Attached Link: http://www.mzzkiti.com/Nazaki-3.zip

To "ring in" the various upcoming productions of "War of the Worlds" (such as the contemporary period production by Speilberg later this month and a more faithful "period" drama being released by Pendragon Pictures direct to DVD today), I thought now would be an appropriate time to offer an appropriate "freebie" tie-in. Depicted in the Poser 4 render is a Martian war machine inspired by an unused Albert "Al" Nozaki design. Who is Al Nozaki? He created the famous "manta ray" machines shown in George Pal's 1953 release of "War of the Worlds", argueably one of the most iconic motifs in science fiction cinema. I stumbled across this design in a genre film magazine a few years ago. I already knew Pal originally wanted an "on set" effect to suggest electro-magnetic "legs". This would have employed electrified wires trailing underneath the machines to create a "Jacob's Ladder" arc. You've probably seen this effect in various mad scientist labs, two antenna like wires with a spark ascending between them. The desired visual proved too dangerous a fire hazard so it was abandoned. In the end, the production settled upon a single optical as the first machine rises from the landing pit. The concept drawing depicted a far more dramatic visual, brightly glowing laser like beams suspending the machine and vaporizing anything they touch upon the ground. The shots within the final production did at least retain that motif. But I was equally fascinated by the machine itself. Here was a design that looked like it could hold its on against the atomic supplied military of the early 1950s, yet retained more of the tripodal, milking stool shape H. G. Wells described in his original manuscript. No, I'm not saying I like it more than the realized "manta ray" craft, but I equally enjoy this design for its own merits. How might it look in 3D? An obvious solution, model and render it. The design was basic enough that someone with my modest modeling skills could attempt it. So, I did. Everything was was constructed from three geometric primitives, the sphere, the cylinder and the toroid. I was pleased with the results, but soon forgot about it. When I purchased UV Mapper Pro from Steve Cox, I remembered this mesh and used it to test for the vertex splitting functions. Great! Now my TrueSpace model was compatible with Poser. I showed my results to the venerable Little_Dragon. He took the mesh and did something really cool. He jointed the "legs" and gave the goose-neck the ability to flex! I don't think it uses ERC, but the effect is similar. By adjusting the "X", "Y" and "Z" rotational dials, I could aim the heat ray within a very wide arc. Animated, I bet it'd look very creepy! Now, I offer this as a freebie to the Poser community! Let's see what you can do with this baby! I'm sure your themes will far outshine mine. Sincerely, Bill Caveat, let the downloader beware: Though this design never made it to the screen, this is based upon the work of the late Al Nozaki. Either his estate, or, more likely, Paramount Pictures own the rights to the design. I would advise against using it in commercial renders.

Tempt the Hand of Fate and it'll give you the "finger"!