Robotech models for DAZ Studio
VanishingPoint
Posts: 50
Coming soon to Vanishing Point: DAZ Studio conversions of our Robotech models! As usual, these are completely free!
In the coming days, we'll be converting:
- Defender Robot Mech
- Destroid Monster
- Phalanx
- SDF-1
- Tomahawk
P.S. If you're looking for a Veritech aircraft model, Chris Schell's VGF-1 Wildcat does an excellent job. It's not exactly the same, but it was used by some of the "Robotech" comic books artists when they needed a model for the comic book.
Post edited by VanishingPoint on
Comments
And the first up is the Defender Robot Mech.
As usual, all of the arm and leg parts are poseable and the radar can rotate.
All of the materials use Iray shaders.
And it's scaled to the size of the Poser/ DAZ people.
Ah, it's nice to have some giant robots. Renders nicely; the only issue I have with it is the large characters on the back of the arm cannon are back to front (although the smaller text on the warning signs on the same texture map isn't). Is it supposed to be like that?
That's a good question. I noticed that also, but I just assumed the larger characters are supposed to be reversed since the warning signs are correct.
Does anyone have a good reference for the back of the mech?
And the next model has been uploaded: the Destroid Monster.
All of the arm and leg parts are poseable.
All 4 top-mounted cannons can rotate and move up-down.
Not scaled to the size of the Poser/ DAZ people.
Includes one set of textures.
Heh — well, I suppose giant robots don't come much more giant than this. A bit too showroom-shiny for my taste (considering its size) but that's easily fixed.
Come to think of it, what sort of showroom would you find a Monster in? The mind positively boggles.
I've even got ideas for making up alternative textures; a few years back one of my favourite fanfic sites put up a story about a Monster unit, with details of their paint schemes that gave me a serious case of the giggles. Can't decide which was funniest, The First Föur Black Sabbath Albums with its Goth style, or Aonghas MacCnagCnag (apparently Gaelic for "Angus McBangBang") with its tasteful tartan kilt and a sign on the back; "How's My Annihilating?" with a 1-800 phone number...
FWIW, that story put the Monster's specs as 74 feet tall and 315 tons. Does that sound about right for Robotech canon?
Mmmm...Robotech. *Homer drooling sound*
We need some good Macross/Robotech character models......Rick/Hikaru, Lisa/Misa, Minmei, Breetai, Exedore, Roy, Claudia, Gloval, the bridge bunnies, Khyron, etc..... along with the clothing/uniforms.....
Need some of the capital ships, and of course the Zentradi/Maltrandi mecha too!
Then we'll be in a position to do some serious renders/animations!
That's what I've been saying since I originally made the Poser versions of these models 10 years ago. But no one really seems up to the challenge.
And the next model is available: the SDF-1.
* DAZ Studio prop: dsf, duf/ png, with 82,996 polygons.
* All of the parts are poseable.
* Includes 2 poses: spaceship mode and robot mode... or try transforming the ship yourself!
* Obviously not scaled to the size of the Poser/ DAZ people since the ship is over 1.2 kilometers long.
* All of the materials use Iray shaders.
Well, I've been looking at an excuse to learn to rig clothing in DS. I'll see what I can do for some basics......veritech flightsuit + helmet prop, RDF uniform (m/f), Zentradi uniform, Zentradi flight-suit.......
I think Sakura 8, Keiko 6, and Aiko 4 will all be good potential female bases. Male bases are a little tougher. Hiro 4 would work decently for some (Rick/Max), but Roy, Ben, Gloval, and others get a bit trickier. We still don't have a really good Anime-ish male base in the G2/3/8 lines. :(
Opinions? I know a lot would prefer to stick with the Gen4 series models, since so much is already made for them (and they work well in Poser), but the G2/3/8 lines offer some benefits as well....
Those are great ideas. Personally, I'd prefer clothing for M4 and V4 so there's the option to use it in Poser, but the G3 figures would be good also. Who's going to make the morphs?
Well, not me......I certainly could try, but I'm just not that good at morphs for characters. Props, clothes, etc, sure......but getting an anime character to look 'just so' isn't quite my forte.......
Know any PAs with a generous streak?
And the next robot mech is available: the Phalanx.
* DAZ Studio prop: dsf, duf/ png, with 54,699 polygons.
* All of the arm and leg parts are poseable.
* The left and right missile launcher doors can open and close.
* A group of missiles inside the launcher can be hidden/ shown or repositioned in the scene, but they can not be ungrouped into individual missiles.
* Not scaled to the size of the Poser/ DAZ people, but roughly the same size as the Defender Robot Mech.
* One set of texture maps at 1024x1024 pixels.
* All of the materials use Iray shaders.
Oooh, this is boss. I just love robotech. Thanks for the great models.
Just we're talking about Robotech, but an Invid mech?
And the next robot is available: the Tomahawk Mech Robot.
* DAZ Studio prop: dsf, duf/ png, with 37,858 polygons.
* All of the arm and leg parts are poseable.
* The left and right chest rocket-bay doors can open and close.
- Includes 10 rockets on the left and 10 rockets on the right, arranged in a 2x5 pattern.
