As mentioned in the original thread, I've been working on redesigning the Jetwasp's legs so that it can come in for a landing. The original legs weren't designed for folding, which was a problem. So I finally remodeled the back legs though they're not rigged or textured yet. Next I have to remake the front legs and wings so they can "fold up" when it's at rest.

Been working on the Jetwasp, fixing the modeling, doing some simple rigging, and creating a jet contrail for it. Here's a very brief test.

Looking good Gerry!
Question: Does the contrail twist as one would expect when the Jetwasp tilts/turns?

oooo...me likeee

Looks good.

If his butt is propelling him why does he have wings?

Solar power meethinks.

the wings function to get it airborne at launch, for steering at high speeds, and to brake for decelerating and landing, and Rodney's got it, they generate solar power for onboard processes. The three-sun system makes solar power a given. The jet engine can't be used for folding the legs etc. Think of them as a powered paraglider. Oh, and they look supercool, dontcha think?

By the way I thought rigging this would be "easy" compared to a humanoid figure but there's a ton of considerations so that the above happens in a logical way, and gives a sense of weight and momentum. Also have to think about sound fx!

As for the contrails twisting, haven't tested that yet. I spent most of yesterday just tweaking the particles right.

Another quick test of the Jetwasp coming in for a landing. I've got the folding of the legs and wings pretty well but the various parts definitely need some "waggle" to give them some weight as it comes in. Currently it comes in like a marionette.

The real problem is that I can't for the life of me comprehend putting in control bones. This is all done with the geometry bones so it's clumsier and messier than it needs to be. I try and grasp how the control bones need to move the geometry bones but I just can't get my head around it. But anyway it's a start.

Awesome!
You always impress!

Thanks Gene! About 5 minutes after I wrote the above I started getting little flashes of how to go about this. I made some progress and I think I'll have another test shortly.

Actually, think of it as an ultralight with a jet engine!

Here's a more elaborate flight test. There's quite a lot of "waggle" in the wings and legs but for some reason it's not showing up in the render. I think it will take a slightly different method for it to show up properly, but this is a start anyway!

I was at an animation seminar a couple years ago where they showed an animation of bumble bees flying toward a flower and the bee's back legs had a lot of nice lag to them and gave a good sense of motion. The trick they showed was to have a null constrained to the same path but some distance behind the bee. then they constrained the back legs to aim at the null. It was a simple technique that worked really great. I may try something like that.

Nice model and animation

Thanks John. BTW if anyone's thinking the back legs look unfinished, it's because they're not! I want to get the rigging done before I return to the decaling.

I was showing this to my wife last night and she said she didn't want to hurt my feelings but the back legs didn't looked finished. I said, they look that way because they're not finished is all.

Just want to avoid confusion!

Here's a new take on the landing animation. I've put in some control bones that are working well, and created an action for the whole landing sequence. Next up: the takeoff sequence! Woo hoo!

This is cool Gerrry. I really like the look!

Steve

it's fun to watch the progression of this
nice job

Here are a couple more Bugbots I'll be modeling, a Driver Ant (personal ground transport), a Quarryman (transport for mining operations) and a Shuttlefly (mass air travel). There are usually a few of these buzzing around the Weevil Hive.

lovely! That will be challenging to recapture that look.

very nice looking vehicles. When you make these, maybe model them according to specs required by rapid prototypers, for example, the exported model must be able to "hold water" or be totally solid with no openings in the combined mesh. Surely you will want a couple of these models sitting on your desk!

Ooooo...those are great!

amazing colour. you have a knack for combining the sheerness of butterflies with the lethal steelyness of terminators.

Thanks for all the comments! The first two, the Driver Ant and the Quarryman, are airbrush paintings I did back in Ye Twentiethe Centurie BC (Before Computers). I'm still amazed that I was able to do that kind of work without an Undo button!

Jetwasp explosion!

nice!

Thanks Nan!

That worked out quite well!

Thanks Gene! I'm working on the full scene where the Jetwasp gets blasted and it's coming out great but I'm bringing in the particle systems and the scene keeps crashing. I think I need to save the exploding bit as an action. I was trying to "simplify" things by importing one chor into another but it keeps crashing.

Off to OKC tomorrow for the play contest Vicki's a finalist in but I'd rather keep working on this shot, I'm having a ball!

I've got the initial stages of the Quarryman done, no texturing yet but the modeling is coming along. here's a side-by-side of a screen shot and a quick render.

Should have added this for scale...

Ooooo... very nice! I want one!

that orange arc will be a window where the drivers can see what they're doing. Working on that part now, but in going over all my old drawings and paintings, I found that I made it a little different each time. Left myself with a lot of puzzles to solve.

I'm calling this one done for now, though eventually I'll do texture maps and get rid of the materials. Comments welcome of course!