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Description
Detailed renders of my Showa-inspired Mechagodzilla model, in the same vein as some other model showcases I have shared in the past.

I made this back in March of 2015, using some version of the software Blender 2.7. It was the third kaiju I ever made, which explains why it's not nearly movie accurate. This is a more slimmed down, humanoid looking Mechagodzilla. It is technically not the original Mechagodzilla from 1974, nor Mechagodzilla II from 1975, but "Mechagodzilla ?" because there have been so many version of him in different games, comics and shows that I can't count which number this would be. So he is "Mechagodzilla Number Question Mark".
I have pretty distinct memories of making it and running into hurdles at every step. If you're modeling organic monsters, you have a lot of leeway to take some liberties, but robots require more precision. Every bodypart and joint had to be accurately measured and modeled to fit together, every segmented joint had to bend the right way, each rivet had to be exactly placed -- I used Blender's dupliverts (called instances in newer software versions) for this, which generated rivets in precise geometric locations. But since Showa Mechagodzilla's body also tends to bend in places that are meant to be rigid, I also had to add folds and scrunched-up joints around his elbows and knees.
I remember the model itself took a week to make and setting up the armature to make it move the way I wanted took another week. In comparison, most simpler Showa kaiju only take 1-3 days to be modeled, textured and rigged. The elbows in particular needed to bend a certain way, which proved very hard to work with. So for action scenes that required precise arm movements, I replaced the arms entirely. The version shown here is the original, more rigid arm setup.
Facial movement was also kept to a minimum due to all the separate parts that would need to be moved. The model can slightly squint, go wide-eyed, look a little angry or sad, and that's it.
Its eye beam is a pair of tubes with an animated noise texture and a rainbow image texture. The chest-beam is just a thin tube with a zig-zagged displacement texture. These also took ages to figure out. When Mechagodzilla fires his missiles, the tips of his fingers and toes are set to disappear (using Blender's mask modifier) and new missile models are animated to appear in the same place.

I have updated many of my older kaiju models over time, but because of how hard Mechagodzilla was to make, I refuse to make another one. It's also the same reason I've mostly avoided making more robotic monster models. Overall, this Mechagodzilla model is composed of dozens of different meshes, each textured and rigged in a specific way and a lot of limitations to the armature system's movement, which all make it very tedious to use.

Description
Detailed renders of my Showa-inspired Mechagodzilla model, in the same vein as some other model showcases I have shared in the past.

I made this back in March of 2015, using some version of the software Blender 2.7. It was the third kaiju I ever made, which explains why it's not nearly movie accurate. This is a more slimmed down, humanoid looking Mechagodzilla. It is technically not the original Mechagodzilla from 1974, nor Mechagodzilla II from 1975, but "Mechagodzilla ?" because there have been so many version of him in different games, comics and shows that I can't count which number this would be. So he is "Mechagodzilla Number Question Mark".
I have pretty distinct memories of making it and running into hurdles at every step. If you're modeling organic monsters, you have a lot of leeway to take some liberties, but robots require more precision. Every bodypart and joint had to be accurately measured and modeled to fit together, every segmented joint had to bend the right way, each rivet had to be exactly placed -- I used Blender's dupliverts (called instances in newer software versions) for this, which generated rivets in precise geometric locations. But since Showa Mechagodzilla's body also tends to bend in places that are meant to be rigid, I also had to add folds and scrunched-up joints around his elbows and knees.
I remember the model itself took a week to make and setting up the armature to make it move the way I wanted took another week. In comparison, most simpler Showa kaiju only take 1-3 days to be modeled, textured and rigged. The elbows in particular needed to bend a certain way, which proved very hard to work with. So for action scenes that required precise arm movements, I replaced the arms entirely. The version shown here is the original, more rigid arm setup.
Facial movement was also kept to a minimum due to all the separate parts that would need to be moved. The model can slightly squint, go wide-eyed, look a little angry or sad, and that's it.
Its eye beam is a pair of tubes with an animated noise texture and a rainbow image texture. The chest-beam is just a thin tube with a zig-zagged displacement texture. These also took ages to figure out. When Mechagodzilla fires his missiles, the tips of his fingers and toes are set to disappear (using Blender's mask modifier) and new missile models are animated to appear in the same place.

I have updated many of my older kaiju models over time, but because of how hard Mechagodzilla was to make, I refuse to make another one. It's also the same reason I've mostly avoided making more robotic monster models. Overall, this Mechagodzilla model is composed of dozens of different meshes, each textured and rigged in a specific way and a lot of limitations to the armature system's movement, which all make it very tedious to use.