GRAVITY SKETCH VR | VR RIG
MODEL AN ARACHNID MECH IN VR
Glen Southern demonstrates how to create a detailed robot concept in Gravity Sketch
AUTHOR
Glen Southern
Glen runs SouthernGFX, a small Cheshire- based studio specialising in character and creature design. He has been contributing to 3D World for over 20 years. southerngfx.co.uk
I often use VR to rough out designs for a new project. The sketching tools make it very easy to block out my ideas in 3D and then build over the top of those strokes in another layer. It is a very effective way to plan out a design, but with Gravity Sketch I can take it one stage further. I not only sketch the design and block it out for overall shape, but I can add surfaces and more recently polygons with full-on subdivision surfaces. These models can be exported as an FBX and I can use that geometry in other programs, either for rendering or in some cases for the actual animation. In this tutorial and accompanying video I will work through a session to make a robot with a complex-looking design and use that in Cinema 4D with Redshift to get some very striking renders. I will show you how to sketch out the robot’s overall shape, and how to then block it out to make sure that the volumes and silhouette read well as we rotate the model. I always break the model down with separate materials as these sets can then be used in Cinema 4D to quickly isolate parts of the model and then assign the correct materials and maps.
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Arachnoloader from Model an arachnid mech angle looking ready to strike!
01 FREEFORM SKETCHING
We won’t use any references for this design as it is sometimes a good idea just to play with shapes and ideas and see what emerges. I had an idea to create a robot that is like a centaur but essentially the body plan of a spider. To begin with I just use the ink or stroke tool and start with symmetry switched on in the main panel so I can work on both sides of the model at once.
02 STAGE FLOOR
When you are designing a creature or something that has to function in the real world it is useful to have a ground plane with the model so you can line the feet up exactly with the floor. Also you can see if you are getting the centre of balance correct as you work. In Gravity Sketch it is called a ‘stage floor’ and is accessed from the main menu. You can have either a rectangular stage or a round one and it will scale up to suit the size of your model. We often turn it off once we have established the feet position.