Doktor Gonzo Posted December 11, 2003 Posted December 11, 2003 Rod, This is the reference I used for mine:
EXO Posted December 11, 2003 Posted December 11, 2003 Hey, Rodavan. I maybe jumping the gun here, but you got the TV pilot helmet on the DYRL suit. ALso the Arm and Leg attachments flare out towards the hands and feet. Looking good though.
mechaninac Posted December 11, 2003 Posted December 11, 2003 I guess it's time for a small update on what I've been up to. Bellow is the current status of my Ishforn model. On a related note, I'm begining to wonder if I should keep posting my Orguss stuff (I plan on doing all mecha for which I can get decent references. I'm leaving the Emaan stuff for last...too many curves) on this thread or if I should start a new Orguss CG thread on the "Fan Works" section. What do you guys think?
Doktor Gonzo Posted December 11, 2003 Posted December 11, 2003 I'd suggest a new thread. We certainly enjoy seeing your work (it's totally kick-ass) and very much want to continue viewing it and discussing it, but this thread is technically the staging area for an ongoing community CG project that is strictly Macross-themed. Besides, a full exclusive thread with properly descriptive title would be a lot more likely to attract the notice of the many Orguss admirers on this site...
Doktor Gonzo Posted December 11, 2003 Posted December 11, 2003 Oh, and lest I forget, the Ishforn is looking great!
Aztek Posted December 12, 2003 Author Posted December 12, 2003 Mech, I heard there was a cameo Orguss mech on Macross during a firefight w/ other destroids. Maybe THAT one could be included in the project. It IS canon right?
mechaninac Posted December 12, 2003 Posted December 12, 2003 Mech,I heard there was a cameo Orguss mech on Macross during a firefight w/ other destroids. Maybe THAT one could be included in the project. It IS canon right? No kidding? I never noticed it. Which one was it, the Orgroid?
Doktor Gonzo Posted December 12, 2003 Posted December 12, 2003 It's the Orgroid, done up with some valk parts. That'd be a fun thing to include on this poster!
Aztek Posted December 14, 2003 Author Posted December 14, 2003 Anyone know any good Max tutorials to animate the blue exhaust coming from the main engines? and the white "thrust" that's expelled from the veniers? I'm assuming that some form of liquid fuel is used for the veniers giving it the white tint we see in DYRL scenes. I have yet to try and use particles for animation, so if they are used, I may need a remedial version ... "Particles for Dummies in 3dsmax" Any help will be appreciated ... thanks!!
Doktor Gonzo Posted December 14, 2003 Posted December 14, 2003 Az, No specifically particle stuff here, but enough cool stuff in general that it might be worth posting: HighEnd3D Max Tutorials
Doktor Gonzo Posted December 14, 2003 Posted December 14, 2003 Oh, almost forgot - here's a WIP pic showing how my texturing is coming along. Nose/chestplate/backplate/wings are done, backpack/tail and legs are not. Comments, please!
mighty gorgon Posted December 14, 2003 Posted December 14, 2003 (edited) Hey guys, got a question. I'm messing around with the textures for my VF-0S. I'm trying to make it look as real as I possibly can. How is this? Too much, not enough, or just right? For me it looks OK, if you try to simulate an operational bird for carrier operations. I guess a white plane will get worn very fast (operational f14s). However nothing is this way OR the other... check this photo of two F-14. The second one is being repainted: (f14s)... someone believed the planes were too worn out! Regds, Gorgon (yes, today I got a bit obsessed with www.airliners.net but I truly believe they have the best aviation photos of the net... if you don't mind navigating between 100.000 photos of civil planes...another f14 and another f14 mirage) Edited December 14, 2003 by mighty gorgon
Mechmaster Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 Been drawing up new textures for my 1J, after looking at the photos of those F14s I may go back and add more dirt, thanks for those Gorgon.
Aztek Posted December 15, 2003 Author Posted December 15, 2003 I dig the textures Mech, but is your basecoat a grey or white? With all the weathering, it seems to be tinted grey, but if I remember correctly, -1Js are white ...
