wipEout-- adrenalin rush

[Tora_2097]

Thanks Vagrant Logic!
I am currently creating the pilot for the AG Systems craft- it will be Daniel Chang.
If you look closely at the original you'll notice a scene in which the pilot turns his head in the cockpit checking his instruments maybe.
I plan to enlargen this scene with a more detailed view of his face looking really strong-willed and merciless. It will last just a few seconds but it adds life to the entire animation to see a few human characters here and there.
I unfourtunately can only spare 1 or 2 hours a day currently so progress comes slowly (but steady).

regards,

Tora

[Sausehuhn]

here is a render of the 1. WipEout showing a pilot as well. Maybe not much of him, but maybe it can help you with modelling

edit:
just realised it's the Qirex pilot...

[Tora_2097]

Thanks Sausehuhn, that's a very cool image. I admit I have never seen this one before, looks great.
here is my early version of Mr. Chang. his suit looks horrible atm but with the camera movements I have in mind you will most likely not see much of it anyway. Focus will be on his face - just for a few seconds just before the hangar opens its doors. You'll see the lights of his flight instruments reflecting in his visor and stuff like that.

Daniel Chang

[Lance]

That image was done by Lee Carus, an original concept art renderer on the first Wipeout development team, which did the first two games in the series.

[eLhabib]

note that the qirex pilot is wearing an AG-SYS Helmet...

as for Tora's work: sorry I have to be the ass giving you criticism all the time (because I really, really never ever could do it better than you...), but I have to say I am not very fond of the helmet. to me, an AG racing helmet has to have features like oxigen support and the likes, same as seen in fighter jets. furthermore, a visor wouldn't be of any use other than to collect sweat, since all AG craft have closed canopies and the HUD is displayed on the front windshield, at least if you go by the 2097/xl intro.
Mr. Chang himself does resemble his original picture though, very well (even though I'd LOVE to see you do John Dekka instead, he was my hero back then.)
keep up the amazing work!

[Tora_2097]

@Lance: Thanks a lot for the info, I didn't know the fact. That image kinda comes VERZ close to my vision of wipEout, and is one of the best representations of what wipEout is all about. (at least in my opinion)

@eLhabib
Thanks for your crtitcs man, I really appreciate that. I had a look at some wipeout fusion helmets and found a few of them look very nice with that kind of visor, but yeah, XL had a HUD displayed on the windshield. A HUD on a visor has the benefit that you can get needed information regardless of where you're looking at. Maybe you'd want to take over an oppopent on the left and are turning your head to side. Then it would be beneficial to have all neccessary information displayed on your visor instead on your windshield. (just my thoughts,in reality I doubt one would be able to even pay attention to any kind of HUD when racing along with 400 mph with rockets exploding around you
And be sure that I'll add a lot more details to the helmets geometry. It was just an early version.

Regards,

Tora

[Sausehuhn]

hehe, thought the same, eL

Tora, I've a few high-res-renders on ym HHD showing several helmets of the pilots. If you're intersted in those just say it and add me on msn or icq so I can send them to you.

[Tora_2097]

An updated version of him. Looks better I think, the helmet has a different design and is more detailed.

Daniel Chang2

[Zerow]

I agree, the new helmet looks much better than the last one.

Keep up the good work Tora!

[eLhabib]

I like that one a lot better, too, although it doesn't look futuristic enough imo, more like a current technology helicopter pilot helmet.
okay, I'll stop nagging now...

[Tora_2097]

another update, this time with textures. I think that he is now worth to be a wipEout pilot.
I actually took him further than I intended to, since he will not get that much screentime.
Hope you like it,

Tora

Daniel_Chang_textured

[Zerow]

He looks excellent now.

Again, great job Tora.

[Sausehuhn]

great work Tora!

...since he will not get that much screentime

then give him some more

[Tora_2097]

That is what a stillframe from the animation might look like. The background is still a bitmap (sorry, forgot the original artist), its 3D pendant is finished but not yet textured. 12 min a frame (including all layers) on a Dual Xeon 3.2GHz.





high_res

[q_dmc12]

he looks like a clay or wax dummy, but over-all excellent job

[Tora_2097]

here is a !very! rough animation preview of what I have in mind with him. He is checking his instruments and the moment the gates above him starts to open he lifts his head up in reaction starring into the light (thats why his visor turns black).
He then gains his concentration back---> ready to race .... well...something like that..

Animation preview

(12 sec, around 1 MB in wmv format)

@q_dmc12
Yeah, I am still struggeling to get the skinshader to look just right, its a very difficult task. I'll see what I can do to improve it.

[eLhabib]

Schaweeet!

[Zerow]

That was brilliant, even though there's a lack of detail and the animation is rather rough!

I cannot even begin to imagine how mind blowing this is going to be when it's finished!

[Tora_2097]

The pilot can be considered finished meanwhile, so I started to texture the hangar and its objects.
The scene brings my hardware to the absolute limit while rendering, I need to double my RAM from 2 to 4 GB to able to continue. I already had to buy a new Graphics card + 500GB storage to be able to cope with the expected 10000+ layers of uncompressed tiff files in 720p...
Anyway, here is the early hangar:

Hangar_alpha

[Zerow]

That hanger looks nice so far.

Yet again, this is superb stuff Tora.