Some Technical Questions about Gundams and MS

[Gundam Zero Force]

Hi everyone, recently I have started to have a lot of technical questions floating in my head about Gundams and MS and I thought some of you here could help me out. I am in the process of making a bunch of Custom 3D Model Gundams and MS and I want to make then as true and realsitic to the Gundam Series as possible. In order to do that It would be really helpful to make sure I don't break any "rules" like making them too powerful or making them move in a unrealistic way. So feel free to answer all or any of the questions you know, I greatly appreciate the info you provide

1 - Head and Waist movement: How far can the head and waist move from side to side?? Is there a degree limit or can the head rotate 360 degrees? I have watched quite a few Gundam series and rarely to the heads mover a lot so I was wondering is the head limited to rotating. Furthermore, how much can the waist/chest move around? I know it is rare to see it move but does it depend on how the MS is built or is there a standard limit?

2- Eyes and Lens' color: You know the eyes and the lens peices/cameras that are located on the chest, feet, or shoulders. Do those have to be green or can they be any color I choose? I was wondering why Green was so commonly used and why blue, or red or somwthing was not seen as often. I know in "mobile Suit Gundam" the Gundams eyes were yellow but after that it seems that Green was always used. I wanted to make one with Blue eyes and lens' is that applicable or do the eyes have to be green for a certian reason?

3- Jets/Thrusters: Can these be placed just about anywhere?? I've seen then inside the shoulders, on the back and the legs but could I install some small ones on the arms or possibly even weapons like a huge gun? I always thought it would be cool to place some on the arms becasue then in space it would allow even more manauverabillity like how a swimmer uses their arms to thrust themselves forward in the water.

4- Thruster and Weight Ratio: If a Gundam is really Heavy and it has a lot of thrusters (and also assuming NO thrusters are damaged either) can that Gundam out speed a lighter Gundam that has less thrusters or is the heavier Gundam always going to be slower??

5- Detachable wings?? Is it possible to make a Gundam/MS that has wings that can come off and then later be assemble back on?? Kind of like how you plug a cord into the wall it connects power and until detached the power will contime through the cord into the wall. So could I make a Gundam with wings that absord light from the sun and then the Gundam can transfer the endergy into a laser beam??

6- Absorbing sheilds: I always wanted to make a Gundam that has a sheild that can absord energy from a laser beam and then transfer the energy from the sheild into the Gundam and then use that energy to create a powerful laser beam. Assuming the Gundam has a sufficent amount of space to store the potential energy is this device within reason?? This would be in the future of couse so new technology would be developed so could this work> I always thought it would be neat to have it.

7- How powerful is too powerful?? This question varies depending in the time period but I am talking about the future sort of. How powerful could I make a Gundam before it just gets stupid and become unrealistic. I have no intention to make some all powerful Gundam that can never lose, but kind of like how Wing Zero was very powerful but had its issues. How many weapons can it have equipped or is there a limit.

If I think of anything else I'll add-on but I think this is fine for now lol . . . .


I really appreciate anyone who takes the time to read this. I respect you all and I know a lot of you here know more about Gundams than I ever will so you have my thanks and graditude

[monster]

Originally Posted by Gundam Zero Force

4- Thruster and Weight Ratio: If a Gundam is really Heavy and it has a lot of thrusters (and also assuming NO thrusters are damaged either) can that Gundam out speed a lighter Gundam that has less thrusters or is the heavier Gundam always going to be slower??

I don't know about the limitations to having higher top speed, but acceleration is just force divided by mass. So if the thrusters of the heavier gundam are positioned correctly and can give enough force to offset the mass (enough to give it a higher force/mass ratio than that of the lighter gundam), then the heavier gundam should be able to accelerate faster than the lighter gundam (provided there's no other factor affecting it).

[Zenemis]

Accelerate faster, yeah, but it's gonna be *alot* less agile.

[Gundam Zero Force]

Originally Posted by monstert

I don't know about the limitations to having higher top speed, but acceleration is just force divided by mass. So if the thrusters of the heavier gundam are positioned correctly and can give enough force to offset the mass (enough to give it a higher force/mass ratio than that of the lighter gundam), then the heavier gundam should be able to accelerate faster than the lighter gundam (provided there's no other factor affecting it).

