Hughs Odst Build
- Thread starter Hugh Holder
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Hugh Holder
Well-Known Member
@wrestler
Thanks man
Dude, I know how you feel. I'm my own worst critic too, but I think you could do this stuff easily. This is my first build, well first everything except for the 3d modeling.
The gauntlets are on the front page. But only Zero202 has unfolded them, so you'll have to download his file pack with some other parts to get the gauntlet file.
It's really basic and quick to build. You'll either want to carve in details or, like I'm doing, use foam to layer panels on the outside and use vinyl decals to add vents and other cool parts to them. I haven't looked at Zero's unfold so I can't tell you what it's like, I used my own unfold design. So if you have any questions regarding the actual pep file he's the guy you want to talk to, he does good work.
Good luck
@kenster1000
Thank you, I'm building my own visor just like Zakuace, Rosh, and Kirrou did. I am using a refined template I made just for assembling in plastic. It has 3 parts instead of 2, and requires you to cut the rectangular pattern in the sides, then glue small square pieces of your visor sheet behind to give the appropriate indents. It's a lot trickier to build, and takes a lot of patience especially when you are using industrial mirror tint. I have found a plastic sturdy enough to hold the tint firmly, and easy enough to fold a distinct crease without breaking. It is also easy to cut with an old pair of scissors, so that part is quick at least. But if you screw one part up, like if the tint creases, you have to scrap the whole thing and start again. It's a pain, but it yeilds pretty nice results.
@slawrence
I sent a PM to you with a link to Zakuace's thread and some other info.
Thanks man
Dude, I know how you feel. I'm my own worst critic too, but I think you could do this stuff easily. This is my first build, well first everything except for the 3d modeling.
The gauntlets are on the front page. But only Zero202 has unfolded them, so you'll have to download his file pack with some other parts to get the gauntlet file.
It's really basic and quick to build. You'll either want to carve in details or, like I'm doing, use foam to layer panels on the outside and use vinyl decals to add vents and other cool parts to them. I haven't looked at Zero's unfold so I can't tell you what it's like, I used my own unfold design. So if you have any questions regarding the actual pep file he's the guy you want to talk to, he does good work.
Good luck
@kenster1000
Thank you, I'm building my own visor just like Zakuace, Rosh, and Kirrou did. I am using a refined template I made just for assembling in plastic. It has 3 parts instead of 2, and requires you to cut the rectangular pattern in the sides, then glue small square pieces of your visor sheet behind to give the appropriate indents. It's a lot trickier to build, and takes a lot of patience especially when you are using industrial mirror tint. I have found a plastic sturdy enough to hold the tint firmly, and easy enough to fold a distinct crease without breaking. It is also easy to cut with an old pair of scissors, so that part is quick at least. But if you screw one part up, like if the tint creases, you have to scrap the whole thing and start again. It's a pain, but it yeilds pretty nice results.
@slawrence
I sent a PM to you with a link to Zakuace's thread and some other info.
kenster1000
Jr Member
Sounds like the visor is going to be awesome. It may require some extra work and a lot of extra time but the results will be amazing. Also for the gauntlets i like the idea for layering the foam for the vent details, if you want Kirruo has an awesome forearm model for the H3 ODST if you ever wand to try to pep it.
Other then that great work so far. I cannot wait to see some more update pics. Good luck with the rest of your build.
Other then that great work so far. I cannot wait to see some more update pics. Good luck with the rest of your build.
lordhood32
Active Member
i found your armor build and i'm impressed you beat everything i can ever thing of doing before i even attempt it Even if i can make a bad ass battle damage paint job your armor it self blows it away
WandererTJ
Well-Known Member
Absolutely amazing helmet Hugh. Due to owning all the Halo games, I must say that this helmet looks like it would work perfectly for a Spartan wearing an ODST Helmet build, because it seems to resemble both the H3 Multiplayer Spartan ODST Helmet as well as even The Spartan-ODST helmet in Halo Reach. It just seems to have a sleeker and a not as wide look rather than what you see on ODST soldiers (IMO). And with that, I must say that this has to be my favorite ODST helmet out of like all 20 different peps that I have seen.
It's also really cool to hear from someone at Lockheed who still has time to do projects like this. I'm currently looking into getting an internship with Northrop Grumman and hopefully later followed by a career with DARPA.