* The upper left and right rocket-bay doors can open and close.
- Included 6 rockets in the upper rocket bay, arranged in a 2x3 pattern.
* All of the rockets can be rotated, repositioned, or hidden from the scene.
* There is no cockpit and the canopy/ "head" can not open.
* Scaled to same size as the Defender and Phalanx robots.
* One set of texture maps at 1024x1024 pixels.
* All of the materials use Iray shaders.
Sorry, we only have the robot mechs from The Macross Saga... no Zentraedi, no Robotech Masters, and nothing from The New Generation (Alpha Fighter, Beta Fighter, transformable motorcycless, or the Invid).
But if you know of anyone who makes models like this and would give permission to convert them, then let me know.
There's some Zentraedi stuff in .stl and similar formats, but of course you'd have to contact the authors about converting them to .obj, or Poser/Daz format. Plus, you'd have to do some work creating joints and such.
Sorta related to this thread, but after 30 years, Palladium Books no longer has a Robotech license for their role playing game, Robotech tactics, etc.. It'll be interesting to see if the game license finds a new home somewhere....
Harmony Gold controls all things Robotech in the states apparently (and has for a long time now), and seems to like to leave us all hanging. The Robotech live action movie is still in development limbo...
Back on topic though, yeah my personal modeling skills aren't up to designing any fun mecha for Daz yet. I still haven't learned how to make moving pistons, assigning joints and such (yes I've read the tutorials, they give me headaches...). and am still new to this game. Someone else with mad skillz will need to do that.
A nice Zentraedi Female Power Armor suit would be nice. Go Miriya!
Characters maybe. IIf the whim strikes, maybe I'll take a stab at some Macross or Mospeada characters at some point, although translating from old style animation to 3d modeling is a a rather interpretive process... I wonder how well Facegen could do with that....
Cyclones are still my favorite personal armor suits! That would be one rather complex model to set up though, if you wanted transforming options!
Cyclones would be a great model, but is almost impossible to make.
For Invid this can be a good starting base
https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model/u00347108-5309-41cf-ad7c-4ffca5030dd3/Robotech-Invid
But is for Sketchfab.
A lot of the stuff in STL format (and some on other sites) is released under CC 3.0, so contacting isn't necessary, only attribution is required.
But it's not rigged, of course. And many have no textures or maps. And some are not very detailed. So they require a LOT of cleanup, re-work, artwork, and then rigging to bring them in properly as DAZ/Poser figures. I'm going to try to make the standard Regult and Glaug Zentraedi battelpods. I've got some very simple basic meshes and image refs, and I'm a decent modeller. There's (of course) lots of reference images to work from.....so it won't be too hard. And the http://www.robotech-reference-guide.org/ReferenceGuide.html stie has plenty of technical details (like height/width/length details!) so it makes it a little easier to design the model details.
I have a plastic model of the Cyclone motorcycle and Alpha Fighter in a box somewhere so maybe I'll dig those out and use them as reference.
But the .stl files may be too hard to work with, especially if they don't have texture maps or defined parts.
I've got an assembled VF-14 Veritech plastic model sitting on my bookcase at home. It actually transforms, but some parts have to be detached and reattached. Parts of it are good for reference, other parts not so much.....
The only time I seriously messed with porting a .stl over to Daz was for K2SO (Rogue 1: A Star Wars Story) The model I used was on a 'sprue' so I had to do some trimming and manual repositioning of the limbs, etc.. It ended up looking like this in DS.
It'd need some more work to bring it up to Daz quality. Assigning the texture groups using Hexagon probably wouldn't be too horribly hard (and I guess there's a way to do that inside of Daz too), but as for setting up the joints, etc. yeah that'd be a new learning experience for me.
But while K2SO isn't Robotech related, the concepts r.e. how to upgrade a .stl to a .textured .obj or .duf would be the same.
I've done this before rigging some prop figures before. I do my modelling/UV work in LightWave3D 9 (can't afford to upgrade these days) and I can do it. Some of the parts will have to be seriously edited, to add physical detail, and UV mapping done to provide texture details and shading.
I think doing the Regult and Glaug battlepods won't be too hard, it's just going to take a while. I do plan to have the 'extra' parts for the Missle, Hvy Missile, and Scout pods. That won't be too hard to add.
@VanishingPoint would you be willing to host them once they're done? I've also found some other STLs that may be useable as a basis to go forward with for Zentraedi battle cruiser (Breetai's command ship, can't remember the Macross designation for it) though there's a lot of texture and detail work to do on that......
I'm wanting the Veritech Fighter model that in Jet mode looks like the F14 Tomcat of the US Navy. It had three main modes; of course there was the aforementioned Jet Mode, then an Intermediary Guardian Mode (upper half Jet, lower half arms, hips, and legs) and finally the Full Robotic Mode. The only one that shapeshifts I can find is at Vanishing Point, but it's not for DAZ Studio or Poser. Is there even one in existence?
that's the one, Wildcat/hog by schell; seems he's selling via sharecg & vanishingpoint these days, I cannott find his website anymore
https://www.deviantart.com/theschell
Chris Schell passed away sadly
aww :(