Ok Cool, I guess It also depends on the output the thrusters have and how heavy the thruster itself is. Becasue with each new thruster added it puts more weight onto the total ,mass of the Gundam. I'll keep that in mind. Thanks

[Gundam Zero Force]

Originally Posted by Zenemis

Accelerate faster, yeah, but it's gonna be *alot* less agile.

that is very true, I never thought of that. also it may take longer to slow down too. So maybe the lighter Gundam would still have the greater advantage of speed than the heavier becasue it is more agile. Personally I would rather pilot a light Gundam than a heavy one . . .

[4Tran]

Originally Posted by Gundam Zero Force

1 - Head and Waist movement: How far can the head and waist move from side to side?? Is there a degree limit or can the head rotate 360 degrees? I have watched quite a few Gundam series and rarely to the heads mover a lot so I was wondering is the head limited to rotating. Furthermore, how much can the waist/chest move around? I know it is rare to see it move but does it depend on how the MS is built or is there a standard limit?

I'm not sure if there's any standard limit per se, but most mobile suits seem to be able to rotate their heads and waists 60-90ﾟ in either direction. I don't believe that any true limit has ever been established.

Originally Posted by Gundam Zero Force

2- Eyes and Lens' color: You know the eyes and the lens peices/cameras that are located on the chest, feet, or shoulders. Do those have to be green or can they be any color I choose? I was wondering why Green was so commonly used and why blue, or red or somwthing was not seen as often. I know in "mobile Suit Gundam" the Gundams eyes were yellow but after that it seems that Green was always used. I wanted to make one with Blue eyes and lens' is that applicable or do the eyes have to be green for a certian reason?

The eyes don't constitute all of the cameras a mobile suit has. This is especially true with UC mobile suits since they have panoramic monitors. The color of the eyes are purely an aesthetic choice.

Originally Posted by Gundam Zero Force

3- Jets/Thrusters: Can these be placed just about anywhere?? I've seen then inside the shoulders, on the back and the legs but could I install some small ones on the arms or possibly even weapons like a huge gun? I always thought it would be cool to place some on the arms becasue then in space it would allow even more manauverabillity like how a swimmer uses their arms to thrust themselves forward in the water.

They can be placed just about anywhere, but since the amount of thrust is the most important point, their exact placement doesn't make that much difference unless the machine is capable of very little acceleration.

Originally Posted by Gundam Zero Force

4- Thruster and Weight Ratio: If a Gundam is really Heavy and it has a lot of thrusters (and also assuming NO thrusters are damaged either) can that Gundam out speed a lighter Gundam that has less thrusters or is the heavier Gundam always going to be slower??

Absolutely. Note that "Accelerate faster, yeah, but it's gonna be *alot* less agile" isn't entirely accurate. The agility of spacecraft is almost entirely dependent on its thrust-to-mass ratio, so the actual mass of the Gundam is unimportant compared to its acceleration. Mass is only important if two machines have similar amounts of thrust.

In flight, the situation is a little different since agility is mostly dictated by wing-loading and aerodynamics. But mobile suits have dinky wings and nonexistent aerodynamics performance, it's likely that the thrust-to-mass ratio is still the dominant factor.

Originally Posted by Gundam Zero Force

5- Detachable wings?? Is it possible to make a Gundam/MS that has wings that can come off and then later be assemble back on?? Kind of like how you plug a cord into the wall it connects power and until detached the power will contime through the cord into the wall. So could I make a Gundam with wings that absord light from the sun and then the Gundam can transfer the endergy into a laser beam??

I'm not sure why you'd want to do that, but Infinite Justice already can do something similar with its subflight lifter.

Originally Posted by Gundam Zero Force

6- Absorbing sheilds: I always wanted to make a Gundam that has a sheild that can absord energy from a laser beam and then transfer the energy from the sheild into the Gundam and then use that energy to create a powerful laser beam. Assuming the Gundam has a sufficent amount of space to store the potential energy is this device within reason?? This would be in the future of couse so new technology would be developed so could this work> I always thought it would be neat to have it.

This isn't really a practical technology. In order to absorb the energy from an enemy attack, you'd have to have capacitors that can be charged and discharged extremely quickly. If such a technology were available, it'd make more sense to charge it before combat and just use it like a standard weapon, and to put the rest into some sort of energy barrier for the Gundam. Note that Gundam X is fairly similar to what you're proposing (and no, it's not a horribly realistic technology).

