3D Artwork: Treadshot's Shapeways Thread

Discussion in 'Transformers Fan Art' started by Treadshot A1, Dec 24, 2010.

  1. rattraprules98

    rattraprules98 AKA Chr0nus

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    The above?
     
  2. Treadshot A1

    Treadshot A1 Toy Designer

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    Wow you two are good. Sure you didn't cheat? :lol 

    Well, since the cat's out of the bag, here's a few pics of the head i've been working on:

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    I really wanted to concentrate on stopping those pesky (read: very helpful) comments about my heads having really flat faces, once and for all. For Bee, i made sure to keep his face angled and curved, and luckily his original design's tiered faceplate really meshed well with that. It certainly was a different process than usual, but i think the results speak for themselves.

    In terms of the expression, i was trying to go for the expression on the artwork, where the left side of his mouth is slightly more open. I suppose the best way to sum it up would be that he's gritting his teeth (if he had teeth, that is). I guess a tad serious, though i tried to shape the rest of the head to be slightly more friendly, since it is Bumblebee after all.

    It's just refreshing to be able to work on a Bumblebee who actually can talk! :lol 
     
  3. soymonk

    soymonk Mathematical!

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    Ooh, very steam-punky head render.

    Didn't even think you were planning HoS until I saw your most recent post. I was wondering why he looked so old-timey lol
     
  4. Treadshot A1

    Treadshot A1 Toy Designer

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    HOS Bumblebee

    This is what happens when the season of presents and turkey turns into turkey and only turkey. Since i'm getting most of my presents later when i go on holiday, i needed something to kill some time. I just loved the cover art of Hearts of Steel, so i went with that. Four days later, we get Bumblebee!

    For Bumblebee, i really wanted to make sure i rounded out the year on a high. Firstly, the head. I'm fed up of getting the comments about the faces being flat and whatnot. But instead of whining about it in my usual fashion :) lol), i decided to try out new ways to build heads. I think Bee's head looks slightly more...well, round i guess. More friendly, in a way. Originally his face was a lot more serious, but i resculpted him to be more friendly after my father, in his infinite wisdom, commented "isn't Bumblebee supposed to be friendly?".

    Secondly, the detail. That took up so much time, but it was worth it. For HOS, i just had to have every little detail picked out. It helps that i have a friend who loves model trains, and with the aid of the artwork, i wanted to make sure that Bee's robot and vehicle modes were as detailed as they should be. From the gears in the legs which took 45 minutes to painstakingly carve out, to each little rivet on the train, from the plates and pipes on the torso to the spokes in each wheel, i went as close to the art as i could possibly go, factoring in the transformation. I think it works for the steampunk look. :) 

    The other thing i wanted to get right was to make sure i added enough locks to the vehicle mode. In other words, the pegs and holes that keep the parts together. I've always had parts fit tightly in vehicle mode before, simply by using one piece that goes around to lock everything else in place (like RWX-09a Kickback's wings, which clasp round his entire leg assembly), but that wasn't possible with Bee's transformation. So, i had to make do with some pegs on the inside of his legs and his arms. Still, he should hold solidly in vehicle mode, provided you don't stick him in a pile of TNT. ;) 

    Obviously, there had to be some concessions made for the transformation, the most obvious being the shoulder armour. They had to be raised, or else i wouldn't be able to fit the arms in. While i know in the art they are supposed to be lower than Bee's head, i thought that higher shoulder armours were better than not having arms. The only other little thing i had to change was to fix the wheels in place, so they don't roll. Just don't have the space for it on this build. It's the same issue of "yes, i could scale it up to have rolling wheels, but then no one could afford it" that plagues Shapeways designing. :lol 

    Anyways, that's enough of me blabbering, hope you guys like him. I did deliberately leave out the 'BEE' inscription on the train, in case anyone's wondering. Just didn't work with the whole idea of "robots in disguise' when your name's written on your vehicle mode! :lol 

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  5. mrgalvaprime

    mrgalvaprime IDW2019 Stan

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    How much would that bb cost (in aus dollars please)
     
  6. Treadshot A1

    Treadshot A1 Toy Designer

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    It will cost ~$65 AUD, printed in White Strong and Flexible. Of course, you'll need to paint it yourself. :) 

    EDIT: Wait, since the promotion will be over by the time BB's released, it'll be about ~$75.

