The Rookie

Bumblebee's head was started yesterday and finished today. As you can probably guess, I'm on a roll as far as getting these guys done. Part of me just kind of wants to finish the short before Botcon 2013, but I know it's not happening. Oh well, it's not like I can get to San Deigo, seeing as it's so far away from where I am. I'm crossing my fingers for next year, though!

Anyway, this here's Bumblebee's head, all textured and ready, in a hero view, (a three quarter angle).

I was using mostly two influences while modeling him. The first was the movie and the second was Prime. I like to think that this Bumblebee is almost a perfect mix of the two. I borrowed Bumblebee's eyes and eyebrows from Prime, as well as the chin, and I borrowed the movie Bumblebee's cat-like ear pieces off the back of the head and the Autobot logo on the front of the head.

The rest is all me. Basically I just added more black accents to go with the striped black and yellow vibe, then I strengthened his profile by jutting out his chin.

I gave him chin pistons to move his chin up and down when he's talking.

I also gave him comlink-type things on the sides of his head like ears.

I've decided that recurring themes in my Bumblebee model will be alternating colors and holes, like he was made more aerodynamic.

Well, if things go like they have been in the past couple of days, you'll see Bumblebee's full model within a week!

Also, I almost forgot to mention that Ratchet's featurette is finished and in the Videos section of the website, accessible in the blog sidebar.

Stay tuned for more.

Ratchet is Done

The team medic/technician is here! Ratchet's one of my favorite characters in the Transformers: Prime series, (Arcee and Bulkhead are up there as well), so it was exciting for me to re-imagine Ratchet in my own style. I borrowed most of his vehicle mode from Transformers Animated Ratchet's cybertronian car mode, but I changed it a little so that he could have wheels as well as treads in the front.

He also retains his backpack from Animated and also Prime.

Inside Ratchet's backpack

For his vehicle form I only ran into one problem that I hadn't anticipated which was that his legs weren't thick enough to form the back of his car mode. Hence the "shell" that slides up onto the backpack.

One interesting thing I did was the rotating platform that his head rests on, which also controls his waist. In my Animated toy, Ratchet's head just pops down into his chest, but I didn't want to go that route, having had prior experience with squeezing these guys heads in to fit inside their car modes.

Not really worth it, especially considering how I usually need to use some 3D trickery, (specifically: scaling the head in size), to make it look right.

Ratchet's featurette is on it's way, it'll be done as soon as I can get his transformation rendered, (now I'm showing transformations in slow motion as well as normal speed, which takes more time to render out).

However, you can go to the downloads section to check out the newly added poster of Ratchet, which you should since I worked all day long on it to make it especially good.

So yeah, all-in-all, he's definitely my favorite Autobot modeled for this short so far, (sorry Ultra, you're in last place). And guess what else. I've modeled Cliffjumper's head and Megatron's eyes! Which means I only have one more robot for this short left to model, Bumblebee, who happens to be my favorite Prime Autobot, so awesome. Stay tuned for his head model!

After Bumblebee, all I'll need to model are the environments. Okay, so I really need a new computer to render out the scenes, (I'll also have After Effects, so I can spruce up shots in post), and in the gap between finishing all the models and getting a computer I'll still be busy! I'm thinking of modeling Rodimus and crew, just so i have them when the time comes for Team Charr. And don't forget, Devastator's in the next short and I'll need to model robots that turn into vehicles that turn into assorted appendages, so maybe I'll model those guys too.

And there's even more news! Shockwave's new featurette has been updated and now features the new Shockwave, along with a slow version of his transformation so you know how it works, so check that out in the videos section, or down below.



And I think we're done here, so be sure to stay tuned for the next update!

The New Shockwave

When I started modeling Shockwave only two days ago, I had no idea that he would be finished so quickly. Shockwave breaks all the records as the fastest to completion Transformer in this series to date.

Maybe it was my references. Maybe it was the simple transformation. But whatever it was, Shockwave is done! Here's his tank mode:

His transformation is based entirely on the Animated version, and though his gun retains the shape of Animated Shockwave's gun, the barrel is modeled off of Dark of the Moon Shockwave's cannon.

The barrel is modeled off the movie Shockwave's gun.

