Some shieldbot models

As you may or may not have noticed, I posted a horribly disfigured Thug on the main spring forum some time ago. Further improvements have been made, and since the shieldfac doesn't have a consistent art style anyway, I thought I may also post it here.





It's based on the current Thug model, I just added some fancy stuff, redid the arms and made a new texture.



I even went so far to make a completely new, hopefully less Mechwarrior-ish Rouge model:





Constructive criticism welcome, blabla

Because a +1 isn't enough I'll comment too. Good job once again there Captain.

quote: amazing

quote: +1 isn't enough

quote: INCREDIBLY good looking

(thank you)

quote: COMMIT NAO

Soon, gotta fix the normal map first.

quote: The leg animation has always been basically bad. I mean, they just swing back and forth on a single axis.

I suck at coding animations, so I doubt that I could do any improvement here. All the animations I've ever "made" are basically just stolen from other units and adapted to suit my one.

quote: Finally, what are your thoughts on the redback? Haven't seen you around to ask your thoughts.

It looks quite good. There are a few issues like no normal map, and parts that are supposed to glow but aren't illuminated by texture2. Didn't I provide the source textures for those spiders? Should have done that I guess.

Epiccccccc

Your Thug is a tremendous improvement over your Bantha and Detriment, which were themselves tremendous improvements over models ZK was using before them.

Your panel-based style is very cool, but I've always thought it's a little too distinctive. Tons of gorgeous detail and very visually striking, in a good way, but also very angular and blocky. It feels like the units are hyper-real, making them seem out of place in an ostensibly "real" environment.

But this Thug, on the other hand...

It retains that signature CaptainBenz style but takes it to another level. There's some rounded edges, some softness. The panels are present but are not an overwhelming presence; they fit and flow well with each other; their arrangement suggests they are integrated with the unit's function rather than being a decorative motif. The detail on the texturing is remarkable, suggesting a weathered appearance; the splitting into regions is subdued, the lines work together rather than against each other. All in all, the word I'd use is natural. The appearance is utterly striking, but the unit overall seems natural and balanced. And hence "realistic" in a way that neither the old Thug nor your current Detriment pull off.

I love it. I hope you can do more like this.

quote: You can make them in blender now that blender2lus is a thing!

Quoting the readme:

quote: Requires modern version of Spring. That is, anything from 95.0 inclusive. Projects still stuck on 91.0 are SOL.

Unfortunately, ZK is one such project.

quote: :P and to turn while walking they would need to lean into the direction they want to turn

Could just get away with emulating a tank. That is, make smaller steps with one leg and bigger ones with another.

You don't have to actually make a good animation. You just have to make a model which permits a good animation to be made. The restrictiveness of the Thug legs make it not such a model.

As far as I can tell it is a bit better than the current Thug. Redoing the factory would be ok although they do already have a theme.

Don't change the weapon emit points of Rogue, it already has enough problems with teamkilling on missile spawn and it looks like you have moved the launch tubes even further sideways. Also the current Rogue has a reloading animation which I think is a cool thing to have.

quote: Redoing the factory would be ok although they do already have a theme.

I'm actually a bit surprised that Benz picked the shieldfac to do next. I think shieldbots are pretty good as they are. They're simple, but elegant in their simplicity. They're clean.

I'd rather see some work done on the "dirty" factories: cloakies, vehicles, and tanks.

What we mostly need now is structures. Several of the factories are kitbashes of the Domi, including spider. So a cool spider factory with lots of spidery construction arms to match the spider units would be nice.

It would be nice to also have a clean, consistent set of turrets etc but that's like, a big undertaking (few moving parts though). The Newton is a 3do offender, as is farraday, but they're both distinct at least.

Cars and Tanks are a consistent mr.d model set, and don't need to be redone.

The only problem in Cloakies is Hammer and Sniper, which I'd still like to redo at some point if people don't mind me using spherebot over and over again.

What needs to be done is the 3do ships, and perhaps the ship textures in general cleaned up (I keep reworking them but, eh: The Battleship is still basically a bad AO bake). The Licho/Wyvern. Hunter (Which I've redone several times but never felt happy with). Serpent. Surfboat (Why is this unit still in the game..). Ultimatum. Leviathan.

Hovers are actually awful and could be redone too, they're made up of 3-4 lego parts repeated over and over again. But these ridiculously bad placeholders don't actually look that bad ingame, so... that's low priority.

The Shieldfac is one of the worser looking facs so Benz is on to something. Maackeys models are admirable, but his textures are kind of flat, particularly his early ones. Vandal was one of his later models AFAIR, and it shows: I put an AO bake on it and the geometry really shines (The texture was almost totally flat without the AO bake). The Bandit probably has the worst geometry, being the first unit Maackey did.

Convict, Outlaw, Felon, Racketeer and Dirtbag are all Beherith models though, rather than Maackey ones, and are probably fairly good (Other than that the puppy, Dirtbag and Archer are all the same model kitbashed). Basically anything Benz redoes is better than what we currently have though, because he's gotten that good. So there is almost nothing he could not redo well.

quote: Cloakies are the best-looking factory as a whole, what are you talking about?

I can't agree. I'll try to explain what I'm talking about.

Just to use the constructors as examples:





Weaver and Crane are "clean". Weaver is ornate, Crane is (relatively) plain. But both are clean. The textures aren't lacking in interesting detail, but they're made using shapes and lines rather than being mottled, splotchy, and dirty. The models likewise have plenty of interesting geometry, and their geometry as a whole is elegant. There are curves and bends, straight lines, blocks, and odd pieces, but they all work together.



Welder is actually very impressive. It visually conveys the character of the unit perfectly: a heavy tank, a builder, heavily armored, and armed. The texture, unlike Weaver and Crane, is very dirty. It has dirt, rust, rough metal, scorch marks, bullet holes, and wear and tear - all of which are perfect for the unit. The model is very boxy, but with just enough angled pieces and interesting bits to make it not feel like a box, but rather like a unit with a certain shape (i.e. a bulldozer).

If ZK were shooting for a consistent art style across the whole game then Welder would be out of place next to Crane and Weaver because of its rough-and-gritty texture. But as it is, considered on its own merits, its model and texture fits well with the gameplay design of the unit and the factory.



The Rector, though, is just plain messy. The textures are mottled and splotchy but don't create a sense that the unit has been through combat. The design elements like the vents and grills and panels are haphazardly used and placed rather than contributing to a unified design. The model's geometry is awkward; things that should be curves are grossly obvious polygons, there are angles everywhere but none of them match, the components are boxy pieces, and the pieces don't look like they fit together.

I don't think the Spherebots look good, and I hope they get replaced someday.