Wow, the selection of sci-fi helmets in the freestuff section blows, lol. Well...there's a couple I have tried on Vickie, that is okay, but I want more. (for free, anyways)

So, I'm attempting to make a sci-fi helmet out of Bryce Metaballs. Yeah...I laughed myself when that idea sprung to mind.

But after getting this far, I think I can do it.

I hate the front/forehead part, I'll have to add/subtract from that. But, overall I like the shape. It's...well, different. And, this is really just for background stuff anyways, doesn't have to be perfect.

This is just a WIP. I 'll add some hole/vents, some tubes coming out, a earpiece/mic headset, and dust off my old sci-fi goggles and throw on her. And, can you say chinstrap?

AgentSmith

Maybe a visor bar accent over the forehead? Nice looking WIP

Hey, not too bad AS. Looks like a good brain container for a bike rider, skate boarder, skier, surf boarder, etc, etc as is now. Hmmmm, Im sure theres lots you can do with Bryce as a Boolean model builder but maybe in the warriors department but thats damn good using metaballs. Can't wait to see what you come up with. Whatever it is, I'm sure we'll be delighted.

Yup, I was looking at a BMX motorcycle helmet for reference. I knew that inspiration would come out as soon as I put those insets into the top of the helmet, lol. AS

Ahhh....there we go, much better forehead. AS

Well, AS, those insets are usually there to improve aerodynamics. I would think a warrior's helmet wouldn't need that feature unless they're traveling at high velocity with heads exposed. Hey, not a bad sequence to future warriors on high speed battles. Just my take. But the one thing Im sure of is that it will evolve and Im looking forward to that evolution.

Message edited on: 03/02/2006 03:33

Interesting . . . a bit too close to the head though ... remember the webbing/padding adds an inch or so to the "radius" or whatever you'd call it. Even SF Helmets seem to conform to that, but you think in the future there might be a shock-adsorbing gel of some kind that would allow for a smaller helmet so maybe you're not so far off. It's very good. Although I've done nothing lately, I remember how hard it is to work with meatballs. - TJ

The insets - I agree, but I just needed a way to subtract from the helmet, otherwise it just looked like a big round egg on her head. Only so much I can do with those all too round metballs. Once I get some non-metball trim & misc stuff in there it'll come together. Head vs helmet size - oh yeah, there is only about 3/4" between the helmet and the scalp at its closest point. But, as you say, hopefully the future holds the promise of better padding, lol. AS

A little side action. More tomorrow/next day. AS

The grooves could be there to increase ballistic impaact angles - the higher the angle the better the chance for a richochet.... how's that for pseudo science?

Flak,
Also they could be there for attachments like flashlights, com devices, tracking/aiming systems,twin mounted laser cannons; but then human neck muscles are only so strong and placing undue pressure on the top of the head could cause other problems. so maybe . . .
It reminds me that I made a viking helmet with bull horns in poser once.
Our resident Valkire in Poser Forum immediately shot the idea down stating that the horns should have been rams horns . . . as her knowledge of Viking lore was so much greater than mine I gave up on the idea rather than argue about the technical aspects but I realized shortly thereafter that she was only trying to be helpful; by then the idea had left me.
Perhaps it's time to dig up some old ideas and start modeling again. I was just REALLY getting the idea of multireplication in Bryce when I lost access to the net last year. It is amazing how stimulating Rendeosity and this forum in particular have motivated me to try new things.
My time is more limited than it used to be, I'm getting
less sleep; at least my annoying loud neighbor has calmed down a bit for now. It might be time to try again.
I remember with some amazement how much you can put into a scene - those siege scenes of yours were truely inspirational.

Anyrate I hope you all will forgive my longwinded and sometimes digressive replies lately. I'm trying to psych myself up to get back into Poser Bryce and Carrara. Lately I've been concentrating on coding and figuring how to Administrate a home/office network - as MJ Fox once said "This is gonna be harder than I thought"

Agent Smith,
Keep at that helmet!! It's gunna look great !!

• TJ

Message edited on: 03/02/2006 05:21

LOLFlak, sounds good for stealth bombers too with low radar imprint! But AS, its starting to look alien from the side view (I mean this as a positive view thank you).

