Clone Wars ATTE

Scarecrow

New Member
I started this a while back, but having had such rewarding success with my Locust, I've now got the bug and dragged this out to complete it.
It's to put on my desk in work, so it'll be around 6 inches long when finished.

Crow

 

blaar

Member
LoL Zathros , you are eating the posts ..........

Where is the first post of scarecrovv ........... or am I the one eating the post.
 
Z

Zathros

LoL Zathros , you are eating the posts ..........

Where is the first post of scarecrovv ........... or am I the one eating the post.

it's so weird, the thread was fine, I saw your post, and realized for some reason, the forum software flagged it? Beat the Heck out of me? :p:eek:ops:
 

Scarecrow

New Member
Modelling complete (I think).

I'm experimenting with the gun balls. I've done a geometric shape (shown) which I don't like but might be infinitely less fiddly than a proper sphere, which I'm also trying (just visible on the far side).

Let the test-building begin!

Oh and it's intended to be around 160mm long (not including the gun) which I figure is roughly (and I do mean roughly) 20mm or 1:72 scale. To be honest, I'm less interested in the scale and more in making it a size which doesn't dominate my office desk.

Crow

 

Kjev

Active Member
Oh and it's intended to be around 160mm long (not including the gun) which I figure is roughly (and I do mean roughly) 20mm or 1:72 scale. To be honest, I'm less interested in the scale and more in making it a size which doesn't dominate my office desk.

1/72 used to be my preferred scale for my miniature wargames.

As for the desk...

Go large. DOMINATE! Or set it up with the main gun pointing at the visitor's chair. :twisted:
 

Scarecrow

New Member
Right, test building has thrown up some issues.

I've constructed one of the central legs which went reasonably well, but, as with the Locust, I think some parts will work better as card and others as paper.

The Main body, however is a different matter. I think I over-egged the two main sections, creating a closed hull that another layer sits over, allowing me to add those lovely fin-like edges. All of this makes for compound errors though, that throw the angles out. It is, I think, a mistake to design parts that are intended to dove-tail because you can't account for paper/card thickness used by the end user.
Add to this that I broke the whole thing into three sections: front, mid and rear. In retrospect, that's just asking for trouble, like stacking three equally sized Lego bricks on top of each other.
I'm re-designing it now so that there is a single, long box that runs underneath for strength and straightness. The three sections will then sit on top. I've redone the front and rear sections so that they are no longer a closed hull but a bottom piece with a top piece that sits, umbrella-like over it.

I'll test-build it over the weekend and see how it works.
I'm also, hopefully going to test-build the fiddly gun pieces :/

Crow
 

Scarecrow

New Member
Well, the test build of the new body design went quite well, so I'll go with it.
So that's the main leg and the body ticked off.

Now for the smaller leg(s) and the cannon - oh, and those gun balls. :/

Crow
 

Scarecrow

New Member
Bingo, bango, bongo! Webcam!

Not perfect but you get the idea.

Here's the Main leg prototype, a first pass at the hull in paper (including the cabin and gun turret) before I redesigned it and then the new, redesigned hull prototype in card.

Crow

 

Scarecrow

New Member
This is proving interesting. I'm having a bit of a nightmare with the centre section.

Watching through season 2 of Clone Wars again, there's some excellent shots of the various sections of the ATTE - particularly in 'Landing at Point Rain', 'Cargo of Doom' and 'the Deserter'. What's foxing me though is the segmented centre section and I really can't get a clear view of it. On top, it appears to be as wide as the flat section of the front and rear shells. However underneath, it appears to be no wider than the cabin. The obvious conclusion is that it tapers inwards, but I can't get a clear shot to verify it.

Oh, and it also has six toes on each foot, not four.
 

Scarecrow

New Member
The prototype builds are going quite well so far. Here are some pics

The middle pic is the first build of the main body in paper, showing the cabin and gun turret. On the right is the new, improved version done in card which is about to be binned once I figure out what's going on with the waist section.

Crow

 

Scarecrow

New Member
I think I've figured out the central section thing.
After much poring over screengrabs and flicking back and forth and compositing in Photoshop and drawing lines over everything, I'm pretty sure that the central section that the central legs attach to is no wider than the cabin. I'm pretty sure that the ridged section on top that connects the front and rear sections overhangs the centre. I've tested this theory with a number of screengrabs and, whilst I still can't see it for certain, it makes a lot of sense.

Time to crack open Maya again!
 

Kjev

Active Member
Would looking at a miniature (like the Hasbro Titanium series), or the Lego model help at all?
 

Scarecrow

New Member
Nice suggestions. I have looked at those but they are substantially simplified and different from the movie and Clone Wars version.

Thanks

Crow
 

Scarecrow

New Member
Well, I think the modelling is done. I've remodelled the underside and it's pretty accurate now, I think. As accurate as I want it to be, anyway. I haven't hollowed out the forward section. I'm keeping that simple.
I've remodelled the gun cowling slightly and adjusted the rear section to more closely match the Clone Wars ATTE rather than the movie one. I've also added the middle toes on each foot.
I'll probably spend some time staring at it and the reference images tomorrow just to see if there's anything I've missed. If not, then it's UV mapping time! Yeeehaw!

Front and Rear



And that pesky underside:



Crow
 

Scarecrow

New Member
I've made a couple of extra little tweaks to the mesh and I'm pretty confident that it's finally done, now. However, work on this and all my projects, will cease now for a week or two whilst I do Christmas. That said, I will be test building the new ATTE parts over Christmas and I have also discovered something rather neat.

If you export the mesh as an OBJ from Pepakura, it uses the unfold as the UV coordinates. This means that every single face is layed out flat with perfect proportions and most important of all, at exactly the same scale. That's a pretty darn good UV unwrap setup right there. Whilst I could get it pretty close doing it in Maya, it wouldn't be as perfect. It still requires scaling and laying out properly in Maya but that's no hardship.
It also means having to unfold the whole project twice but considering that that is essentially what unwrapping UVs is anyway and given that Pepakura's new unfolding tools are totally awesome, it's not too much of an inconvenience.

We'll see.

Crow
 
Top