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LizzyGibbs3D β Battletech / MechWarrior The Clans
Published: 2012-10-01 14:10:29 +0000 UTC; Views: 5460; Favourites: 84; Downloads: 113
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Description
Based on the promotional poster (and cover art to BattleTech Compendium - 1990) from FASA.Models were built in trueSpace, textured in Photoshop, and the scenery was created in VUE. Heavy, heavy, heavy post work on this one. I tried a number of new techniques for a different look.
-edit-
Some minor tweaks to the image.
Models and image Β© Liz Gibbs
All things BattleTech Β© Topps
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Comments: 21
that thingy to the right totally looks like a smal MBR-4 tomahawk destroid!
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Hey! I have this book! Somewhere 'round here. Fact this was my first BT book, I saw the cover and had to know what it was all about. Great models, as always, Hana. Lighting does not match up too well, sun should be off to the right side of the frame not the center. Guessing you added the light source on the right so it would bring the Mad Cat to the forefront.Β It just looks, well, odd, mainly because of where the shadows are. Are you rendering the models and the backgrounds at the same time? Donno much about TrueSpace but is there an 'Ambient' lighting option? I think that would fix all the hard shadowing I'm seeing here. Your texture work has waaay improved over the years. But it still looks too clean, if you remember...I hate clean Mechs. 
Β
Don't mean to be critical of your work, kiddo. Once a project lead always a project lead. *hands Hana a Atlas Plushy* Forgive?
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The landscape and red skies were done in VUE and rendered in that program. I then imported the ground object and the still scene into trueSpace. I used the background image as a light source for Ambient lighting, added in some other lights, and a "Sun" light in the distance behind the scene for that backlight look. I also added a shadow-catcher plane to get the sharper shadows you see in this render (the cast shadows in tS weren't strong enough and the models looked pasted on without it).Β
When I got the entire scene rendered in tureSpace, I went to work on it with Photoshop and used some "Movie Effects" tutorials to change the overall scope and feel of the image. I wanted to make it look dark, contrasted, and alien. Unfortunately, this had the effect of 'cleaning' the Madcat and Elemental as the worn edges, paint chips, battle scars, and general wear-and-tear were washed out or blended into the paint job.
I've learned a lot since then, but I think it is still one of my better productions. is there a lot that can be improved upon? Oh yes, definitely. But it's just a stage in my evolving style and increasing skills.
I don't mind critical. Critical is good!Β
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Looks awesome. The only complaint I have is directed at the original image you based this on rather than you since that's where the issue first appeared, and that's the fact that the elemental always looked too big to me compared to the Mad Cat/Timberwolf. He's almost the size of a light mech himself. I always felt they got the scale between the two wrong in the original image, even if elementals are supposed to be _huge_ by human standards and the armor would make the bigger still.
That aside, an excellent and faithful take on the original image. Awesome work.
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That's where my image and the cover art differ. In the original image the Elemental appears to be a separate illustration that was added on top of the TWolf cover design. I'm not sure why they went with that sort of art direction. Probably just to show off the 'new' powered armor.
My Elemental is just over 2 meters tall with the TWolf being about 11m tall. Unfortunately, without a good sense of scale between the two models and a lack of depth of field (because blur hides detail), it's difficult to gauge proper sizes. If I did it like the original, my Elemental would be almost twice its size! LOL
I thought about adding the other 4 armored warriors near the feet of the TWolf to get a better sense of scale. I even thought about adding my DWolf somewhere in the background. But in the end, I went with the simplistic representation that was the original cover art.
Anyway, thanks for commenting! I'm glad that my image is appreciated. It's part of what gives me the motivation to continue doing stuff like this.
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Thanks! I put a lot of detail into both models. It's just that in a single frame render, a lot of that detail isn't seen.
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Excellent work! How long did it take you to just model each object?
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I didn't really keep track of how much time I spent on the Madcat or the Elemental. Considering the detail I put into both models, plus the model skins, I'd have to estimate a good two or three months solid. That is if you cut out the time between when I started the Madcat, finished half of it, let it sit for two years, then finished the lower part and legs within a week. I'd also rebuilt much of the Elemental. I had to rework the boots to add new jump jets, and rebuilt the chest plate and helmet.
And then after all of that, I had to mod the Madcat to cut down the polygon count since it was over a million tris. For example, each missile (30 total) were over 3,100 polygons. I rebuilt one to around 329 tris and replaced the set. The arm pods were close to 200k each due to the detail I put into the weapons. So I had to cut out a lot of detail that wouldn't have been visible.
So yeah, a lot of work and time spent to get to this point!
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Pretty awesome! I bet you wished you could render a whole Nova Unit of these in one go ^_^ - now THAT would be intimidating 
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I don't really have that many Clan models. Just these two and a Dire Wolf. [link]
I've thought about building more. But I'd most likely stick with the initial 3050 designs. As for this image, I'd considered adding the DWolf to the background and arranging another 4 Elementals on the ground. But I figured I'd just stick with simple and feature just these two.
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Cool, cool 
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