Octropos

Luuk, All I can say is thanks (and wow, or course)! I will definitely buy this when you are ready to sell. I've been wanting a tool like this for some time! Eric

Yes. I checked the whole chain. Thanks, Eric

Howdy all! I am having some unexpected behaviour with a kinematic constraint to a null. The setup: I have a chain of 8 bones (it's in a tentacle, but that probably doesn't matter much) running vertically (parent is at the top, bone #8 is at the bottom). I have a null that is doing the actual moving around. I apply a Kinematic Constraint from bone # 8 (end of the chain) to the null. Bone #8 now 'moves' over to the null, dragging it's parent bones along (just like if I'd grabbed bone 8 and moved it manually). This is expected. Things go fine until the null raises (translates in the +Y direction) up past about 1/2 the length of the chain. After a certain height bone #8 still points at the null but is no longer 'attached' (doesn't raise up anymore), even though there is sufficient 'room' in the chain to reach the null's present location (confirmed by manually dragging bone 8 up to null). It's like the top few parent bones in the chain don't want to bend or something. All constraint and bone properties are defaults. Version 12 Can anyone shed some light? Thanks! Eric

I just want to add, and I hope you see this for the complement it is, that since viewing your latest, I am now highly motivated _not_ to slack off on my contest entry. This fellow(Lady?) is shaping up very nicely!

The hands/forearms are my next area to work on, for sure. As the rest of him gets tidied up they just look blockier and blockier. . . . Thanks for the feedback, feel free to keep it coming!

Well, the criticism lets me know how close I am to achieving my goals with a piece, so I kind of look forward to it. I've also learned not to put things up for critique until I'm ready for the feedback, though Here's the latest with a lot of the changes suggested. Still not 100% there on the legs, I feel. I won't comment on it further so as not to influence opinions. Thanks in advance for your comments and critiques as always!

Luckbat, First off a big thanks for that critique! If anything it gets me more fired up to work on this model. . .do I need help? I apologise in advance for some of the rambling wordiness of the replies. I hope no one takes them in any kind of argumentative or defensive way. They are meant to try and explain some of the thinking that lead me to do what I did on this model in the hopes of helping everyone see where I was trying go- at least with the parts that were intentional - so they can help me get there. All the points you and the others have brought up are good ones! Obviously if my design ideas aren't visually apparent, I did an insufficient job of executing on them, which is why these critiques are so great. Commander Courage, perhaps? (Bonus points if you catch that reference ) With you on the plausible/cool issue. The intent is to go for more realism, thus the average guy, but as you note that can drop the cool factor. I am hoping to get this model into a happy balance between the realism and looking cool. I am intentionally avoiding 'heroic' proportions for artistic(Lots of people already do them, and do them very well) as well as practical reasons. The chief practical reason draws on the observation that most soldiers look like an average guy much more than they look like body builders. The reference I used for a rotoscope was a man who is probably some sort of Decathelete- he has an even, all over muscle development, rather than Huge Pectorals or Massive Thighs. I envision that these soldiers will have to operate anywhere from heavy gravity to zero-g, and even with artificial muscles, there's a certain amount of innate physical strength the wearer must possess to be effective, but they don't want to be too bulky either. So the suit is designed around someone more muscular than me, but much less so than Arnold. That said, I'll be reducing the obliques to get rid of the love handles and try to get some more triangularity in the torso, as well as doing something about the Gastrocs. The armor part of the artifical muscles is really there to give them room to contract in- a Gastroc is long but when fully contracted tends to bunch up pretty tightly near the top (at least mine do), so I was trying to just model some space for the contracted muscle, assuming the rest would fit inside the greave when relaxed. I have realised after thinking about your comment that artifical muscles need artifical tendons, and while most of them can be hidden inside the armor, the Achilles are prominent enough to warrant some modelling. I'll fiddle with the head size a bit. I utilized the same reference picture as for the torso and arms. The biggish head size results from making room for padding, electronics, and etc inside the helmet. A small shrinkage might give the effect you suggest and still leave room for all that. The helmet design is actually a mix of later-period Japanese and Gothic-period Burgundian, with Itallian influences. I liked the looks of the first and the practical considerations of the second. I'll see what I can do for the lower face-mask (I think that's the biggest design clash with the rest of the helmet). I believe the texturing ideas I have in mind for that area will bring the styles together more, but you've got me thinking of some modelling solutions to the problem as well now. I'll try to work something up and post it soon. The Pauldrons (shoulders)- They're actually on a hinge, roundabout where the trapezius would join the distal clavicle/shoulder area, you'll see it when he moves. There is the problem of him not being able to raise his arms _straight_ up, even with the hinge, as well as not being able to reach up and behind. I have a solution that would allow for such a ROM and still maintain the coverage, but it's kind of complicated to build so I think the wearer may just have to put up with it. After all, this armor was built by the lowest bidder Thanks again everybody, for the great suggestions/comments! I hope my rambling and long-winded replies have not dissuaded anyone from making any more. I'd like to get this model as cool and believeable as possible, so keep em coming! I'll try to get a new render with these changes up tomorrow.

Due to the mechanical nature of the articulations (Can't see the detail at this resolution, but the elbows and knees are fully articulated), I'll probably do fan bones. and Ken- He's got his arms down mainly to make modelling the shoulders easier for me. I will T-Pose the arms when it comes time to rig. Works OK to do this on a space marine as he's more robot than man. Hmm. . . perhaps a slogan there. . . Thanks for the feedback so far. Is this a model that would get you excited to animate if you had it in your collection? That's my overall goal with this. I've always liked best the things that made me want to jump in and move them around.

Thanks for the comments. The legs have been the trouble spot on this one. The idea is that this suit incorporates artificial muscles for the major groups, this means that some areas of the body get thicker/bulkier and others don't, and it's been a challenge fiddling the proportions to have them look right this way. I will change the lengths/proprotions on the pelvis/legs area some and post new pics. Please don't hesitate to post additional comments in the meantime

Howdy all, Here's a fellow from a current project. Comments, reactions, critiques, suggestions all welcome! (edit) Should mention no texturing other than group colors. Trying to get the modelling nailed down first.