The Ascent Project - Diamond Claw WIPs

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TheAscentProject
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The Ascent Project - Diamond Claw WIPs

Post by TheAscentProject »

Hello everyone!

You guys voted and, as promised, I will now start uploading and describing the relevant WIPs of my work on the Diamond Claw.

I hope I don't become annoyingly "tl;dr" with my descriptions, please let me know if I do. :)

Make sure to check back periodically as any further uploads will be done here in the OP.

* * *

>> Let's start with my very first sketch - as I did with the Smelter, I wanted to envision this bot before the infection while grounding it in practicality. How would a mega-corporation whose ultimate goal is maximizing profit design a mining bot? As far as the main hull, it would definitely be a bare-bones construction, saving on hull plating and relying on the chassis to act as a rollcage of sorts to provide minimal protection to the internal components. How about the mining itself? I did a bit of research on modern mining/boring machinery and sketched a 2-in-1 system based on the shape of the original Diamond Claw: dual drilling tips and lateral boring heads, I figured four of these in a zero-g environment would get any kind of tunneling done.
Image


>> I then became a little obsessed with that 2-in-1 idea for the Swingarms. So far all my models have had very simple animations and I wanted to try and incorporate something more complex here so I designed, modeled, and animated a transforming drilling/boring swingarm as a proof of concept.
[youtube]WA8c_UluJRU[/youtube]
(There is further information in the Video Description)


>> Having established all that, I began work on the actual post-infection hull (the actual recreation of the model). This is a very early sketch when I was still looking for a direction in which to take the model while I "established" notable external components. For example, that "structure" in the middle is the Energy Pulse Emitter (fires those plasma balls) while the components at the bottom left and right are the receptors that charge up the pulse emitter by absorbing excess energy every time the shields are hit with energy weapons. But I was very unsatisfied with the shapes of the hull. (Oh and I know... Those thrusters look like R2 units :P )
Image


>> Then, I had an epiphany and decided to "go back to basics" and sketch my Diamond Claw using much more aggressive shapes and "pointy ends". I soon found inspiration on modern stealth fighters, specifically the F-117 and began thinking of the virus' use of the DC as a stealth assassin - which kind of matches up with its in-game AI. I also scrapped the original idea of the Swingarms, going back to the good-old claws.
Image
Image


>> Things with the hull finally climaxed one day when I got extremely inspired, grabbed my Wacom, and let the juices flow digitally:
Image
>> A more stealthy color theme:
Image


* * *

At present, the sketching phase is about finished and I'm almost ready to begin 3D. I still have to finish concept work on the Swingarms since I scrapped the 2-in-1 idea. I am also working on both a 2D CAD concept (with some internal components) and a final digital sketch (similar to the last upload) based on those CAD views.

I have quite high ambitions with this model. Whenever I work on the CAD I toy with the idea of modeling each armor plate and component completely separately so that I can add in major internal components. We shall see where it goes, but I would love for it to get to that.

As always, thank you for your support!

* * *

>> *UPDATE* Here is the final sketch of the hull all done in CAD. Since I'm very happy with its general look there aren't any major changes, I just needed to do this in CAD because I wanted to actually figure and settle on values for all the major angles as it will make the 3D workflow much easier. Now I'm working on a rough CAD (nothing like this) of the side view as well as trying to settle with a final functional design for the claws. I will post as soon as they're ready - see you guys soon!
Image
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Re: The Ascent Project - Diamond Claw WIPs

Post by Krom »

I can see now why your models turn out so impressive, that is no small amount of research you put into them.

Those sketches look incredible, I can't wait to see the finished project.
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Re: The Ascent Project - Diamond Claw WIPs

Post by sdfgeoff »

Looking great. I hadn't thought about whether they would be drills or claws. Interesting.

On a side note:
How is it that the diamond claw can actually damage you? There's a lot less energy involved in a claw-strike than even a class-1 laser (laser moves faster, and emits light, so must have more energy), but it seems that the claws do more damage. Perhaps your shields aren't good at absorbing/deflecting solid masses, only energies.
Eh?
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Re: The Ascent Project - Diamond Claw WIPs

Post by Alter-Fox »

Wow. I want to fight that.
Lasers bolts shouldn't be visible unless there's something in the air for the light to reflect off of. Period. Descent is wrong. WRONG I TELL YOU! WRONG!!!
I think I might have eaten too much donut.

