Heavy/Scratch: DMK 01 Optimus Prime repaint/custom

Discussion in 'Radicons Customs' started by Solid Alexei, Nov 1, 2014.

  1. HasTak

    HasTak Well-Known Member

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    My pleasure, man! I know how hard it is to scour the net for hours on end to get into and tutorials. When I started out airbrushing, I had a lot of help from more experienced modelers, so it's kind of a responsibility to pass that knowledge around, lol! :) 

    I can't believe the coincidence! I also bought a Kotobukiya Jehuty, but haven't built it yet. Mostly because I haven't decided if I want to give it a game-accurate matte paint job or something glossy like the promo pics. The goldaccents will be metallic, of course, but I might give the gray colors a matte finish for a bit of contrast. I keep floundering between glossy and matte, and it's been like that for months.

    Either way, metallics colors on the Jehuty would be awesome!

    LOL, as embarrassing as it is to say, I only recently opened a photobucket account! Sheesh, I'm like a fricking internet Neanderthal. :lol 

    I've been so caught up with 3d rendering stuff (trust me, it can get pretty darn addictive playing with shapes on Sketchup!) that most of my personal builds and customs are only about 70% complete.

    Once I'm done with my latest 3D printing commission, I'll have to finish up some of my older projects and start posting stuff.

    And seriously, I have to thank you in return for firing up my enthusiasm with your DMK-01 build! Starting to feel the itch again for building model kits!
     
  2. Ironhide1234

    Ironhide1234 Here.

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    Fucking perfection.



    AOE Prime is cool, but will never be as good looking as this design.
     
  3. Solid Alexei

    Solid Alexei Secret Operative

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    small world haha:D  SO you're going for anime metallic look? I was thinking about that but the guys at Konami suggested to try a worn out, realistic look as this have not been tried before with ZOE models as far as I know. I took them up on it and will do a more realistic looking Jehuty similar to how 3A Toys finishing their models:D  I am a big fan of custom painted Gundam and Macross models and how realistic they look all worn off and damaged so I will try to replicate some of the finishing techniques I gathered etc:)  Really looking forward to seeing your Jehuty man!!

    HAHA cheers mate! and yeah I have a sweet spot for good old DOTM Optimus. AOE Prime looks sleek and all but too much of a "Power Ranger" for my taste haha
     
  4. HasTak

    HasTak Well-Known Member

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    Whoa, you actually know the guys at Konami? Please tell me I didn't misread that... :jawdropper: 

    Either way, yeah, I agree that a realistic look works well for the Jehuty. I won't try for a 100% metallic look, but more of a contrast between metallic and matte. The gray parts will probably be matte or satin, while the gold accents will be metallic. I think the contrast should work well, or at least look decent. Or do you think I should go for 100% matte?

    LOL, I know I ain't never gonna come close to metallic weathering like you can!

    Not sure if this is a little ambitious, but I want to try for a more video game accurate look, and try weathering it with pastels. I might add just the barest minimum of paint chipping, but I want to give it more of a concept art look.

    A bit like this:

    [​IMG]
     
  5. Solid Alexei

    Solid Alexei Secret Operative

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    Yeah you are right. Jehuty does have somewhat matte grey finish in the game with gold/yellow parts. I'm still not sure what color to use for the main body but I'm definitely will use gold metal for the yellow parts:) 

    And ha ha Konami and I go way back :)  I used to work in games industry for some years befor moving to 3D printing so I got to know quite a few people from different game companies:) 
    Besides doing my Jehuty I'm planning to get anther ZOE kit. Maybe Vic Viper as they are very cheap, and finish one in solid bronze finish to make it look like a statue, then 3D print a nice stand for him at work with a message to Kojima and Shinkawa. The guys at Konami said they will send it to them once I finished haha
     
  6. HasTak

    HasTak Well-Known Member

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    Forgive me, sir; I knew not that I stand before an emissary of the gods of gaming! :bowdown:  :lol  If you see Kojima-san one of these days, tell him HasTak thinks cyborg Raiden rocks! :lol  MGR needs a sequel!

    A bronze effect Vic Viper would be all kinds of awesome!

    BTW, are you using your own 3D printer or selling through Shapeways? I've got an UP Plus 2. I still find extrusion printers more practical for custom parts than stereolithiography ones like the Form1 and Autodesk's upcoming Spark. Less cleanup and cost.
     
  7. Solid Alexei

    Solid Alexei Secret Operative

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    hahha I'm sure as hell will!;)  Rising was nuts but a great game to play!:D 

    and I work in additive manufacturing with printing rapid prototype and production parts for Formula One teams mainly so our machines are on a whole different level compared to Makerbots or any other consumer stuff haha. I mean ours cost £250,000 at least each so you can imagine jump in quality and surface detail compared to consumer printers so I cannot complain as I can print my stuff at work in crazy resolution haha:D 
     
  8. HasTak

    HasTak Well-Known Member

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    The action in MGR was absolutely bonkers but in a good way! Every time I play that game (still do, it's that good) it's like I died and gone to cyborg heaven! The mechanical designs are absolutely kickass.