I can't tell you how glad I am not to have to use that old model in the short. It probably would've ruined everything. It's too bad I didn't model Ratchet instead, but every model that I can make gets me one step closer to completion. I only have four character models to go. If I can get Cliffjumper's head done, (I'll be saving that as a surprise when the short's released), and drive myself to finish Megatron's hand and eyes, I'll be down to two models. That's it! Really!

That and a few environment models, like the tactical chamber and cargo bay of the Nemesis, and the barren wasteland outside Shockwave's prison, which, by the way, is modeled now. You can see a bit of it if you check out Shockwave's awesome new poster in the downloads section. My only real concern is, once again, my computer's processing power. Will it hold up?

We'll just have to find out. Also be sure to keep checking the blog, as I'm working on Shockwave's updated featurette. And if you want to find out what's going on, check the Updates Timeline, since I catalogue every change I make there.

What's next? Well, I need to start planning out my scenes. Since my script is basically done, all I need to do is draw out a bunch of animatic shots and stick them in a project to music, and then start replacing the placeholders with actual clips. It's what I started to do with one of the scenes, but I'm probably going to change up that scene a lot.

Stay tuned for more.

Shockwave's Redux

Well, the time has come for me to start modeling Shockwave again. I've been putting it off simply because it's going to be one more robot for me to model. But modeling them is the fun part, so what do I have to lose? My old Shockwave model is... well...

Let's face it: it doesn't fit in with the other, higher polygon, detailed 'bots that I've been making for this short. It might've worked for the short that it was meant for, but I need a new Shockwave and I can't put off modeling him until later. Why? Because I'm planning too dramatic a change! Plus his tank treads don't spin well and having a giant gun on his arm limits his mobility. And he also doesn't have knee joints,which may "pose" a slight problem, (forgive the pun)!

Anyway, yeah. So what'll the NEW Shockwave look like? I've modeled his head, but I have yet to really figure out his transformation. I have figured out Ratchet's transformation, though. Speaking of Ratchet, I modeled his weapons, wheels that double as saws.

Anyway, that's about all I've done recently. Shockwave and Ratchet's heads. Oh, and I also modeled a weapon for the Vehicon's robot mode, but since I don't want to give EVERYTHING away before the short's released, I'm restraining myself from showing a picture.

Keep watching for updates, or just sign up for email alerts whenever the blog's updated by typing your email address into the "Follow By Email" tab in the sidebar.

The Doctor is In

With goggle attachment raised

I modeled Ratchet's head yesterday, and now I have approved it as the final.

He will be wearing his goggles for the most part of the short, but I also needed the goggles to lift off of his face.

For his head, I borrowed both from the Transformers Animated Ratchet's head, for the shape of the back of the head, and Transformers Prime Ratchet for the heavy eyebrows, eyes, some of the shapes of the face, and the "sideburns".

The goggles I added were partially inspired by Animated Ratchet, because in one episode he has a monocle device that helps him zoom into injuries and analyze them. In my story, Ratchet needed to be more a technician then he is normally depicted, so I gave the goggles a sci-fi twist.

I decided his color scheme should be dark red, white, grey and cyan, just because I haven't been using white and dark red much and it would help differentiate between him and the others. 

Also, let me point out a new addition to the sidebar of this blog: the "Updates Timeline". 

In this timeline, I list important events in the making of this short chronologically, so check that out if you have the time.

Look for another Ratchet update in the coming weeks!

Ultra Magnus Revealed

Ever since I announced Ultra Magnus was beginning his modeling phase back in March, on the 3rd to be precise, I've been giving you guys small updates to how it was going. My last update was a little more then a week ago. The day before yesterday I decided to finish him once and for all. And now, roughly a month and half since that announcement, it's time to show the final product. I'd blab on some more, but I know what you really want to see, and that's ULTRA MAGNUS!

(image also available in the downloads section)

(image also available in the downloads section)

See Ultra's new featurette below!

Now that the big reveal is over, I can settle in and obsess over tiny details about the modeling process.

I ran into several problems in the modeling process, which I overcame. I'm now going to attempt to catalogue how I circumvented these challenges.