Originally Posted by Gundam Zero Force

7- How powerful is too powerful?? This question varies depending in the time period but I am talking about the future sort of. How powerful could I make a Gundam before it just gets stupid and become unrealistic. I have no intention to make some all powerful Gundam that can never lose, but kind of like how Wing Zero was very powerful but had its issues. How many weapons can it have equipped or is there a limit.

It depends on what you're trying to portray. If you want to truly treat Gundams like any other war machine, then the approach taken with (non super-) Valkyries in the original Macross would work the best. On the other hand, if you want the Gundams to be "hero" units that can single-handedly change the course of a war, then the sky's the limit. Obviously, the former is much more realistic than the latter, but there's a wide range of options in between. Personally, I don't think that Gundams should be significantly more powerful than line units, but anything between the two extremes are feasible.

Originally Posted by monstert

I don't know about the limitations to having higher top speed, but acceleration is just force divided by mass. So if the thrusters of the heavier gundam are positioned correctly and can give enough force to offset the mass (enough to give it a higher force/mass ratio than that of the lighter gundam), then the heavier gundam should be able to accelerate faster than the lighter gundam (provided there's no other factor affecting it).

In space, there's no such thing as top speed unless you're talking about relativistic velocities. In the atmosphere, it's largely a question of aerodynamics.

Originally Posted by Gundam Zero Force

that is very true, I never thought of that. also it may take longer to slow down too. So maybe the lighter Gundam would still have the greater advantage of speed than the heavier becasue it is more agile. Personally I would rather pilot a light Gundam than a heavy one . . .

If both machines have the same dimensions and acceleration, go with the heavier one. It'll mean that you can mount more armor, ammunition, equipment and can handle larger weapons.

All things being equal, a more massive war machine will generally outperform a less massive one, while a smaller machine volume-wise is better than a larger one.

[Zenemis]

Yesh, but it's not as great to make into a toy.

[Gundam Zero Force]

I'm not sure if there's any standard limit per se, but most mobile suits seem to be able to rotate their heads and waists 60-90ﾟ in either direction. I don't believe that any true limit has ever been established.

Ok cool, this is good to know. I have been of course looking at a lot of reference on head movment and such and I saw in one image of Strike Gundam the weapon was pointed at you but the head was only at 30 degree turn. It mainly is important becasue the most recent Gundam I made the head can only turn from right to left about 30 becasue it has some chest vulcans attached to the shoulders.

The eyes don't constitute all of the cameras a mobile suit has. This is especially true with UC mobile suits since they have panoramic monitors. The color of the eyes are purely an aesthetic choice.

oh yes I know all about the sensors and monitors. I've played Zeonic front and that Movile suit game was all about not being detected and using sensors and monitors from your mobile suit to attack. But anyways, That is nice to know I can make the eyes any color I want. It fits well with some color schemes I have in mind.

They can be placed just about anywhere, but since the amount of thrust is the most important point, their exact placement doesn't make that much difference unless the machine is capable of very little acceleration.

That is good to know.

In flight, the situation is a little different since agility is mostly dictated by wing-loading and aerodynamics. But mobile suits have dinky wings and nonexistent aerodynamics performance, it's likely that the thrust-to-mass ratio is still the dominant factor.

That makes sense. So I guess depending on the situation having a heavy Mobile suit won't always be bad.

I'm not sure why you'd want to do that, but Infinite Justice already can do something similar with its subflight lifter.

Oh the main reason for detachable wings would be less weight. Mainly if the thrusters on the wings broke the wings would just be dead weight so detaching them would help. Especially if they were so badly damaged they actually slowed down the Gundam becasue their aerodynamics were messed up (like it had a huge chunk missing or something) But anyways it was just an idea . . .

This isn't really a practical technology. In order to absorb the energy from an enemy attack, you'd have to have capacitors that can be charged and discharged extremely quickly. If such a technology were available, it'd make more sense to charge it before combat and just use it like a standard weapon, and to put the rest into some sort of energy barrier for the Gundam. Note that Gundam X is fairly similar to what you're proposing (and no, it's not a horribly realistic technology).

I had a feeling a technolocial device like this probrably would be too expensive/immpossible to make. So depending on the metel a Gundam is made out of can laser blasts be deflected or after time will the sheild just slowly fall apart? I haven't seen Seed or Seed Destiny yet and I have a feeling that Series would answer my question about the sheilds and lasers hitting them . . . .

