Pheonix Dawn Plate Armour: China!

[Belemrys]

That is beautiful!

[Zetheros]

@Browin: Nope! There's plenty of shaping that still needs to be done.

@Belemrys: Thanks!

[Zetheros]

Guess what guys...

I'm going back to China! Arrrrrrrghhhhh the pollution and heavy metals x_x

I'll be growing an organic vegetable greenhouse on my dad's apartment roof though, hopefully. And of course, I will be shipping Phoenix Dawn back with me for the finishing touches, and will be forging my bidenhander there as well. There won't be any updates for maybe a few days while I get ready...

I'll be leaving on the 14th. There will be updates after a few days when I arrive on a much more frequent basis on par with Ocean's Wrath until my suit of armour is complete, although it will probably wane a bit once I get a job as a translator or english teacher.

[Zetheros]

I haven't had time to armour because of all this red tape everywhere, but I do have a few minutes to post images of what I sort of want in a sword, and I found an awesome thread on bidenhanders; http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/showthread.php?t=10095

Post #25 is really inspiring the initial designs of my sword...

[Zetheros]

The photos that are really shaping my initial designs... I want to design a bidenhander that emphasizes incredible velocity, brutal efficiency, and terrifying beauty in the most hostile environments and situations.

Blade, thin, precisely forged and ground, flexible, something that'll poke yer eye out, kid! ...Although the flame-bladed runs a close second. But I just love the look of thin blades. They just look like I can swing them faster, and if they're well made, I'm sure they're quite devastating. The blade will be unsharpened except for the tip. There's really no need for sharp edges, as a blow from one of these swords on an unarmoured, or lightly armoured target is more than enough to crush skulls and snap arms in half, lol.



Cross guard, simple yet elegant chisel-ends with hardened tips, and will be as wide as my shoulders for extra thwacking with the perfect curvature and angle for knocking foes off horses or punching holes in cuirasses. The area where it connects to the handle of the sword will gently slope into a very light curve that follows the average diameter curve of a swing, so that the point strikes head on, delivering the full weight and force of the sword and blow.

The straight cross guards look really nice too, but I want something more optimized for swings, and a lightly curved crossguard is more in style of Phoenix Dawn. I haven't seen many straight cross guards that end in chisel ends.

The crossguards that end in floral designs just don't make any sense to me, haha. The tips look like they'd get mangled in just a few days of brutal warfare.



Detail matching the rest of the armour; 15th/16th with a splash of fantasy. The blade will also be acid etched down the fuller.



I haven't decided what the pommel will look like yet. Probably something that's in the same style as everything else, and relatively simple, although I could go crazy creative on it too, just as long as it does what it was meant to do. I remember seeing weight and sizing info for each part of a bidenhander somewhere on the webz...


I'm going to be really busy for the first half of next week, but I'll probably have two or three weeks later in which I can finish up the rest of my helmet!

[Zetheros]

So I don't have time to finish my helmet before leaving to China (have to clean up my workshop, etc), but I'll be continuing Phoenix Dawn in China soon, after Feb. 16th!

See you all then.

おかあさんの唄 - アン・サリー

[Zetheros]

Hey all,

Not armour, but I wanted to share some practice models in modo, a new software I've been tinkering with.

Some designs for 3d printing:

A walled fortress / trade center on a pedestal.



A cipher tube-thing! (based off of a Labyrinth Gift Box

[Ckanite]

It looks like you have a pretty good handle on that mini-fort. As to the tube, I like the fourth iteration the best. Jest seems to catch my eye. Now a few suggestions, if you will be 3-D printing this, why not make this tube something crazy? Like a real cipher that has to be spun and toyed with to unlock it? Now the city, you'll be able to answer this much better than I can guess at it but What is the purpose of it? What is the central theme? Is it a war city? How often is it under threat? Is it it's own capitol in a city-state or is it just a pawn in a vast empire?

[Zetheros]

Thanks Ckanite! The four tubes you see are actually only two tubes; just shown front and back. I also might not have time to print it actually, since I'm visiting my mom before I leave for china, so it was just a quick object I threw together =/

The town was really just for practice to see how fast I could make something using default tools in modo, and I thought that it would print well too. My older brother and I are actually making a game, and I'm in charge of the 3d models, environment, characters, monsters, lighting, animation, and artwork. This game will also be the first to feature anatomically correct armour, hah.

[Zetheros]

I've been settling in for the past few days. The internet here is pretty slow, but I've managed to upload some pictures!

