The Untitled Robot Project — WIP 05

As much as I like the name, “Untitled Robot Project”, I should probably give this thing a proper title at some point. And what precisely is “this thing”? Here’s the backstory: Kickoff, WIP 01, WIP 02, WIP 03 & WIP 04.

Welcome back, robot fans. It’s great to have you all back.

Progress

I spent a long week on holiday in Hawaii (don’t cry for me) so I’ve not as much to show as I’d like. Nevertheless, I was able to get some modeling done on ‘Bot 03.

I’m largely happy with where it’s going, though I’m unsure about the “top hat” of the glowing purple lamp. I want to use this, or a similar element, to help tie all three ‘bots together, but this particular iteration isn’t working.

I’m also going to be adding some more mid-sized modeling details, specifically a rear vent panel and some greeble on the neck/waist area.

I like all three feet & legs being slightly different. To my eyes that suggests each being somewhat customized for a specific job — one might hold soil-sampling equipment, another carries fuel, etc. What exactly each does isn’t that important to me right now.

The eye shapes need a little work and the eye material is temp. Those will be my major next steps.

Next Steps

After the tweaks mentioned above and the UV’s for this ‘bot, I want to revisit all three and add a final detail pass — bolts, seams, etc. I’m waiting to get all three mostly modeled so that I can bring them all together in one scene (or instance them in a master scene) and add the final touches as a group. All three ‘bots are fairly different-looking, which was part of the point, but I want them to feel like they came from the same factory. I think that’ll be easier working on them as a group rather than individually.

Here’s all three at, roughly, their intended relative sizes. I knew from the start that it would be challenging to build framings that would fit all three & still be interesting. I don’t know how many renders I’ll do that will feature all three ‘bots, so maybe this won’t be an issue.

Lighting all three in one scene will be tricky as well, at least from a rendering time perspective. In this image, it’s really only the tall ‘bot who’s close to being well-lit. I don’t know that I want to have three lighting rigs running at all times, but we’ll see.

Next, Next Steps

I should start doing some motion tests for the “new car” beauty shots. This’ll be fun, though the rendering may kick my machine in the pants.

Then there’s Mari…

There’s a lot to do! I’m stoked and daunted, both.

Stay in touch. Let me know what you think and thanks again.