ProtoTuesday - Nothin'!

Now, I'm sure you're expecting from the title that I've given up this week, lost my motivation and drawn a total blank on the Prototytan Project.  It's happened enough, right?

Well, you'd be wrong!  My scanner's just dead, so I can't post any new sketches.  

I've been working a lot on Megatron though and have about half of the robot mode done now.  Still working on the torso and arms, but the legs are totally built and transformable.  I should have a new render up of the legs by Thursday.  I haven't done any sketches lately, but I've got plenty of stuff to post once my scanner's back up and running.

3D Thursday - These Boots were Made for Transforming

Megatron's transformation begins here.  He transforms similarly to the 2-Pack Classics Megatron with the tank turret becoming the arms and hiding the head, but his legs are a different matter.

Bulky boots with tiny toes.

The bumpers split and fold along the canopy, the tires fold behind the foot and the top of the cockpit area folds out to become his toes.  I'm still working on the way for the upper legs and knees to work, but I should have that complete next week.

3D Thursday - Megatron 2

Since finishing the Moore Automotive logo, I took my time getting back to the Prototytan Project.  My wife and I are doing a lot of personal stuff now, so I've had a lot of distractions, but last night I got back into the groove - enough to finish Megatron's vehicle mode.  

Big roller.

It's not designed exactly like the G6 Rhino, most evident in the end of the barrel.  Instead of using the flat plate that the vehicle used, I just replicated Megatron's cannon.  The whole thing will contract into itself, but it's still going to be a lot bigger than Megatron's original cannon.

I just realized I forgot to add an aiming piece to the top of the barrel pivot.  Poop.

Logo Complete

Finished the logo for my friend's company.  The love it and my work will be seen all over town.  If you live in Reno/Sparks, stop by there and tell them you know me and get a $15 credit on your account (and mine!).

Edit - Just realized this is my 100th post - it's almost fitting that it has nothing to do with the Prototytan Project.

3D Thursday - Megatron 2

I've spent the majority of this week working on my friend's logo (Which is awaiting final approval today), but I found some time this weekend to work on Megatron some more.  

I really need to work on my lighting.

I built up the turret and added a few panels to the top of the chassis.  I need to get rid of some extra polygons on the turret face though and then I'll start work on the barrel.  I'll be ready to start tearing it apart for the robot mode after that.  I'm trying to focus on a good detail vs time ratio, so instead of taking a ton of time and making it super-detailed, I just want to pump out a decent model as soon as I can.  We'll see how well that turns out once I get a better grip on Blender.

3D Thursday - Megatron 2

Starting work on a full Transformer and I decided to go with Megatron again because of the familiarity working with this vehicle mode.  I've got to say that it's so much easier working with Blender now.

Looks like a Bic Razor.

I'm taking a break from modeling for a little while, however.  I was recently hired by a friend to design a logo for them.  I'll post a picture when it's finished, but I'm having a good time with it and hope to finish it by the middle of September to allow some changes before their new shop opens the beginning of October.

ProtoTuesday - Trailhead

Another Prototytan today - this time it's Trailhead, the team's rebel.  She has no real interest being a Prototytan, or even a Transformer at all.  Too bad she doesn't have a choice.

Trailhead

Somehow this will end up looking like a female body.

Function: Hazardous Terrain Expert

Motto: “The high ground is never high enough for me.”

A trouble-maker who delights in disobeying orders just for the spite of it.  Always interested in seeing what she can get away with. Tries to use her charm to get out of trouble, usually succeeds.  Will pit her own teammates against each other so she can sit back and watch, laughing the whole time.  In vehicle mode, has a fibrous covering on her tires that allow almost vertical driving on almost any surface.  In robot mode, the ATV in her bed becomes a wrist-mounted weapon with numerous modes – machine gun, shield, sword, etc. 

Vehicle Mode: 4X4 Pick-up Truck

Strength: 5

Intelligence: 4

Worst ATV ever.

Speed: 4

Endurance: 7

Rank: 2

Courage: 6

Firepower: 8

Skill: 3


I suck at drawing things from a perspective view.  Obviously, I kinda suck at drawing things from any other view as well.  What we see here is an older style pick-up truck, I imagine it being from back in the 80's.  It's jacked-up on some big off-road tires, and though I forgot to draw it in, it has a rollbar with a few more big lights on them.

