Yet another giant robot

[kjl]

I'm making yet another giant robot... but who doesn't like giant robots?

Current motion test:
Body motion test: RobotUpdate03.mov (~3 meg) (http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Movies/RobotUpdate03.mov)

Old motion tests:
Hand Motion Test (~4.3 meg) (http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Movies/RobotUpdate01.mov)
Body motion test: RobotUpdate02.mov (~3.9 meg) (http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Movies/RobotUpdate02.mov)

Latest renders:
http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Images/RobotUpdate0301.jpg
http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Images/RobotUpdate0302.jpg
http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Images/RobotUpdate0303.jpg
http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Images/RobotUpdate0304.jpg

[Lottmedia]

Nice work. Reminds me a little of my son's Lego Technic toys. The rigging looks nice so-far, I think the biggest problem you'll face as the compleity goes up is parts passing through one another. Keep us updated

J-Rod

[badllarma]

Rather you than me to rig all those pistons :eek:

Nice work though :)

[kjl]

I think the biggest problem you'll face as the compleity goes up is parts passing through one another. Keep us updated
Yeah - interestingly, while the hand has many degrees of freedom (the robot hand alone has 23, compared to ~7-9 for the shoulder->wrist), there is almost no twisting. The thumb has an interesting joint, but aside from that the joints are very simple. I think I'm going to run into some interesting problems with the twisting of the wrist joint and the impending ball-and-socket disaster in the shoulder (which also has a very wide range of motion in some directions), but my preliminary tests are working out OK (and the complexity of those joints is what I'm hoping makes the model more interesting than a bunch of cylinders stuck together).

[kjl]

This was the first round of work I'd done. Current updates will be at the top of this thread.

The hand has 23 degrees of freedom.

Hand Motion Test (~4.3 meg) (http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Movies/RobotUpdate01.mov)

http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Images/RobotUpdate0101.jpg
http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Images/RobotUpdate0102.jpg
http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Images/RobotUpdate0103.jpg
http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Images/RobotUpdate0104.jpg
http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Images/RobotUpdate0105.jpg
http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Images/RobotUpdate0106.jpg
http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Images/RobotUpdate0107.jpg
http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Images/RobotUpdate0108.jpg

[johnnyh66]

Man that hand is cool, is it IK'd?

[kjl]

Thanks. There is no "IK" so to speak - the fingers are strictly FK, and the pistons are controlled by a custom plugin that I wrote. They could probably be done with Lightwave IK, but I wanted a more general solution (i.e. if I want to change the way the pistons work I don't need to tweak all the IK setups of all the pistons - I just need to tweak my piston model and my plugin).

-------------

This is a very low-poly version of the left half of the body that I was working on. This was essentially just a 3D sketch made of boxes so I could get a general shape that I liked and make sure that all the joints and pistons worked as expected.


motion test: RobotUpdate02.mov (~3.9 meg) (http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Movies/RobotUpdate02.mov)

http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Images/RobotUpdate0201.jpg
http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Images/RobotUpdate0202.jpg
http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Images/RobotUpdate0203.jpg
http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Images/RobotUpdate0204.jpg
http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Images/RobotUpdate0205.jpg
http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Images/RobotUpdate0206.jpg
http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Images/RobotUpdate0207.jpg

[kjl]

Current update: Haven't worked on this very much at all, despite it being 2 months after my last post. anybody else find it impossible to get the motivation to do 3D stuff for fun at home when production ramps up at work? Anyways, still very basic stuff, but I've cleaned up most of the joints and fixed a bunch of intersections, and even thrown in a little detailing on some parts when I got tired of rigging. A few of the pistons whose positions are pretty nailed down even have connectors to the robot frame now, like the pecs.

2 points if you can figure which robot this is going to be... the head should give it away ;)


The test movie shows how multiple pistons would work in concert to move the arm around, sort of kind of vaguely like a biologic arm.
Motion test: RobotUpdate03.mov (~3 meg) (http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Movies/RobotUpdate03.mov)


http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Images/RobotUpdate0301.jpg
http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Images/RobotUpdate0302.jpg
http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Images/RobotUpdate0303.jpg
http://www.ribsngibs.com/files/Robot/Images/RobotUpdate0304.jpg

[al3d]

Man..this is realy cool..i love the movement test...i've been trying for a LONG time to figure out how to set-up an hydrolic system like that...do you have any tutorials on the subject?...

Thanks

[EmperorPete]

2 points if you can figure which robot this is going to be... the head should give it away ;)
Heh. That's SO going to be Optimus Prime.
I have to say that as a robot builder myself, I'd love to see more on how the pistons work. And I can't wait to see how it turns out :thumbsup:

[kjl]

Heh. That's SO going to be Optimus Prime.

Two points for Pete! Yeah, I'm going for a redesign of Optimus. Terminator-style pistons everywhere, but still transformable. That's why the shoulder is such a disaster. The hips will be (are) a huge catastrophe, too.