Mechmaster Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 I dig the textures Mech, but is your basecoat a grey or white? With all the weathering, it seems to be tinted grey, but if I remember correctly, -1Js are white ... You're quite right Az, the Hikaru 1J is indeed white but I allowed myself to be influenced by Hasegawa, I quite liked the look of the light grey they used on their 1J fighter kit and so did my model a very pale grey. I found that it looked less washed out when I hit it with full intensity lighting, the picture posted here uses C4D's default "camera flash" lighting, the model looks much whiter with the lights turned up. I just couldn't get the sort of gritty, grimyness I like with a purer white. Likewise the white on my 1A isn't pure white either, I mixed a yellow/brown marble image into the white, the pictures I posted of it however used the brighter lighting rig I put together for the poster and so the white areas appear much brighter.
cobywan Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 The 1J is not white. It is indeed a light grey.
Mechmaster Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 Here is the same shot but this time with "full daylight" (14:00 hours, mid June), my grey may not be grey enough yet, the highlights are still pretty fierce. Cobywan... is there a definite reference for it being grey? I've studied lots of pictures from the anime and in many it certainly does look to be offwhite and yet in others it seems pure. It would be most helpful if it was written somewhere what the colour is really supposed to be.
AncientAngel Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 Nice! very nice... So much detail you would need to zoom in tight to most likely read the fine print.
Aztek Posted December 16, 2003 Author Posted December 16, 2003 coby, Maybe it was the animation studio at the time, but I remember the TV -1J being white. Later in the series after Roy died, the -1s appears grey*ish* and if I'm correct made the other VFs look whiter in contrast. Mech, Please don't take this opinion the wrong way, your textures are awesome. Leaps ahead of where I'm at on mine ....
cobywan Posted December 16, 2003 Posted December 16, 2003 We have established in other threads that the animation studios made mistakes all the time. This lead to the VF-1R toy that Toynami made. The traditional Takani box arts for the Macross line depict the VF-1J as being grey and the VF-1S as being white. If there is anything written down in the texts I have I wouldn't be able to read it anyway.
Aztek Posted December 16, 2003 Author Posted December 16, 2003 Takani meaning for Bandai and Arii model kits? Who is Takani?
Mechmaster Posted December 16, 2003 Posted December 16, 2003 Az... no worries there mate, I wasn't taking your comment the wrong way, I'm always open to feedback on my work be it criticism (good or bad) or just observations. You have raised a pretty interesting point regarding the valk colouring , fueled by Cobywan's input. Cobywan... you're right about the box art, the 1J does come across as being grey or possibly even polished metal, but I'm not sure how much of that is down to the artist as many of the box arts show misleading colours, the SDF1 itself for instance appears black and grey in the box art rather than blue and white and the white parts of the Glaug appear pale blue or grey (I ended up painting my Glaug kit blue because of that). My best references for the anime are the Shogakukan "This is animation" series of Macross books and while the studio drawing of the 1J appears grey compared to the 1S, many of the shots from the show have it looking very much whiter. I'm not sure there is a definitive answer to this one, but if anyone knows something we don't please post and fill us in.
Tober Posted December 16, 2003 Posted December 16, 2003 Oh, almost forgot - here's a WIP pic showing how my texturing is coming along. Nose/chestplate/backplate/wings are done, backpack/tail and legs are not. Comments, please! That's coming along nicely Dok. The first thing that jumps out at me though is the specularity of the vents in the chest area - I think it would look better if it matched the black cockpit material. The area just above those vents (2 or 3 panel sections) looks blotchy to me - it might just be that there is too much contrast in that area - the back chest section looks much better by comparison. I know you didn't ask fo any comments on the compositing, but if you're interested, the cockpit needs a reflection map and a blue/green light under the plane would settle it into the image more given that alot of light would be bounced back up to the underside from the water. A slight blur on the edges helps to remove that tell-tale CG sharpness too. Nice vapor trail too.
