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Matrix Phone
About Truespace Archives
These pages are a copy of the official truespace forums prior to their removal somewhere around 2011.
They are retained here for archive purposes only.
Matrix Phone // Work in Progress
Post by Breech Block // Sep 16, 2008, 1:08pm
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Breech Block
Total Posts: 844
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This project was going to be another one of my (non competitive) entries into the Iconic Movie Prop SMC. But after several false starts and a couple of hours in, I realised it wasn't going to be anywhere near ready or even worthy of putting on show. However, I couldn't help but fall in love with the phone's design. Once you really start analysing it, you start to realise just how complex the shape is and just how much design detail the unit has.
So I have set myself the task of doing the design justice and have started again from scratch to try and produce a highly detailed, high polygon version; which being strictly a hobbyist who much prefers animation, I have never really done before.
Once completed, as the unit is mainly gloss black with elements of chrome, rubber, glass and plastic, I want to use the model as a tool to try and gain a better understand of shaders and lighting, with a view perhaps of getting it to a standard worthy of submitting to a few non-caligari websites.
So be warned all, I'll be wanting to pick a few brains later on. :D
Its very early days yet, but the image below shows my current progress. I might have got a bit further this evening but tS (I'm using 7.6 for the first time (model side)) keeps crashing after just a few minutes in Point Edit mode. It also keeps saying I'm out of memory but I have 4 gigs, 5 if you include the graphics card. I'll see if it behaves itself tomorrow. |
Post by Nez // Sep 16, 2008, 10:03pm
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Nez
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Curious, as there's not anything obvious there to give tS any real trouble I would have thought?
Hope it behaves better when you re-open. I occasionally get errors like that when I've started getting a lot of textures into my scene, and frequently get rendering fatal errors (in tS5)...
Interested to see how the project turns out - I'll certainly look forward to what you find out with regards to shaders etc - I'd still like to see a good guide somewhere as to good shader settings for different types of material - although obviously this is somewhat render engine specific. Having just started looking at HDRI for example, there's a note in the manual about generrally avoiding or minimising specular settings in your shaders...
Might also be interesting to see one of your reference images, so we know what you're aiming for. I'm sure you'll end up with something great though... |
Post by Breech Block // Sep 17, 2008, 2:56am
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Breech Block
Total Posts: 844
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Might also be interesting to see one of your reference images, so we know what you're aiming for. I'm sure you'll end up with something great though...
Thanks Nez. Good idea about posting a piccie. I think the phone on the left is a mockup or a pre-production model as the earpiece looks flatter and it does not have that glossy black look that all the other photos on the net seem to have. Might be just the picture itself though.
Anyhow, I'm off to see if tS is gonna behave itself today. |
Post by Breech Block // Sep 17, 2008, 3:45pm
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Breech Block
Total Posts: 844
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Have now added the base/microphone for the model. There is some really small details on this part of the phone and looking ahead, I just hope that the hours spent putting them in will be realised in the final render and that they are not lost in a sea of black gloss. |
Post by rjeff // Sep 18, 2008, 3:08am
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rjeff
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lookin good man..I like you art work. I whish I could model complex things like you are doing with that phone. I can't seem to wrap my mind around how to do that. |
Post by robert // Sep 18, 2008, 9:08am
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robert
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Very nice start. Mostly point edited, or boolean operations? |
Post by Breech Block // Sep 18, 2008, 10:22am
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Breech Block
Total Posts: 844
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Thanks for the kind words guys.
Rjeff@ - I can't believe you said that man. Do you know what one of my inspirations was to tackling this project – your castle in last months MMC. When I saw that I realised I really needed to up the ante in my model work and learn how to put extra detailing in.
Robert@ - Yeah, PE Mode. Before I started entering the SMC I used to make all my models by joining primitives. Now I just get a cube go directly into Point Edit Mode and just about stay that way until it is complete.
Here is a tip for anyone looking to handle a project similar to this, bearing in mind that this is my first attempt at this level:
I think the reason why this is starting to look quite promising and yet my attempt to make the same thing for the SMC was such a huge failure is the fact I viewed the phone as a complete item. This time around, I studied the phone and looked at it from a manufactures point of view, breaking it down into its component parts. If that component still looked complicated I broke it down again in to smaller, more manageable pieces. Having done that, I looked at each part/piece and broke it down into primitives – oh, that edge is 45 degree cube, that edge is a 30 degree cylinder. Seeing the phone at that level really helps me select the right tools in tS.
HTH |
Post by robert // Sep 18, 2008, 11:34am
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Good tips, I always find the hardest part is deciding where to begin and how to progress. |
Post by MikeJoel // Sep 18, 2008, 11:36am
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MikeJoel
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Great work. Very interesting about how you stay in point edit mode - I sure haven't got to that point yet. I like the details you have so far. I'm not familiar with the movie or the phone but the details I see you've put in look excellent. I always felt that even if something doesn't show up really well, that just the fact that it is there will have done something to help make the render what it is (even if it is the light just catching the edge of it).
Looking forward to seeing more.
Mike |
Post by Breech Block // Sep 18, 2008, 12:44pm
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Breech Block
Total Posts: 844
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Thanks Robert, thanks Mike.