Message edited on: 03/02/2006 05:25

hehe, yeah the art of low radar cross section aircraft is damn impressive - there's a bit of voodoo in there as well as a lot of science. I'm mainly impressed that AS can get such a smooth under control sort of shape out of metaballs lol bikermouse - the "thats not right, it needs to be a blue stripe on a red background" sorts of things is why I stay in the realm of fantasy and haven't gone near anything vaguely historical. Hmm, you have Carrara - the lastest versions of that look very interesting indeed.

Seems like RDNA has a couple interesting ones in their free stuff. I know they had a better decent pack with tanks. I seem to remember a couple of helmets as well...

I've only got Carrara 2 and haven't considered upgrading yet. I dunno I'm tending to think I should just save my money and go for Maya or Max 8. The way I figure it is if I only eat once every week and limit myself to one quart of beer a month I might be able to afford Maya in say 6 or 7 years. Meantime I'd say I need to get better at what I've got before I move on. According to my analysis of the "tiny" x-file in directx it is possible to animate a 3-d character such as what was done in Sierra's Kings Quest 7 (Conner) using xfiles - I've always wanted to do that. well enough of that - I've always thought that Carrara was a good program and those who use it were pretty friendly. The "traffic" on the Carrara Forum has picked up quite a bit from a year ago which seems to indicate to me that a lot of people are trying it. I think the fact that they are trying to be "Poser friendly" is helping. That said I don't think it will ever be as easy to use as wings but the learning curve is only moderately steep. As I recall the last thing I was trying to figure out was how to make faces in it using 3d max tutorials with a little success. I think I got caught up in the quads verses triangles problem but I'm thinking now that it isn't so important and as I understand it later versions got most of the bugs worked out and will do quads. be seeing you - TJ

now there's a few ideas..hmm..a 'non-crappy' helmet..;)

@AS, I'll make a note to contact your doctor and have your medication changed, what you are on now is making you do some really silly things..

"medication" -Tell me about it. Actually, it was probably my girlfriends cold medicine I have been taking for the past week, lol. AS

"...but then human neck muscles are only so strong and placing undue pressure on the top of the head could cause other problems..." -Tell that to the poor s.o.b. that had to wear this, lol! Nah, I'm sure this stuff is lightweight. (?) AS

Awesome helmet you have there sir....

I think this would make a good monthly challenge. Build a sci-fi/fantasy helmet.

Thats the helmet I need too, when banging my head against wall doing 3d..j/k.. anywho,AS is that 100% meta or am I not getting negative metaball(shift/meta icon not working here) or grouping them and getting shadowed lines when I intersect? Nice WIP btw...

It's all metaballs. I made a normal (positive) metaball, and sized it/angled it to make a rough representation of the head, then enlarged it slightly, and started placing negative metaballs to start cutting it up. Yeah, pressing shift plus the create metaball icon should give you a negative one. They are tricky to place at first. It takes VERY little movement to get a large pos/neg reaction. AS

AS, is that a helicopter pilot's helmet with inferred?

I don't know for sure, I found it off of google, but that's exactly what it looks like to me. (and, pretty old school to boot) AS

Attached Link: http://www.natick.army.mil/about/pao/pubs/warrior/03/julyaug/fwsideaim1.jpg

AS, I went googling to see about that helmet you posted. I couldnt find anything on it but came across these images that could be used for reference. The top link is a cool helmet but the image is pretty small.

Single Tube Goggle

Nightvision

Message edited on: 03/03/2006 04:16

I didn't have that top one, thanks, very unique! Yeah, I have over a hundred reference pics of night vision goggles I have picked off of Google Image search, lol. Would LOVE to own a real pair, but wow, expensive. And, for what, so I can sneak up on my girlfriends cat in the middle of the night? ...actually, that would be pretty funny. AS

ROFL! Yep, I saw the single goggle one for over $3000 USD.

I actually had a russian military night vision scope for a short time...it looked exactly like an old 8mm film home movie camera. A souvenir from living in the Ukraine. I gave it to my brother who was in college at the time. He used it to sneak up on the neighbors cat....then used it to sneak into the neighbors house...then used it along with the neighbor to sneak into several other semi-secure facilities. Suprises me they never got caught. Eventually someone snuck into HIS house and took the scope...bummer.

