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3DDUNE (1984) WIP's

monsoontidemonsoontide0 Posts: 0Member
edited August 2012 in Work in Progress #1
OK, finally gonna re-start this thread...
It's been a while and I kinda lost interest when sci-fi meshes went down.
Haven't done any work on these models since then... RL has been very hectic of late. In fact I have spent the last week ripping out the dashboard in my car to replace the heater matrix. (Normally it wouldn;t take so long but it was hard to get a working replacement part)

Anyways, on to the models.
Atreides transport, Emperor's transport and "Steel Tent" and Ornithopter, plus early versions of the Harkonnen transport.

atreidesarrival740x4805hg.th.jpg

atreidesstarshipstars2lx.th.jpg

atreidesstarshipwide4jz.th.jpg

flagship9uv.th.jpg

steeltent9ek.th.jpg

harkonnenflagship6db.th.jpg

atreidesthopter52tk.th.jpg

atreidesthopter21wx.th.jpg

atreidesthopter19br.th.jpg

That's it for now. Will try and get some more done soon.
81111.jpg
Post edited by monsoontide on
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  • monsoontidemonsoontide0 Posts: 0Member
    For fun, here's a shot from my redesign of the 'thopter I did a while ago... Have to rebuild the model again (It's not very detailed) but it looks really cool in motion as it "flaps" its wings!

    bigthopters9is.th.jpg

    btw does anyone have a decent 3D model of some sand-dunes... I made the one in the pic in about ten minutes and frankly it looks about as much like real sand dunes as something that doesn't!
  • ChrisGFXChrisGFX362 GermanyPosts: 607Member
    good to see this one back. Great work!

    Greets

    Chris
  • LarsenLarsen171 Posts: 0Member
    Looks great:thumb: And welcome to SFM:D

    I love that redesigned thopter man... awsome:thumb: Please start a WIP on it, once you start the rebuild:thumb:
  • AresiusAresius359 Posts: 4,171Member
    ^,.,^
    rrrrr...
    the good old one...
    I love that one...
    Nice models...
  • AethernautAethernaut0 Posts: 0Member
    Nice work. I love the modified (read:real) ornithopter!
  • monsoontidemonsoontide0 Posts: 0Member
    Here's an old test I did compositing my Original 'Thopter redesign...
    (The animation looks nice but is very brief - know anywhere I can upload that to?)

    thopterpalacecomp9tn.th.jpg

    I roto'ed out the back wall and replaced it with a sky backdrop to do a "Bespin" on this scene!

    dunetesttv4xj.th.jpg

    I have since redesigned the thopter so the front more closely resembles the movie - so there would be no need for costly replacements with the new design in the many interior and exterior shots featuring the actors.
  • monsoontidemonsoontide0 Posts: 0Member
    Finally got back into working on this... Work takes up far too much time at the moment! Hope to post some test renders of the Harkonnen Battle Ship WIP as soon as possible...
  • monsoontidemonsoontide0 Posts: 0Member
    This is just a simple test... nothing snazzy at all... but I don't have enough detailed images of elongated rear section to finish it off... It will end up being a night shot too. Also the detailing on the surface of the ship haven't really come out in this render. Will have to set up something a bit better for you to look at.
    harkonnenflagshipun1.th.jpg

    There's a couple more images on my website...
    Sasha Burrow Online Portfolio
  • AresiusAresius359 Posts: 4,171Member
    well, actually this looks better than the original... ;)

    Nice going...
  • monsoontidemonsoontide0 Posts: 0Member
    Here is a render + mock up background that is a bit closer to the scene in the film... the shot where the Baron has been summoned by the Emperor who has srrived on Dune and while the Baron says nothing there is a voice over the intercom that says something like "It's been confirmed. The Emperor's had Rabban siezed."

    harkonnenflagship2cy5.th.jpg
  • AethernautAethernaut0 Posts: 0Member
    Very nice! That Harkonnen ship looks really good.

