Cyborg of futures past

[mikeb]

I'm working on a projcet where i need legs like these. So i thought it'd be interesting to re-develop this guy.

So far i reworked his textures upped the polys where nescesary and readied him for rigging.

http://www.episode2ish.net/Cyborg/bot.jpg

more soon..

[mikeb]

And here is the first go at the legs walking..
http://www.episode2ish.net/Cyborg/walk1.wmv

[mikeb]

As always with these little pet projects i'm getting all excited and thinking of a 1000 things i could do..

Someone mentioned it was very Return to caste wolvenstien, so i thought i'd have a dabble with making him a little more grusome..

http://www.episode2ish.net/Cyborg/bot2.jpg

[mikeb]

I'm thinking of making two robots, to compliment each others armaments, but i'll go into that later.

Here is where i'm upto with the walk cycle so far..
http://www.episode2ish.net/Cyborg/walk2.wmv

p.s. i have just figured out why the legs are very twitchy, i've put the tip goals and the up vector as children of the feet instead of the hips?!

[Hitori Kyo]

nice start "mikeb" the animation is looking good, only crits are the head should always be facing where the robot is heading (not stubornly attached to the movements of the body) also i think some foot prints/cracks on the concrete where the robot steps would help blend the character into the backdrop (but thats prolly a post production step that you had all ready planned for later)

good fortune with the rest of your animation

- Hitori Kyo

[JackSkieczius]

thats way cool.

and the walk reminds me of the robot in Robocop.

[mikeb]

I'm still not sure on whats going on the chest plates of the robots.

Firstly I have slowed down the animation as he's a big old robot (and it helps me to check how the animation works). I have also worked on the legs and given te head a bit of life, the feet are still a problem though..

http://www.episode2ish.net/Cyborg/walk3.wmv

Next up i'm setting out on making them a little less (h)armless, fitting both droids with weapons..

[mikeb]

I'm going to come back to the feet a little later..

For the moment i've started sketching what sort of weaponry my two droids will be carrying.

Firstly i am thinking of them keeping functional left hands, while having heavy armourment on their right arms, keeping them multi functional. I'm also thinking that one of my cyborgs will be more cautious than the other, and that difference will be reflected in their weponry.

I would like to fit double gatling guns to the first cyborg as well as a cannon (not sure about the caliber yet).

For the second droind something more thought out. These droids were built to be self suficient and with fingers the size of books, simple things like reloading a gun would prove very difficult. So i came up with an arm that has 3 weapons bays that can hold and fire any guns the cyborg may find on his travels (3 mp40's in the sketch).

http://www.episode2ish.net/Cyborg/dwgs1.jpg

Over the next few days i'll make these in 3d and see what they look like..

[mikeb]

So here is the first version of the right arm, from the older of the two machines..

http://www.episode2ish.net/Cyborg/gun%20arm%204.mov

The 1 cannon is attached and it's ammo is loaded into a chamber in the arm. The other 3 guns are detchable and he can rearm (excuse the pun) them using his left hand (see above post).

[mikeb]

Finishing up the right arm for now i thought i'd have yet anther go at muzzle flames.

Over the last few years i have experimentd with so many different attempts, though some looked okay i've still never been completly happy with any of them-
http://www.episode2ish.net/bs_galactica/cannon%20test.mov
http://www.episode2ish.net/snow/extest3.mov
http://www.episode2ish.net/short.mov

Here is what i have so far for my cyborgs arm..

http://www.episode2ish.net/Cyborg/right%20arm%20test.wmv

Has anyone else experimented with muzzle flames? (apart from post production)

[Eraserhead]

Well, this is all very good work, but this isn't really "military". While it is set in a historical context, it's more Sci-fi.

[mikeb]

I think you'll find i'm graphically documenting a true story..

[mikeb]

Now for the left arm. Though i did do sketches of this arm as well, i knew what i wanted from the start, so i'll move straight to the 3d render..

This arm retains a hand with 3 fingers and so is much more versitile than the gun arm.

This arm is as bulky as the other arm even without the guns or amunition. This arm mainly houses a transformer linked to electro magnets in his fingers. He will use this to pickup guns and easily manipulate them into his other arm, it also gives him a very strong grip..

http://www.episode2ish.net/Cyborg/left%20arm%20test.wmv

p.s. The green light venting from his arm is due to the process of converting the energy from the power unit to the magnets..

[mikeb]

So here is my latest update..

The lighting was wrong so i changed it around, for a bit more atmosphere.. I have also added the test arm shooting.

For the feet i decided to look at mr tippets work in robocop again. Though the legs are configured very differently i have done a small homage with the toes. I have reanimated the walk again as well, fixing the feet..

http://www.episode2ish.net/Cyborg/walk4.wmv

http://www.episode2ish.net/Cyborg/bot3.jpg

[Lukem]

The gun looks great! Is it me or are the feet 'slipping' on the ground?

[WonderWheeler]

There are definately slipping. Almost like there was a hidden lever under the foot that causes it to move backwards when hitting the ground.

Looks like the soldier is deliberately spraying the area with the gun, the arm waving around while shooting. It makes the reincarnated soldier look unprofessional, wasted, or not able to use a weapon well. But it is looking better and better.

Am not sure what the skull is supposed to do besides look goulish. A little theorizing might create a better scenerio. Some tubes or wires, bandages or something and some prosthetic eyes, and a metal neck, might lead one to believe that there is actually a living brain in there somewhere being supported and kept alive by a mechanical structure. Creepy of course.

Thanks much for allowing us to view this. I was able to look at it even with a dial up connection.

[Wolf Black]

if i had to face those in Return to castle wolfenstein ,i would be looking for a bigger gun to fight them with

[Archetype]

tbh his ankle is faar too wobbely

you need to stabilize it

[mikeb]

I've been away working on different projects for a while. Though this character is going to get absorbed into another project i've been doing recently, then i'll be looking at the rigging all over again..

I'll post updates as and when..

[wayne57]

great job
what software are you using for the animation and model?

email link
steinergnomes@yahoo.com

[mikeb]

C4D all the way..

[mikeb]

It's been a while but I'm back to finish him off. I fixed the feet with proper ik, no more trying to cut corners..

I have also made the matte i did for the backdrop into 3d (it was already on the way to being 3d from before, for the lighting).

So here we go..
http://www.episode2ish.net/Cyborg/walk5.wmv

[falcon012]

That looks way cool.

[Bigglesworth]

The movement is...too robotic. Oh, wait, thats the point. Great job!