Nice modelling - especially with metaballs... er... can I just say one itsy bitsy thing? Well... it's just that the bit of the helmet at the back of the head... is awfully reminiscent of Lister when he had that weird problem with his head swelling up, and might make it a little hard to look upwards while wearing it. But this effect looks a little less prominent in the later pic, in message 9... but that may just be the angle. Looking at this modeling in envy makes me realise - I need more practice with metaballs. (sigh)

"awfully reminiscent of Lister when he had that weird problem with his head swelling up" Hmmm, I don't know that reference. But, I do what you mean. In the marines, their helmets are shorter in the back (compared to this helmet) which allows more head movement as far as looking up, and then they usually make up for that in their flak jackets with a high kevlar collar. But in their heavier armored outfits, movement is far more restricted. (I saw that outfit on tv, but have never found any onlne reference pics) In the end, its "sci-fi", just gotta try to make it look cool, lol. AS

"Hmmm, I don't know that reference."

Smeggin' hell - don't tell me you haven't seen Red Dwarf, AS.

Nope. I've seen that title around the internet. Seen dvd packs for sale, lol. But, no, never seen it. Don't even know what its about. Once I can get my own cable box in the bedroom...I'll take back what I MYSELF want to watch from my girlfriend, lol. She rules the couch. AS

I never saw Red Dwarf either. I first heard about it from some anti-virus program or security book where I read that one of the really old viruses displayed pop-ups quoting from that T.V. Program . . . You guys need I.R. glasses to sneak up on cats at night? Cable TV and a T1 connection - man I'd love that (I'm still working on a decent digital camera Minolta has a SLR I like for a little over a Vegas Buck).

You have never seen RED DWARF? Smeggin Hell. It would have to be one of the best shows ever. It take the piss out of just about every Sci-fi show and movie ever made, and in most cases does it better, and funnier. Cable,vid,dvd, what ever, Do yourself a favour and see it. It will adjust your view on the world forever.

I'll NetFilx it, check it out. I'm all about checking out the non-mainstream stuff. So many times, that kind of material shines over the bigger production stuff. AS

As I recall Red Dwarf was supposed to be an English series. One of these days I'll check it out. My problem is I go through phases where I'm really busy and others where I have very little to do. During the latter I tend to be lazy or I would have seen "Red-Dwarf" years ago.

Attached Link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/reddwarf/factbox/index.shtml

Oh you Smeeeegheeeed! seriously it's totally adictive, and I love it to bits, I have every episode... unfortunately they're on Video - and now we only have a DVD player. (sigh) I just found some great sites, like this one: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/reddwarf/factbox/index.shtml which has quotes like this: "Now kindly cluck off, before I extract your gibblets, and shove a large seasoned onion between the lips you never kiss with. " ROFL! But you must start with episode 1, (though I absolutely love the one where they find Backwards Earth where time runs backwards - and they are just leaving and Rimmer says "where's the Cat?" Lister says, "Oh he's in the bushes, he's just... you know." slight pause... then Dave says: "We've GOT to stop him!", cut to long grass, and Cat, with hair standing on end and eyes popping out, rises stiffly, 'cut,' Cat's awkwardly stepping up the steps to the ship, reaches the top, Dave opens his mouth, Cat says:"Don't ask!" end... ROFL!!!!

Attached Link: Red Dwarf Clips

And try PolyMorph: (see link) That's it, I'll stop talking about it now...

Message edited on: 03/06/2006 15:34

You're really best starting from the beginning in order to 'get' it. The production values are typically poor, and a lot of the humour is self-indulgently 'Brit'. But when it's good it's bloody good.

Having seen it develop, by the time you get to an episode like "Back to Reality" you'll be in awe ("Dwain Dibley?!"). That's the best for me.

Don't start at series 7 or 8. Mostly bilge.

Oh yes, the beginning is best: I love the way Dave is wandering around the deserted ship after emerging from stasis while poor ole Holy tries to hammer it into his head that "Everybody's dead, Dave." while Dave keep stopping and tasting the odd little piles of 'salt' that are scattered everywhere around the ship saying things like, "Not Captain Hollister", "Yes Dave, everybody's dead." "Not Kochanski" "Yes, everybody's dead, Dave" ... then he finds out what the piles of 'salt' are... ROFL!

Hey!!! Don't give away the plot! That's kind of like telling the censors what Kenny is singing in the Southpark theme.

Sorry, sorry. Yeah just go get episode 1. (evil grin) You'll be hooked for life.