Iron Man Armor, 3D Maya Model

[Clarx Industries]

Greetings all, was hoping to get some feedback on a low polly (1100+) model I made of the Iron Man helm. It was made with only the use of reference pics. I'm fairly happy with it, I do however have to tweek the back to get a better edge flow.

 

[GiR3892]

Wow that's the best looking model yet , nice work

 

[bboyfresco]

You just raised the bar in terms of the best looking helmet. Are you planning on setting it up for pepakura?

 

[jlhR2]

really nice looking model. Can't wait for someone to unfold it.



~James

 

[Clarx Industries]

really nice looking model. Can't wait for someone to unfold it.



~James

I actually have never used Pepakura, and can't. I'm a Mac user. I do understand the premiss behind it. For that reason I am currently cleaning up the edge loops. I am just a 3D modeler. I am doing this a tad different from a normal model, I am keeping in-mind that this well be flat on paper. I normally do not allow triangles or ngons, but I see how with pepakura it's not always the best to keep it quads.



I do have the back cleaned up, and I'm working to reduce some unnecessary edges in the chin area and clean up any double verts.



I do plan on making the 3D file available once I have it cleaned up.



I found an orthographic view of the armor, front, side and back, so once I get this done, I'll be working on that.

 

[Starx]

You just raised the bar in terms of the best looking helmet. Are you planning on setting it up for pepakura?

Im going to agree with my partner. Gotta say it does look pretty accurate and for a low poly its definitely not bad at all. I think the vent at the

top as far as placement and shape is so far one of the better ones ive seen..I guess that means you have the Starx Industry Seal of approval!

 

[Clarx Industries]

Ok, I think I have it where I want it. The chin area and the back have been cleaned up a bit. its down to 1004 faces from 1170



just some things to keep in mind, the gold part of the bottom chin whs moddeled with the face mask, the attached to the face frame. The reason it has "closed" open edges (the thick lines denoting and open edge) is because I didn't feel like reversing the normals.



the geometry is in two parts, the face frame and the face shield. both individual pieces are one solid set of geometry. as you can see in the last picture there are no interior faces, the other shell you see is also the inner shell.



If there are any ares than need to be cleaned up farther let me know, I will be waiting to start the rest of the armor once I get this helm done 100%.



one area I am shaky on is the under chin area. if anyone has a good picture, can you shoot it my way.

 

[le yo ra]

amazing...

 

[Clarx Industries]

I have started the chest piece, and hope to have it done later tonight, will post picks when I get more done.



Incidently, if anyone has any good orthographic pics of the chest, can you shoot them my way. thanks







UPDATE:



Chest piece is just about done. I just found a really good reference picture of the shoulder area of the chest piece and want to tweek the model to be as acurate as possible. I am just as pleased with the progress as the helm and it too is low poly, only about 791, which is 300 less than the helm.



Here is a sneak peak. (not done yet)

 

[Clarx Industries]

Ok, here is the finnished product for the chest. I had a total remake of the upper half. I found some better pictures and relized I was way off. This is very acurate to the movie armor. If you do spot something wrong, let me know.

 

[mroreo123]

Gotta say, very nice work on both the helm and the chest. When will your models be available for release? I'd love to give unfolding these a try.

 

[Clarx Industries]

Well It has taken me a day for each piece, but they are also the easiest pieces to find reference pieces for. I probably won't be releasing until I get the whole suit done. It is quite and unorthodox way of modeling, I have to break some of the rules as I am trying to make it accurate, but also keep in mind it has to be unfolded. If there are ares you see that don't look like they will unfold, let me know and I can revise. I think the next piece I will do is the waist, then tackle the back.



I'll keep ya all posted.

 

[mroreo123]

Not sure if you had plans to include them already, but I'd recommend adding support struts throughout the pieces to minimize warping when strengthening.



EDIT:

Oh, and for those of us who like to pour smooth cast straight into their peps, I'd also recommend sealing up any holes (top of the crown, eyes, cheeks, chest, etc.). If anyone prefers not to seal them up, they can just simply not pep those bits, but at least there'd be an option.

 

[Arithen]

I actually have never used Pepakura, and can't. I'm a Mac user.

I'm on a mac too and have Pepakura



I use Parallels Desktop to actually work it though.

 

[Clarx Industries]

Shout out of thanks to those who provided reference pictures (THANKS) that being said, I need to make a few small tweaks to the chest piece.... no big changes, more of editing the edge flow to make sure that the prominent lines run the right way. The over all shape and the chest piece will stay exactly the same.



As far as progress, I thought the chest piece would be easy, but I was wrong. The abdomen area is made up of 16 interlocking pieces, I am going to make each of those pieces and fit them together. when its done, it should move just as the real armor would have.



I'll post pics when I have more to show.

 

[Clarx Industries]

Ok, have some update pics of the abdomen, and it turned out great. I made this as individual pices. when you look at it from the front, it look like one sold pice of geometry, but turn it upside down, and you can see it is actualy segmented. once this is made, it can be attached to an undermesh that will allow for movement even though the armor is rigid.



as always I welcome any critiques or comments to help improve.

Closer image showing how the pieces lock together:

 

[le yo ra]

wow....



i'll wait for this to finish and pepped...

 

[Clarx Industries]

Ok guys, so far so good, still hitting one piece a day, Just got done with the back part of the abdomen and also the spine. I also put all the pieces I have done so far together so you can see how it is all shaping up.





Thank you all for the well wishes and the praise. It's nice to hear, but please don't be shy in pointing out ares you think should be redone. I'm going for accuracy here. Even if you know nothing about 3D modeling, you can still know what looks right and what doesn't.



here are the pics.

 

[CPU64]

Vertice arrangement looks a bit messy towards the jaw area. But looks really good.

 

[Clarx Industries]

Vertice arrangement looks a bit messy towards the jaw area. But looks really good.

Yes I agree. Now I have to ask (as one that has never used pepakura) I ran the edges that way in the jaw so I could get the middle edge loop that runs up and down to follow a real crease in the actual helmet. Would it be better to rearrange the edges for proper edge flow, or to keep the edges where real world detail is?



I'm curious if it would be easier to cut the detail into bondo or clay vs having the actual edge available to follow on the pep?



?????