Hello Again Hivers
Welcome back. I have a pristine update on Nexus Prime today, straight outta the workshop! I've actually been working on this guy for the past 2 weeks. Just overall updating the look of my character and how it functions with the skeleton armature. This was actually my main concern when it came to Nexus. Some of his limbs weren’t properly lined up with the armature and the overall design of his arms were conflicting with it. So I went back to the drawing board and brain stormed some ideas on how a new design would function in a better way. Then that idea snowballed for his logo, legs, hands, chest, and beyond. I liked to show you my experiences creating the upgrades for this awesome character. 😎
The first body part I started creating was the arm. The old arm (left photo) had a hinge that was conflicting with the characters skeleton. I tried to make a few adjustments with the old arm but the way it was designed kept giving me trouble. So I started creating a new arm (right photo) where the hinge piece matches with the armature and by doing that, fixed the problem. I created a new hand because the old design had no depth to it. Personally, I really like how the new hand has individual joints. Aesthetically, It looks really cool.
The next thing I went to go work on were the legs. The more that I was looking at the old leg while I was working on the arms, the more I felt that I needed to do a massive overhaul. I starting noticing that the legs typology was a bit messy and the knee area had nothing inside of it. So I went on Pinterest and took a look at some Gundam models for some inspiration. The main areas that I wanted to focus on was the knee area and ankle area. So I created multiple pieces for his leg so that It gives off the feeling that the character has a lot of components to him. For his shoes, I was inspired by sonic the hedgehog and Gundam. I'm glad how well the shoes turned out.
For the Shin logo. I needed something that had more style and flare to it. The old logo was okay, but the font made it pretty plain and dull. I went to the good o'l google and saw many shin kanji characters. I ended up going with this one because it gave Nexus more flavor and finesse. It also screams, I am a Japanese mecha warrior! 😎
The Jetpack was another thing that I wanted to change. Some of you guys may prefer the older model, but for me, I think the newer version is a little more tame. I think the older model has unnecessary lines and bevels. The over all jetpack however, is still pretty nice. I'll probably use this for a different character in the near future, it would just be a bit waste if I got rid it. The newer jetpack has lines and bevels that make sense in certain areas. The screws also gives it a nice touch. This actually gives me more ideas for different support pieces for Nexus's journey.
Lastly, the most important piece of the entire model (aside from the head) the chest unit. The older chest model was pretty plain and It had one solid red color with some black colors here and there. But the overall look of it had me dissatisfied and wanting to create something better than that. Building the new model took me two whole days because it has 36 pieces in total! It was worth it though, because in the end it turned out quite awesome. Again, I was inspired by Gundam models. So, it made sense to build out each and individual pieces to create something coherent. Most of my time was spent on the front of the chest and the sides of it. Now, with that outta the way. Lets see some screen shots of Nexus Prime 2.0!
As you can see in the screen shots, I added neon lights on Nexus!!! I just needed to add this to him because it seemed like something was missing after I was finished with the whole model. You probably didn't noticed this, but I also added small components inside of his chest and the lower chest area. This shows that he's not just an empty frame, but a living character that has small mechanical parts inside of him. I also changed the cyber blade from red to green. I felt that the red color was too intense and needed to be balanced out with a color that's not too harsh on the eyes.
Here's a comparison of the old model to the new one. I changed the color to a darker tone because I felt that the lighter red was a bit too cartoony. As you can see here, there's a massive difference of quality and the overall style that I've been trying to go for since day one of creating Nexus Prime. I'm even more happy on how this turned out. 🥹 I'm just geeking out as I'm typing this. 😁 I think the only thing left to do now is to clean up the rig and make it even more functional, create a villain, storyboard, and finally animation.
I actually have more sympathy for game developers because updating something continuously is a lot of work, and this is just modeling and rigging. Imagine a whole team on a triple a game or a project in general. 🫨
Nexus Prime has a little more ways to go however. Seeing the process of creating this character has truly been a blast. I don't think I've challenged myself like this in a very long time. But I really enjoy doing this, creating, and sharing it with you guys. All I want to do is make some cool and stylish stuff while listening to some dope ass music.
Oh, you're at the end again. 👋😅 Hey there! post a comment, I liked to know what you guys thought about the post. Also, I post every Friday so stay tuned for the next episode.
until next time, peace, love, and positivity. I'm out.
Programs Used:
Blender 2.9
Photoshop
Man, you are doing an excellent job on your 3D animation, it is an incredible job that takes a lot of time.
I haven't done the animation part yet but thank you. I'm working diligently as I can to get nexus prime into the animation phase.
I love that you a fan of robots, But whats the best angle to start building without making any mistakes. can mistakes be corrected though if made
You would just have to set it up in a way where the limbs doesn't conflict the skeleton beforehand. Before I updated nexus, he was working fine with forward kinematics, but when I put inverse kinematics on his hands, his limbs were out of place. Just think of a robot with less move. Whereas a human has full range of movement.
I explained how FK and IK works in my previous post.
When it comes to 3D modeling and animation, there's always going to be some sort of problem to fix or troubleshoot. I was going to update nexus anyway because his previous model lacked depth to him. I'm also trying to combine FK and IK togther on his skeleton or rather armature. That's what I'm currently working on, so that he's fully animation ready.
Thank you very much for your comment. You took the time to read the post, and i always appreciate that. 😊
ohh understood better😊 and you most welcome
Man I really love the new design of the arm, knee, and ankle joints. The rounded design is definitely more aesthetically pleasing and looks more realistic and functional. Also, the change to the darker tone of red definitely looks more realistic. Overall, I really think Nexus Prime’s “upgrades” really show how your skill level with 3D modeling has improved and look forward to seeing how awesome he would be when fully animated 😎
Thank you, man. Just trying to do my best in making this project a little better.