definitely done your homework. I was hoping that the transformation in Macross Zero would provide some hints, much like it added the "swing-bar" for the legs on the VF-0, but alas, we just don't know where most of those monitors are hiding.

[Starscream]

Bump =0

[danbickell]

I saw the Bandai 1/72 VF-27 model kit at a store today, and thought of this thread. I bet the kit instructions have nice ortho line art that would be a great starting point for a 3d model. I have often purchased model kits for artists to use as reference, and found that to be very useful.

Anybody have the kit, and care to comment, or better yet, scan the pertinent instruction pages for Starscream?

[Starscream]

I saw the Bandai 1/72 VF-27 model kit at a store today, and thought of this thread. I bet the kit instructions have nice ortho line art that would be a great starting point for a 3d model. I have often purchased model kits for artists to use as reference, and found that to be very useful.

Anybody have the kit, and care to comment, or better yet, scan the pertinent instruction pages for Starscream?

If someone could do that, I'd GREATLY appreciate it!!! I actually picked up the A/V Out cord for my PSP the other day just so I can take snapshots of the VF-27 from MUF lol