Good tips, I always find the hardest part is deciding where to begin and how to progress.
I'm just borrowing from real life here. I used to be in the military and we were always taught that whenever you came across a task/situation that seemed impossible, break it down into smaller, more manageable tasks. I never thought that 20 years later I'd still be heading that advice. :D
I always felt that even if something doesn't show up really well, that just the fact that it is there will have done something to help make the render what it is (even if it is the light just catching the edge of it).
That's what I love about your work Mike. It's also another reason why I'm keen on this project. I want to spend a lot of time putting in all the detail, and then see how much gets washed out in the lighting\texture process so that in future models, I know whether not to waste time putting it in or if I need to exaggerate certain features.
Anyhow, here is the latest update, the Keypad area with rough textures for display purposes. |
Post by rjeff // Sep 18, 2008, 4:33pm
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thanks for the nice words BB and the tips. I can't wait to see your progress on this and I plan on getting back to that castle after I finish ole' hobbit up. |
Post by Breech Block // Sep 19, 2008, 10:38am
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Breech Block
Total Posts: 844
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I plan on getting back to that castle after I finish ole' hobbit up.
Now that is something to look forward to.
As for me, well, today was a bit of a disaster. When I started work to incorporate the display screen into the main body, I quickly realised I had made a major mistake earlier on when subtracting the area where the flip out ear piece sits. So I spent most of this afternoon trying to correct that by adding additional surfaces and also trying to ensure the curves of the new sunken display area matches perfectly with curves already cut for the ear piece. So, lesson of day (stolen from my old woodwork teacher) measure twice - cut once. |
Post by rjeff // Sep 20, 2008, 3:16am
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rjeff
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well just take the right pill BB and you can forget that ever happend! |
Post by Breech Block // Sep 20, 2008, 9:54am
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Breech Block
Total Posts: 844
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well just take the right pill BB and you can forget that ever happend!
LOL - good one rjeff.
Unfortunately, I'm colour blind and I took the wrong one.
I'm not familiar with the movie or the phone
Poor old Mike will be thinking that we have well and truly lost it. Go rent it man - it's a great trilogy and a feast of groundbreaking CGI. |
Post by rjeff // Sep 20, 2008, 2:41pm
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Well to be color blind you do well with textures..unless you were poking some fun..
And Mike...not familar with these movies? Dude...take a Friday and watch all three of them back to back to back. That is like a buddy of mine who has not seen Transformers...I am still amazed by that. |
Post by Breech Block // Sep 20, 2008, 4:09pm
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Breech Block
Total Posts: 844
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Sorry rjeff, should have added a smiley icon after my last post as I was just having a joke. Its just that if in the Matrix the world is run by a highly sophisticated AI, then how come they don't program the humans to be colour blind. Then, whenever old Morpheus pops up and pulls his blue pill/red pill routine the resistance would be stuffed. Perhaps the part of the program that controls colour perception in the matrix was stored on an old Vista server.:D
Anyways, here is an update on the project. Doesn't look much to show for an entire evenings work but getting the curvature of the cut-out around the Samsung logo proved a right pain. I got the correct dimensions from my reference photos but every time I made the cut and did a test render it just looked like a square unless your looked at it from an extremely close angle. So I ended up (eventually) exaggerating the dimesions slightly. Getting the logo correct was also quite fiddly and required quite a lot of work in PE mode to get the subtleties in the letters just right. Quite pleased with the end result though and it should look quite neat with some chrome shading. |
Post by MikeJoel // Sep 20, 2008, 4:58pm
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MikeJoel
Total Posts: 266
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I think you have redefined "detail" :D
Great job. |
Post by Breech Block // Sep 20, 2008, 6:22pm
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Breech Block
Total Posts: 844
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Thanks for the kind works Mike. Its funny y'know, the 2 people who are mainly posting comments here inspired me to attempt this project in the first place. I have already said that rjeff's castle was a great inspiration and I must admit that I was also stunned when I saw the hoist you were making for your castle MMC entry. The level of detailing was fantastic and really pointed out the errors of my modelling ways. That's the greatest aspect of this community, we are all inspiring each over to improve. 6 months ago, if you showed me my Thunderbird 4 model or Spiderbot model from the SMC I would never have believed I could have made them. Makes you wonder what we all will be able to make a year from now.
As for redefining the word detail, that's a very nice comment and very much appreciated - but I'm afraid you have the wrong guy. You wanna see detail, check out Mad Mouse's Warehouse Mech Thread. 24 (yep, count 'em) sumptuous pages of the most gloriously stunningly and detailed model (and textures) you will ever see.
So, rush out, buy a prayer mat, chant "I am not worthy" 3 times and click the link below.
http://forums1.caligari.com/truespace/showthread.php?t=546&highlight=madmouse
Note to self: I wonder if that will get MM out of lurk mode. |
Post by MikeJoel // Sep 20, 2008, 6:57pm
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MikeJoel
Total Posts: 266
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As for redefining the word detail, that's a very nice comment and very much appreciated - but I'm afraid you have the wrong guy. You wanna see detail, check out Mad Mouse's Warehouse Mech Thread.
http://forums1.caligari.com/truespace/showthread.php?t=546&highlight=madmouse
Ok... We need a new icon. Something with a chin drop. 15267
That is amazing. Wow is the only word I can think of.
