Modelling robot

Hi,

I haven’t done something for blender for a while, and wanted to start with a real project.
I saw this nice image, and wanted to try to model it.

Does anyone have tips on where to start / points to watch out for?

Thanks in advance,

Sven
http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e96/Svenniemannie/weg-6.jpg

  1. That’s amazing.
  2. I would start with the most detailed part. Therefor you don’t slack off on detail later when it really needs it. This would probably be all of the lofting in the chest area.

Uhm, why not start out and see where you encounter problems? And THEN asking us, what you might do to resolve them (best suited for the WIP or Focused Critique section).

It is just very hard for us to tell where you will have problems, mainly because we don’t have a clue how you model. And what your experience is. Just be prepared that this isn’t going to be an easy job…

@ Myke: I completely understand you. Point is, I kind of lost interest in blender these days,:o and I wanted to start again. However, when I look at something/think of modelling something, I immediadely think: I can’t do that.
Say: I’m not satisfied with easier things.

I’m willing to take a lot of time for this (which it will take), but I just don’t know where to begin: I have this strange thingy that I am not satisfied when it doesn’t look good, so in the beginning there’s a part I have to “get through” (if you understand me).

I have some experience, did most of the (almost) complete parts of the bsod, and have done some things myself too.

In scale complete noob=1, Sago/Robert,AndyD and everyone else I forgot = 10, count me somewhere at 5-6

Hope this helps a bit:yes:

I think I understand that

in the beginning there’s a part I have to “get through”
bit.

Blender is not a very good medium for doing thumbnails and sketches for the beginner. In that way it’s the opposite of paper and pencil, where it’s easy to sketch but difficult to do a really good pencil render. So I’d suggest you do your sketching with pencil and paper, then when you’ve got your ideas out of your head and out where you can see them (literally), sit down at Blender and start modeling.

I don’t understand this, you want to say I should make my own sketches? I wanted to model this robot, not another one:confused:
(And I’m no good in sketching…)

For some reason, the image you posted didn’t show up on my end. Now that I can see it…
I’d still suggest a bit of preliminary paper and pencil work. You’ve got a humanoid, in a pose. For modeling people, generally one models the person, then adds some bones and makes the pose, so I suppose the same thing would work with humanoid robots. So you’d need a front view, a side view and a back view. You might also want to do the side view with and without the arms.

As to actually modeling the beast–I’d suggest the opposite of Spenn13. Start by blocking it in. Ignore the details, the hydraulic lines, the bolt heads, the insets, and see if there is some sort of frame you could model first. Then add the hydraulic things and the connectors, and finally add the orange cover plates. Work from the inside out. Of course, you’ll have to make up most of the inside, from the glimpses of it shown at the joints.

I agree with Orinoco’s approach except I’d go from the outside in. Don’t look at the subject as a robot, look at it as a collection of basic forms. Start by discerning and modeling only the larger shapes: the limbs can be extruded from rectangular or trapezoidal blocks, the head is a squished sphere, the chest is a cube with a bit sticking out the bottom. Then repeat the same process for each individual part, adding finer detail at each iteration by extrusion or by adding and reshaping more primitives. Sometimes it helps to view the subject upside down so you can concentrate on the form instead of content.

In this business another consideration is whether you will use the model for animation. This decision should be made early because it will greatly influence your approach to the modeling. But that’s a whole other lecture :slight_smile:

This helped me a lot :slight_smile:
I am very busy at the moment (school), but when I have time I’ll start on this.
Sven

Actually, svennie, my own way of working seems to be similar to yours. I’m a perfectionist and can’t stand my stuff, when it “does not look good”. I’m willing to take my time, though, to do my best and get a result with which I can live. And it happens quite often that I say to myself: “No, I can’t do that”.

Yet you have to be honest to yourself: do you REALLY and honestly think that you can’t do it? Then I personally don’t think it is a good idea to start it nevertheless, because, if I would do that, I’d spend weeks on trying and in the end most likely give up, with a feeling that I have wasted my time during the last few weeks.
Which is not good.
However, if, at the second look it does seem feasible, yeah, with a lot of time and patience, but if it does seem possible - then I’d go for it. That’s what I usually do.

And while we’re at it - I’m with Orinoco, I usually “sketch” out things, that means, make a basic shape and then start with details and refining. Of course, split the robot into several parts, which seems to be a good idea here. Another important thing is - get as much reference as possible, even from other robots or mechanical stuff, just to get a good understanding of how you could model certain parts or, if you can’t tell from this one picture, find a way to replace them with other, fitting machinery…

Thanks :slight_smile:

Yes, I think I can manage this if I go on. When I see things, I can “imagine” a wireframe around them, so I think I should be abled to make that wireframe as well. And I know more than just the basics, so I’m going for it :wink:

You know this?
-You have a busy week
-You hope that next week is less busy
-Next week is not less busy, only busier.
-You hope that next week is less busy
etc etc

I hope I can start next week…