    It's a shame Lynch couldn't make the film he wanted to make. He should have split it up into two or three parts (the "Alan Smithee" edit is a trainwreck). He did however have a brilliant art department that turned out some very unique and dark designs. The only thing they totally screwed up was the ornithopter, yours are way better. And the Weirding Modules were kind of a strange addition to the universe, I would have much rather liked to have seen a film adaptation of the Weirding Way. I think it might have added a lot more interest to the story than just introducing a piece of strange hardware.
  • monsoontidemonsoontide0 Posts: 0Member
    I don't blame David Lynch for taking his name of the extended edition - whoever put that together just butchered it! And from what I understand there are still deleted scenes that they didn't even use.

    Considering the technology available at the time, some of the effects were great, especially the way they filmed the static models on platforms high in the air with the little cut out bits in them so the camera could see the live actors perfectly placed 100 or so meters away, so the effect was all "in-camera".
    The other awesome effect was the body shields... took me a while to track down how they did that, but aparently it was a 6 month rotoscope job for some poor soul!
    The worms are cool and always reminded me a bit of big whales in some of the shots.
    But yeah, the Ornithopters (Both Atreides and Harkonnen) just suck. Funnily enough, even that badly acted new mini-series didn't try to do them properly either! Will have to post a screenshot of my Harkonnen Thopter redesign at some point (It's just a crappy 3D "Sketch" to see if it would work... will make it look more like the movie one so it would be easier to match to the exisiting interior and crashed exterior shots)

    Would really like to do something like a DUNE "Legacy edition" - like the cool work Mike Verta is doing (for his own private satisfaction) on Star Wars...
    Welcome to STARA?WARS - Legacy Edition
    ... but WITH new effect replacing those old ones that are just crap - but without making it look out of place. (Would really like to replace some of those funky end battle effects - like the one where the sand falls on all the soldiers but they keep running "under" it! LOL).

    BTW, would anyone be interested if I made these models available for public download?
  • monsoontidemonsoontide0 Posts: 0Member
    This is a quick and dirty redesign of the Harkonnen 'Thopter.
    Sort of a proof of concept model before I go and model the Hi-Poly version - which will be more accurate to the film one in the front portion.

    harkonnenthopter1nj3.th.jpg
  • ChrisGFXChrisGFX362 GermanyPosts: 607Member
    great work so far :thumb: can't wait to see more :)

    Chris :)
  • backsteptbackstept2017 Posts: 918Member
    I'm loving the 'thopters :thumb:
    here's a drawing I saw of a 'thopter that I really liked:
    http://www.classic-space.com/plugins/autogallery/Gallery/SmallShips/Thopter.jpg
  • AresiusAresius359 Posts: 4,171Member
    man, that Thopter's great... Both of them are damn cool...
  • FuryofaseraphFuryofaseraph0 Posts: 0Member
    Dune was my favorite book as a kid. Whilst I am not a huge fan of either movies done, I am a bigger fan of lynch's film. The Sci-Fi Channel version may be closer to the "facts" of the book, I always felt Lynch's was closer to the "feel" of the book.
    Anyways, I look forward to seeing more, especially the 'thopter. Keep up the fantastic work.
  • AethernautAethernaut0 Posts: 0Member
    Very nice Harkonnen 'thopter, monsoontide!

    My only suggestion would be moving the wings to a point closer to the center of lift, i.e. further toward the centerline of the craft. Or... maybe add some canards toward the nose that flap like hummingbird or dragonfly wings to center the lift.
  • monsoontidemonsoontide0 Posts: 0Member
    What I had thought of was having the "rocket pods" described in the book at the front of the vehicle (somwhat like harrier jumpjet vents) with the wings as they are, so the vehicle sort of flies in that Helicopter manner - nose tilted down. The idea for mounting the wings there is twofold... 1- I'm trying to keep as much to the movie deigns as possible so you wouldn't have to redo the couple of exterior shots with the actors. 2- Its unusual (And unnantural wing position, underlining the fact that this is a machine) and just a bit different from every other ornithopter drawing I've ever seen which are all a bit too much like helicopters with wings instead of rotors and just don't feel like they fit in the world of the movie.
  • AethernautAethernaut0 Posts: 0Member
    Sure, ornithopters are a lot more like helicopters but you're still dealing with the same principles of lift. I like the jet lift idea but that was only used as initial jump lift for the biomechanical engine (the Herbert approved Encyclopedia goes into detail about it). Of course, like most soft scifi, in the Dune universe you can fudge it since there seems to be some degree of gravity control and force fields that they don't go into in the flight details. ;)

