mer photos |
mer photos |
Mar 2 2012, 02:09 AM
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#376
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14431 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
Well, John, I guess the JPL's 3d artist's (or 3d team's probably) job wasn't to ACCURATELY reproduce the model, but make a representation of the mars rover, what it does and how it works - and they totally succeeded in this. Actually - it was one guy. Dan Maas, of Maas Digital. He was finishing his undergrad studies at Cornell at the same time he made it. And it's now nearly ten years old. Technology, and software, have come a long, long way since then. It was made the same year the 2Ghz Pentium 4 came out - CPU's are now an order of magnitude faster, and RAM an order of magnitude cheaper. Technically - that was a very very long time ago. Having since been involved in a similar project ( the MSL animation ) I now have a level of appreciation for just how astonishing Dan's work was at the time. |
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Mar 2 2012, 02:35 AM
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#377
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Member Group: Members Posts: 696 Joined: 3-December 04 From: Boulder, Colorado, USA Member No.: 117 |
I certainly didn't mean to criticize Dan Maas's work, which was and still is mind-blowing. The fact that I'd never noticed till today that those details were "painted on" his model shows how effectively he used the resources he had.
And I too have learned a lot about how the rovers work and were built from just looking at scooterlord's renderings. They're so awesome that I've just looked more closely at them than I ever did at the photos, I guess. John |
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Mar 2 2012, 05:36 AM
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#378
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14431 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
Oh - I didn't think it was a criticism, I just want to pick up on Scooters point suggesting the MER animation was done by a couple of teams.
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Mar 2 2012, 05:39 PM
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#379
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2492 Joined: 15-January 05 From: center Italy Member No.: 150 |
I am excited, now you're opening the hangar doors and (perhaps) will we see this jewel roving on martian soil?
-------------------- I always think before posting! - Marco -
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Mar 2 2012, 06:17 PM
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#380
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Member Group: Members Posts: 200 Joined: 2-September 06 Member No.: 1097 |
yes... you actually might
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Mar 3 2012, 09:22 AM
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#381
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Member Group: Members Posts: 200 Joined: 2-September 06 Member No.: 1097 |
..first time for a render of the spirit rover shown 'curled up'. Admittedly, the wheels seem a little odd, but if you take a peek at reference photos, it looks exactly as it should.
Click for a high resolution render as always. From this point I will render fullhd close-ups of every single side of the spirit and let it render as high sample as it can get. We're going to see some clarity! Comments welcome as always... -------------------- |
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Mar 3 2012, 08:44 PM
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#382
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14431 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
Now you're beginning to fold it up - a whole bunch of strange little bracket, bolt, lumps, pyros and bumps will make sense
Being really picky here... You've left the hold-down bolts in the cleats of the wheels (small chrome components) - it's just a hole once the rover is off the lander. Some of the cables going down the front strut toward the front wheels sneak under the metal along the top, and then cuts thru the end of the strut as it turns down to go to the wheel itself. |
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Mar 3 2012, 08:58 PM
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#383
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Member Group: Members Posts: 200 Joined: 2-September 06 Member No.: 1097 |
Great eyesight! I completely forgot to turn the cables along with the front wheels; in the renders the wheels are facing straight, they are nicely done. Plus, I didn't know the chrome parts from the wheels were removed - and noone mentioned that so far, although they have been there for some time It's exciting to see that you people struggle to find differences compared to the real thing
edit: DAMN, now I noticed the cables going inside the metal parts.. I was looking at something else.. grrr... This usually happens with all these damn objects. I turn layers on-and-off to sort them out and always something is left out :/ -------------------- |
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Mar 4 2012, 03:10 PM
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#384
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Member Group: Members Posts: 200 Joined: 2-September 06 Member No.: 1097 |
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Mar 4 2012, 04:48 PM
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#385
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Member Group: Members Posts: 153 Joined: 4-May 11 From: Pardubice, CZ Member No.: 5979 |
Gorgeous !
I love that closeup. Nick, just one detail on that render - top right, bottom of right solar panel, there is white wire that should be IMHO attached with black tapes, but all tapes are under that cabel, directly on the panel. |
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Mar 4 2012, 05:28 PM
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#386
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Member Group: Members Posts: 200 Joined: 2-September 06 Member No.: 1097 |
Pospa, good observation....
..BUT, those black things aren't exactly sticky tapes. It seems that it's an adhesive surface that sticks to the bottom of the panel and the cable sticks ON it. It will make more sense if you compare it to some original reference. I am currently modeling a rear-top view of the rover, just so you people have something to expect! The following renders are planned: a) Close ups of everything on the rover - Each one of the tools on the idd (mossbauer, rat, microimager, apxs) - HGA - Sundial - Mast base mechanism - Mast Head Render from front hazcam c) Render from top pancams d) Two renders on Mars As for the Mars renders, I found a few good reference photos I can use to photo integrate the rover, but I can only do that from specific angles and with the lighting on this reference and to be honest I am not that happy with that. The original plans I had for the martian atmosphere don't live up to my expectations either, so I will have to model a small territory on mars. I tried programs with geo-height mapping that can produce good results, but not good enough for the resolutions I am aiming at. Anything less than perfect will look out of place compared to the quality of the rover, so I cannot fake anything. It has to be done so that it looks good, so I guess I am going to use some 'plain' rock-less ground. Other than that I made a few test renders, and I can get the atmosphere and colors look right, so I guess It will look cool in the end.. -------------------- |
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Mar 4 2012, 09:22 PM
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#387
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Member Group: Members Posts: 648 Joined: 9-May 05 From: Subotica Member No.: 384 |
... d) Two renders on Mars ... Looking forward to that, while enjoying all your renderings. Keep then coming!!! BTW...why only two renders on Mars? -------------------- The scientist does not study nature because it is useful; he studies it because he delights in it, and he delights in it because it is beautiful.
Jules H. Poincare My "Astrophotos" gallery on flickr... |
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Mar 4 2012, 09:28 PM
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#388
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Member Group: Members Posts: 200 Joined: 2-September 06 Member No.: 1097 |
Well, it's not restraining, it's just what I had in mind so far... Right now in the background I am trying to make the martian surface. I have already tried several programs, but no luck so far.. I am messing with the rocks atm :/ Tough stuff
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Mar 4 2012, 09:39 PM
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#389
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Member Group: Members Posts: 648 Joined: 9-May 05 From: Subotica Member No.: 384 |
You can always use some of those Spirit's Husband Hill panoramas for background can't you?
Beautiful work so far. -------------------- The scientist does not study nature because it is useful; he studies it because he delights in it, and he delights in it because it is beautiful.
Jules H. Poincare My "Astrophotos" gallery on flickr... |
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Mar 4 2012, 09:43 PM
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#390
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Member Group: Members Posts: 200 Joined: 2-September 06 Member No.: 1097 |
...as I said in a previous post, the backgrounds will:
a) look out of place because of the different resolutions constrain me at specific angles c) constrain me at specific lighting conditions.. -------------------- |
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