Doktor Gonzo Posted December 16, 2003 Posted December 16, 2003 Tober: Thanks! Not too worried about the compositing - this was a texture test, I just threw it against a background without trying to match the lighting to liven it up a little - but I do appreciate any and all PS comping tips regardless, as even when I DO try it's an area I'm not too strong in. The blotchiness on the chest was meant to be a "patched" bit of battle damage. It comes across okay in extreme closeup but looks a little odd at distance - so you're right, I may remove it in favor of a more even grime job. Overall, though, does the amount of weathering and the technique used look good? I'm still playing with that...
Tober Posted December 16, 2003 Posted December 16, 2003 Overall, though, does the amount of weathering and the technique used look good? I'm still playing with that... Yes. To me, aesthetically, it looks fine. I always struggled to get the look of my Valkyrie correct and was never really happy with it - in the end I went with what I thought looked best. You would need to consult someone on these boards with a better understanding of aviation than me as to weather the material's shyniness and specularity are correct. I found some modern fighters that were shiny and some that were matte so I figured that gave me license to do whatever I wanted. Your material looks like it matches the f14 references posted above by 'mighty gorgon' which is what I would be aiming for.
Doktor Gonzo Posted December 16, 2003 Posted December 16, 2003 I always struggled to get the look of my Valkyrie correct and was never really happy with it - in the end I went with what I thought looked best. You would need to consult someone on these boards with a better understanding of aviation than me as to weather the material's shyniness and specularity are correct. I found some modern fighters that were shiny and some that were matte so I figured that gave me license to do whatever I wanted. Your material looks like it matches the f14 references posted above by 'mighty gorgon' which is what I would be aiming for. That's EXACTLY what I was aiming for - and it pleases me to hear you affirm it! My understanding is that most F-14s are largely bare metal under a translucent sealant, with only the "colored" portions of their paint schemes actually painted over. I took a cue from that, and use a fine-grained aluminum texture for the skin base, then layer paint, markings oil streaks and weathering over that. Then I hide the paint and markings, desaturate the texture, and tweak the contrast levels to produce an opacity map. I'm still trying to figure out how to reproduce some of the subtler "large-scale" weathering striations I see in those F-14 photos, though, the ones that look like weather staining - was thinking of maybe mapping difference clouds to the spec map as a luminosity overlay....?
Rodavan Posted December 17, 2003 Posted December 17, 2003 It quite amazing to see that all the guys here have the same type of problems- ie grey/white colours . Even if you specify the colour as white , is stills render greyish If I get it white it's too white , if you get it grey it just doesn't seem right . I like the colours used on the F-14 as shown in the photo's that "mighty gorgon" picked. There doesn't seem to be concensus on colours grey or white , all I know is the valks on this forum rocks ...red ,blue ,grey and even white! Doc - It looks fantastic , even if it is the first render test ,
Rodavan Posted December 17, 2003 Posted December 17, 2003 WIP for helmet , I used the refences from Aztek and Doc I personally like the DYRL helmet better , but this will grow on me.
Tober Posted December 17, 2003 Posted December 17, 2003 My understanding is that most F-14s are largely bare metal under a translucent sealant, with only the "colored" portions of their paint schemes actually painted over. I took a cue from that, and use a fine-grained aluminum texture for the skin base, then layer paint, markings oil streaks and weathering over that. Then I hide the paint and markings, desaturate the texture, and tweak the contrast levels to produce an opacity map. I'm still trying to figure out how to reproduce some of the subtler "large-scale" weathering striations I see in those F-14 photos, though, the ones that look like weather staining - was thinking of maybe mapping difference clouds to the spec map as a luminosity overlay....? Yep - I used a similar approach: adjusting the levels of my color maps to create the specular. My color maps already had a light cloud-like filter on them to give the appearance of weathering.
vicviper Posted December 17, 2003 Posted December 17, 2003 hi, just installed Maya.... I'm newbie on it (I come from Max and others) any tips? suggestions? any tutorial better than the one that comes with maya? V
Rodavan Posted December 18, 2003 Posted December 18, 2003 Vic - If you can afford a good book the best I have used is "Mastering Maya 3 " or 4 or 5 . I am still learning to use Maya 3 I am trying out some "weathering" looks ( I like the clean look , but as seen in most photos aircraft doesn't stay new so...) Let me know if is too much or not enough or may be it sucks
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