Sept/Oct - Noob - Blueflies
 

Ok, just joined up and thought I'd give this one a try. I've chosen the main "character" from the old Atari game Moon Patrol. See the link below for a description....

Moon Patrol

Ok, I know what you're thinking.....it's a vehicle, not a character. Well I ran it by McKinley and he gave me the go ahead.

I've attached some original game art that I'm using as reference.

I've used Lightwave since version 4 but I'd still consider myself a bit of a Noob and more-or-less a hobby user until recently. I'm trying to push the limits and learn some of the more advanced stuff so this contest is a good lesson for me. Please post comments, critiques and questions! See you all at the finish line.

--Blueflies

Game art...
 

Ok, I'm going to try to attach an image here.....

--Blueflies

Another game art pic.....
 

Another reference pic....

--Blueflies

Concept sketch #1
 

Ok, I just drafted this up real quick in AutoCad to get an idea of what a side view might look like and am using it as my base. The design is changing by the minute as I see things that need to be carried over from the original and as new things pop up in my brain about how it can be improved.

One thing I think that was lacking from the original artwork is the fact that the vehicles depicted don't look at all like they could jump at all like it does in the game. That is one main point I want to improve on with my new model.

--Blueflies

Starting on the wheels & tires....
 

Progress of the wheel assembly....tires are tough but I think the way I've done them should be fine.....

--Blueflies

Body started....
 

The beginnings of a body for my vehicle. Sorry for posting these all individually but I don't have access to my FTP site right now so I can't host any of these images. Hopefully I'll get that problem fixed in the next week.

--Blueflies

Body progress....
 

A bit more detail added, it's starting to take shape.

--Blueflies

Body progress...
 

I had to raise the cab up a bit and start thinking about how I'm going to do all this suspension and make it look believable as a working vehicle....any tips or references anyone could give me would be much appreciated....

--Blueflies

Body progress...
 

Ok, duplicated the suspension as is to the rear wheels and worked on building more of the rear body...

--Blueflies

Body progress...
 

Molded the rear body a bit more and just played around with it till it looked "right". Next I think I'll get into the rear cannon area and figure out a way to incorporate it into the rear body shell that I already have. This is the last progress I'll post for today, I've got some time tomorrow so hopefully that cannon will get built. I'd love to hear from you guys and tell me what you think so far.

--Blueflies

Ok, some initial render tests....
 

Ok, couldn't help myself. I just had to pop it into layout and do some render tests to see what this thing looks like.

Here's the front view. I want it to look like a nimble vehicle that could actually do the job it's supposed to do in the game. From the game description I learned that it's supposed to be an actual patrol vehicle enforcing some galactic laws in Sector 9 or something. Law enforcement and military vehicles are always nicely equipped for their job so I'm trying to show that in my model. I want it to look mean, something you wouldn't want to see in your rear view mirror.

--Blueflies

Render test...
 

Here's the side view so far...

--Blueflies

Render test...
 

A rear angle view...

--Blueflies

Looking nice so far. Don't forget to make your own modifications on it.

Wow - fast bit of modelling going on there. Might want to check with Mike quickly with regard to the character rule or if you can go ahead with a sort of non-character entry. Great model though nevertheless and its come together very quickly.

Well I saved a lot of versions as I've been going along and just went back and make screen captures of my progress.


Yes, I checked with Mike. He's fine with it as a character entry. In the game, the vehicle IS the main character, there are no "people" anywhere. I know that may hurt me a bit in the voting phase but hopefully not.

Thanks for the comments!! Will try to post some progress here later today.

Well, haven't had any more time to work on this one but hopefully in the next few days I'll get some more work done. I still need to work out how to connect the cab with the rear of the vehicle.

Thanks for those who voted more favorably in my poll, and for those that don't agree with my choice of "character"....well, thanks for your honest opinion. Like I said before, it's my first contest here and really just wanted to participate. Thanks to all who've made comments so far, I really appreciate them as well. Keeps me motivated.

looking really good :)

You could add a large piston between the two parts sat at 45 degrees from the ground so that it could be used to make the vehicle jump. That or add a thruster there so that it can fire and propel the vehicle upwards.
Just ideas ;)

Sorry to say it but I don't think at this point that I'll be able to continue in the competition. Work has been insane and my "free time" has been zapped up for the past couple weeks. I'd like to still finish it just to see how well my "non character" entry could do in the voting but I'll have to play it by ear.

Thanks for all your comments, hopefully you'll see this model in the WIP's section in the near future.

Sorry you have had to let this one go....oh well there will be more challenges in the future, I hope :)