The first problem occurred right at the beginning: the shoulders. I started with the shoulders, because they were my favorite part of Ultra Magnus and besides, most of his transformation was going to be just getting the shoulders to rest where they are supposed to! The problem that I ran into was that I didn't know where to go from there. I modeled the shoulders and they split apart, but I couldn't figure out how to make the arms unfold or the shoulders to attach to the body. I figured out how by playing around with my Ultra Magnus toy. I ended up copying the toy's shoulder rotation system exactly. The toy's articulation is great, so why not just borrow it? The second problem was the shoulder base hinges that rest on Ultra's back in robot mode. They were merged together. That was an easy fix, I just added a hollow hinge that would let the shoulders slide along to the sides of Ultra's body.

The final problems were the gaps between Ultra's body and his shoulders. I considered making the legs have a separate piece that would rotate in, and experimented with that, but it didn't look right, so I ended up adding a hinge with two guns, plus a folding panel that filled the space without getting in the way of the transformation.

If there's anything I would love to fix, it would have to be the legs, as they are really flat looking, and the feet aren't as stable as I wanted. Oh well. When Part 2 swings around I'll have an opportunity to scratch that perfectionist itch I have, but it'll have to wait because so far I've completed three robots out of the five and a half I need to model. And I say five and a half because Cliffjumper and Megatron both only need a small amount of modeling. The real two that I'm concerned with are Bumblebee and Ratchet, both absolutely crucial to the plot and story. Anyway, I have a lot of time to finish this short, but I'm starting to worry I'll lose my enthusiasm for it. I promise that I will see this first short through, even if I give up on the second one.

More thoughts that you might want to skip:

Because I'm really eager to model Bumblebee, I will save him for last. Why? So he'll be the best one! I will have probably figured out how to model better then now by then. My other thought is that I need a new computer to animate most of the new scenes. If it takes longer then I think it will to get one, I may not be able to do anything for a while. If this is the case, and I've already completed all the models needed, I may take a stab at remodeling my bad Shockwave model, and fix up all the things that are slightly bugging me about the Vehicons, Optimus and Ultra right now. If I STILL don't have a new computer, then I may even model some Constructicons for the second short. 

Longhaul. He and Rampage are Devastator's legs.

But it's important for me to stay active on this project to finish it, which is why, even without a new computer to animate on, I will be modeling robots.

Anyway, to wrap up here are some stats.

Ultra Magnus has over 145 separate polygon objects. That's 35548 polygons!

He's smaller then Optimus, in file size that is. I've cut back on polygons because I'm really afraid I'll crash the computer!

Anyway, that's all for a while. Up next, RATCHET!

Small Ultra Magnus Update

I added Ultra's double-barreled plasma cannon and more of his waist.

I really need to figure out how to fill that area in between his torso and shoulders. Maybe his legs? But then they'd have to be specially shaped. Still not really sure how, but we'll see!

Don't expect any more updates to Ultra, since he's almost near completion and I want to showcase him when he's finished, which means from here on out, it'll be a surprise as to what his vehicle form and robot form look like, so take a good look at this image!

The Magnus Hammer

The Magnus Hammer is here! This epic weapon can summon storms and electrical blasts, and has two spring loaded pistons that help Ultra slam it into foes.

The spring loaded piston, extended.

I invite you to try and figure out what the hammer says!

Also, you may have noticed the new page buttons on the sides of the blog:

Old page button.

New page button.

Whenever I add content to a particular section of the blog, you'll see a message appear on the side of the button:

When ever you see "NEW stuff" in the corner, that means there's new stuff. And yes, there's NEW stuff on the videos page, check it out because I just added Shockwave's featurette!

Also new on the blog is the banner that appears under the blog header.

This is here to help you see exactly what has been released! The first item on the banner, (in this case, Shockwave's featurette), can be accessed by clicking the image. The rest of the items you will have to find yourself, but I point to where they are to make it easier.
Hope these features help! Whenever I add new content, the pages and banner will update accordingly. As an example, say a few days after this I make a poster and put it in the downloads section. The banner would update to show the change and the pages would update so that only the downloads page button has a "NEW stuff" icon on it.

Well, that's all for this post! Expect more Ultra Magnus progress reports in the future.

Ultra Magnus is Getting There

I remodeled Ultra Magnus's torso and added an Elite Guard symbol, like on his Animated toy. I also used the toy for reference when I redesigned his shoulder transformation. I'm also happy to report that his hands will not need to shrink to transform like Optimus.

