I'm sure I've seen pics of a wooden one two, I remember the feet looked like the wood was peeling away like they'd been damp at some point. Can't remember where I seen them though !
I'll double check with Don, but I've never seen or heard of such an R2 - I'm 100% positive none of the originals were wood, and with the recycling of those and the casting of fiberglass ones for the sequels, there'd be no reason to make a wooden one, which would be a pain in the ass and not particularly useful - they get beaten up a lot and are around 200 lbs, so from a production standpoint, wouldn't last long. A couple of fan-made R2's are wooden, and they shake and creak and would last about 2 hours on a real set. Even the real aluminum ones are beaten to hell, and they're solid as they come. But I'll ask to be sure; you never know.
Actually I think I recall where I seen the R2-D2, there was an exhibit at the Bradford Imax around about 1996 when they showed Special Effects which had the recreation of the opening shots from Star Wars done for IMAX. In the lobby they had a full size R2 and a Star Destroyer model, but as I recall they were built buy 2 guys from Edinburgh, which may be the same R2 you seen Freak ?!
None of the production R2's (there are several) are wood; they're either aluminum or moulded plastic/fiberglass. The original R2's were all aluminum, but they started making moulds when it came time to make Empire.
Right, and ILM actually only ever made one R2, and it's moulded.
_Mike
So who made the others?
Great job!
@ Dr Lee: it does look real, but that is bec. mike actually took highly detailed pictures of the real R2's, and has high res pics of the real-life textures used. He also has a "real-world light simulator" that he uses to render the pics; its called maxwell render.
He also adds dirt, bumps and scratches, to make it look realistic.
I think mike also has kenny baker hidden on his computer, but we cant be sure
The original R2-D2 chassis was specially created by Australian firm Petric Engineering and was precision made to a high standard with high tolerances. R2-D2 was played by Kenny Baker in five of the six Star Wars films, (though credited with appearing in Revenge of the Sith, he never filmed any scenes) with many scenes filmed using mechanical and computer-generated imagery (CGI) versions of the character.
Well, I pulled this guy back off the shelf, as I had some new tools/improvements to work with. His materials are approached the same way, just rebuilt so as to give me more control and more realistic behavior. The aluminum, especially the dome, has been completely redone and is more accurate, as is the blue paint material. This is just a first shot - testing in a number of different setups, now.
didnt think id see this again lol, nice shot. I would trawl back through the thread to see but as your here ill just ask, are all the flaps and appendages etc there for posed renders? For example the third leg and taser, rocket engines?
didnt think id see this again lol, nice shot. I would trawl back through the thread to see but as your here ill just ask, are all the flaps and appendages etc there for posed renders? For example the third leg and taser, rocket engines?
It as all the OT appendages, yes, and a couple of the ones from those bull**** worthless prequels, which I had to do for the Visual Dictionary, like the rockets, etc.
Geez - We really frown on necroposts for threads this old...Woah - It's Mike!
Welcome back mate - Great to see your work around these parts again.
It's always hard to assess what truly looks "photo-realistic" because we often judge 3d renders more harshly than reality when it comes to looking for "weird stuff" that the eye is drawn to. With that disclaimer in mind, I'd say that while the top half of Artoo does indeed look photo-realistic (the blue paint looks fantastic) the "inner legs" (my terminology is going to be all wrong here...) that connect the "arms" to the "feet" look a little flat at the moment. Again - Could simply be the lack of a specular highlight due to the lighting setup. Hard to tell from a single render.
Looking forward to seeing some more renders Mike. :cool:
Oh by the way - Did you ever do any more work with your X-Wing beyond what you showed us here on the forums? That was a fantastic model, as I recall.
Yes, all the white parts have a high-gloss finish on them! That's one of the things that always surprises people about the real ones... most of the time they look completely matte!
I recently spent a month in Florida with a friend of mine, building my real one:
As for other models, I have three more eventually coming from my Totally Unfair AdvantageAR line The 32" Falcon, Red 5, and the Tyderium, all built from reference photos, 3D scans, and measurements of the originals in the Archives. But they're ongoing projects in various states at the moment.
Just been looking through your 'Building a Real R2' pics, ...Very Cool Mike !! :cool: .... How much did it cost to build ? .... Are the Star Wars CG models for anything in particular ?, .. or just one's you've been wanting to do ? ....
Posts
_Mike
Great work on the R2 btw
Greets
Chris
_Mike
He taking him apart bit by bit.
I have said this before, but itr looks to real to be CG!
On the wooded, R2 I think I saw on at exibtion in Edimbough. about five or six years ago.
EDIT. The exibition I saw was in 2002.
So who made the others?
Great job!
@ Dr Lee: it does look real, but that is bec. mike actually took highly detailed pictures of the real R2's, and has high res pics of the real-life textures used. He also has a "real-world light simulator" that he uses to render the pics; its called maxwell render.
He also adds dirt, bumps and scratches, to make it look realistic.
I think mike also has kenny baker hidden on his computer, but we cant be sure
The original R2-D2 chassis was specially created by Australian firm Petric Engineering and was precision made to a high standard with high tolerances. R2-D2 was played by Kenny Baker in five of the six Star Wars films, (though credited with appearing in Revenge of the Sith, he never filmed any scenes) with many scenes filmed using mechanical and computer-generated imagery (CGI) versions of the character.
R2-D2 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
yes, same happened with c-3po (Anthony Daniels) ...
Greets
Chris
It happened so often to Anthony Daniels that he finally got p-ssed and destroyed a costume worth ~100,000 US dollars with a pair of scissors.
I can't read all 40 pages, I only want told you, very great work!!!
What did you use for model and render it? The surfaces and the shaders look so real!!
Bye
Thanks!
_Mike
Need more renders, tho. my wallpaper is getting pretty old...:D
But, texturing NURBS is very hard work!
I thought you export the model in .OBJ format, right?
The model is ready for rapid prototyping (I hope you understand) :-)
it's perfect my compliments.
Anyway thanx for the reply.
Bye
P.S.: sorry for my english
_Mike
Well, I pulled this guy back off the shelf, as I had some new tools/improvements to work with. His materials are approached the same way, just rebuilt so as to give me more control and more realistic behavior. The aluminum, especially the dome, has been completely redone and is more accurate, as is the blue paint material. This is just a first shot - testing in a number of different setups, now.
_Mike
Jas
It as all the OT appendages, yes, and a couple of the ones from those bull**** worthless prequels, which I had to do for the Visual Dictionary, like the rockets, etc.
And yes, it's still all Maxwell!
_Mike
nice render!
Chris
Welcome back mate - Great to see your work around these parts again.
It's always hard to assess what truly looks "photo-realistic" because we often judge 3d renders more harshly than reality when it comes to looking for "weird stuff" that the eye is drawn to. With that disclaimer in mind, I'd say that while the top half of Artoo does indeed look photo-realistic (the blue paint looks fantastic) the "inner legs" (my terminology is going to be all wrong here...) that connect the "arms" to the "feet" look a little flat at the moment. Again - Could simply be the lack of a specular highlight due to the lighting setup. Hard to tell from a single render.
Looking forward to seeing some more renders Mike. :cool:
Oh by the way - Did you ever do any more work with your X-Wing beyond what you showed us here on the forums? That was a fantastic model, as I recall.
I recently spent a month in Florida with a friend of mine, building my real one:
Building R2-D2
As for other models, I have three more eventually coming from my Totally Unfair AdvantageAR line
_Mike
Jas
The CG models are not just for personal fun, no.
_Mike
Jas