It depends on what you're trying to portray. If you want to truly treat Gundams like any other war machine, then the approach taken with (non super-) Valkyries in the original Macross would work the best. On the other hand, if you want the Gundams to be "hero" units that can single-handedly change the course of a war, then the sky's the limit. Obviously, the former is much more realistic than the latter, but there's a wide range of options in between. Personally, I don't think that Gundams should be significantly more powerful than line units, but anything between the two extremes are feasible.

Yeah I don't want to make any Gundam the all powerful unstoppable force. I'd rather make one that is strong but it has a very valid weak point on it. Since I am making my own custom Gundams that take place in a future timeline I am taking some liberties to of course make all the ms and Gundams more powerful. In the end though, since all of them are more powerful it balances out again. Kinda of like how Horses used to be a rider's "tank" in battle and now we have actual Tanks. I know it is a bad comparison but yeah lol

Thanks for taking the time to answer all of that

[shaolo]

Originally Posted by Gundam Zero Force

2- Eyes and Lens' color: You know the eyes and the lens peices/cameras that are located on the chest, feet, or shoulders. Do those have to be green or can they be any color I choose? I was wondering why Green was so commonly used and why blue, or red or somwthing was not seen as often. I know in "mobile Suit Gundam" the Gundams eyes were yellow but after that it seems that Green was always used. I wanted to make one with Blue eyes and lens' is that applicable or do the eyes have to be green for a certian reason?

Keep the Eyes and Lens' color the same. It looks better that way.

Originally Posted by Gundam Zero Force

5- Detachable wings?? Is it possible to make a Gundam/MS that has wings that can come off and then later be assemble back on?? Kind of like how you plug a cord into the wall it connects power and until detached the power will contime through the cord into the wall. So could I make a Gundam with wings that absord light from the sun and then the Gundam can transfer the endergy into a laser beam??

Well if the detachable wings gets damage and unable to function properly then detach the wings. Better yet, have the pilot throw the wings at the enermy. They would't expect it.

Originally Posted by Gundam Zero Force

6- Absorbing sheilds: I always wanted to make a Gundam that has a sheild that can absord energy from a laser beam and then transfer the energy from the sheild into the Gundam and then use that energy to create a powerful laser beam. Assuming the Gundam has a sufficent amount of space to store the potential energy is this device within reason?? This would be in the future of couse so new technology would be developed so could this work> I always thought it would be neat to have it.

Well to make it easier on the suit, have the sheild and beam weapon be one device. Make it easy to transfer energy from the sheild to the beam weapon. Just make sure that the sheild can handle it.

Originally Posted by Gundam Zero Force

7- How powerful is too powerful?? This question varies depending in the time period but I am talking about the future sort of. How powerful could I make a Gundam before it just gets stupid and become unrealistic. I have no intention to make some all powerful Gundam that can never lose, but kind of like how Wing Zero was very powerful but had its issues. How many weapons can it have equipped or is there a limit.

Rather it's real robot or super robot there are two things to think about when it come to How powerful is too powerful. Presentation,and Balance.

Presentation:
When persenting how powerful the Gundam make sure that the Gundam is a weapon of mass descution and not a spaming model kit.

Another thing, explain how things work since it is a sci-fi seting.

Balance:
Make sure the Gundams are balance against the grunts. While 1 Gundam can pwn 1 grunt, it is hard for 1 Gundam to pwn 20 or 30 grunts with a strategy at one time. See the early epsoides of Gundam Wing to see how this is done. So make good use for grunts and have them at least dodge attacks. Also have a good story, characters, and development.

[Gundam Zero Force]

Well if the detachable wings gets damage and unable to function properly then detach the wings. Better yet, have the pilot throw the wings at the enermy. They would't expect it.

That would be a great idea, use the wings as a last minute weapon

Well to make it easier on the suit, have the sheild and beam weapon be one device. Make it easy to transfer energy from the sheild to the beam weapon. Just make sure that the sheild can handle it.

yeah also I could make a shield device that takes the energy and then fires it back. It would be like a beam rifle with an attached sheild.

Rather it's real robot or super robot there are two things to think about when it come to How powerful is too powerful. Presentation,and Balance.

Presentation:
When persenting how powerful the Gundam make sure that the Gundam is a weapon of mass descution and not a spaming model kit.

Another thing, explain how things work since it is a sci-fi seting.