Also I love your rationalization of "it's shiny, it must have more energy". Who knows how fast those claws would move if they were properly animated, eh?
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Re: The Ascent Project - Diamond Claw WIPs

Post by roid »

the level of professional quality you're putting into this old game FREAKS ME OUT. I'm gobsmacked at the amount of thought and effort you are able to muster into this project. It's fun watching a pro's work in progress. i'm always wondering wow what's going to happen next.
sdfgeoff wrote:On a side note:
How is it that the diamond claw can actually damage you? There's a lot less energy involved in a claw-strike than even a class-1 laser (laser moves faster, and emits light, so must have more energy), but it seems that the claws do more damage. Perhaps your shields aren't good at absorbing/deflecting solid masses, only energies.
Most of the weapons deliver their energy in an instant, but the claws have a sustained pressure over a much longer time-frame. The shields are likely designed to protect against instant hits, and are thus unsuited to deflecting slower kinetic discharges.
Think... Dune... slow blade ;)
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Re: The Ascent Project - Diamond Claw WIPs

Post by Top Gun »

Heh, I'm in the middle of reading that right now. I didn't realize how goofy that movie adaptation looked. :D (Holy crap Patrick Stewart as Gurney?)

More on-topic, this is an amazing amount of thought and detail you're putting into those concepts. It's fascinating to see an interpretation of what these bots would be if they were actual functioning machines, instead of a handful of polys.
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Re: The Ascent Project - Diamond Claw WIPs

Post by Isaac »

This is going to be such an awesome model! More WIPs, when you have time!
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Re: The Ascent Project - Diamond Claw WIPs

Post by TheAscentProject »

By the way, I want to let everyone know that I am not at all closed off to suggestions/criticisms/ideas/comments! By all means if you have anything to suggest just throw it my way, I can't necessarily guarantee I'll implement it but who knows! :)
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Re: The Ascent Project - Diamond Claw WIPs

Post by TheAscentProject »

Krom wrote:I can see now why your models turn out so impressive, that is no small amount of research you put into them.
Those sketches look incredible, I can't wait to see the finished project.
Thanks man! :)
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Re: The Ascent Project - Diamond Claw WIPs

Post by TheAscentProject »

sdfgeoff wrote:On a side note:
How is it that the diamond claw can actually damage you? There's a lot less energy involved in a claw-strike than even a class-1 laser (laser moves faster, and emits light, so must have more energy), but it seems that the claws do more damage. Perhaps your shields aren't good at absorbing/deflecting solid masses, only energies.
Well, one of the main reasons I had originally thought of replacing the claws with drills is because the way this bot is shaped doesn't really allow too much freedom of movement for a mean swing (well perhaps with ONE arm, if the whole robot swings, but then why have 4 arms?). What I'm probably going to do is still maintain the drill idea but built into the claws at a very small scale (kind of like a Chainsword from 40K) perhaps even with some kind of energy field that allows to pierce through shielding (taking it again from 40K: like a Power Sword).
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Re: The Ascent Project - Diamond Claw WIPs

Post by TheAscentProject »

Alter-Fox wrote:Lasers bolts shouldn't be visible unless there's something in the air for the light to reflect off of. Period.
Well... We are inside a mine... It's a dusty environment ;)
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Re: The Ascent Project - Diamond Claw WIPs

Post by TheAscentProject »

roid wrote:the level of professional quality you're putting into this old game FREAKS ME OUT. I'm gobsmacked at the amount of thought and effort you are able to muster into this project.
Thanks a lot dude!
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Re: The Ascent Project - Diamond Claw WIPs

Post by Enzo-03 »

Of course, I'd bet lasers would be beams, not bolts.

Wow. If the model turns out to look anything like the sketch, it will be my favorite so far. That thing looks wicked sick.
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Re: The Ascent Project - Diamond Claw WIPs

Post by TheAscentProject »

*Bump for update!*
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Re: The Ascent Project - Diamond Claw WIPs

Post by Isaac »

Looking good!
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Re: The Ascent Project - Diamond Claw WIPs

Post by Verran »

Excellent work.

I'd love to see your high definition models in the Descent to UDK project!

Info:
http://descent.silverball-magic.com/

Demo video:
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