Edit: In terms of when you were talking about the butterfly clips, I assume you mean after you complete pepping each part of the helmet and you are holding the 21 separate parts together. Correct? In other words, Holding the 21 parts together using butterfly clips while gluing the individual pieces together
Also, I apologize if I happened to miss it while going through the thread, but are there any particular things I need to do before I print (ie change printing to landscape)?
It's also really cool to hear from someone at Lockheed who still has time to do projects like this. I'm currently looking into getting an internship with Northrop Grumman and hopefully later followed by a career with DARPA.
Edit: In terms of when you were talking about the butterfly clips, I assume you mean after you complete pepping each part of the helmet and you are holding the 21 separate parts together. Correct? In other words, Holding the 21 parts together using butterfly clips while gluing the individual pieces together
Also, I apologize if I happened to miss it while going through the thread, but are there any particular things I need to do before I print (ie change printing to landscape)?
Hugh Holder
Well-Known Member
Thanks!
Yeah, I may not have as much free time as you may think to work on this though
but I'm trying my best. I've gotten most of the suit built, including some parts that haven't been pepped yet so I plan on having new progress pics sometime this weekend.Good luck with your internship, let me know how it turns out! It seems right now that the industry is prepping to start hiring a new wave of employees, so maybe you picked a good time to start.
And yes, you're right about how I used the butterfly clips. I used them to basically hold the parts in shape and use the hot glue gun in between each pair of clips before I removed them. That way you don't end up gluing the parts together off center or skewed and the part shape is guaranteed to look decent.
As far as the pepakura file question, there shouldn't be anything you need to do other than make sure the file is set to Letter under the print and paper options. If you do change it however, you may also have to move the parts to fit on the page.
If you have any problems with the actual pep file I suggest you ask mkshane81 since he works all of the unfolds for the ODST build. Zero202 also has some unfolds so be sure you know which files are authored by who.
If you have any other questions let me know, and good luck again on your internship.
WandererTJ
Well-Known Member
Actually, I'm curious as to how you plan on doing the visor. From what I've seen, most people just use a motorcycle visor, and with as detailed as your build is, I figured you might decide to mold a clear visor to be painted later.
I just think that the ODST visor is significantly different from all the other helmets as it isnt just a curved piece, and thus I wouldn't know what the best way would be to replicate the look appropriately.
Also, I must say that the instructional PDF is about the coolest thing I've seen. Definitely the coolest PDF I've seen, and I've seen ones that had solutions to Thermodynamics homework lol.
And thanks for wishing me luck.
I just think that the ODST visor is significantly different from all the other helmets as it isnt just a curved piece, and thus I wouldn't know what the best way would be to replicate the look appropriately.
Also, I must say that the instructional PDF is about the coolest thing I've seen. Definitely the coolest PDF I've seen, and I've seen ones that had solutions to Thermodynamics homework lol.
And thanks for wishing me luck.
Hugh Holder
Well-Known Member
Haha, yeah the 3d pdf files are a great way to impress your bosses at work. Don't ask me why, but everyone I've worked for and our clients have loved them. You can imbed any 3d object if you have Photoshop CS4 or CS5. There is an option to import .obj files and export them as a 3d layer (.u3d) format I think. Then in Adobe Acrobat you can go to the multimedia tab and insert the 3d object into your file and save the .pdf
I'm not sure if the instructional .pdf is very useful now that there is a better unfold of the helmet, but it includes all of the unfolds I personally used and will work on a mac which is good news for people that don't have access to Pepakura.
As for the visor, I've been experimenting with cutting the shapes out of plastic and assembling them. I keep going back an refining the pattern I'm using. I got a roll of industrial (for buildings not cars) mirror tint and have been applying it to clear plastic flat sheets. Then I let the tint cure overnight and trace a template design over the plastic and cut it out with an exacto knife. If you look for the industrial tint it has a higher light transmission (50%) than the auto stuff which is usually around 35%.
The plastic I've been using is a copolymer clear sheet at .005" thickness. It is sturdy and creates a nice fold when you bend it rather than breaking. This is very nice to have for when you are trying to create all of the sharp angles on the ODST visor.