Transformation is pretty simple and ends up with a big-chested skinny robot.  The windshield may fold in a bit to make the chest thinner.  The bed folds down on her back, where the ATV is mounted.  Now, I love this idea.  The ATV becomes a weapon in Trailhead's robot mode.  Better yet, it becomes 3 different weapons.  The wheels pivot forward and the body mounts to Trailhead's forearm to become a gatling gauntlet.  The wheels also swivel towards the top of the ATV and becomes a shield.  With another twist of the wheels and an extended handle from the bottom, it becomes a hammer.  I was afraid that this was too close to RotF Ironhide's turret drone (I swear I created this before I saw that figure), but I think it's original enough.

3D Thursday - Head Job

While working on common elements, I can't forget to do the one thing that every Transformer has - a head!  I started on a generic head from a subdivided cube (I didn't want to use a background image).  I cut that cube up so much that the face didn't even look robotic anymore, which of course is a definite must for a Cybertronian face.  A little smoothing and it turns out closer to a cartoon-y guy face.  I'll use it for the human characters.

Angry man!

So I had to start over and try to make a robot face that keeps as much angles as possible. I'm not even going to touch the smooth button on this guy.

Cheeky fellow.

He's got sunken eyes and a small mouth and that's about it.  I might need to scale the sides in a bit.  I'll add a helmet, a crest, a chin, etc and it should work for just about any Transformer out there...

And this will work for the rest.

ProtoTuesday - Gears

Today's another Autobot, and this time it's everyone's favorite grump, Gears.  I tried to stick with his older truck alt mode, but I wanted something even more older truck.  Of course, at this point, I can't find the picture I was using as a reference so I'll just call it an old Chevy truck and leave it at that.

A grumpy robot from a grumpy truck.

As you can see, the front fenders fold out to become the arms and the tailgate becomes the feet.  There are problems though - the legs are hollow and there's a huge hump on him from the truck's canopy.  I'm thinking the side of the truck bed will fold into the back of his legs.  I think the canopy can become a jet pack that matches his compressed air power.  Sure they aren't coming out of his feet, but his feet are made out of the tailgate, so there's no room for jets, are there?

3d Thursday - Give Me a Hand

Yeah, of course it's a lame pun, but it fits.  Along with most models requiring tires, even more require hands.  In fact, just a few of Soundwave's minions don't (and there will be others that show up in the comic later that won't need them either).

May I have another?

Rock on!

Okie dokie, artichokie!

I'm still iffy on the raised bit of the palm, but I can live with it.  The back of the hand (which isn't shown for a reason!) is just two beveled faces that make a split down the middle.  I might just leave it flat and just add details on for each individual robot.  It'll make them a little more personalized, especially the ones that have weapons attached.

ProtoTuesday - Huffer

Going back to the Autobots today with Huffer.  

There's not much of a change from the original cartoon/toy design, so the sketch didn't really require a lot of work.  The grill separates and rotates down to become the shoulders while the sides of the vehicle fold out and become his forearms from the wheel-well.  The exhaust pipes are attached to his wrists and fold up to the back of his forearms.  The legs slide down just like the original toy, and while I didn't draw anything, I'm sure I'll be adding a fold-out foot.  

I don't own iGear's Rager figure (or one of the repaints), but I do really like the figure so I guess there's a bit of an influence from there.  iGear does a lot better work with original designs than just copying already established toys, don't they?

3DThursday - Commonality

I'm finally starting out some real Transformers modeling, but first I've got to get some props built that will be common to a lot of the characters.  There are hands obviously, and a template for heads (male and female).  I realized another one that'll be used pretty often are tires.  Practically everyone needs them, except maybe Cosmos, but since he's not in this comic, just ignore that.

Boring caps.

Ugly sporty caps.

Here's the two I've modeled so far.  The boring caps actually look good to me, but I'm a bit disappointed by the sporty caps.  I might go in and subdivide the spokes so I can smooth them out better.  I'm also going to check out some tutorials on them because I've got an off road tire modeled, along with a few industrial caps too.  Should be done with them by next week.

3D Thursday - Insignia

I'm going on record that Blender is a much easier program to learn then Lightwave.  Each of these took about an hour to make from scratch, while they took a lot longer to make with an Illustrator file before.  I think they even render better!  Anyway, I'll be using these both in the comic and a second attempt at earrings.  


