I started this project to help me learn more about Blender. Modelling, materials, texturing, compositing, nodes, etc. I learnt a lot and continue to do so. I’d love to rig it up so I could animate the beasty but I’ve got to learn to rig, and add some finishing touches. So, finished for now but I hope to return to it in the future when I’ve learnt more.
It took some time to render but I guess that comes from all the individual parts? I guess I should aim to make a part out of one mesh part instead of lots of individual mesh parts. Is it better to do that?
on the individual parts vs. one whole mesh issue - i’ve been wondering this myself. i’ve seen numerous tutorials by quite knowledgeable modelers where they don’t bother welding the mesh together to make it seamless, which i find odd. the perfectionist in me wants one seamless mesh. but it doesn’t seem to really matter, as long as the model moves as you want and renders as you want. joining and parenting the various pieces together seems to be enough.
good piece, but you need to add big fangs in proportion to the body, and also technically, the head should be attach to the carapace. as the spider is not an insect, it only has two body part, a head and an abdomen, where as an insect has three like in your picture, a head, thorax and abdomen. also the slide has two tiny front legs which aren’t leg per say. The mech legs look great though!!!
Thanks for the feedback guys. Fangs seem to be a requirement, I was tempted to add them but wasn’t sure whether it would add to it. I think my intention was to have a passive but slightly shocking looking unusual creature.
I will look more into anatomy as well as your quite right regarding spider anatomy.
It’s like a steampunk cyborg spider, very cool style. I love steampunk, but to be truly steampunk, it has to have some kind of practical function – like a spycam, or even a weapon.
The thing about rigging something like this is that it’s both mechanical and organic. My general rule that it is easier to rig mechanicals (like the spider’s legs) if the parts are separate, while organics (like the spider’s body) deform more naturally when they are in one piece. Just something to keep in mind when choosing how to sort/join parts.
If you are new to rigging, then I suggest using simpler models – one mechanical and one organic – to learn the basics of each before trying to combine them.
Now, there are several different methods for rigging and everyone has his or her own preferences, so my approach is far from being the only one, but it works for me.
I’m learning more about this Steampunk stuff from the replied comments. Will have to look further.
Yes Margaret. My first thoughts were to rig the mechanical legs and pistons and I’ve already watched several youtube videos on the subject. Then I can look at the organic parts at a later stage. As you say it will be better to start on some simple models/meshes and then apply what I learn on my spider model.
There does seem to be several different ways to rig, which is a good thing i suppose, I just have to find whats best for me.
If I do animate it the render time for a sequence could be days as one frame at the quality I used for the image took a good while.
Those long renders, they’re a pain. I’ve had a few that took nearly a week – for about 10-15 seconds worth of video. But it’s worth it for the quality of the results.
Here’s a good article about ways to make renders go faster, I found it to be quite useful:
Thanks Margaret I’ll give it a look. Render times are the bane of 3D modelling I suppose. You don’t know what your going to get until you hit the render button.