.........
Quite pleased with the end result though and it should look quite neat with some chrome shading.
I agree I think that is going to look very cool when chromed. |
Post by tahnoak // Sep 21, 2008, 12:25am
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Amazing work. Thanks for sharing and for giving those of us who are just beginning some good screenies to give us something to think about. |
Post by splinters // Sep 21, 2008, 1:12am
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splinters
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I thought the Matrix phone was a Nokia....:rolleyes:
I guess you are using a different phone for reference but I remember the one made famous in the movie was bought by a 'rich' student of mine at the time. He got through about three before giving up. At the push of a button, the mouthpiece used to shoot down from the bottom of the phone...eventually, his kept shooting off completely.
I just wondered why your model did not look like this one...crossed wires eh? Nice modelling either way. |
Post by Breech Block // Sep 21, 2008, 6:21am
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Breech Block
Total Posts: 844
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Amazing work. Thanks for sharing and for giving those of us who are just beginning some good screenies to give us something to think about.
Thanks very much Tahnoak, your comments are greatly appreciated. Doing a detailed project like this is a completely new area for me but believe me when I say that if I can do it then certainly anybody else can. In a way, that's the whole point of this thread. In reality, the time I take arranging and rendering the screen shots and writing/spell checking all the updates could be better spent on completing the model. But, if by all this I manage to inspire just 1 person, to have a bash at something similar, then it will have all been worth while. Who knows, perhaps that person will go on and eventually teach me a trick or two.
I thought the Matrix phone was a Nokia....Nice modelling either way.
Thanks splinters, that means a lot coming from someone who's work I hold in high regard. With regards to the phone, the model I'm attempting to model, bizarrely enough, started life as a 3D model in the all CGI prequel to The Matrix Reloaded, the stunning Final Flight Of The Osaris; made by Squaresoft, the team that made the equally stunning Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. The phone then went on to be made as a prop for the reloaded movie and caused such a storm at the time by Matrix fanboys that Samsung put the phone into limited production. I think they only sold in the USA and Asia as the signal it used was not compatible with Europe. |
Post by Breech Block // Sep 21, 2008, 3:19pm
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Breech Block
Total Posts: 844
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Again, not much to show for an evenings work, but getting the right scale\dimensions to all the angled sections of the earpiece proved a little problomatic. Hopefully will have the earpiece sorted by tomorrow night and then its on to the part I have delibrately been saving to last, the handgrips. As yet I have no idea how I'm going to do them. |
Post by rjeff // Sep 21, 2008, 4:02pm
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rjeff
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well man..that looks dang fine. I have much confidence in you and the hand grips. |
Post by MikeJoel // Sep 21, 2008, 4:06pm
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MikeJoel
Total Posts: 266
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Maybe I am just mis-seeing the model.
Should there be a space between the base/mic and the handle?
15295
It is looking good. Of course I would be thinking booleans :D lol
Mike |
Post by robert // Sep 21, 2008, 4:21pm
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robert
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Yeah, I think you might need to add the gap there.;) |
Post by J90 // Sep 21, 2008, 4:58pm
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J90
Total Posts: 107
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Wow! All I can say is wow!
Great job can't wait to see the final model.
Quick question, How did you get the curvature in the hand grips? |
Post by Breech Block // Sep 21, 2008, 5:01pm
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Breech Block
Total Posts: 844
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Thanks rjeff. I just wish I had your confidence. :D
Maybe I am just mis-seeing the model.
Should there be a space between the base/mic and the handle?
Well spotted Mike. And what you have just observed really threw me when I first started this project. Eventually it dawned on me that somewhere underneath the handgrips, the width of the body changes. If you run a straight line from top to bottom you can see it more clearly. I intend to make the handgrips as separate models and them join to the main body and that will cover the bulge I put in to change the unit's width. Like I said at the start, there have been some very good design elements put into this by Samsung. The only trouble being that they are all really subtle and that's what makes this a real challenge\headache. On the good side, I'm learning a heck of a lot. |
Post by Breech Block // Sep 21, 2008, 5:17pm
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Breech Block
Total Posts: 844
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Wow! All I can say is wow!
Great job can't wait to see the final model.
Quick question, How did you get the curvature in the hand grips?
Sorry J90, we crossed posts there and I missed your question. Nowadays, I do almost all of my modelling by starting with a basic cube, quad dividing it a couple of times and then going into point edit mode and moving bits about following my reference images. The first image I posted on this thread shows you all the basic stages I went through to get the main shape.
Weevil's excellent F4 Phantom walkthrough will give you a clearer understanding of the process. Just click on the link below.
HTH
http://forums1.caligari.com/truespace/showthread.php?t=6439 |
Post by MikeJoel // Sep 21, 2008, 5:36pm
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MikeJoel
Total Posts: 266
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I would have missed that. I looked specifically at that before posting and still thought it was a straight line. Well done. |
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