[Bubbaloo]

Wow, nice dirty glass.

[Becco_UK]

Bubaloo: Thank you. The glass material still needs tweaking but is showing good possibilities.

Someone at another forum asked how longer these Maxwell renders take So, for them to gain a better understanding of Maxwell I assembled this sequence of Maxwell Render in action with this 300,000+ polygon Shadow Mobile scene.

"Always a full screen image that starts out very noisy and updates at regular intervals - lighting can be adjusted during or after render either full scene or individual lights. The time difference between sample levels is not proportional. The person doing the render can either preset a final sample level or set a very high one and simply stop the render when quality is acceptable."

[Becco_UK]

Here some cab roof parts have been adjusted (again!) and look to be much more accurate.

[Becco_UK]

Just about finished the modelling that will UV mapped and painted with Bodypaint. Also, the track blocks are now connected by some swept splines and a few bits have been added to the body. I will be making a few polygon selections in preperation for UV mapping so any final tidying up of the mesh required will be done then.

[Becco_UK]

During some spare time today I made a return to the Shadow Mobile model to take a look at what needs doing to get it to completion. I think these steps should get me there:

1. A bit more detail to the rear.
2. Tidying/ deletion of some mesh.
3. Create polygon selection tags of Body and Cab.
4. UV map Body and Cab.
5. Paint including decals.
6. Light weathering.

The present colour is likely to be used in the final textures/ materials - it looks close to me but of course does look different according to the lighting being used. This is another reason to develop materials in a plain neutral light.

When all the above is done the scene in which it will placed can be constructed. I like the idea of the Mobile being in a scene with a UFO leaving water - and perhaps one or more characters in the scene too. This type of scene will loosley reflect how the original Mobile model was depicted in some episodes.

[RonB]

Great post, fantastic modeling...love it!

Cheers, Ron

[Becco_UK]

A couple of years ago I made a UFO model but wasn't fully happy with it. So, I decided to make a new one - this is how it looks at early stage of development. Instead of a Silver Alloy material I'm trying a Titanium material that gives a slightly different look. It is easy enough to change should I decide it's not suitable. The UFO will faeture in a render, or two, of the Mobile.

[Becco_UK]

After giving this UFO a good thinking about, I've decided that the ribbed effect present on the central, vanes and paddles will be created using a simple bump map - this is the plain unweathered version with the upper dome now finalised.

[Becco_UK]

I placed a green coloured light emitter into the top material. With that and using Maxwell Renders multilight feature this effect is easily created.

[JorisMX]

Hey!

Great Becco, love this project very much : )

Makes me want to dig out those old U.F.O. Episodes hehe

[ivox3]

Love that thing.

[Becco_UK]

JorisMX & ivox3: Thank you.

Slowly, the UFO starts to come to life. The vanes and paddles are UV mapped and a bump map made. I opted for a bump map to save polygons and it allows for a 'smooth' version of the UFO to be accomodated (by disabling the bump maps). This test uses a low res' hdri for lighting reflections, etc.

[Becco_UK]

With the Central section of the UFO UV mapped and bump mapped I'm calling that model finished. In proper renders it will usually have motion blur applied so the detail already present is more than enough and is a fair representation of the actual studio model. Seen in this preview with the still in progress Mobile.

[-Adrian]

Yay, more retro style. Nice work Becco!

[Becco_UK]

-Adrian: Thank you. The 1960's and early 70's hand made studio models were some of the best ever made for TV - much better than todays CG stuff.

The first test of the UFO using motion blur - in this render the 'spinning' motion blur is set at 10 degrees per frame, couple of degrees tilt from the previous frame. No directional motion is used - it assumes the camera is tracking the UFO which keeps the overall shape of the model intact. The dome fixers are still very noticable so since this render strarted I have reduced their dimensions a touch.

When the full sized render has finished I will try adding some orange smoke and maybe a few sparks here and there to simulate damage.

I may release this UFO as a free Poser conversion - still deciding on that one.