    Also, I just purchased RWX-09a Kickback and RWX-09c Shrapnel! Thanks to Shapeways's promotions, and the extra cash I got from my aunt for getting a good grade and graduating high school, I managed to snag both of them!
     
  7. taurusfire1

    taurusfire1 NUTS OF DESTRUCTION!!

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    you just graduated high school and made all of these wonderful creations?!
    that's amazing!!
     
  8. thedreaded1

    thedreaded1 Well-Known Member

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    The HOS Bumblebee is your best work yet. I would suggest to continue to work on the face before you decide to order it. You've improved tremendously!
     
  9. Treadshot A1

    Treadshot A1 Toy Designer

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    Thanks bro! It's a great feeling to get out of high school. :lol 

    Thanks Dreaded1. It's good to see I managed to finish the year on a good note. :) 

    In the mean time, I will be reworking the head, but not for Bumblebee. Rather....I mean, red....green....a blue femme....so many possibilities! :lol 
     
  10. MisterFanwank

    MisterFanwank Banned

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    Very, very nice, that is one excellent figure. However, I don't think the proportions suit Bumblebee. He needs to be shorter, stockier and rounder. Per the artwork, he should look more armored and less athletic. If it were any other character it would be perfect.

    And the face... I don't know what I would do to make it not look "off." I kind of think you may need to start over. The shape of the head is good, but the mouth and the eyes make him look like he's in agony.
     
  11. ike_ike

    ike_ike Autocon

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    his mouth is a bit wide and his eyes could be a bit lower on the head. the features are more or less right but their placement is kinda off.

    observe with the magic of photoshop trickery

    [​IMG]

    oh yeah. also i think the lack of lips is a bit disconcerting. shapeways doesn't exactly do too well with stuff on that teensy scale but their complete absence is kinda jarring.
     
  12. MisterFanwank

    MisterFanwank Banned

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    Also, for details that don't require precise placements for the transformation, you can put them on the figure via making separate meshes and clipping them into the larger part. A nose and mouth could easily be made that way without having to do strange things to the topology.
     
  13. Cybermnky

    Cybermnky Well-Known Member

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    This looks amazing and I might have to dig into my pockets for this guy... The only compalint or issue I would point out is that I believe Bee has a single smokestack, so it would be half on one shoulder pad and half on the other.
    bt seriously , I freaking love what you've down here, weasily your best yet IMO
     
  14. MisterFanwank

    MisterFanwank Banned

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    One thing that, if you're not already doing it, you really should be doing is splitting parts by color. I'm looking at 'Bee and I'm seeing a figure that would be a nightmare to paint for someone with my level of painting experience. For example, the wheels, lights, Autobot symbols, eyes, faceplate, fists, and abdomen details should be separate parts that can be dyed and then plugged onto the figure.

    Doing that would really help the accessibility of your figures. The smallest and most simple amount of painting required should be ideal.
     
  15. Treadshot A1

    Treadshot A1 Toy Designer

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    Phew!

    Sorry I've been away guys! Really sorry, I've been so busy these past few days, what with celebrating the new year and partying and drinking as much Coca-Cola as I can, and then having to entertain family...plus, I just got my DRIVING PERMIT today! w00t! It's just a learner's permit, but today was my first time driving a motor vehicle! It was so scary! My heart's stills pumping like crazy! I'm in no physical shape to be designing, but I promise you guys I'll get BB's head resculpted as soon as I can, kk?

    And a huge thanks to Ike Ike, I love your work bro. Looks great, I'll definitely be using that to inspire Bee's new head! Keep it coming, don't be shy! :) 

    Mmm....yeah, the proportions could be slightly stockier...I guess I was going for a stocky yet still slightly...well, I guess normal by transformer standards proportions, on account of the fact I'd really love to see a few of Bee's repaints come out of this mold as well (honestly, I've always wanted a HOS Tap-Out).

    The face...well, Ike Ike's taken care of that. I'll be going off his photoshop work to sculpt a new head for Bumblebee.