Using a motorcycle visor is a great way to get a nice blue mirror tint initially, but getting the sharp creases to stand out is very difficult. Also, the plastic is too strong to cut with anything but a dremel usually. And as for vac-forming when you pull a visor you are left with a complex shape that you won't be able to polarize without a professional touch, and even then there is no guarantee that the tint will look right after you apply it. In which case most people with vac formed visors just dye the plastic dark or apply a spray on darkening tint.
Now, some may think that using a silver finish tint won't look game accurate because it is not blue, or whatever color. If you keep the tint on the inside of your visor there are paints (for windows and clear plastic) that can be applied to the visor to get you a chrome colored tint. Getting the paint to look clean and even is the trick though, and I'm still working on a method that is easy to do. I'll let you know, but it looks like you'll be able to make a mirrored visor in just about any color you want, good news for Reach projects :cool
And if anyone has gone down this road or knows anything that may help feel free to share!
I'm not sure if the instructional .pdf is very useful now that there is a better unfold of the helmet, but it includes all of the unfolds I personally used and will work on a mac which is good news for people that don't have access to Pepakura.
As for the visor, I've been experimenting with cutting the shapes out of plastic and assembling them. I keep going back an refining the pattern I'm using. I got a roll of industrial (for buildings not cars) mirror tint and have been applying it to clear plastic flat sheets. Then I let the tint cure overnight and trace a template design over the plastic and cut it out with an exacto knife. If you look for the industrial tint it has a higher light transmission (50%) than the auto stuff which is usually around 35%.
The plastic I've been using is a copolymer clear sheet at .005" thickness. It is sturdy and creates a nice fold when you bend it rather than breaking. This is very nice to have for when you are trying to create all of the sharp angles on the ODST visor.
Using a motorcycle visor is a great way to get a nice blue mirror tint initially, but getting the sharp creases to stand out is very difficult. Also, the plastic is too strong to cut with anything but a dremel usually. And as for vac-forming when you pull a visor you are left with a complex shape that you won't be able to polarize without a professional touch, and even then there is no guarantee that the tint will look right after you apply it. In which case most people with vac formed visors just dye the plastic dark or apply a spray on darkening tint.
Now, some may think that using a silver finish tint won't look game accurate because it is not blue, or whatever color. If you keep the tint on the inside of your visor there are paints (for windows and clear plastic) that can be applied to the visor to get you a chrome colored tint. Getting the paint to look clean and even is the trick though, and I'm still working on a method that is easy to do. I'll let you know, but it looks like you'll be able to make a mirrored visor in just about any color you want, good news for Reach projects :cool
And if anyone has gone down this road or knows anything that may help feel free to share!
WandererTJ
Well-Known Member
I found the instructional pdf useful just simply because the .pdo file was an exploded view and I wanted to cross reference the completed helmet in the viewer with others. I havent looked at the difference in the unfolding, but although I know everything I need to know, it wouldve been nice if at the end it gave instructions as to the best way to put all the separate pieces together which you have already told me.
With the copolymer, while it is easy to bend it, I'm sure you probably cant get all the bends in a single sheet. Would there be any advantages/disadvantages to trying to melt together a top visor piece with a bottom, or even to melt the sides together with the middle/front of the visor, depending on how you decide to break the visor up?
As for the finished tint, if you havent had the chance to play Halo Reach, there are different visor colors. Gold like master chief, a Low-Gloss looking black, Metallic Blue/Sky-Blue, Silver, and Default-which I think looks like a bronze, it seems to look like a low-quality gold visor. Now with all of this, I'd love to see people come up with custom colors like a metallic red.
Out of curiousity, how hard would it be to make a mirrored visor? I have a pair of mirrored aviators, and you end up with the metallic color people are going for, and your vision wouldnt be too tinted out. Furthermore, when you are outside, it will look straight up silver/chrome, but if you are inside it may just appear tinted. Idk why that is with mirrored finishes, but i think its cool.
Hugh Holder
Well-Known Member
Yeah, that is the trick. I'm not sure that melting plastic together is the way to go, especially with the tinting. You may end up cracking the tint, or causing some other problem that I am missing.
