Huey - Drone from Silent Running

[mhtaylor]

SilentRunningDroneHuey1.jpg

You have to be a big old Sci-Fi geek to know this guy; Huey from Silent Running. It took quite a few hours to model him - I had some basic body dimensions from the web but I had to just guesstimate and eye-ball a lot from stills taken from the DVD. My Twilight render is still running but hopefully it will look half-decent in the morning. I've put the model here in the warehouse: http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/ ... e1f7694d3b
Any tips or comments gratefully received.
Regards - Martin

[Pilou]

This movie Silent Running by Douglas Trumbull(1972) was a precursor of Wall E or R2D!
Cool adaptation
What a suspence for the Twilightrender

[artysmedia]

You have to be a big old Si-Fi geek to know this guy; Huey from Silent Running.

I like a lot the film and your model, Martin.
Nervously waiting to see it textured

One thing i wanna make is the ship of Silent Running

[EscapeArtist]

Bruce Dern: The First Eco-Terrorist

Just kidding. I actually liked that movie quite a bit, you did a great job modeling huey. Now I've got to see if I can find that movie somewhere and watch it again.

[mhtaylor]

SilentRunningDroneHuey3_edited-1.jpg

I left it running all night but it never got rid of the 'fairy dust' in the shadows around the light source - I don't know anything about renderring - I guess I'll have to go back to the manual and try again.

[RustyShack]

Believe it or not, I actually raised Silent Running in conversation this morning! Good luck with the render. It'll be nice to see this one progress.

[dolphus]

Cool great looking model well done

[redot]

I remember nearly crying when Bruce left the poor little fella to tend the forest.
Great looking render Martin and thanks for the model.

[mhtaylor]

Dewey1edit.jpg

Here's another attempt with Twilight - without light emitting surfaces it went through the threads much quicker.

[Durant Hapke]

Mh to the Taylor,

Rock star phantasmagoric! Those drones rule all over.

Put trees in orbit.

Durant "film is no longer" Hapke

[michaliszissiou]

Really great stuff here.
BTW I must see this movie. Thanks.

[mhtaylor]

Thanks for all comments - I finished modeling the 3 different drones - here's the last one, Louie. I'm starting to understand light emitting surfaces in Twilight a little so while I am at work, my workstation at home is rendering a complicated image (4 core machine still taking 9 minutes a thread). Until then, here's the Louie: http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/ ... 9cede05c27

[solo]

Cool model, I gave it a quick go using Vue, no post work (lighting is volumetric with dust)

[mhtaylor]

Cool model, I gave it a quick go using Vue, no post work (lighting is volumetric with dust)

That is too cool Solo - I need to learn to do that - I love how you made him lean and pick up the flower and all the grime too - so much more human than my efforts. I'm still struggling to get something half decent out of Twilight (my lack of knowledge not the tool I think); just to proove the point here's the image that cooked all day while I was at work (any suggestions on making it look less clean?):

[Fletch]

You will need to add different textures, "dirt" is a nice option in the Vue material pallette... Twilight will have this in the future.

For now, you will need to add the dirt in the textures in SU... I will see what I can do, and post

I looked at the model, and there's a tiny problem in the corner in the smoothing of it...easy fix. It's noticeable with the plastic materials.

Also, click each material and apply a good material template instead of the "quick" templates... so choose "Plastic" or choose the metals.

Also, the glass "flash bulb" needs some realistic modeling to render with real materials...

Vue is great with 'faking' the materials. The material editor, and eco systems are my favorite thing about vue.

[mhtaylor]

You will need to add different textures, "dirt" is a nice option in the Vue material pallette... Twilight will have this in the future.

For now, you will need to add the dirt in the textures in SU... I will see what I can do, and post

I looked at the model, and there's a tiny problem in the corner in the smoothing of it...easy fix. It's noticeable with the plastic materials.

Also, click each material and apply a good material template instead of the "quick" templates... so choose "Plastic" or choose the metals.

Also, the glass "flash bulb" needs some realistic modeling to render with real materials...

Vue is great with 'faking' the materials. The material editor, and eco systems are my favorite thing about vue.

Thanks for the tips - I really should read your manual properly - I'll give them a go this weekend
- Martin

[Fletch]

sorry haven't gotten to 'play' with this scene at all for a few days...
just thought I'd say that Boofredlay posted this nice Tip/Trickat the Twilight Render forum on how to creatively use SketchUp materials for all sorts of things... I was particularly thinking about your desired for "dirt" on the robot...

[boofredlay]

Aww shucks, thanks Fletch.

[David_H]

You know, I was going to give those a try myself back during the ROBOT speed challenge, but obviously it wouldn't have worked. I loved that movie as a kid. In fact my Architectural Thesis was a space station not unlike Freeman Lowell's Domes in Silent Running. It came out in about 1973 and was the first film that spoke about "ECOLOGY" and the dire fate of earth if we didn't take care of the planet.

I loved the little Bots, Huey, Duey and Louie. .. who unfortunately got swept into space. It was like losing Bambi's Mother!

Anyway. . .Lowell teaches the drones how to play poker, and they try to cheat. It's pretty cool.

Great models.

[mhtaylor]

Thanks for the comments and suggestions - I put the rendering aside as I got sucked in to modelling the Spaceship "Valley Forge" from the same movie. I'm about half way done so give me a week or two and I'll have something to share in the warehouse other than just one of the biosphere domes: http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/ ... 9cede05c27

ValleyForgeAssembledWIP1.jpg

I loved the movie as a kid but probably more for the props and special effects than anything else. I bought and watched it again a year or two ago and it does seem a little dated and heavy handed - ripe for a remake?

[David_H]

Probably, cuz even tho' Bruce Dern MURDERS his crewmates, this is a rather tame piece of SciFi and updating it for today's attention challenged audiences would probably have to include Aliens and Zombies, , the Rock, light sabers, weaponry of all kinds and R2D2, or as my daughter called him. . .Arty TooToo!

[Simon B]

I wanted to cheer when I saw these models; brilliant job!