This isn’t really as “finished” as it could be, but the purpose is over so I’m posting as it. There was a competition for NZCGI.com to create a weapon concept for an animal. It was not allowed to be cartoonistic or defy “reality”, and the creature was not allowed to get special abilities beyond what they would normally have to operate the weapon.
Time given was 5 weeks, although the first week of this I had to come up with different ideas after my first one was rejected, and having to mark school reports etc also pretty much took out another two, so I really only had the evenings of a couple of weeks to put into this.
Basic concept: An electric eel is given a special collar which can shoot harpoons and act like tasers.
Thanks calmeishmael. Yeah, my first concept idea (rolling rodent wheel with machine guns) was rejected on the grounds it was a vehicle. Criteria was fairly tight, but some good variety from other contenders. I was just glad to hand something in before the final bell.
Thanks for the feedback. callmeshmael - I think I’m probably the only entrant who used Open Source. Most are students training for industry or actual 3D industry players here in New Zealand, where Blender is yet to take of in a major way. Despite only having three of the five weeks taken out by my busy teaching job (reports & end year stuff), entering events like this does give you a boost. I learned a few new tricks and have a list of “want to know” things to immediately research as a result. Square - Yes and no. The string has to go completely straight when the bow is released. It’s the bow itself which has the spring / tension. I think you are right, it would look more dramatic if the harpoon/arrow were pulled back a tad more, though I’d be careful hot to do it much further. The string is a beveled bezier path, so it’d be dead easy to adjust (so are the wires and also the bow itself. Pretty much everything was initially modeled as NURBS, including the eel). Certainly, there are a number of other physical impossibilities in this rushed project.
Thanks patricia3d. Hey, Chuk_Chuk, I was pleasantly surprised with the result: scored a second place in the competition. Given that I’d been so pushed for time that I was considering pulling out altogether, I’m pretty stoked.
Huh, not really what I expected to find when I opened the topic. I was expecting it to be an eel made INTO a weapon, as in you hold the eel and use it as a taser. I guess that would be too easy though. Anyway, looks awesome, very realistic.
Have you thought of marketing this? I’m sure the military would be interested in some form or another, after all they did experiment with killer dolphins (if memory serves).