Using a similar approach that Zakuace took, I separated the visor into 3 parts initially. A large top portion, the lower mouth area, and the U-shaped lip that joins the two. The copolymer takes well to most glues, and even simple hot glue holds the parts together very well. The trick is aligning it perfectly, so be prepared to trim.
After trying to build with three parts I opted to tweak my template and use only two parts, since the visor lip is a visible U shape from a distance then a seam joining the two seemed appropriate. With three pieces the lip of the visor came out too sharp and was difficult to make it appear round in the front.
The mirrored visor is easy to do. In fact, that's what I was talking about with the industrial mirror tint that I am using.
50% light transmission is very heavy for a chrome-mirror tint. As long as the light outside of the helmet is stronger than the light on the inside, which would be almost 100% of the time, you will have a perfectly mirrored reflection. For my first test visor, which wasn't pretty mind you, I set it up in one of my helmets and my girlfriend couldn't see my face from the outside, while inside it maintained very nice visibility.
A lot of guys will say the stuff is a pain to work with and a waste of money. But I bet most of them tried to apply it to a visor that was already put together. Which will only leave you with tons of wrinkles (fingers) and water bubbles. The stuff is made to be squeegeed and cured on a flat surface, so you need to put the tint on a new, flat sheet and work out bubbles before you trace and cut into it.
Also, you need to let the tint and application solution fully cure before tracing and cutting on it. As long as you wait long enough the tint won't crease or peel off even if you take scissors to it. I thought that was kind of cool.
Once you have the silver/chrome mirror tint on the inside of the visor you can diffuse it with color on the outside. That's the plan anyway. Finding transparent paint that can be applied evenly without leaving messy brush strokes is the problem though..
WandererTJ
Well-Known Member
So Hugh, being a 3D Design Engineer, I'm curious as to what all the different 3D softwares you know/are familiar with and which one happens to be your favorite, or if you have different favorites depending on what you are doing.
I'm familiar with AutoCAD, Solidworks, Lightwave 3D animation, and Autodesk Inventor, and so far Inventor has to be my favorite although I'm definitely not a pro at it.
Also, what are the benefits of having a mac over a pc when it comes to 3D design?
Could you link me to Zakuace's topic on visors?
Since I havent created/modded any pep files, I was curious as to what your process was, as in what 3D Modeler did you originally create the piece in, and then how you took it into the Pepakura Designer.
While on the topic of modding, I was curious as to what your opinion on the best way to do it would be. As seen in the ODST game, there are variants to the helmet, and it's different from person to person, so I was thinking about making mine reasonably-personalized.
In reference to the picture, which is a Pepakura of the Dutch helmet as seen in Halo 3: ODST, I am interested in adding the protrusions as seen located at the Red stars, and considering the the upper ridges on each side shown by the blue star (Green is airvents, while the yellow is a helmet light). Would you recommend actually editing the original Pepakura, or perhaps printing out the protrusions and seeing how well they look by attaching them on top of the original piece? Or perhaps a method I have not yet mentioned.
I have noticed a difference on the file you have given us versus the pics you have shown us of your models shown in red in the picture below. I am curious as to the functionality that these sections have as it pertains to the helmet. Are they purely decorative or do they act as air vents?
Being as I hate feeling my breath on my own face, my head being warm, and I wouldnt enjoy the visor fogging up, I was curious as to how you would go about dealing with these issues on an ODST helmet. In order to reduce fog, I have heard that people will use breath deflectors as seen on motorcycle helmets. In reference to the second picture, I am considering having some sort of ventilation(probably a computer fan) located on either side on the part marked in green(and possibly the red areas as well). And I was also thinking of adding helmet lights on either side like models of the Mark VI marked by the blue. Would you happen to have an opinion on the functionality of going this route and any thoughts on how effective locating computer fans where I considered putting them? Also, I suppose with the location of the fans, I do not know how well I would be able to hear things outside the helmet....
Sorry for so many questions, andI appreciate any input on this.
I'm familiar with AutoCAD, Solidworks, Lightwave 3D animation, and Autodesk Inventor, and so far Inventor has to be my favorite although I'm definitely not a pro at it.
Also, what are the benefits of having a mac over a pc when it comes to 3D design?
Could you link me to Zakuace's topic on visors?
Since I havent created/modded any pep files, I was curious as to what your process was, as in what 3D Modeler did you originally create the piece in, and then how you took it into the Pepakura Designer.