I'll be setting up my armour workshop again, but it'll take some time, because I'm still setting up my internet proxies, settling in, meeting relatives, and also because they moved my stuff to a different room.

http://imgur.com/013rqDO
http://imgur.com/xW0Eibz
http://imgur.com/lpa8eDD
http://imgur.com/FlPK0gx
http://imgur.com/0uuInz8
http://imgur.com/ZpoJtZ6
http://imgur.com/I5klnsX
http://imgur.com/vfCI4Ad
http://i.imgur.com/dbvjyGV
http://imgur.com/DC3rfVt
http://imgur.com/5kgwa5u
http://imgur.com/bMdkANi
http://imgur.com/ErxwkGC
http://imgur.com/TdKKmxg
http://imgur.com/EVFRNVD
http://imgur.com/BOocZQb
http://imgur.com/MlMG0xc
http://imgur.com/L2crbAV
http://imgur.com/TdJTdUr
http://imgur.com/0w8pBIg
http://imgur.com/fbiIaK0
http://imgur.com/Ka928BZ
http://imgur.com/xxrtNc2
http://imgur.com/hKusdDC
http://imgur.com/nT3wTSJ
http://imgur.com/3opxJ6U

I went to a place to buy plants and pets (from goldfish to endangered species), but it was a pretty hellish place; nothing makes you lose faith in humanity faster than seeing half a dozen fully-grown labradors, german shepards, and golden retrievers in filthy glass and steel cages that are barely large enough for them, not to mention a labrador puppy slowly going insane inside an even smaller glass cage. (They didn't allow pictures). However, I did see a cop come in and bust a guy for owning a large blue parrot.

In a few of the photos, you'll see some of my relatives. I have a younger half-brother and half sister, and my dad is the bald guy

I've filled my room with plants, and have noticed an increase in air quality, and will probably add a fountain too. Tomorrow I'll be getting 95+ PP ventilation masks.

I made a few friends here, and will be going to a university next week to show off a few pieces of my armour, and to take more pictures.

Hope you're all doing well!

[Ckanite]

Well done Zeth! I like the idea of filling your room with plants. Might be something I should do at some point. Also I agree with the pet store. There is a good reason that they won't let you take pics, but that is a discussion for another time and place. If at all possible, have someone film your presentation at the university. I'd very much like to see it, even if I can't understand a word I'm very glad that everything's going well for you man! Hope to hear from you soon!

[Lucian Ro]

Zeth you lead a very, very interesting life.

[Halberds]

Thanks for the updates.
Best of luck on your quest little grasshopper.

Hal

[Ckanite]

Well this is a blast from the past! How goes things on your side of the world?

[Zetheros]

Hey everyone, I haven't posted in awhile, but that's because I was saving up for a worthy update!

There wasn't really a presentation at the Uni, I just met with a friend of my dad's and he gave me a tour of the place. I got a lot of stares since I was carrying my helmet the entire time though, haha.

In the past month, I've set up my website (http://zetheros.com/), am making a 3d model of my new !!! (I am starting over again for many reasons) suit of armour, and am also busy on another project; designing, modeling, rigging, animating, hand-paint texturing, and creating descriptions, lore, personalities, behaviors, diets and cultures of 100 monsters/animals, 25-30 kinds of vegetation, and about 25+ main characters for a game my older brother and I are making. There's a lot to do!

I'm mostly working on CG work now, but I'm also getting my workshop set up in my free time. I'll be making plaster casts of my head and the rest of my body, and will actually be getting all of my prep-work done, my armouring tools shipped, and checking in on Mac's priceless thread (one of the reasons why I'm starting on a new suit), so I don't waste time on any more beginner mistakes or cut 12ga. sheet metal using a screw drill and a chisel.

However, all of this will probably take a few months, and CG work takes priority over this final attempt at a suit of armour.

As for my next suit of armour, the 3d models of the initial draft of the helmet is at: http://zetheros.com/?page_id=32. I'm thinking of using 1050, or higher-end carbon steel for this suit, and invent elaborate combination weapons to go with, an example: http://www.myarmoury.com/feature_spot_combo.php The next suit will also be designed for actual combat.

[Ckanite]

Zeth, there is no such thing as a final attempt. It's just the next big new project. And you will make mistakes on it and you will learn and you will be 100000000 times more critical of yourself than anyone else will.