Balance:
Make sure the Gundams are balance against the grunts. While 1 Gundam can pwn 1 grunt, it is hard for 1 Gundam to pwn 20 or 30 grunts with a strategy at one time. See the early epsoides of Gundam Wing to see how this is done. So make good use for grunts and have them at least dodge attacks. Also have a good story, characters, and development.

Oh yes I have all the Gundam Wing episodes I understand what you are saying. And yes I have a storyline and Characters. I am still working on the story, but the Gundams and Mobile suits I have already started to make.

How would you rate this Gundam I made?? It is called Gundam Cyprus (Sye-Prus). The name comes from a made up town that was destroyed and the pilot named their Gundam after the town that was lost during the war. . . .

(Note: you can enlarge the window if the text is too hard to read)

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...NDAMCYPRUS.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...DAMCYPRUS1.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...DAMCYPRUS2.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...DAMCYPRUS3.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...DAMCYPRUS4.jpg

This Gundam is one of the main Gundams in my story so logically it would be powerful but it that too powerful?? I guess I have some explaining to do here . . . My story takes place in the future so the weapons and MS would be more developed and the technology would be more advanced. This Gundam may be really strong but the MS I have made so far are not too bad either technology wise and a few of them could easily overwhelm the pilot. I am still working on the main Gundam for my story "Revolution" I have it all modeled but I need to texturize it and add weapons to it.

Long story short am I headed in the right direction or the wrong direction with my designs?? I like the fact that I am creating original MS and Gundams but I don't want to make stuff people will dislike or find rather unrealistic. Any input would be great.

[RisArk]

7- How powerful is too powerful?? This question varies depending in the time period but I am talking about the future sort of. How powerful could I make a Gundam before it just gets stupid and become unrealistic. I have no intention to make some all powerful Gundam that can never lose, but kind of like how Wing Zero was very powerful but had its issues. How many weapons can it have equipped or is there a limit.

I'd say Victory Gundam (before Upgrade) is a good example. It's more dependent on Uso's skills than the suit itself. Considering how many times it got shot down, especially the bottom part, it's a good example of a machine slightly ahead of the curve. That, or the Ground Gundam from UC century, but those are more sub-par than the usual UC Gundam 0079 squad.

[omegastar]

Originally Posted by Gundam Zero Force

How would you rate this Gundam I made?? It is called Gundam Cyprus (Sye-Prus). The name comes from a made up town that was destroyed and the pilot named their Gundam after the town that was lost during the war. . . .

(Note: you can enlarge the window if the text is too hard to read)

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...NDAMCYPRUS.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...DAMCYPRUS1.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...DAMCYPRUS2.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...DAMCYPRUS3.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...DAMCYPRUS4.jpg

This Gundam is one of the main Gundams in my story so logically it would be powerful but it that too powerful?? I guess I have some explaining to do here . . . My story takes place in the future so the weapons and MS would be more developed and the technology would be more advanced. This Gundam may be really strong but the MS I have made so far are not too bad either technology wise and a few of them could easily overwhelm the pilot. I am still working on the main Gundam for my story "Revolution" I have it all modeled but I need to texturize it and add weapons to it.

Long story short am I headed in the right direction or the wrong direction with my designs?? I like the fact that I am creating original MS and Gundams but I don't want to make stuff people will dislike or find rather unrealistic. Any input would be great.

There's no right or wrong direction for this. It's all up to you, and the only thing that'll make it bad or good is when you set those designs on your story/series/whatever you desire to make.

As for the design... to be honest, I don't like it. It is good as a start, but it's far too boxy and unaesthetic for my tastes. Try to give it slender legs and waist, add more polygons, and try to remove some of those decals as it's too overloaded. Don't worry though, a design takes time to change and evolve into the final version.
Also, the head needs a lot of work (good luck though, I know by experience they're hard to make).

As for it being overpowered... not by my standards. But then again, they are MY standards... I usually fit my robots with 6-8 different weapons, which is a lot for a normal gundam. Do as you like, and put as many weapons as you want. Then, just try comparing it to other gundams or even gundams of other series you like, to see that it's balanced.

If you need help with the desing-cleanup, I can give you a hand making some quick sketches (some of my designs are at http://sttestament.deviantart.com ).
Also, do you have a DA account? I'd love to see more of your work.