While on the topic of modding, I was curious as to what your opinion on the best way to do it would be. As seen in the ODST game, there are variants to the helmet, and it's different from person to person, so I was thinking about making mine reasonably-personalized.
In reference to the picture, which is a Pepakura of the Dutch helmet as seen in Halo 3: ODST, I am interested in adding the protrusions as seen located at the Red stars, and considering the the upper ridges on each side shown by the blue star (Green is airvents, while the yellow is a helmet light). Would you recommend actually editing the original Pepakura, or perhaps printing out the protrusions and seeing how well they look by attaching them on top of the original piece? Or perhaps a method I have not yet mentioned.I have noticed a difference on the file you have given us versus the pics you have shown us of your models shown in red in the picture below. I am curious as to the functionality that these sections have as it pertains to the helmet. Are they purely decorative or do they act as air vents?
Being as I hate feeling my breath on my own face, my head being warm, and I wouldnt enjoy the visor fogging up, I was curious as to how you would go about dealing with these issues on an ODST helmet. In order to reduce fog, I have heard that people will use breath deflectors as seen on motorcycle helmets. In reference to the second picture, I am considering having some sort of ventilation(probably a computer fan) located on either side on the part marked in green(and possibly the red areas as well). And I was also thinking of adding helmet lights on either side like models of the Mark VI marked by the blue. Would you happen to have an opinion on the functionality of going this route and any thoughts on how effective locating computer fans where I considered putting them? Also, I suppose with the location of the fans, I do not know how well I would be able to hear things outside the helmet....Sorry for so many questions, andI appreciate any input on this.
Hugh Holder
Well-Known Member
I started off learning 3D Studio Max in high school as a part of vocational training in multimedia graphic design. But since the teacher was primarily a video editing guy the three of us 3d artists had to figure things out on our own. Pretty cool deal, considering I only had to take 1 math and 1 english course my junior and senior year and spent the rest of the school day doing this stuff!
3D packages I've worked with since: AutoCad (Civil 3D), geomagic, lightwave, rhino, blender, softimage XSI, and of course Maya.
Sculpting programs: ZBrush and Mud Box
Other Misc 3D: Unreal Editor, Vue, Terragen, Cyclone
In college, Maya was the standard that most of the courses revolved around. So naturally that became the one I invested the most time with and became the quickest in (modeling-wise). After working with different programs I started to see all of the 3D package as 'toolboxes' rather than software. And for every toolbox you pick up, all of the tools are usually the same they are just in different places in the box... and sometimes called something completely different, ha!
My point is when you are strictly talking about 3D modeling you are talking about the very base level concepts of 3D work. Everything starts with your object. And every surface type that you use to make your object gets broken down and tessellated into polygons when you render so I am just going to say that polygon 3d objects are the first step, and the most basic parts to 3d work. Now, what toolbox (program) you want to use to build them is entirely up to you and usually is based on which one you spend the most time in. In my case I'd consider myself a Maya user.
When you want to take a 3D model and use it for things other than Pepakura then pros and cons between software packages become more relevant.
AutoCad and Softworks are very good for product design that can be used in Prototyping or CNC. Programs like those are very good for getting exact scale and surface measurements. But I personally do not find them suitable for Pepakura, Foam, or builds that require you to flatten and print because those objects tend to be made using curves with a really high tessellation.
Maya, Blender, Softimage, rhino, and 3DS max are good for keeping your model simple geometry-wise and are meant to be able to edit and sub-divide quickly. They are great for building using image planes as reference and give you a good sense of control. And because you aren't typically using curves to generate these models it allows you to keep your tessellation (resolution) low and close meshes more efficiently.
Not that you can't do this kind of work out of Solidworks or Autocad, you can. But in my experience the process and tool selection felt limited and bogged down. People that typically know product design know how to work wonders with those softwares.
I do 3D work on both Mac and PC (at home and at work) and I have no trouble doing my work with either. When it comes to rendering I may sometimes opt to go with Mac for other reasons, but for the most part I say use whatever you got.