[Zetheros]

I know, it's a vicious cycle

The more one learns, the more inept one becomes.

[Thaddeus]

Zeth you lead a very, very interesting life.

Qft...
Also waiting for the next chapter with great enthusiasm.

[Zetheros]

Okay, well I don't have a digital drawing (still need a pen) but I have the general idea roughed out; basically full plate that's still a WIP, larger defenses on the right arm (since I'm left-handed, my left arm will be positioned behind my right with my new weapon idea...). The new weapon is a modified 9ft/2.7m spetum, the blade will be 1/3 of the entire length. In the center of the three blades, and surrounded by a circular blade, is a flaming kevlar wick, soaked with a special flammable mixture that uses kerosene as a base. On contact, the spetum will explode with smoke, and rain burning hellfire!

There will also be a manual kerosene compressor and tank built into the pommel, and a steel nozzle on either side of the main blade that can theoretically spray short-ranged puffs of fire into the visors of the unlucky. Soo yeah, I had 'fighting armoured opponents' in mind when I designed this.

Polearm-type weapons = overpowered
Armour-piercing spikes = overpowered
Sword on a stick = overpowered
Swinging a massive, flaming weapon = psychological warfare = overpowered

It all checks out!

Here's the initial design, I'll probably add it as a game item as well. Multi-tasking at it's finest!

http://zetheros.com/?attachment_id=342

[Smilingotter]

Anyone heard from Zetheros? He hasn't been around here since April...

[Ckanite]

No. Not that I can think of. I wonder how he is doing and how his armour is coming...

[Zetheros]

Heeeeey all!!! Sorry for dropping off the planet, there just unfortunately hasn't been any armouring yet, although the good news is that my tools will be shipped in about a week, so it seems like I'll be setting up my workshop in another month or two, since my dad's always really busy... if I had transport and knew a little more Chinese, I could setup my workshop in a week or less. Just need to get another pipe, some sheet steel, and my armouring tools, and I'll be ready.

In the time that I was gone, I actually made a lot of progress in 3d modeling, rigging and animation, and I've also made a plaster cast of my head. I'm also going to Malaysia to visit my brother in a few months and collaborate on making an isometric diablo 3 'clone' (but not a clone, since it will be so much more awesome, with realistic armour, weapons, with limbs bursting in air and blood flying everywhere midst the brutal melee and spell animations)

Here is an album of a 'nighttime shopping street' in China, the food was amazzinnggggg. http://imgur.com/a/VxC9w

I also caught three giant snails, I think they're Achatina Fulica snails. They're pretty adorable. I should make some plate armour for their shells sometime. They enjoy meditating on a plaster ball for calcium. Oh, also the plaster cast of my head is in this album. http://imgur.com/a/BTUKc

And finally, some of the 3d models I've been working on. The programs I use are mostly zbrush and modo, and I'm also learning 3ds max and maya. I use zbrush for extremely detailed models and concepting, and modo for retopologizing, hard surface modeling, low-poly modeling, UV mapping, rigging and animating.

Album here (sorry for the terrible resolution, my upload speed is...like zero, but I'll experiment with this): http://imgur.com/a/DjeFi

I'm bringing a homemade cake to my grandma's house in a bit, so I'll have more photos of my adventure in China!

Also, just remembered something; when I was still living in CA, a friend I made back in the studio I worked in at Berkeley said something I thought was hilarious, when I was showing off part of my vambrace and gauntlets.

"You have a chink in your armour!"

Anyway, hope you're all doing well!

[Smilingotter]

Glad to hear from you - we've been missing your armour updates...

[Ckanite]

That's something to laugh at! I'd like to second what Smilingotter said, glad to know that you're still ticken'! As to the last or second to last armour in the last set of your photos, I don't think that crotch armour would be very kind to the wearer, unless I'm missing something in the articulation

[Zetheros]

Oh, that flat part of mesh, that's not suppose to be there It's how I sculpt in Zbrush, I start with a cube or a sphere, then cut it down into a rough shape, then refine it. It's a lot like working with clay, so the armour pieces are really just blobs of mesh. The next step would be to turn these blobs into 'shells' or armour with interior and exterior and accurate thickness, and to do that, Zbrush has a extrude function that produces a near perfect extruded shell-like mesh with sharp edges and excellent topology for additional work.

I'll probably do that next, then import it all into modo and retoplogize it, which will lower the polygon count, making it suitable for a game character.