BTW, your signature was irresistable for me (mmm... giant robots ;) ), so I checked out your site. I love your Megatron II. You also make some reference to a Redemption movie but I couldn't find it on your site... is it available for download anywhere? I did some googling but didn't find it anywhere else, either, although I did find lots of random forum posts that got me all excited about seeing it! My goal in the end is (as you can probably tell from the fact that I'm doing motion tests) a short animation as well, though I am not aiming at a long story like you apparently created, but a very short transformation sequence (like, for example, the 30 second sequence of Voltron combining that they used in every single episode of that series).

Also, that Tracks Alternator toy is cool - I've got the Subaru WRX Alternator - really beautiful model, with, like Tracks, lots and lots of complexity and too many moving parts.

i've been trying for a LONG time to figure out how to set-up an hydrolic system like that...do you have any tutorials on the subject?...


Sorry, no tutorial, and it wouldn't be very useful anyways... I decided that manually hooking up a zillion pistons through IK or expressions would be way too painful to do, so I wrote a truly awful set of hacky programs and plugins (the kind that I need to recompile all the time because everything is hardcoded) to help me out, though because they are hacky they are becoming more and more unwieldy.

Are you having problems getting one hydraulic piston to work correctly, or are you finding that the task of adding, hooking up, maintaining, and possibly later modifying large numbers of pistons is unmanageable?

[al3d]

Two points for Pete! Yeah, I'm going for a redesign of Optimus. Terminator-style pistons everywhere, but still transformable. That's why the shoulder is such a disaster. The hips will be (are) a huge catastrophe, too.

BTW, your signature was irresistable for me (mmm... giant robots ;) ), so I checked out your site. I love your Megatron II. You also make some reference to a Redemption movie but I couldn't find it on your site... is it available for download anywhere? I did some googling but didn't find it anywhere else, either, although I did find lots of random forum posts that got me all excited about seeing it! My goal in the end is (as you can probably tell from the fact that I'm doing motion tests) a short animation as well, though I am not aiming at a long story like you apparently created, but a very short transformation sequence (like, for example, the 30 second sequence of Voltron combining that they used in every single episode of that series).

Also, that Tracks Alternator toy is cool - I've got the Subaru WRX Alternator - really beautiful model, with, like Tracks, lots and lots of complexity and too many moving parts.




Sorry, no tutorial, and it wouldn't be very useful anyways... I decided that manually hooking up a zillion pistons through IK or expressions would be way too painful to do, so I wrote a truly awful set of hacky programs and plugins (the kind that I need to recompile all the time because everything is hardcoded) to help me out, though because they are hacky they are becoming more and more unwieldy.

Are you having problems getting one hydraulic piston to work correctly, or are you finding that the task of adding, hooking up, maintaining, and possibly later modifying large numbers of pistons is unmanageable?

Actually...i would'nt even know how to hook one ONE...let alone many of them..

[EmperorPete]

Two points for Pete! Yeah, I'm going for a redesign of Optimus. Terminator-style pistons everywhere, but still transformable. That's why the shoulder is such a disaster. The hips will be (are) a huge catastrophe, too.
The biggest problem with making a transformable model with the level of detail you're going for will be in what happens to the pistons and such when he transforms; you won't have a lot of room left; take my word for it ;)
BTW, your signature was irresistable for me (mmm... giant robots ;) ), so I checked out your site. I love your Megatron II.
Thank you! I started on a rebuild/update a while ago; the thread in in this forum somewhere. It has a LOT of pistons on it; I'd value your opinion/input :)
You also make some reference to a Redemption movie but I couldn't find it on your site... is it available for download anywhere? I did some googling but didn't find it anywhere else, either, although I did find lots of random forum posts that got me all excited about seeing it!
Heh. Getting hold of Redemption is a tad tricky; when I released it, peoples' servers were going over theuir bandwidth limit in hours. TO date, it has been downloaded somewhere in the region of 500,000 times plus. Your best bet now is on Direct Connect; go to www.iaconhub.com and look on their DC hub. There's usually a few people sharing it.
My goal in the end is (as you can probably tell from the fact that I'm doing motion tests) a short animation as well, though I am not aiming at a long story like you apparently created, but a very short transformation sequence (like, for example, the 30 second sequence of Voltron combining that they used in every single episode of that series).
Oh MAN, I would LOVE to see that. You have some mad skills in the giant robot department! Personally, my next robot project is likely to be a fully transformable GaoGaiGar model. That should keep me busy for a while... ;)
Also, that Tracks Alternator toy is cool - I've got the Subaru WRX Alternator - really beautiful model, with, like Tracks, lots and lots of complexity and too many moving parts.
I got lucky with Tracks; he never came out in the UK, but I managed to snag a prototype on eBay (a VERY good buy too, since there nere actually was an officially released yellow plastic Tracks, only the Japanese diecast version). And if you think that Smokescreen (the Subaru) is complex, you should try Grimlock... ;)

[kjl]

Actually...i would'nt even know how to hook one ONE...let alone many of them..

