Mini Bug Drones

Update, latest render:


Hey guys, recently I’ve been working on a miniature drone concept for Andrew Price’s “Future Tech” competition. Here is what I’ve got so far. It’s mostly done, but I would really like some comments, criticism, and suggestions for things that could be improved.


I know there are a lot of technical, mechanical details that are wrong (i.e. not being able to move forwards as the mechanics of the legs currently are) but I am not concerned with that sort of thing now. I am looking for aesthetic/artistic criticism, from my experience that isn’t the type of thing Andrew Price thinks of.

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Cool mech character… he seems ripe to be animated. I would say the weak link is the eyeball (camera lens?) Maybe model a more lens like “eye” using some glass. I did a drone project a couple years ago… see “Unmanned Vengeance” link in my signature. At around 0:57 it uses the camera… maybe a lens something like that.

Thanks for the comments harelynut97!

I was thinking myself that the eyeball needed some work. But it seemed like a lot of work to put into something so small so I wanted to wait and see if anybody else picked up on that. Since it’s not just me I have been working on getting a little more camera-like look on it. I’ll put up an updated render of it when it’s done. (It is actually already a glass shader, it’s just so dark it looks black.)

As for animation, it is rigged for ease in posing, but animation isn’t really an interest of mine so I probably won’t animate it. Also, if you think about it more closely it has a lot of mechanical problems. Not the least of which is its almost complete inability to move forward (think about which direction the legs pivot).

It’s precisely the details like these which make your model really stand out. A sharp eye will notice that the legs can’t move properly for walking, and thus the whole image seems a little less ‘believable.’ It’s fine if the legs are essentially ‘landing gear’ that just fold out to support the body when on the ground, but something about this just make it feel like it should walk around, scittering like a little bug or something. Perhaps if you showed the model in three different positions, one on the ground, one taking off with legs partially folded in, and one in flight would show how it’s supposed to work.

The camera should be detailed especially because it is so small. It’s the small details like that that set your model apart, make it seem like it’s something that could exist in our world. If you gave it a more lens look it would be more apparent what it is supposed to be.

Sorry for the long repsonse. This looks really cool, and I want to see you continue it. Good luck.

Update

Here’s a small update, I lightened the glass shader on the eyeball so you can now see in more, and added some more detail inside the eyeball.


(You have to enlarge the image to see the added detail very well.)

Is there anything else that stands out to anybody? I am usually a stickler for tiny details and there are a dozen or so things in my mind but since there are only 4 days left to enter I want to devote my time left to things other people can spot. Keep in mind I don’t have time to do anything drastic (i.e. changing the leg mechanics etc.).

Thanks for the comments guys, please keep 'em coming!

Awesome design and execution!

2 things:
a) you probably need STUDIO HDR/STAGE for background to create some reflection gradients, it’s too matte right now
b) why not some emissive LED here or there

Thanks for the comments cgstrive!

I am not sure what you mean by “STUDIO HDR/STAGE”? I am using a studio HDR pano for lighting though. I’ll see what I can do to get some better reflections. I do agree that they need improvement.

As for LEDs, my original concept did include some lights, but they looked kind of out of place. I am going for a realistic (at face value) concept style rather than a sci-fi look. That said, I will play around with some different types of LEDs and see how it looks.

Just quick ref drop. Real life devices have LEDs to indicate power state. At very least:
http://www.photoshop-plus.co.uk/content/tutorials/robotic_eyes/25.gif

Thanks everybody for all the comments and suggestions. I did (much to my own surprise) make it to the finalists for the first time. And I owe thanks for that to you (and the folks over at Blender.SE) for the comments and critiques!

Though my render certainly isn’t as complex, or have as much time invested in it, as many of the other entries (as some people have nicely pointed out in the comments :)), I find that I am usually better at less complex overall scenes where I can reasonably focus on some nice details. So, given that I am pretty busy these days (this is just my hobby), I am pretty satisfied with my result, even though I didn’t have time to follow or investigate everyone’s comments and suggestions.

Thanks again everybody!

That is so cool! Amazing work!