Timelapses!

For a lot of this process I have been recording my modelling and putting it into timelapses for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy.

Assault Walker Part 1
Assault Walker Part 2
Cockpit Part 1
Cockpit Part 2
Pilot Part 1
MIRV Part 1
Pilot Part 2
Knights Part 1
Knights Part 2

Knights.

As background characters for the scene I had been wanting to do something along more fantasy lines for a while now. So the idea is that this Mech has somehow come up against this band of knights and they've gotten into a fight. So for the knights I wanted to create a set of modular pieces that could be used to make several different types of knight to fill the background.
I also wanted to try and keep them reasonably authentic, and also keeping in mind that these are not hero characters, they will be in the background so spending a lot of time on them is a waste.

Anyway I have included some of my reference imagery.

In the end I decided on three basic types of helm to use as a starting point.
The Bascinet

The Sallet

The Frog Mouthed

The models for these are pictured below.

From there it was just a case of building up a set of modular pieces for the knights, while keeping my reference imagery in mind.

Griffith Assault Walker 04

Pilot! The next step was to create a pilot for this walker. Now for this model I did indeed draw out a very rough concept, just to give me a starting point. Drawing inspiration from existing designs aswell I wanted to create something that looked like a pilot suit rather than just armour or like it was designed solely for combat.
I have included a selection of my reference/inspiration material.

Pictured below is the very rough design I painted in Photoshop. It was enough to get started.

 Below is a very quick rough basemesh I sculpted in ZBrush, just to give me something to build around. It isn't great but it did the job.

Here are the first two images of the helmet being modelled. As you can see I tried to stick roughly to the concept but I altered the design a lot where I felt that it needed it. Overall I think that it is better off for it.

The chest piece was very important for me to get right. I really liked the design I had done for it in the concept so the challenge was to realize that fully in 3D, the blue and yellow very quickly became a kind of padded under-suit. As I wanted to keep it clear this was not a combat design there is very little in the way of actual armour plating incorporated within it.

Here we are showing the almost finished model. However I was not happy with the lower legs, and these would be something I went back to alter.

Here is the final hi poly model. After tweaking the lower leg and boot so that it fits in with the design better. I think I succeeded in creating a character that looks like she isn't primarily built for combat. I did however decide to give her a pistol in order to defend herself. The model of which is pictured below the character.

Griffith Assault Walker 03

Cockpit! As I said this began as a technical exercise, and so I wanted to just make as crazily cool a model as I could. This involved the modelling of a complete cockpit.

This first image is merely a rough-out of the initial concept for the cockpit. After creating this it became apparent that it could use a better sense of design and a bit more complexity in it aswell.

The first step in achieving this was the creation of some extra controls, mainly joysticks! Inspired by the cockpits in Mechwarrior Online, I felt these controls would help add a degree of authenticity and complexity to the cockpit. Pictured here you can see me using the stock "XSI Man Armoured" model to make sure everything is scaled properly.

Another shot taken of the cockpit from a different view, you can sort of see in this shot the way I changed the view-screens so they looked more futuristic. You can also see the access ladder that you have to climb down to get into the cockpit.

Here we have the pilots view. I positioned a camera in the pilots eyes so that when I switched to it, it would show me exactly what the pilot would see and I could look around the cockpit from his point of view.

Here we have the completed cockpit. I changed the lighting as well and yet again changing the view-screens to make them look neater. I also added a few touches such as cup-holders and a periscope like device positioned above the wheel.

This is the pilots eye view of the final cockpit

Griffith Assault Walker 02

After this I began to build the walker, as I said this initially began as a technical exercise, so I did not do any concept work before beginning modelling as I wasn't sure id be using this in my project at this point.

These were just my initial rough blockouts of the design, just to get a feel for the basic shapes and forms.

Trying to keep the function of the mech very much in mind, how it would move and what each piece was for. Although this would get clearer and clearer as I continued modelling.

 In this picture a lot of the functionality of the lower legs has been defined, along with a lot of its basic design elements such as the armour plating. One area I was never happy with at this stage was how the middle leg connected to the lower leg, this is something I would have to fix.

This stage was me just experimenting with the cockpit, as I had had a idea for how the viewscreens within it would work. Drawing inspiration from the Gungnir helmet in Halo (pictured) the idea was that the cockpit itself would have no window. Instead it would have a series of cameras that would feed images to the viewscreens within the mech itself. A bit like how a reversing camera on a car works. It feeds an image to the center console.

This is an important stage, the sides of the main body were changed. They were changed to allow the legs more room to move and so they didnt clip into anything. They were also moved to give the walker a more distinctive/menacing silhouette.

Another important step. A lot of the forms and indeed the details have been defined. However, keeping in mind this is designed for combat I went ahead and added some weaponry to it, two miniguns and two rocket pods. The lower leg design was still annoying me at this point. So that was the next thing I had to tackle.

These are the redesigned (lower) legs. I feel like this is a far better design overall as it looks a lot more functional than the previous one and it also looks less likely to collapse under strain. A few details were also added like the exhaust ports.

Another thing to be reworked was the weaponry. I realised the chainguns as they stood wouldnt be very effective, as they were in a fixed position. So I quickly modelled a system where the walker had two main chainguns pointing forward. And then two smaller ones that could be swivelled around to point wherever they are needed.

MIRV. Another wee thing I wanted to add. A final punch for this walker. An idea I had while watching this particular youtube video. A Multiple Independently Target-able Re-entry vehicle, or MIRV. The idea being that the mech can punch well above its weight if it needs to.

Griffith Assault Walker 01

Well here is something that began as a technical exercise, but has now become a major part of my project. I wanted to create a mech along the lines of those seen in the Battletech universe. While also drawing influence from some of my favourite artists such as Vitaly Bulgarov and Ben Mauro. These are some of my reference/inspiration images.

Bridge

The scene created previously for the creature felt a bit bare, so I decided that it needed what all good monster movies need, a suspension bridge. The bridge itself was created reasonably quickly. It was never intended to be viewed close up, so it only had to look good from a distance.

Here I have included the progress of making the bridge, from the hi-poly, to some intitial composition ideas, and finally to the low poly/textured version along with its use in the scene.