Ah, yeah there are a few threads in the forum regarding pistons. I did mine a nonstandard way because of my requirements, but it seems like people generally do it in one of two ways:
1) If it is a simple piston, (e.g. 1 hinge at the start, 1 hinge at the end, and a sliding rod in between), they seem to simply use the targetting option in the motion control dialog to have the master cylinder point towards the null at the end location, and the slave cylinder point towards the null at the start location (see HERE (http://vbulletin.newtek.com/showthread.php?t=31711&highlight=piston) and it looks like Dodgy attached a sample scene file demonstrating it in the second post down in HERE (http://vbulletin.newtek.com/showthread.php?t=16576&highlight=piston).
2) If it is a complex piston (like mine, e.g. multiple hinges and swivels), you either need to write a motion lscript or plugin, which requires a little programming perseverance to get over the API and some linear algebra, or you can use regular old IK. I haven't used IK myself but I imagine it isn't too bad. It looks like splinegod has an example rig here (http://www.splinegod.com/rigs.htm).

I'd be more than happy to help you out with the math if you end up writing your own thing, but I'm afraid I don't know too much about IK. The targetting trick (#1) worked like a charm the one time I tried it and is really, really easy to set up, if you are willing to settle for pistons hooking up two pieces with only one rotational degree of freedom or willing to have the joints at the start and end of the pistons be ball-and-socket style.

The biggest problem with making a transformable model with the level of detail you're going for will be in what happens to the pistons and such when he transforms; you won't have a lot of room left; take my word for it ;)

Yeah, actually one of the reasons my model has stayed in a very primitive cube/cylinder state for so long is that (well, aside from not having any time to work on it), I have been super anal about making sure that the pistons all work. So the robot does in fact currently transform OK, and the pistons just barely avoid each other (the head, in particular, needs to swing back in perfect sync with the shoulders collapsing backwards so that the trapezius and deltoid pistons don't intersect each other). Actually, I should post a render of that tonight when I get home - the piston packing actually looks really cool.

Thank you! I started on a rebuild/update a while ago; the thread in in this forum somewhere. It has a LOT of pistons on it; I'd value your opinion/input :)

Is that "The Great Rebuild" (http://vbulletin.newtek.com/showthread.php?t=38593) thread? I love the ton of awesome details you've done underneath the armor. At some point I'm going to pick your brain about texturing - I've never actually textured anything before. I love all the little tubes and heatsink fins and the like - that stuff is, well, that's probably why we all like giant robots in the first place ;) Sweet sweet battle damage. I especially like the detail on the interior of the guns on his shoulderpads. Will Redemption episode 2 feature the Megatron rebuild?

Heh. Getting hold of Redemption is a tad tricky;
Well, I started the download just before I came to work. I'm psyched to see it when I get home!

I got lucky with Tracks; he never came out in the UK
Yeah, I think I got mine imported using bigbadtoystore.com, where I get most of my giant robot models. Dunno if you like the Macross thing, too, but I just started looking at them again and the valkyrie transforming fighter toys are really, really awesome now. Super high quality and also very complex. Big, too.

[EmperorPete]

Yeah, actually one of the reasons my model has stayed in a very primitive cube/cylinder state for so long is that (well, aside from not having any time to work on it), I have been super anal about making sure that the pistons all work. So the robot does in fact currently transform OK, and the pistons just barely avoid each other (the head, in particular, needs to swing back in perfect sync with the shoulders collapsing backwards so that the trapezius and deltoid pistons don't intersect each other). Actually, I should post a render of that tonight when I get home - the piston packing actually looks really cool.
That's a good idea, IMO; keeping the model itself simple until everything is set up porperly, then building the detail afterwards. I work the same way. I can't wait to see the animation!
Is that "The Great Rebuild" (http://vbulletin.newtek.com/showthread.php?t=38593) thread? I love the ton of awesome details you've done underneath the armor. At some point I'm going to pick your brain about texturing - I've never actually textured anything before. I love all the little tubes and heatsink fins and the like - that stuff is, well, that's probably why we all like giant robots in the first place ;) Sweet sweet battle damage. I especially like the detail on the interior of the guns on his shoulderpads. Will Redemption episode 2 feature the Megatron rebuild?
Megatron II won't actually appear for a few episodes (I have an initial 5 episode story arc already scripted). The detail is for the scenes where Megatron is being upgraded. It should look really nice, If I can pull it off (oh MAN, I need a faster PC...!)
Well, I started the download just before I came to work. I'm psyched to see it when I get home!
I hope you enjoyed it :)
Yeah, I think I got mine imported using bigbadtoystore.com, where I get most of my giant robot models. Dunno if you like the Macross thing, too, but I just started looking at them again and the valkyrie transforming fighter toys are really, really awesome now. Super high quality and also very complex. Big, too.
Some of the Macross toys really do appeal to me, but the series I am watching at the moment is GaoGaiGar. If you like giant robots, you HAVE to see it...!