Cyborg of futures past (returns)..

[mikeb]

I did a little project last year. Though it wasn't posted here i thought i'd start now. This is how the clip ended up back then..

http://www.episode2ish.net/Cyborg/walk5.wmv

I finally got back round to this guy as I've been looking through old files to see what needed to be done for my new hd showreel. Not only am i re-working it for hd but i also taking the opportunity to update it.

The lighting of the scene wasn't very ominous, you also get to see the bad guy straight away. So i took the scene to pieces and made it into layers (to give me more choices in compositing).

Along with the lighting the camera move in the last version never really made sense. So now i added a little more life to the shot..

I always wanted the power source in the center of his chest to be more like a plasma ball, so i made this too.

I've recently been messing around with a new way of doing muzzle flame so i thought i'd throw that in as well.

A few more sounds to make it more personal and it'll be posting the results as soon as they're finished rendering.. I have attached a still of the new version.

I am updating the rigging as well so the gun will be aiming properly by the next time you see him..

[mikeb]

Here is where i have gone with it..

http://www.episode2ish.net/Cyborg/walk6.wmv

I'm still going to add set extensions to make the space a little more 3d..

What do you think to the changes?

[mikeb]

http://www.episode2ish.net/Cyborg/walk07.wmv

http://www.episode2ish.net/Cyborg/walk07.jpg

So i've gone ahead with making some set extensions, to increase the 3d feel of the once 2d room.

I also lit the place up ever so slightly as on some screens it did look a tad too dark. I also dulled down the saturation of the muzzle light as i felt it was a bit too colorful for the rest of the scene.

There is some clipping on the ankle joint. I had first only had the ankle moving on one axis but later i thought it looked better with full motion. This has produced the clipping. I did try using actuator from the t-600 model i made (that thread can be found here (http://www.vfxtalk.com/forum/2-wheeled-terminator-t19613p2.html)). But then the ankle looked too weak..

I also made the final head tilt less and added a touch of blood..

[mikeb]

It's very quite around these parts..

http://www.episode2ish.net/Cyborg/walk08.wmv

It might not look a lot different but there are loads of changes here i- revised all the bump & specular maps (increasing the specular a lot), changed the legs of my robot giving the ankles a ball sockets & making the legs skinnier and more skeletal, made the blood effect a bit better and more uniform, doubled the chest light effect, added some more sounds, changed the roof where the cables came through and re-rendered the layers with best AA as there were jaggies in there..

http://www.episode2ish.net/Cyborg/walk08.jpg

[mikeb]

I'm just back from holiday and i'm looking to finish up this clip, any thoughts?

[mikeb]

Posting here is starting to feel like I'm talking in a phone box. Without a phone.. Is there anyone here?

So i have softened the extreme shadows and added a new layer, arcing electricity from the cables. I made an animated sprite (in photoshop) of the arcing and added a light with an expresso routine to make the flickering now on screen.

I think this works well as it brings the robot off the backdrop by lighting the backdrop, still leaving a lot of darkness..

Next up i'm gonna have another look at the camera and the set..

http://www.episode2ish.net/Cyborg/walk09.wmv

http://www.episode2ish.net/Cyborg/walk09.jpg