[Gundam Zero Force]

Originally Posted by omegastar

There's no right or wrong direction for this. It's all up to you, and the only thing that'll make it bad or good is when you set those designs on your story/series/whatever you desire to make.

As for the design... to be honest, I don't like it. It is good as a start, but it's far too boxy and unaesthetic for my tastes. Try to give it slender legs and waist, add more polygons, and try to remove some of those decals as it's too overloaded. Don't worry though, a design takes time to change and evolve into the final version.
Also, the head needs a lot of work (good luck though, I know by experience they're hard to make).

As for it being overpowered... not by my standards. But then again, they are MY standards... I usually fit my robots with 6-8 different weapons, which is a lot for a normal gundam. Do as you like, and put as many weapons as you want. Then, just try comparing it to other gundams or even gundams of other series you like, to see that it's balanced.

If you need help with the desing-cleanup, I can give you a hand making some quick sketches (some of my designs are at http://sttestament.deviantart.com ).
Also, do you have a DA account? I'd love to see more of your work.

Thanks for the input. Yeah I know this Gundam is boxy. It kinda did that on purpose. It was the design I was going for. I've never really made a Gundam before and slowly I am shaping things out One of the hardest parts is the fact that a Gundam is Anime and Translating it to a 3D Model is hard becasue it doesn't look right no matter what becasue well . . . .it is not anime lol. Yes, yes I could use the built in toon shader my 3D program has but I am not going for that look so I came up with my own. So I am beginning to just get used to that. As far as the detail, yes I COULD go all out and add a lot more polygons. The verticies right now run at about 30,000 on this guy. For my story I have a lot more to make and I replaced some of th 3D with line art using the pen tool in CS2. One good thing about the Gundams and MS I don't have to worry about fixing though is the skeleton. I got it all rigged so it is real easy for me to move them around into any position I like.

Anyways, that is good to know about the weapons. I thought I was going overboard when in reality it is ok. I got some great ideas for that dual beam saber attachment on the arms. I could have the Gundam stab a MS and then fire the missle right at em' ha ha lol. . . . that would hurt.

Oh yes one question, what do you suggest I do with the Gundam head. I am curious to know what I can do to improve the head. Is it too wide or what looks wrong exactly. To tell you the truth I was just glad I got a Gundam head made. It took longer than I thought to shape it out. Thanks

Also, do you have a DA account? I'd love to see more of your work.

I don't have a DA account but yes I have made a lot more 3D models that are not Gundam related.

[omegastar]

The head... well, getting Gundam heads properly in 2d is already hard, so it's all pretty much up to practice. Still, here are some tips:

-First of all, try making the overall helmet. No side-vents, no top visor, no V-fin. The face should go in approximately 1/4 of the circumference side-wise (very small compared to the overall head).

- The face itself must be dented into the helmet, so that the V-fin composition reaches out more.

-Make the helmet features more sharp and pronounced. Shrapen the angles of the top visor, make the side vents stand out more...

- Side wise, the cheek plates of the helmet should end right where the faceplate begins. Similarly, only a very small part of the outer faceplate (the one connected to the front plate with the vents) can be seen from a frontal perspective.


It's kind of hard to get into details, so here is some refrence material I whipped up in a moment:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...undam-head.gif

[Gundam Zero Force]

Originally Posted by omegastar

The head... well, getting Gundam heads properly in 2d is already hard, so it's all pretty much up to practice. Still, here are some tips:

-First of all, try making the overall helmet. No side-vents, no top visor, no V-fin. The face should go in approximately 1/4 of the circumference side-wise (very small compared to the overall head).

- The face itself must be dented into the helmet, so that the V-fin composition reaches out more.

-Make the helmet features more sharp and pronounced. Shrapen the angles of the top visor, make the side vents stand out more...

- Side wise, the cheek plates of the helmet should end right where the faceplate begins. Similarly, only a very small part of the outer faceplate (the one connected to the front plate with the vents) can be seen from a frontal perspective.


It's kind of hard to get into details, so here is some refrence material I whipped up in a moment:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...undam-head.gif

Ok Cool, I'll start working on those adjustments. I appreciate the info and help. I guess I should start making the overall look of my Gundams more organic shaped and less hard edged. Eventually I'll get it right where it will be easy to shape and form it. I just have to get used to it.

oh one more thing, I noticed in the drawing you posted the two sets of eyes you drew below the head drawings. One had and x and the other had a check mark. The one with the check mark, is that the shape the eyes must always be on a Gundam or was that just your favorite look? I found that making the eyes shaped different gave a very different feel to how the Gundam overall looked. By just changing the eye's shape it made a dramatic difference.