    I say: FUDGE IT! :D It certainly makes for more fun designs.
  • monsoontidemonsoontide0 Posts: 0Member
    Strictly speaking, this is't 3D (So hope its OK to post here) - it's a packaging mockup I made a few years ago for a 4 Disc DVD DUNE set... It's simply made out of Printer paper so its a bit "wobbly" looking...
    dunedvdaz1.th.jpg

    The booklet was supposed to have some pop up pages showcasing who is who and what planet they come from...
    dvc00139ch6.th.jpg

    Disc 1 (Arrakis) Would Contain the first Part of the "Directors Cut/Special Edition/Whatever You call it These Days"

    Disc 2 (Caladan) Would have 2nd part of movie

    Disc 3 (Geidi Prime) Would have Documentaires Interviews etc, etc

    Disc 4 (Kaitain) Would Contain a whole selection of the old Dune games - Dune (By Cryo), Dune 2 (Westwood), Dune 2000, Emperor - Battle For Dune...

    Though nowdays you could probably do some super snazzy HD-DVD/Blu-Ray DVD version...
  • monsoontidemonsoontide0 Posts: 0Member
    Here is the start of the wall around the Palace in Arrakeen... It's modular so easy to quickly build up sections of wall, though I still have to do quite a bit of work on the doors, which feature a relatively intricate piece of geometric design work... The hard part will be getting the texturing to look right and building a convincing landscape...

    palacewallsak9.th.jpg
  • monsoontidemonsoontide0 Posts: 0Member
    Small GIF animation of the original movie thopter flying over the wall.
    It plays back a bit slow tho. And yes... I am aware that the far background isn't moving correctly!!! lol

    palacewallrq4.th.gif
  • ZardozZardoz2 Posts: 0Member
    Hey! You know the 'thopter of Dune game ?? It's looks much better that the original of the old movie (that sucks!). And i think that it's more near to the idea in the book.
    http://ben.bacchus.com.au/vpcblog/images/dune1.JPG
  • monsoontidemonsoontide0 Posts: 0Member
    While I totally agree with you that the one in the movie sucks ass, the problem with the design in the game (And a few other thopter designs I've seen) is it seats mayby between 3-6 people tops... whereas there is a need for the one in the movie to seat a whole bunch of spice miners as well as the 4 main characters.
    I'm restricting my redesign to something that could be integrated into a "special edition" of the movie, so that you wouldn't have to redo all the interior shots as well.
  • monsoontidemonsoontide0 Posts: 0Member
    Evil Harkonnen thopter... I've managed to find some nice reference pix of most angles, but I have no idea what the underside of this thing looks like so will just have to extrapolate from what I do have.
    Currently it's mostly just the basic shape, getting all the proprtions and dimensional relationships worked out. Will start detailing it soon.

    harkonnenthopterwip1ow8.th.jpg
  • AresiusAresius359 Posts: 4,171Member
    urgs...
    sry, nothing against you...
    it really looks like the Harkonnen thoppy...
  • monsoontidemonsoontide0 Posts: 0Member
    Busy at work at the moment, plus moving back to the US at end of August, so will probably be a while before i can get back to this project (again!!! LOL)
    However, I have not been idle. I've been re-working my original "improved" designs, making them more detailed and more "realistic/functional" and more in the style of the movie.
    Hope to get some more WIP pix posted before I leave
  • monsoontidemonsoontide0 Posts: 0Member
    So here's the redesigned Atreides Thopter.... Usuing 75% of the original. Still have a lot more work to do on the model... not the least being some textures for it. Main thing left to be done is the landing gear, which will be kinda complicated since it needs to kinda match what was done on the movie, but be modified for the new body design/center of gravity. Anyways, here's how this one is shaping up...
    atreidesthopterhdjd7.th.jpg
  • monsoontidemonsoontide0 Posts: 0Member
    This project is once again on hold... currently moving country (again) and don't yet have a house to live in!!! I will get back to it at some point soon though.
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