Unit Preview: Futuristic Tank (Scorpion from Halo)

[Grey Fox]

Anyone that are used to doing units in with 3D models, that could advise me on if I should render in the size I want to animate it in or if I should resize the rendered images afterwards? Cus I already have my cameras set on a height and angle that is good...

EDIT: Btw, are the angles good? (take a look on the latest update)

 

[Neomega]

I would zoom my camera out till it looks the right size then save those settings.... I think this will save you work with flicster in the long run.

 

[zulu9812]

Grey Fox, didn't the original pic you posted (of how it looks in Halo) have recon gear on the turret? btw - I still think that the underside needs some work, but it is a very nice tank.

 

[Grey Fox]

Originally posted by zulu9812
Grey Fox, didn't the original pic you posted (of how it looks in Halo) have recon gear on the turret? btw - I still think that the underside needs some work, but it is a very nice tank.

Umm.. I don't know. I can't find any. It has a Gun on it's right side of the Cannon, (which I placed on the right side, but moved to the left now...) though...

And I think it has some kind of Anti Air gun on it's other side, but that could be the recon equipment, because I can't find any good pictures of it, just this movie sequence:
http://www.bungie.net/images/site/halo/gallery/scorpion/scorpion_solid.mov

As you can see in this small sequence there are things missing from my Model, that I will add, which will make me feel better about the model . Like the 2 exhaust pipes and stuff in it's rear. And the textures on the tower sides etc. And atleast texture the tracks (Some of the things might not be seen so much in the game though...)

And Also, I've been noticing that the area which the tower is on is quite wide in my model compared to the real model...

And finally, here is a comparision I made between this and the Modern Armor:

Is it too big? Notice the comparision between cannon thickness.

 

[Neomega]

Well technically (in Halo land), it is a light tank, so I would say it should at least be the size of modern infantry...if not smaller. I know that means you'll lose a lot of detail, but right now it looks huge. I meant modern armor, not infantry.

 

[GhengisFarb]

Very nice..............

 

[Grey Fox]

Originally posted by Neomega
Well technically (in Halo land), it is a light tank, so I would say it should at least be the size of modern infantry...if not smaller. I know that means you'll lose a lot of detail, but right now it looks huge.

We'll try later, Arr now I have to come up with Tank blue prints for futuristic Medium Tanks and Heavy Tanks

Originally posted by GhengisFarb
Very nice..............

All those dots make me nervous, but Thanks you

 

[zulu9812]

why does the tank HAVE to be a light tank. As far as I'm concerned, accuracy with Halo isn't important, so why not keep it as a big tank and not lose detail?

 

[Grey Fox]

Originally posted by zulu9812
why does the tank HAVE to be a light tank. As far as I'm concerned, accuracy with Halo isn't important, so why not keep it as a big tank and not lose detail?

Yes, I might aswell do that...

Is the size in the Comparision between my tank and the Modern Armor good?

 

[W.i.n.t.e.r]

well, it's a tad big... but I agree that it should be larger than the M1

 

[Grey Fox]

Originally posted by W.i.n.t.e.r
well, it's a tad big... but I agree that it should be larger than the M1

Yes, I think I might shrink it some more... (I'm using 1400*1050 as resolution, and when I changed to 1024*768 it did feel a little too big.)

 

[Balou]

Looks good but don´t make it too big. Make sure two of those tanks don´t overlap when they stand square by square.
You can save a lot of time (and frustration) when you output the renders in the resolution you are also going to use in the game. Don´t forget you have to do the resize with all of the frames. That´s a lot of work. I render my infantry units with a 120x90 pixels resolution. Tanks may need a higher resolution because of the explosion etc.

 

[Grey Fox]

Ah, nice tip Balou... I've been moving my cameras longer and longer from my Tank instead of doing that.. I should have thought of it Well well, thanks for reminding me of that...

Here is a little preview of what I'm working on now:

The Black area is untextured so far...

I decided to make my model a little more detailed (the Texture size on the Cannon 'Base' is actually 900*900px), so I added the Rotating thing by the canon 'head', and as you can see in the bottom version, the cannon is aiming a little up. This is something that is very useful in Halo, you can shoot very far by aiming upwards and volley:ing the cannon shot.

I have also added exhaust pipes in the back of the tank, as shown by the rotating movie and another screenshot I have. And I'm also making it more detailed in places I have skipped so far...

Anyway, I hope to be ready with the texturing tomorrow (If I'll work on it...) and I will probably start animating right away.

 

[Senoj]

COOOL!!!! I was just wondering will this unit be stationary or moveable. If stationary, will you be able to paradrop?

 

[Boulboulgadol]

Very nice unit !!

Well I agree with Neomega and Balou. You will save a lot of time if you render it at the civ3 size.

But you can have the problems I had on my first unit.
You may have quality problems.
If you do, just try to save on a big scale and reduce it later. Some tools like Jasc Animation Shop can really help. When you've got all your "big" frames saved, make the animation on Animation shop. So you will have a big sized animation. Then go to Animation>Resize Animation, and set up the new size. It will modify all the frames in one turn (of civ3, of course ! ) ! Plus, it manages very well the scale changes and keeps a very cood quality.

Go on ! It rules !

 

[Grey Fox]

Originally posted by Senoj
COOOL!!!! I was just wondering will this unit be stationary or moveable. If stationary, will you be able to paradrop?

No, it will be moveable, the last image was just of the Tanks Tower. The rest of the tank was hidden.

 

[zulu9812]

that new tank tower is great - just what I had in mind :b:

 

[Armydude]

Looking good.

 

[OmniMower]

Are u going to skip the fillet feature???

 

[Civanator]

hey gf, are you working on this?