[Gundam Zero Force]

Ok I've started a new head, it is still really polygonal and not very smooth since it is a W.I.P. but here is what I have got so far. I am most likey going to redo the helmet part. I started out with a cube and I am thinking that a cylinder might work better. I made the face smaller and more indented into the head and I also tried to make the "v-fin(s)" stand out more.
I already know the head is not perfect and there are some issues. It is uncomplete, the head vulcans are missing, the textures are not there of course, and it's not a final render so it looks pretty bad right now. If anyone has CS2 or another painting program, feel free to take these images and "correct" my msitakes by drawing lines over the issue areas or whatever. Any help is always appreciatd, I want to make the head look right.
I figure once I made the overall shape of the had correct i can use it as a template for all the future Gundams I plan to make, that way I don't have to redo the process all over everytime. So here is what i got so far . . .

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...HOMIE/Head.jpg
http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n...OMIE/Head1.jpg

[omegastar]

Originally Posted by Gundam Zero Force

oh one more thing, I noticed in the drawing you posted the two sets of eyes you drew below the head drawings. One had and x and the other had a check mark. The one with the check mark, is that the shape the eyes must always be on a Gundam or was that just your favorite look? I found that making the eyes shaped different gave a very different feel to how the Gundam overall looked. By just changing the eye's shape it made a dramatic difference.

The checked set of eyes is mainly my recommendation when drawing them, although they're also the more "official" type per se. I pointed them out because most of the time people draw them like the first set because they want to give them the badass look, yet they look wrong.

[Gundam Zero Force]

Originally Posted by omegastar

The checked set of eyes is mainly my recommendation when drawing them, although they're also the more "official" type per se. I pointed them out because most of the time people draw them like the first set because they want to give them the badass look, yet they look wrong.

That makes sense. The drawing you posted has really helped me get the proportions right. I made another new head just now and I have been shaping it out in that circular look and it does look better . Hopefully when I finish adding the vents, the V fins and the rest of the attachments it will look right. The face is smaller and actually with the new improvements the head can turn more to the right and left.
Once I get that fixed I am going to go and fix that wide waist and make it smaller. I found the issue with the waist, the joint I created that connects the leg to the waist was too big and therefore made the waist wider. After that hopefully I can post a newer version of Cyprus.

add more polygons, and try to remove some of those decals as it's too overloaded

sorry one more question (hopefully, lol)

So when you mean add more polygons do you mean I should add more 3D detail to all the surfaces?? I have looked at a lot of Gundam reference and the majority of the Gundams (even on those cool still image posters) the Gundams are fairly basic in their shapes and structure compared to other models I have made. When I try to add more 3D detail it just looks strange when I render it. So therefore, I used the pen too to substitute and gave it more of an anime look . . . .

[Nanohafied]

[QUOTE=Gundam Zero Force;1005544]6- Absorbing sheilds: I always wanted to make a Gundam that has a sheild that can absord energy from a laser beam and then transfer the energy from the sheild into the Gundam and then use that energy to create a powerful laser beam. Assuming the Gundam has a sufficent amount of space to store the potential energy is this device within reason?? This would be in the future of couse so new technology would be developed so could this work> I always thought it would be neat to have it.[QUOTE]

Jus so that u know..if u had watched gundam seed destiny, u would realise that the AKATSUKI has a shield that absorbs the energy beams and redirect it...even though it cannot store the energy...maybe they might develop a technology that will allow gundams to store it.

[Gundam Zero Force]

Jus so that u know..if u had watched gundam seed destiny, u would realise that the AKATSUKI has a shield that absorbs the energy beams and redirect it...even though it cannot store the energy...maybe they might develop a technology that will allow gundams to store it.

Well that is cool. I haven't seen Seed Destiny yet so that would be the reason I didn't know about it lol. So I guess it could be possible especially since my story takes place in the way future where technology would have been more advanced. The main reason I came up with that idea is later on with that stored energy, the Gundam could fire it back in the form of a huge wave of lasers. Instead of having machine guns (like the vulcans on the head) they would be laser guns and the stored energy would fire from there. There could be numerous other ways the Gundam could use the energy as well though . . .