I have started planning his leg transformation as well, and there's an interesting twist to the way it works, but you have to see it to understand it, so I'll talk about that in a later update. But, at least for the time being, Ultra's torso is complete. By the way, those are his original shoulders, I didn't have to remodel them to get them to work. They also have the blasters in them like before, which is pretty awesome. One thing I will change, or rather, fix about the torso is that in the transformed mode, Ultra's shoulder joints actually overlap one another. The spaces on the sides that are formed because of the extension in the middle of his body may either be filled by his legs or by his hammer/missile launcher.

Also, if you haven't checked the Downloads section in a while, do that now, because there's an awesome 3D poster there now.

A small portion of the poster.

Once again, I will keep you posted on any progress.

Ultra Magnus Looks Incomplete

Ultra Magnus has been in-progress for a while. The main reason is that it's been really difficult to figure out his transformation. I don't want any kibble, (parts that stick out from the transformed or untransformed mode due to transformation). Right now his arms are sticking out from the rest of the truck, which probably loses him a lot of aerodynamic-ness. It's also been an uphill battle to figure out how to get his shoulders to rotate above his arms without having to do it magically. I'm even considering completely scrapping the shoulders and trying again, but there are still a few things I'd like to try before it comes to that.

A rough concept of the body. There needs to be several joints to get the current system to work, however if I remodel the shoulders, I can fit them loosely around the arms.

I'll keep you posted in further updates.

New Featurette - Vehicon

There's a new featurette, check it out by heading to the videos page or by watching it below!

I also updated Optimus Prime's featurette-- now it has updated title cards.

Slightly Updated Axe

Now the axe has one, long, handle for easier fighting, and the end is weighted.

Just a small update, I will post further updates if I change the axe again.

Cybertronian Font

Remember how last post I was talking about how I was writing stuff in Cybertronian? Well, I was using a style sheet from the internet to painstakingly copy and paste letters into place. But now I created this handy font which you can purchase for just $2 at Gumroad.com! The font lets you write in Autobot by using only uppercase, and in Decepticon if you use only lowercase. My advice: Write out the text you want to translate in a different font first, so you'll know what you're saying. Then, change the font to Cybertronian Regular and ta-da! Whatever you said will be in Cybertronian. Unfortunately, I couldn't create punctuation marks or symbols, because the style sheet didn't include them. Hope you purchase the font to support the making of this short, and have fun writing in Cybertronian!

Cybertronian Font

Click the button above to purchase the font!

This font will also be available in the downloads section of this website.

The Nemesis Corridor - Shot 004

This WAS the Nemesis Corridor in the second scene of the short, or the fourth shot. Notice the cybertronian markings on the walls. They actually say something, because I found a nice sheet of cybertronian symbols online, (not sure whether they are accurate), that will let me write in Autobot cybertronian and Decepticon cybertronian for ultimate authenticity, by copying and pasting the letters into my textures, (however for future writings I have a font that I created myself, see post above for details!) The keypad near the door and the screen depicting the Nemesis's stats also have cybertronian letters.

Like I said, this WAS the corridor. I actually scrapped this model because it looked too blocky, and I didn't like the door or the lighting. That's why I remodeled it, and now it looks like this:

May this post serve as a reminder of the lengths I go to to make each shot of this short awesome.

As a warning bell sounds and the lights go out, the Vehicons stand ready to defend.

I gave the scene a worm's eye viewpoint because I'm trying to impress people with a sense of awe at the giant robots towering over them. That's a trick I learned from my earlier short, Wrath of Megatron.

Another trick I learned is: the best HDRI lighting to use is not always the one that "fits", but it's always the one that looks right. At first I was using an indoor HDRI lighting setup because, well, its INSIDE the ship! But when I experimented with an outdoor HDRI, the whole scene was instantly improved as the lighting looks bluer and therefore more like the lights along the rim of the corridor. Hopefully, in the action-packed shots ahead, the file sizes won't become too large. Thankfully, the next few shots focus on just the Vehicons, and there's one shot that I can probably pull off without importing Optimus, (though this scene is pretty bad, it's around 13k polygons thanks to the two Vehicons). After that, it may take some clever computer swapping to pull this off. 

Ultra Magnus so far...