Did I post about that before?  They turned out too small and looked terrible.  I think these will turn out a lot better since things have been sized for tiny printers.  The divots on the Autobot and Decepticon insignias are bigger so it would be easier to paint white on the bottom and the backing is a lot thinker to make them sturdier.  I printed the first run on Frosted Ultra Detail, but since the details aren't super intricate, the next run will be White Strong and Flexible.  It's on the backburner, but should be printed up before Christmas (you know, for gifts).

ProtoTuesday - Terramax

I recently posted that I have refocused efforts into the original Prototytan Project idea.  Since then, I've felt a lot more motivation to keep it going.  A renewed vigor, if you will.  Taking away all the clutter and side projects has really helped me come back and attack this head-on.  Blender's proved to be very easy to get used to and I've made a few basic models on there to post later this week.  Besides that I've been working on more designs and details for everyone.  They're all sketches like the other stuff I've posted before, and there are a lot more coming.

To start this new rush off, I wanted to make a special post.

Drawn on cardboard.  Because it's important.

Terramax

Function: Prototytan Leader

Motto: “Protect the weak and you protect yourself.”

Strength: 9

Intelligence: 9

Speed: 6

Endurance: 9

Rank: 10

Courage: 10

Firepower: 10

Skill: 10

Has designated himself the defender of Earth from both Autobot and Decepticon forces.  Very serious about his duties and willing to send his troops into the middle of their battles just so neither of them wins.  Leads the team under the motto “Autobot mission, Decepticon means.” Refuses to believe the Autobots are heroic.  In cement mixer mode, has a range of 3000 miles.  In robot mode, has energy-enhanced knuckle-dusters and dual pistols.  Has an extra mode as a mobile weapons platform with a replica of Megatron’s nuclear fusion cannon.

Vehicle Mode: Long-nose Cement Truck

The picture isn't completely accurate of course because I'm still working on the transformation.  The pistol and knuckle-dusters are both his because I wanted to make him a more close-range combatant and differentiate him more from Prime and Megatron.  The pistol's obviously based off Nerf's Maverick pistol, though in the end, it'll be a cross between that and the Classics Megatron blaster.  That's not a final design for his knuckle-dusters either, but I know I don't want them to be blades like DotM Prime's.  They'll sit on the back of his hands and fold down over his knuckles during battle.

I don't have a picture yet, but his weapons platform mode resembles an ant - the robot's legs that make up the back of the vehicle will split into four separate legs, the cab will reveal two more legs and the cement drum will resemble the abdomen of the "ant" and will be a cannon.

I've been very proud of this guy for a long time.  I think he's a good contrast from both of the other leaders.  I picture him as a brawler, more hands-on than either of them.  I've tried to design him to be as different from Prime visually as I can, considering they're both trucks, but I don't know what color scheme to give him.  

Actually, that's a problem I'm having with a lot of the Prototytans.  I've been able to figure out how many of them will look in vehicle and robot mode, but I haven't figured out any color schemes at all.  I'm not looking forward to doing that.

Way Too Long

Wow, almost a year. I thought for a second to just wait until it's exactly a year, but that makes it more of a celebration, and there's no reason to celebrate forgetting this for 12 months.

There's a few changes to mention here:

1) Prototytan Project is going back to its roots. Gone are the Turbosquid plans, gone are the Shapeways plans. It's just modeling Transformers to make a comic. Once the comic's running, I'm hoping to get back into the Shapeways plans to make a few of my own custom figures, but it's definitely on the back burner.  Since I don't have to worry about selling anything on Turbosquid now, I'm free to do my own interpretations of vehicles too, which I am much more comfortable with anyway.

2) Lightwave is gone too. I've been having so much trouble getting used to it so I dumped it. Forget that nonsense. So I moved on to Blender. So far, it's a lot closer to 3DS Max, which I am a whole heck of a lot more comfortable. I just finished a tutorial, and this is what I got. It's a Steam Engine.

Choo-choo

That's a dark picture. But who cares, it's done.  Now it's on to modeling something else. And because of the swap, my previous Megatron model is kaput.  Oh well, his feet were a pain in the ass and I've got a much better idea in my head.

Oh yeah, and Megatrons Anonymous is on a definite hiatus. I hope to get back to it someday, but the Prototytan Project is top priority.

Distractions

I'm sure it's obvious, but I haven't done anything on here in a while.  I just finished my finals and I'm done with school.  I did create a website for the Prototytan Project, but before I can post it, I need to make some changes, like getting rid of things the teacher required for the website and replacing them with stuff I actually want.  And I have to find some money somewhere to pay for it.

