Valkyrie Orthographics - again

[Galaxy_Stranger]

Ok, I've gotten desperate with the VF-1 orthographics. The images I found on the internet just aren't working well enough for me.

So, last year I bought a couple of the Master File books, (and I'm waiting on the third now), but I don't really have an easy way of scanning them in - unless I cut the pages out.

Is there any alternative to this? I'd also like to see if there's an English translation to these books.

[Galaxy_Stranger]

Alright, I'm desperate.

Does anybody know how to disassemble books like this without tearing them to shreds, like melting the binding or something?

[anime52k8]

There's a few ways to debind books. for perfect bound books (i.e. bound with glue like master file books are) you can sometimes melt through the glue using a hair dryer, heat gun or iron.

Microwaving can work but it's kind of awkward.

.

Alternatively you can go find a print shop that has a guillotine paper cutter and cut the binding off (this method is a lot less messy, but you loose a bit of the book).

now if you're a massive badass, you could look into building yourself a book scanner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K40F15mo0mw

[Galaxy_Stranger]

Thanks!

[spanner]

This is awesome!

[Galaxy_Stranger]

Well - the hair dryer works!

The Master File books are nice and thick, though. It takes a little longer to get the glue going - and you have to worry about the glue turning into spider-webs. BUT, it works.

Also, this book's pages are kinda folded-over, so they have to be cut anyway to get the individual pages apart - and I couldn't see where they fold so I couldn't pull them out a group at a time. I got several pages out and then just decided to remove the cover all at one time. This should make it easier to get the pages finished.

[Galaxy_Stranger]

My Valkyrie is almost complete!

[Aurel Tristen]

Wow, you are a brave soul taking apart those books, way to go! How do you feel about those orthographics now that you've got them scanned?

Also, what are you modeling in?

[Galaxy_Stranger]

Now that I understand how the book is constructed, I feel a lot more confident in not ripping the pages apart! All of those examples on Youtube are using books where each individual page is glued-in. These books are put together like magazines, where you have the first and last page printed on one big sheet, with all of the subsequent pages laying on top of those - and then folded over. This makes it more difficult to get what you want, but with patience it's not all that hard. At first, I was pulling individual pages out - which was tearing them off of their opposing page! I'll end up cutting them up anyway and putting them in a binder.

According to Amazon, I'll have the last of the VF-1 related books by the end of May.

But these are, hands-down, the BEST orthographic images you'll get your grubby paws on.

I'm working in Blender. I don't know how to get the renderer to look any better than that. I see wonderful renders in blender all over the Internet, but I can't get it to not look like crap.

[Aurel Tristen]

Try selecting all your faces and applying a smoothing group. I know there is an auto-smooth in 3D Studio that does a rather good job. Smoothing groups are going to be essential to making it look better than a PS1 game.

So... can we see the orthographics? Is that allowed? My VF-1 has ended up WAY outside canon as I have been working off of various references, and trying to force it to look reasonable in all three modes.

[Rodavan]

Good start - Blender is good product . Try a cycles render ....

[Galaxy_Stranger]

Yeah - Cycles is what I'm posting with. That's my second try at the chest plate. I'm working on another version. Aside from me not having much experience at this, these are intended to be low-poly for video games, such as this:

I'd be happy to post the pics if it weren't breaking any rules. But I'm not sure how that would be taken. It's not like we're trying to pirate anything.

Is it cool for me to post them?

Edited March 29, 2015 by Galaxy_Stranger