    Whoa! Industrial 3D printers are in a totally different league! Shapeways doesn't even come close. Man, you are one lucky SOB to be have a machine like that at your disposal! :drool:  Given your experience and expertise in the gaming industry, I can imagine you could come up with some awesome original mech designs...printed in a machine that most of us here can only dream of using.
     
  9. Solid Alexei

    Solid Alexei Secret Operative

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    haha thanks man! I do have so many ideas I would like to make like all those Optimus weapons, The Iron Giant articulated model, so much more but it's always a matter of finding any free time to 3D model those projects:(  Du to the nature of my work with crazy deadlines and bulk of production I often work very late hours which leaves me no time at all to do much really:(  That's why it took me MONTHS to make my DMK Optimus haha but yeah the job has it's merits:) 

    So have you printed anything from Shapeways before? A lot of customers who come to us refer very badly about Shapeways and their quality control etc. Just curious what was your experience with them if any?
     
  10. MaverickPrime

    MaverickPrime Mechanical Engineer-to be

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    Why did you post photos of the CGI? Where is your custOHMYGOD!!!!
    Sweet Primus, this is gorgeous!(also, makes me love my ROTF Leader Prime for getting soooo close to this in terms of moulding, your paintjob blew it away in every possible way)
     
  11. HasTak

    HasTak Well-Known Member

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    Dude, I bet you can make a kickass ROTF Jetfire armor set! Yeah, I can understand that work can often get in the way of your hobby.

    I haven't used Shapeways before, as I have my own 3D printer. My UP Plus 2 actually beat Shapeways in a three way test that Make magazine did between the UP Plus, Shapeways and Makerbot. They had all three print out an owl, and the UP Plus was the only one that managed to print out the nostrils.

    That said, I've seen their clear printed objects and they seem much better than the generic version (the powdery white kind), but are apparently more expensive. Frankly, I think it's really a matter of what you're willing to pay for. Beyond that, I don't have any experience with them.

    I personally think that Shapeways' popularity is due to how anyone from anywhere can buy a design. IIRC, the majority of 3D designers here use Shapeways as a means of selling their designs. I'm planning on starting a Shapeways page myself, but I'm currently busy doing commissioned parts designs for others. Many of the accessories are a little too customer-specific for commercial sale (Alternators Hound G1 weapons set, anyone?). I do have a couple of pet projects I'm working on on the side, though.
     
  12. Solid Alexei

    Solid Alexei Secret Operative

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    ah yeah a clear material on Shapeways must be from their SLA printers range which is clear resin technology with a part being submerge in resin as it being printed and thus needing physical supports and ultimately more man hours for clean up etc. Maybe that's why they are charging more for it. SLS printer that use powder dont need supports and only a very minor clean up time so they are cheaper but it also depends on a material.

    We run our SLS printers with carbon fiber powder material for our Formula One jobs and prices per part could go up to thousands of pounds haha ... I can talk 3D printing for hours lol but it is an exciting industry to work in:) 

    So do you do 3D modelling too by any chance?:) 

    haha thanks so much good sir! I really appreciate all and everyone's amazing comments. I'm really honoured to get such good feedback on Optimus from all you guys especially since it's my like third ever custom painted model kit... I have only just recently started doing model kits and painting them for the first time so I was sure I completely bodged Optimus haha Thank you!!
     
  13. HasTak

    HasTak Well-Known Member

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    Well, that explains a lot. SLA aka stereolithiography printing can achieve a much more precise print than extrusion or SLS. You're right about SLA printing requiring a lot of work. I've seen reviews of the Form1 and there's a lot of work involving cleaning the resin from the object using alcohol.

    BTW, how's the speed on those industrial printers? I hear F1 teams are always on a tight schedule.

    Haha, I'm a 3D modeling nut myself! :)  Yeah, I'm also involved in 3D modeling, but not as a day job...yet.

    I'm currently taking paid commission jobs (hobby and non-hobby) from friends, and I dare say that both I and they are quite satisfied with my work. I'm a bit of an OCD-case/perfectionist (a blessing and a curse), and I'll only take commissions from non-friends once I feel I've achieved a certain professional standard. I'm getting there as far as mechanical designing is concerned, but still need to work on my organic sculpting.

    I mostly use Sketchup 8 for mechanical, and am now experimenting with ZBrush for organics. ZB isn't something you can learn by trial and error, but thankfully, there are plenty of tutorials online for that, as well as an active official forum. Of course, ZB is more than capable of rendering flat surfaces, but since I'm more familiar with Sketchup right now (more intuitive, honestly), I'll only switch over when I've gained more experience with ZB.

    What do you guys use for designing F1 car parts, BTW? I'll bet it's top-of-the-line Autodesk software. I've been wanting to try out Maya or Mudbox, but the price is rather prohibitive--3K+ is way too rich for my blood right now since it's just software.

    Then again, I've been able to make almost any shape I need to with Sketchup and the right plugins, and it's far more user-friendly than Blender.
     
  14. Shockwavers

    Shockwavers Well-Known Member

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    A question I have for you:

    How is his articulation? Would it be suitable to do stop-motion with this kind of model?
     
  15. primalxconvoy

    primalxconvoy Banned

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    Nice! Have you considered using Citadel inks to do the rust effects, too? Chestnut and also dark brown inks can smooth out the dry brushing.
     
  16. Shockwavers

    Shockwavers Well-Known Member

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