    Ah, now that's the kinda advice I like, easy to follow advice. :)  I'll result the head, I think it does look better the way you've got it. Thanks for all your hard work. Care to teach me the magic words to make it all happen? Is it abracadabra? No? :lol 

    That is how I build my heads. Well, part of the process, anyway. Some features like eyes I keep stocks of, while other bits I make specially for each build. But thanks for the tip. :) 

    Thanks Cybermnky. I'm pretty sure in the artwork he had two stacks, as I saw a full smokestack on each shoulder. I'll recheck it just to be sure. :) 

    while I agree with you Yuyuyami, if you look at my stuff, Fakebusker's, Drawn Steel Hero's, Cashanova's, etc., you'll see none of us split parts by colour, at least not down to lights or eyes or anything. I realise on your LOA you've got eyes and face plates interchangeable, but I tell ya, to be honest I'm not even too us on that right now, partly on scale, mainly on tolerance. That, and to split these down to paintable parts would mean doubling the wall thickness on each part (a solid part can be hollowed, two separate parts each need a wall). For something like Bumblebee, who's arms are already built with almost zero (read: like 0.1mm I think) tolerance, to have to double the thickness takes up too much space. Also, the difficulty in assembling the robot would be insane. There's a reason why I posted Kickback's entire transformation scheme, and that's because without seeing it it would be insanely difficult to assemble the back joint assembly correctly. To simplify the build process, in my eyes, makes it far more accessible than making it colour coded. Bumblebee can be assembled in a matter of minutes, a model kit of the same size (like a Gundam, though I'm not anywhere near that good yet) takes hours.

    Still, you know I try to simplify painting wherever I can. :) 
     
  16. Treadshot A1

    Treadshot A1 Toy Designer

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    [​IMG]

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    Hmm, any better, guys?

    I tried to make the head look a bit more like Ike Ike's photoshopping, mainly by reshaping the face section and the eyes.

    The face i mainly just pulled and pushed to try and reduce the overall height, while keeping it around the same shape. I quite like the result, as it allows me to pull the nose down further without making it look ridiculously long.

    The eyes...well, i'm glad to say i have made a discovery! I found out why some of you said he looked in agony before. This time, i spent a lot of time rotating the eyes (after thinning them out and making the surrounding area darker like the art) until they face back towards us, rather than sit flush with the surrounding helmet. This lets Bumblebee looks a lot more natural and i think, a bit happier as well. Hope you guys feel the same. :) 

    I took a few shots of the head on the body as well, just to see how it'd look. In the end i decided to leave the mouth as it was, as i just simply don't believe in...well, robots having lips. Maybe it works for the 'liquid metal' look, but I don't think they had 'liquid metal' back in the days of HOS and steam trains, so i'm going to leave it as it, to make it look like it actually could have been made by welding steel plates together (don't hold me to that, though, my historical knowledge is extremely shaky :lol ).

    Oh, and Cybermnky, i did check the art again, and Bee does indeed have two smokestacks, one on each shoulderpad, as can be seen here. However, i will keep in mind the idea of just having one smokestack, as i might want to use that to differentiate any remolds down the line. :) 

    EDIT: Here's some measurements to let you guys know how big he is. 'Bout a large Scout, I reckon.

    [​IMG]
     
  17. MisterFanwank

    MisterFanwank Banned

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    Five inches tall, nice. The nose and eyes are much better, but the mouth is still off. It almost looks like he's a squirrel storing nuts in his cheeks.
     
  18. weeklyhero

    weeklyhero Prototytan

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    I agree that the majority of the face look sbetter now, but the mouth doesn't work for me. I see what you're going for, but don't know how to make it look right.
     
  19. Treadshot A1

    Treadshot A1 Toy Designer

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    I agree. I'd redo it, but i don't know where to redo it nor how. I do think it could be better, just not able to put my finger on what it is. Though i stick to my opinion of "HOS robots don't have lips". :lol 
     
  20. Traachon

    Traachon The battle takes to the sky with Cyberjets!

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    I think the face/mouth problem may stem from how round his profile is. It almost seems like you took a ball and carved a face into it (Which is a perfectly reasonable thing, by the way) and never finished.
    Still, his face keeps getting better every time! :thumb