Hi everyone. This is my first post here, so I figured I'd get right into it and show one of my current projects that I've just started. Hopefully I post this right!
The plan is to build a detailed and realistic G1 Optimus Prime, with a transformation sequence inspired by, but much more detailed than the original G1 toy/cartoon. The eventual goal is to turn this into a photorealistic video showing the transformation, but for now I'll just be focusing on the model itself.
First I'm building the truck model, then I'll split that into pieces and reassemble them into the Optimus Prime robot and work from there. The truck I'm modeling for "vehicle mode" is the Peterbilt 352.
Here is my quick "proof of concept" sketch I drew in about an hour before starting. Not a finalized representative image by any means, but a good idea of the general look and style I'm going for. Everything is open at this stage though.
I've attached a couple of quick and dirty renders of my progress on the truck so far. Not much to look at yet, but I figured I better show something, right?
Posts
Nice work so far. I like the concept sketch, it looks good. The truck looks good so far also. I'm looking forward to seeing how you accomplish making him transform realistically.
That's the goal. I'm aiming for Bayformers style of transforming, with everything splitting up into their smallest individual components and shifting around a lot more, rather than the simpler large chunks rotating around like the old toys, although in reality it will probably end up somewhere inbetween the two.
Much like the new movies, there may be a bit of fudging behind the scenes to make it work if necessary. If possible it would be nice to make it 100% plausible, but I don't want to be set on it to the point where it's going to compromise it simply looking cool.
I've got the most crucial details of the cab done, so things should move along faster now, hopefully.
That's what I did with the inner corners, because it's nice and flat there. For the outer ones, I figured that projecting a flat circle onto the rounded edge would distort as the curve got steeper. I actually ended up taking the circle, and applying a bend modifier to match the curve of the body, and positioning/rotating it in place on the surface, then cutting from there. A bit low tech, but it gave a good result.
Can't wait to see this finished.
Newest update is the wheels/tyres, and a bit of work on the front lights. Both the wheels and tyres were modeled from real specs to make sure they were fairly accurate.
Yeah, I think it was the right call. Sometimes I just need the push to get off my lazy butt.
By the time it's textured, lit, and animated, I think it will be pretty subtle to the point of being hardly noticeable. Either way, I still have the original tyre saved without the chamfer just incase I change my mind.
A few new renders attached. Progress has been a bit slow this week, but the cab section is really starting to come together.
I've made a good start on the exhaust pipes. Still a way to go with the details of attaching it to the truck, but I still thought it turned out really well.
I've also finished off the sleeper panels (uh the two square doory things behind the door with the little handles.) I'm thinking the back one will open up and become the opening where the hands come out for robot mode? It's in a pretty good spot for it, and I think it would look pretty cool during the transformation to have the door retract so the hands can pop out.
At the moment I'm starting to split the body into the individual sheet metal panels ready for the transformation. A bit hard to see on the renders, but it's most visible on the back of the cab.
A few other details done, such as the hand railing, the front blinker, the battery box (just behind the front wheel), and the cab supports.
I am really itching to get this body completely split into panels so I can start doing some test fits for the Optimus Prime robot mode! Not too far off.
Your really going for the small details.
Been working on a few specific details that have taken me a while. I built the foot hole below the door, built the flap thingy on the front that typically has the Peterbilt logo on it (swapped out for the Autobot logo), and have spent about 4 days so far working on the gas tank. I had an issue with the lack of good reference images, although it's starting to come together nicely now.
I've also got a higher res overall image to show the overall truck progress, and a quick test fit of some key pieces over an old cartoony G1 model I made last year, which I'll use as a basic template for the proportions of my new Optimus model.
My biggest concern right now for his robot mode is the height of the windows for his chest area. As you can see in the attached pic, the actual window glass is not as tall as it is on G1 Optimus. To me it looks like it won't be tall enough to look good, and I can't think of any alternative solution I'd be happy with aside from fudging it and swapping it out mid transformation for taller windows. Fine as is? No good? Any opinions or suggestions there would be most welcome!
I was wondering when someone would mention the Freightliner! I did a lot of research before starting to decide what truck I would base it on, as I'd heard a few different trucks mentioned, including the Freightliner FL-86, and the Peterbilt 352. His original toy was definitely based on the Freightliner if anything, although it really wasn't that close that I felt it was a necessity over choosing which truck I felt worked better for the robot. Either one could have worked if I really wanted to, since they look fairly similar, but I felt many of the details of the Peterbilt would look a lot better in robot mode, and I preferred the look of the truck.
I have checked, and the windows are no taller on the Freightliner though, they're just really tall on the original toy. So either way I would have hit the same problem. I would rather not fudge the truck mode, since imo part of the realism goal entails having a realistic truck mode based on an accurate to life vehicle, just as the movies did. To me that's more important than keeping the exact same parts for both modes, as long as it looks like they're the same parts to the viewer. Even the movies did a lot of fudging during the transformation. I'm not really sure how I can fudge such a huge part like the windows mid-transformation though, as they won't be moving all that much from mode to mode.
Don't try to attach logic to hand-drawn animation. Many of the Transformers changed size and proportion of parts when transforming. Parts disappeared and reappeared at will during the transformations. Heck, not all of the parts were necessarily drawn the same in either mode from one episode or scene to another. The exact shape of Optimus' cab in truck mode would change, the windows and other parts would change size and shape, sometimes during a scene. The same goes for robot mode.
If you're going to go realistic, you might as well leave the windows how they are on the real truck, it will be more realistic than the character on the show was. It may not look "right" when compared to the G1 robot, but that technically wasn't "right" anyway.