Here is the link to Zakuace's thread:
http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/26508-Halo-3-ODST-Visors?highlight=zakuace
As for my actual 3D process. I usually get my reference together first and try to get the front/side/top views aligned as evenly as possible in photoshop and adjust the levels to see detail in dark areas. I always use a 10x10 in canvas at 150 resolution and save the views out as their own separate jpeg files. The images seem to come in smoothly into Maya as image planes.
I almost always start with just a simple plane. My process basically involves creating "Patches" of the model and slowly bringing the elements together, modeling one section at a time as opposed to making a huge low poly object and constantly sub-dividing/editing it. Sometimes though, I'll feel like the objects will work better as separate pieces for Pepakura and leave them that way.
I then set my grid up in Maya accordingly. I actually have a 3D mannequin version of myself that I created a while back. I took measurements of my own body using a set of calipers and scaled my 3D model to fit into those measurements in Maya. This process isn't that complex, but it took time. And I only had to do it once so unless I undergo a dramatic weight change I can just reuse the scene file for other projects.
I import the 3d objects into the armature scene and scale them until they fit and look good on me. Then I just select whatever object I want to build and export it out as a wavefront .obj file.
When I bring the objects into Pepakura even though my scale is right in Maya, Pepakura views the model 10 times smaller than what it is supposed to be. So after I hit unfold I change the scaling of the object manually using a factor of 10 and set it as the default for all other imported objects.
As for modding, just be sure to get permission from the original author. More often than not with my files I won't have a problem as long as someone asks me first.
Well you have a lot of options to reduce fog in your helm. The ideas you propose will all help. The great thing with the ODST helm is that it is elongated and the Visor isn't up in your face. So you have plenty of room to work with as long as you are smart about padding.
In paintball I remember small fans being available for the masks, back when I played a lot. It was a while ago, I didn't find the fans very useful when running around. But they'd work great for conventions. They're small and their shape would probably fit in an ODST helm easily. The ones I've seen would typically be located above your forehead inside the helm.
And those vents on the helm model are optional. You could build them, and harden them, then cut out the space in between. But I decided for my build it wasn't worth the extra time when I could just have the option to cut those areas out and put something better in later.
3D packages I've worked with since: AutoCad (Civil 3D), geomagic, lightwave, rhino, blender, softimage XSI, and of course Maya.
Sculpting programs: ZBrush and Mud Box
Other Misc 3D: Unreal Editor, Vue, Terragen, Cyclone
In college, Maya was the standard that most of the courses revolved around. So naturally that became the one I invested the most time with and became the quickest in (modeling-wise). After working with different programs I started to see all of the 3D package as 'toolboxes' rather than software. And for every toolbox you pick up, all of the tools are usually the same they are just in different places in the box... and sometimes called something completely different, ha!
My point is when you are strictly talking about 3D modeling you are talking about the very base level concepts of 3D work. Everything starts with your object. And every surface type that you use to make your object gets broken down and tessellated into polygons when you render so I am just going to say that polygon 3d objects are the first step, and the most basic parts to 3d work. Now, what toolbox (program) you want to use to build them is entirely up to you and usually is based on which one you spend the most time in. In my case I'd consider myself a Maya user.
When you want to take a 3D model and use it for things other than Pepakura then pros and cons between software packages become more relevant.
AutoCad and Softworks are very good for product design that can be used in Prototyping or CNC. Programs like those are very good for getting exact scale and surface measurements. But I personally do not find them suitable for Pepakura, Foam, or builds that require you to flatten and print because those objects tend to be made using curves with a really high tessellation.
Maya, Blender, Softimage, rhino, and 3DS max are good for keeping your model simple geometry-wise and are meant to be able to edit and sub-divide quickly. They are great for building using image planes as reference and give you a good sense of control. And because you aren't typically using curves to generate these models it allows you to keep your tessellation (resolution) low and close meshes more efficiently.
Not that you can't do this kind of work out of Solidworks or Autocad, you can. But in my experience the process and tool selection felt limited and bogged down. People that typically know product design know how to work wonders with those softwares.
I do 3D work on both Mac and PC (at home and at work) and I have no trouble doing my work with either. When it comes to rendering I may sometimes opt to go with Mac for other reasons, but for the most part I say use whatever you got.
