3DSemidentified flying object..

mikeb

I did a ww2 animation a few years ago and was quite happy with the outcome. I was thinking i might come back to these techniques and see where i've gotten better and where the technique can be developed further.

I don't have a strict plan yet, i know what direction I'm going in, but I'm going to take them 1 step at a time.

Starting with a jet fighter. On loan from a very generous Mike James , i have a F22 Raptor. My first stop has been to do some textures..







I've started with low res t maps as i don't want to make detail that wont be seen later. I think these bad boys will be flying pretty fast.

Now I'm gonna rig everything that will be used in my animation, from the control surfaces to the thrust vectoring afterburner and weapons bays.

Then i might take her flying, to put it through it's paces..

P.s. The thread name and reason for posting this on scifi site will become apparent later..

mikeb

So here i have a test, i wanted to see how the a/c looked in my new world. Here i have rendered two doing a little flyby..

http://www.doghouseanimations.com/ufo/f221.wmv

Next I'll be trying out the animation controls and firing a missile or two..

mikeb

So i have been working on the textures and the rigging. I have rigged most of what I'll be needing for the clip i want to make, rudder, ailerons, taileron, elevator, thrust vectoring, missile and of course the cannon..

http://www.doghouseanimations.com/ufo/animtest.wmv

I know that the a/c doesn't move to the control surfaces movements, and that the timing is all very quick. But this is to test the ranges of each part to check it all works out, so if you think anything doesn't move far enough, or moves too far now is your chance to speak up... Anyone?

p.s. i didn't rig the flaps or the undercarriage as i don't think they'll be landing anytime soon..

Sanderlee

Looks like the ventral weapons-bay door closes BEFORE the outrigger that pushes the missile into the airstream retracts. Other than that ... spiffy!!

[Deleted User]

wow, thats awesome, great work!

mikeb

The next update is rendered. I have worked more on the textures, adding details. Updated the rigging, got the a/c moving in accordance with it's flight surfaces and even got the lights working on the wings..

http://www.doghouseanimations.com/ufo/animtest2.wmv

Next up flight tests i think, get a pair of these birds flying properly. First in formation, then doing some maneuvers!

mikeb

A couple of people have mentioned ace combat 6, for this I'm very happy as it's by far the best looking flight sim i've ever seen. Though my a/c does still leave a little to be desired. I'm not completely happy with the materials / lighting etc.

I've just spent the last 24 hours stamping around my materials and lighting / environment. Still I'm not happy. The f22 doesn't have much of a specular deflection, so is a really dull paint finish. So it always seem to look a bit plastic..

I think I'm going to try and match a piece of footage to get my materials etc right from there. Back soon.

mikeb

Here we go, my version of the opening shot (from Ironman) where the f22's are first shown.

It's very short as is and i didn't do the big guy, i just did this to look at lighting the a/c. Maybe I'll post some stills later, 1 from the film and 1 from my version. Anyway this is where i'm upto with my tests..

http://www.doghouseanimations.com/ufo/animtest3.wmv

P.s. i am aware that the composting mask failed on the lights on the wings..

mikeb

Here comes the SciFi.

I made Ironman a while ago, then finished him recently. Hence the title of my thread.

I wasn't going to show him till later, but by the time i finished this test i thought i had to put him out there. He's mostly rigged and tested, the rest I'll be doing here shortly..

http://www.doghouseanimations.com/ufo/animtest4.wmv



I have show the actual film inset (pip). I wasn't trying to match everything perfectly, that'd be an unnecessary nightmare with the camera movement etc. It was mainly for the materials / lighting of the a/c..

I'm aware i have to up the blur samples for Ironman's turn. Then i have to add his vapor trail..

Dmitri

I saw this over on threedy forums too- you have skills. Seriously. If I was forced to critique it though- I'd say that Iron Man's fingers looking kind of weird being splayed out. Nevertheless- that's such a picky and minor thing. I'm liking your animations!

Knowles2

Awesome work.

mikeb

My aim has been to try and perfect this clip, as getting tests done here will make me more confident in rest of the clip.

I didn't think i had much to do after the last clip. I was wrong.
1. I started with looking at the clouds again.
2. Then I also added some subtle changes to the animation of Ironman.
3. I re-rendered my iron man with a proper number of blur samples and some more dirt and scratches.
4. Then i added the blast of his engines.
5. Then the smoke trail from the jets.
6. Still not happy i thought I'd make a 3d environment instead of the 2d one i've been using recently.

http://www.doghouseanimations.com/ufo/animtest5.wmv

So what do we think, anything more?

mikeb

Rather than go with the attaching of the a/c to splines i've been busy for the last week developing a flight simulator inside my 3d program, cinema 4d.

So i haven't forgotten this clip, i've been fixing lots of little things. Then doing this as well.

This is where I'm up to with the simulator, which has been a lot of work. Still I'm getting there..

http://www.doghouseanimations.com/ufo/flightsim2.mov

More when I'm satisfied with my simulations..

mikeb

This is where my flight sim ended up..
http://www.doghouseanimations.com/ufo/flightsim7.wmv

One problem my simulator always had was a problem with more than 1 aircraft. Infact both planes soon became linked to one pilot!?

Recently i coded a tall ship simulator and needed to have lots of them sailing at once.

I'm gonna update my flight sim code to be able to do this too..

Mikey-B

Oh I get it, the semi-identified thingy is Iron Man. And here I was thinking that the F-22 fighters were sent back to WW II to pick up Mr. Tideman's dog, kind of like what he did to the USS Nimitz.