Ratha (Indian Chariot) Project

[Takhisis]

Dang! The bloody program crashed. I'd already done the chattra anew.

 

[Takhisis]

Aaaand, recovering after the crash, here we go...

I still think that the horses might be too short. Or the chariot itself is too tall. I added a horseman and a footman for comparison.

 

[Blue Monkey]

Aaaand, recovering after the crash, here we go...

I still think that the horses might be too short. Or the chariot itself is too tall. I added a horseman and a footman for comparison.

It's hard to be sure from an isometric view. A straight side view would make it easier to see. They do look short. One way to tell is that the pole is at their shoulders without looking like it angles up very much.

Michaelus' model previews here show a good match of horse to ratha size. A look at the galleries in this post or this one also give you a comparison point.

 

[Takhisis]

Sorry, I fell asleep right after lunch and woke up just an hour ago. That's not an isometric view, an Isometric view would be ortographic, i.e. there would be no perspective, no vanishing points. This is a conical projection, albeit from a weird angle. Let's see... two conicals (perspectives):

and two ortographics (non-perspectives):

In the OP picture, the horses are actually taller than the chariot, so my guess is that it's the chariot that need changing. I could try making it smaller and see what happens. Once I'm set on scales I start fine-tuning.
Plus, Blender does allow for importing of .obj models, so I just have to browse for the right horse.

 

[Blue Monkey]

If you use Kinboat's Paperdoll (which is made to match Firaxis units) for the figures then you can scale everything else to match.

There is a horse included with the free Poser that a lot of us have downloaded. It's .OBJ . utahjazz7 posted the adjustments he makes in Poser for it to match the paperdoll, etc. Also a run animation (Poser). Snakelover provided a horse in 3DS format.

 

[Takhisis]

Alright, thanks for the horsie you sent me, I imported it from .obj format into .Blend format, and
here's a couple of previews:

Now, let's get the rsizing moving on!

 

[Takhisis]

Do you like this golden texture? It's {R 1.000 G 0.890 B 0.006 Alpha 1.000}

I know, the wheels and other stuff will be wood coloured, I've already got a couple textures off the Internet and Wood Workshop. But it goes for the trimming and gilt

 

[Yang Liu]

Do you like this golden texture?

No. You need correct textures for your vehicle, not colours.

H.Balck

 

[Takhisis]

This is for a civ unit, you won't be showing much more than colours. For wood I'd use something like these:

Remember that that gold is just for golden pieces, put it on the whole thing to make it more visible.

 

[Blue Monkey]

The ratha model is shaping up nicely. If some of my comments below are about things to be done further down the road just ignore them for now.

• The horse looks about the proper height now.
• Overall proportions of the ratha look fine.
• The wheel proportions & placement look pretty decent, at least for now. Perhaps the front & rear axles can be spaced a little bit further apart?
• The axle seems a little thick.
• When it comes time to animate remember that the shaft needs to be free to move both vertically & horizontally.
• In the latest gray previews the wall height (up to the hips) looks just right. But in the golden preview it looks too high compared to the figure (above the waist). Not sure which version you are currently working with.
• The chattra is still flat - are you planning to eventually give it a convex top?
• I had mentioned about having the ends of the wall curve down to the floor. Is that still in the works?
• Gold texture - with the caveat of not seeing it in game it looks like a decent color. For comparison you might look at the color/texture Plotinus used on the Golden Warriors, which does look like what I imagine this should in game.
• The wood texture is good - can it be made just a little lighter - the color of ash or oak? I think that would better match the types of wood likely to have been used.
• Let me know when it's time to get into the differences between the standard version & the "special" and the riders' dress & weapons.

I hope everything I've said is seen as positive, since that was my intent. I appreciate your efforts to bring my vision of what a ratha should be to life. Keep up the good work.

 

[Takhisis]

The horse looks about the proper height now.

I have to fix it's hooves and tail yet.

Overall proportions of the ratha look fine.
The wheel proportions & placement look pretty decent, at least for now. Perhaps the front & rear axles can be spaced a little bit further apart?
The axle seems a little thick.

I know, but I've still got to come up with a way to join the axles to the chariot frame.

When it comes time to animate remember that the shaft needs to be free to move both vertically & horizontally.

It's actually a separate piece which just goes into the chariot's frame, even if they're part of the same object.