Here is the link to Zakuace's thread:
http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/26508-Halo-3-ODST-Visors?highlight=zakuace
As for my actual 3D process. I usually get my reference together first and try to get the front/side/top views aligned as evenly as possible in photoshop and adjust the levels to see detail in dark areas. I always use a 10x10 in canvas at 150 resolution and save the views out as their own separate jpeg files. The images seem to come in smoothly into Maya as image planes.
I almost always start with just a simple plane. My process basically involves creating "Patches" of the model and slowly bringing the elements together, modeling one section at a time as opposed to making a huge low poly object and constantly sub-dividing/editing it. Sometimes though, I'll feel like the objects will work better as separate pieces for Pepakura and leave them that way.
I then set my grid up in Maya accordingly. I actually have a 3D mannequin version of myself that I created a while back. I took measurements of my own body using a set of calipers and scaled my 3D model to fit into those measurements in Maya. This process isn't that complex, but it took time. And I only had to do it once so unless I undergo a dramatic weight change I can just reuse the scene file for other projects.
I import the 3d objects into the armature scene and scale them until they fit and look good on me. Then I just select whatever object I want to build and export it out as a wavefront .obj file.
When I bring the objects into Pepakura even though my scale is right in Maya, Pepakura views the model 10 times smaller than what it is supposed to be. So after I hit unfold I change the scaling of the object manually using a factor of 10 and set it as the default for all other imported objects.
As for modding, just be sure to get permission from the original author. More often than not with my files I won't have a problem as long as someone asks me first.
Well you have a lot of options to reduce fog in your helm. The ideas you propose will all help. The great thing with the ODST helm is that it is elongated and the Visor isn't up in your face. So you have plenty of room to work with as long as you are smart about padding.
In paintball I remember small fans being available for the masks, back when I played a lot. It was a while ago, I didn't find the fans very useful when running around. But they'd work great for conventions. They're small and their shape would probably fit in an ODST helm easily. The ones I've seen would typically be located above your forehead inside the helm.
And those vents on the helm model are optional. You could build them, and harden them, then cut out the space in between. But I decided for my build it wasn't worth the extra time when I could just have the option to cut those areas out and put something better in later.
Hi Wander,
I can't answer many of the questions above but I can mention something you may want to consider for making the helmet your own. I am building a rookie ODST Helmet but want a few things from Dutch's helmet. I am adding the side ridges (the ones with blue stars) via cardboard after the initial pep. Then once it is at the bondo stage smoothing them and shaping as desired. The top protrusion on the Dutch helmet I am going to use part of (just the start where it angles up from the helmet) as kind of a top air vent for the helmet. I was planning on creating the shape via cardboard then once the helmet is resined and glassed cutting out the section below it, putting screen material on it then covering the screen with the "ridge".
Not sure if my explanation is good or not, but should be at that stage shortly so will post pics so you can see what I am talking about.
I can't answer many of the questions above but I can mention something you may want to consider for making the helmet your own. I am building a rookie ODST Helmet but want a few things from Dutch's helmet. I am adding the side ridges (the ones with blue stars) via cardboard after the initial pep. Then once it is at the bondo stage smoothing them and shaping as desired. The top protrusion on the Dutch helmet I am going to use part of (just the start where it angles up from the helmet) as kind of a top air vent for the helmet. I was planning on creating the shape via cardboard then once the helmet is resined and glassed cutting out the section below it, putting screen material on it then covering the screen with the "ridge".
Not sure if my explanation is good or not, but should be at that stage shortly so will post pics so you can see what I am talking about.
Hugh Holder
Well-Known Member
Pic Updates
3 day weekend is here, and I'm ready to finally start seriously working on this project again.
Finished one of the shin models.
3 day weekend is here, and I'm ready to finally start seriously working on this project again.
Finished one of the shin models.
tmccarty23
Member
Wow Hugh. You are very talented. Very nice work. As for the shin pieces, is that pepped or what? If it is pepped, will it be unfolded and put up for download like the other items? I don't know about anyone else, but I would be proud to wear your armor.
WandererTJ
Well-Known Member
Amazing work, but I'm not surprised, always nothing but the best!
@Sabre: I'm pretty sure I understood what all you were talking about, but I still cant wait to see your pictures
@Sabre: I'm pretty sure I understood what all you were talking about, but I still cant wait to see your pictures
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