The Front is Almost Done

I'm almost done with the exterior modeling on the spider tank. I need to add lift hooks and some grab handles, as well as some other little stuff. The back needs more work, but the layout of the top and sides dictates where I'll put the exhaust and the rear stowage, so there isn't a whole lot to decide.

I have some different experiments I want to do with texturing and animation, but it may be awhile before I have anything interesting to show on that front.

I'll probably do some paintings next.

Hatches, in closed and open states. A full interior is planned. Inner hatch details are still in progress.

More Progress on the Spider Tank Model

There's still a lot to do, but I've made some progress on the model:

Earlier, I tried messing around with some Mental Ray materials. Interesting, but further refinement could go a long ways:

I should have more updates soon.

Object C

New vehicle concept, just for fun:

The war ended, the tide rolled back. Left behind were countless tragedies, and not a few mysteries.

The First Lord referred to *this* mystery as 'A jester to the Court of Mars' in a letter to his son, and most of the high command referred to it as Object C, when they referred to it at all. It was found in the desert, at some sort of research facility. The documentation was never good, and both the war and the circumstances of this discovery clouded things further. It had started life as a heavy cargo tractor of the sort converted to artillery duty in large numbers some years ago, but had been fitted with a novel weapon system. The nature of this system has been a source of discreet research and speculation since the end of the conflict, but to no productive end.

It would seem to fire some sort of liquid, though a plasma based system had been theorized at first. Tantalizingly incomplete, a number of design features and a novel use of materials suggested that it was based on some sort of rediscovered Founder technology, though this was impossible to prove. Indeed, when the base was searched for documentation, not only was none found but it was discovered to be not just deserted but devoid of all life (down to the bacterial level) and bereft of all organic matter. A lengthy investigation yielded nothing, but was the subject on intense speculation by all involved. Evidence of anything from an as of yet unclassified apex predator to interdimensional travel was rumored, but never materialized.

Currently Object C is in storage at Base South, awaiting restoration.

3D Spider Tank

For starters, I'm sorry this blog has gone more than a year without updating. Infant mortality among blogs is pretty high, but I'm still here and I want to develop this venue more as a place to share works in progress, tutorials, and tangentially related material. I'll be revamping www.doscher-design.com shortly and be using that space to display completed work.  It'll also show up here, of course.  My page at mikedoscher.devianart.com is my most current portfolio, but that green background gives me a headache.

Anyways, some time back I did a painting of an 8x8 armored car that was exploring the 'spider tank' cliche from the direction of superficial realism:

The vehicle backstory is this: An aging APC chassis converted into a rocket artillery unit. The batteries lower and are reloaded hydraulically from a magazine between the tube bays. Normally, the gun would be traversed to the rear when firing rockets to prevent damage to the barrel and muzzle brake. In this case, the commander has left the gun deployed to be able to more quickly engage infantry or light armor. This is the sign of either a highly experienced or dangerously inexperienced crew.

The painting was well-received and I found myself wanting to 3D version of it for some time, especially to explore the layout and action of the drivetrain and suspension.

This is just what I've got so far, though it's going pretty quickly. Most of what I've done lately has been for work, and not the sort of thing I can share because of my NDA.