Also, don't worry, I'm modeling Ultra Magnus as well, right now the hardest part is trying to figure out his transformation. I'll take some time to try and figure it out, and don't forget, most of the short features all four Autobots, so I need Ratchet and Bumblebee to be completed too!

Until then, keep your eyes peeled for the full Vehicon featurette, and more information on the shots.

The Weapon of Optimus Prime

So. Optimus Prime's awesome axe.

In the beginning I was going with a two sided blade, which worked but wasn't really a nod to anything. However, I searched for a few image results to work off of and I got this:

As you can see, I based the axe blade's shape almost entirely on the old G1 axe, and kept the glowing orange, although now it doesn't cover the whole axe.

My axe is designed to fold up, and the handle can extend or retract for two handed or one handed grip, and can reach up to six feet away from Optimus.

When Optimus gets really angry, he can warm the edge of the axe blade up, to help him cut through metal easier.

Be aware that this is not by any means the final design for the axe, which I expect will go through a few more changes before debuting in Scene 3.

First Character Poster Added!

There's a new poster in the Downloads section of this blog... this time it's the first of my "Character Feature" series of posters and depicts Optimus Prime standing in a corridor of the Nemesis. THE corridor, in fact, that shot 004 takes places in. The reason I'm hyping this up is A. you probably wouldn't notice the addition of a poster or a video unless I tell you about it being added, since I add them discreetly on the "Downloads" or "Videos" or "Images" pages, (which you should by the way, check out because there may be a few things you didn't notice were added), and B. this poster actually took an entire day to create. Optimus Prime is 5.4 megabytes, and my poor OSX 10.5.8 system can't handle it. In order to make the image I had to reboot my computer five or six times to get it to reset it's memory. Anyway, about the image itself:

I composited an image of Optimus onto an image of the Nemesis's corridor that I had rendered previously, to save memory. I added various smoke effects and blur, plus some glows to the headlights. A bit of adjusting the brightness and contrast later, and using "Surface Lighting" to create some stronger light colors, (they were in the image originally but were too faint), and I was done!

Here's some trivia for you: I accidentally spelled "than" "then" when I first uploaded the poster. I decided to fix it to "than" right away rather than, (ha ha), wait until tomorrow.

Well, that's my big update of the day. Expect something considerably more exciting in the next few days, because I now have both the Vehicon AND the Nemesis Corridor modeled, and you know what that means...

Hint: Shot 004 can be animated and rendered!

Vehicon Modeled

Yesterday I spent most of the evening finishing up the modeling of a Vehicon. The Vehicons are Decepticon lackeys who all look the same, so it was important for the model to look right, otherwise all the Vehicons would look wrong. Luckily everything seems to be okay with this model, except some limited elbow movement. The car mode is better then the robot mode, as usual.

Nice and compact, just the way I like it. This'll be nice to see on the roads, fighting the Autobots and taking them out with a well-placed missile. Oh yeah, I didn't mention the missiles, did I?

Two missile launchers fold up from the back of the truck mode, pointing behind the car, so that they can be fired and take out enemies sneaking up from behind. You'll also notice two mini-zander cannons can also unfold, which can fire steady bursts of energy at pursuers. I'll have to come up with a cool weapon for these guys to use in robot mode... maybe a spear or something? At any rate, the Vehicons are finished, which means that I can finally finish shot 004, which is the first shot to feature robots in the short, and they are... you guessed it! Vehicons!

During the modeling process I had to remind myself where parts where going sometimes, just in case I forgot. I ended up not needing these notes, but I thought I'd post 'em up here just to show a bit of the work that goes into these things.

Finally, I have this lovely movie to show... it's a Proof of Concept shot of the untransformation, to give myself an idea about what the final battle's cinematic shots will look like. Remember, this shot is a work in progress, and probably won't show up in the final film, so don't use this as a basis upon which to judge all the final animation.

It may be hard to see, but Steve, (that's the Vehicon's unofficial name), fires two missiles near the beginning of the video.

I'm working on a few ideas for the battle sequences as well, but I need to finish modeling all four Autobots, plus getting the first scene done, before I can move on to THAT.

Also, be sure to stop by the Videos page if you haven't already to see Optimus Prime's featurette, or watch the new Vehicon test movie again! (You did watch it, right?)