[Zetheros]

Wow am I tired! I just got back from my grandma's house, it's 7:24am at the moment. So my grandma's (mother's side) house is pretty dirty. I'd actually say it's about one or two steps above a meth house, which is why I don't usually enjoy visiting, and would rather stay at my dad's house, working on 3d skillz in a clean, organized room with AC, plants, and a fat toad staring at my back from under a fern. However, they're also really kind people, and they're family, so I visit them every now and then.

Anyway, the house is diiiirty, and since it's been raining for the past few days in Nanning, it's also humid, and because it's in the tropics, it's just warm enough to make you break sweat. I'm sitting in the TV room, watching TV, since I don't want to get out my laptop and have it get ruined by my little cousin, who's a violent little bugger.

After an hour or so, we have dinner, which is, as usual, really, really tasty chinese food. It's basically a guarantee that food here tastes great, but I'm just completely distracted by how disgusting the house is. After dinner, I just had enough; I went and spent the next 5 hours doing the most horrifying clean-up crusade of my life. All the while I'm chanting in my head, "I am Zetheros, herald of light and shadow... executor of creation and destruction. The great balancer. You know, nerdy stuff like that, to get me though this trying time.

So I scrubbed the plaster walls white, moved all of the furniture, swept and mopped the floors, cleaned off surfaces, and the worst part, moved a water dispenser and was swarmed with a cockroach up my leg, and a few moments later, a giant black 4 inch long centipede. If you've never been jumped by really fast, potentially dangerous insects before, consider yourself lucky. The centipede took about 3 heavy stomps, and was still wriggling quite quickly at the end, even though it was paper thin. I mean, how is that even possible?? I stomped hard, like a tauren in WoW, and even twisted. It should have been disintegrated, even taking post-mortem nerve/muscle spasms common in insects, into account.

I went to sleep at 2:00am, to the gentle sounds of skittering cockroaches and what sounded like rats fighting somewhere. At 4:00am, I woke up and noticed about 6-7 dark blots on the bed's headboard. I moved, they moved.

So yeah, I didn't want to get assassinated by vengeful cockroaches that wanted to suicide bomb my mouth when I was snoozing away, so I walked the 2.5 miles back home, at 4:20am. On the plus side, I had a great morning exercise, saw old, shirtless chinese gramps jogging with small mobile radios strapped to their belts, nearly slipped on a rotting rat carcass, saw more bats than there are in Transylvania, and even found some really tasty, crisp, super fresh cucumbers on the side of a mud road. It looked like someone just dumped them into the bushes, for whatever reason. But yeah; best cucumbers ever. Perfect snack after my trek through the night.

Anyway, I'm really tired, and I'm going to sleep. Oh yeah, did you guys know that beds here have these really nice bamboo mattresses? It looks a little like lamellar armour. I also have a pillow made with small rounded rectangles of bamboo suspended on elastic bands. I'll take a picture when I wake up.

[Lucian Ro]

Excellent summary of events, Z.

[Ckanite]

Sounds like ~fun~

[Zetheros]

What a nice 5 day nap

Anyway, here are the pictures: http://imgur.com/a/Fhau5
I also walked home like a hobbit. Give it a go sometime! Barefoot is more comfortable than walking long distances in flip flops... just so long as your feet don't slide or drag. That leads to blisters.

And by golly, finally something armour-related... http://imgur.com/a/rrcxm

There's probably going to be a few more versions of the helmet though. The design just isn't quite right yet...

Ordinary Average Guy - Joe Walsh

[Zetheros]

Still have nightmares about that centipede that jumped me. This is what it was like when I lifted my foot (skip to 20 seconds) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSTL3AidX4o

[Zetheros]

Made the cloth collar 'make sense'; in that it isn't just a piece of cloth floating around his neck. Now the cloth wraps around the shoulder and back like a mantle of sorts. I also think the border of cloth defining the pauldrons from the cuirass looks snazzy, and might make the suit of armour quieter, by not having the pauldrons bounce and slide against the cuirass.

http://imgur.com/a/CJsT5

[Zetheros]

Another helmet concept!

All Time High - Rita Coolidge

[Zetheros]

Working on a walk cycle! Check it out!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcdOWFN ... e=youtu.be

[Zetheros]

My tools are on their way to China! Looks like I might get started sooner than I thought. I'll be working on improving the design of my armour, and will probably have a few designs by the end of the day.

I've made a new thread for this next suit, check it out here!

[dartaghan]

update!