But now that school's over, i've been thinking a lot about the Prototytan Project and where I want to go with it.  I'm looking forward to going back in Megatrons Anonymous also.  In the mean time, I ordered the RtS Legends from TFSource (and got my account info stolen, but that's getting taken care of now) and I love them!  Those things are awesome.  They've got me interested in making my own Legends figures even more and an idea struck me.  I want those little Legends to have weapons and accessories!  If I could make a rifle for Prime and a scope for Megs's alt mode, that would be great, but why stop there?  There are a ton of opportunities for the G1 Legends.

So that'll be my first step to the Prototytan Project, putting the comic, the models, and original characters on hold.  I'll be designing them soon and modeling them after that and posting pictures of all of them when I can.

Details Details

Okay, so while I'm working on the robot mode, I still need to worry about the alt mode and if it's ready to post online on a 3d marketplace.  I've looked at some that are available online and they're insanely more detailed than what I have here, but they aren't filling the low-poly game model market.  I'm hoping to go into that with my models, but still, I know I should still polish the model a bit.  So I'm posting more pictures of it to get some input on changes that need to be made and details that should be added.

Front view

Top view

Side view

Turret

 I'm planning on adding a few details on the turret here.  There are some canisters that go in the front on both sides of the barrel that need to be added, along with a small cage that goes around them.  I didn't show a back view of it because there isn't anything there - I need to add some windows onto it.  I'm not going to worry about the railing that goes above the barrel on the turret though.

Bumper

 I'm planning on rounding out the sides of the bumper here with some beveling.  I'm really trying to get rid of some of the sharper edges on the model.

Side panels

 No planned changes here, there's just not much detail on this part of the vehicle, except maybe a few metal slats on the big bumper here.

So what say you?  Is there anything else I'm missing?  Is it worth posting online?  Should I even bother?

Protofriday - Cold Feet

Since finishing the alt mode (though there are a few pieces I think I might go back and add on sometime), I've been working on cutting it apart and adding in the robot bits.  I started with the feet first since it quickly became apparent that my original idea for them wouldn't work.  And then the second idea wouldn't work.  And now the idea I'm going with kinda works, but still has it's problems.

As you might be able to see from this horrendous screen-grab, the section behind the front wheel folds down along the cockpit, the wheel folds back, the bump rotates and folds up and the foot assembly rotates out of the first section.... man, I'm having trouble keeping up with it and I made it myself.

The biggest problem that shows up is how absurdly small the foot will be.  For it to fit within the section behind the front wheel it needs to be very small and flat.  I've made toes and a heel that fold out but it's still so small I'm afraid it wouldn't be able to hold him up if it were a figure.  I don't like the joint system I'm using either, with the giant cog-thingees creating the ankle joint, and the huge pivot on the foot itself.

I'm thinking I'll revamp most of it, replacing the ankle system here with a normal ball-and-socket and extending the back of the foot out to allow for a bigger toe and heel.  Right now both of them rotate out, but I'll probably change them to sliding out so I can make them wider as well.

In all though, the feet are going to be damn small.  And unfortunately, I'm still learning with Lightwave and every change I make takes way too long.  I'm getting more comfortable with it though and hopefully more revamps will come about quicker.

Protosaturday - This Is It!

I'm done!  Honestly, it's a cross between "I've done as much as I can" with "I don't think I really care anymore".  I've done what I wanted to do though - create a very low-poly model vehicle that will be easy to convert to a robot model.  I'm not aiming for those highly-detailed Unicron Trilogy 3D and definitely not the hyder-detailed movie styles - I'm trying to stick with a Generation 1 asthetic.  I think this model fits pretty well within that criteria. 

Now from here, I've got two different directions I need to go with this model.  Everything else I model will go through both of these steps.

1. Texture this model with realistic colors.  Once it's all brown and green camo, I'll post it online as is for sale to other people wanting a very low poly model. 
2. Cut this guy up for transformation.

I'm not going to be posting step 1 on the blog though, instead focusing solely on step 2 here.  So next time you see this model, expect to see it in pieces!

Prototuesday - Almost Done

.... with the alt mode.  What, did you think this was just a regular vehicle?  Of course it's a Transformer!

So anyway, I'm almost done with vehicle mode here - with just a few changes to the turret and barrel.  Once that's done, I'll start cutting it apart and building the robot mode with the pieces!