In the latest gray previews the wall height (up to the hips) looks just right. But in the golden preview it looks too high compared to the figure (above the waist). Not sure which version you are currently working with.

Look closely enough and you'll find that it's a trick of

• the colours,
• I've actually moved some of the guys around while editing the back of the chariot.It's the very same soldier.

The chattra is still flat - are you planning to eventually give it a convex top?
I had mentioned about having the ends of the wall curve down to the floor. Is that still in the works?

I have two methods and I'm not completely sure which one to do. But both take a lot of pressing the F key.

Gold texture - with the caveat of not seeing it in game it looks like a decent color. For comparison you might look at the color/texture Plotinus used on the Golden Warriors, which does look like what I imagine this should in game.

Remember tha I don't know animating -yet- so I'll just let the rendering and aniamting to somebody else.

The wood texture is good - can it be made just a little lighter - the color of ash or oak? I think that would better match the types of wood likely to have been used.
Let me know when it's time to get into the differences between the standard version & the "special" and the riders' dress & weapons.

I have a few more already saved, the problem is that I've lost the original .gtx files so I only have the pics. it's trial and error or GIMP, I'll see what can be done.

Let me know when it's time to get into the differences between the standard version & the "special" and the riders' dress & weapons.

Most of the golden armour and equipment on the 'special' chariot's riders will be replaced by bronze and iron. I can dig up some rusty iron from the repository at parastudios if needed.

 

[Takhisis]

OK, chattra improved:

 

[Takhisis]

Now that I think of it, I'll try to copy those saddle things from R:TW that you poasted earlier. They don't look that difficult to model.

 

[Blue Monkey]

Getting better all the time.

 

[Takhisis]

Please send me some descriptions of the weapons the soldiers should have (bows, arrows, swords, daggers, etc.) so I can begin making them. As usual, don't be afraid of giving too much detail .
For now I'll do something to the axles.

 

[Takhisis]

I put some kind of suspension, otherwise the axles would be moving of their own accord. Comments?

 

[Takhisis]

I've been toying around with the yoke a bit:

Now it looks a bit stronger, the old one would have snapped easily IRL, methinks.

 

[Blue Monkey]

Please send me some descriptions of the weapons the soldiers should have (bows, arrows, swords, daggers, etc.) so I can begin making them. As usual, don't be afraid of giving too much detail .

The quickest way for me to get the info to you is to forward some PMs to you with galleries I gathered for someone else. Expect several shortly. Eventually I'll post a brief summary here & add those galleries to the Indian concept art thread.

I put some kind of suspension, otherwise the axles would be moving of their own accord. Comments?

I like it. On the other hand, I'm not sure if it will even show at game scale. Except maybe if the ratha completely fell over during the death anim.

Now it looks a bit stronger, the old one would have snapped easily IRL, methinks

Yes, you're definitely moving in the right direction.

I like the curve you've added to the side walls near the chattra supports. Hopefully you'll be able to work out the difficulty with the end curving down.

I was thinking this morning that if you send me the wood texture file it would be straightforward for me to make some brightness/contrast changes & get it back to you.

 

[Takhisis]

The quickest way for me to get the info to you is to forward some PMs to you with galleries I gathered for someone else. Expect several shortly. Eventually I'll post a brief summary here & add those galleries to the Indian concept art thread.

8 Pms, nice, it'll take some time to condense them into something else. I've never done a recurve bow before, but my guess is that it can't be that difficult. I'll just have to modify a torus. I'll try to do that scale armour, it looks nic and not terribly difficult. I've never done cloth or soft bodies before, expect lots of apparently stupid questions.

I like it. On the other hand, I'm not sure if it will even show at game scale. Except maybe if the ratha completely fell over during the death anim.

Remember that I won't be animating. I simply don't know how. Unless it's the painfully slow and bothersome job of stop-motion.

Yes, you're definitely moving in the right direction.

I like the curve you've added to the side walls near the chattra supports. Hopefully you'll be able to work out the difficulty with the end curving down.

What difficulty?

I was thinking this morning that if you send me the wood texture file it would be straightforward for me to make some brightness/contrast changes & get it back to you.

The wooden square that I put on the wooden sleepers was this one:

 

[Takhisis]

So, you want one driver and one archer on it, right? Just to clarify.