Brad's Dai X work in progress

[AndyThomas]

I didn't realise you'd put in so much endoskeleton Brad - it's looking very Terminator-esque! I've come up with an idea for the fist problem, although I'm not quite sure it'll work. The obvious problem we have is that the fists won't fit inside the arms and can't be swapped within the arms.So the thought that occurs is - could the fists be stored on board MainBody somewhere else? Say, in the lower chest? A hatch would open and a connection strut would extend out. Dai-X's wrist would then connect with that strut, lock on, and pull the fist component out of the storage area. Very complicated to do, I'm sure, but given the flexibility of his arms I imagine he could get his wrists into the right place? I mean, at the end of the day, we don't have to see it happen all the way... I was thinking that the hands needn't be fists when stored if that would save space. They could be uncurled? I know, easier said than done! But if you cut away after the retrieval you could swap them for the fist modes without showing them clenching.Did any of that make sense?! I'll try and do a sketch if not!

[Shane]

I guess as the model is going to be used as part of a movie or image sequence that you can get away with actually showing the fists extend from the arm units. Just cut the scenes like they do in the show. It's amazing how animated this new dai x model is but some things are better solved via clever editing. The makers obviously used some artistic licence in the respect that fists impossibly sprout out of rocket thrusters.Shane.(Edited by Shane at 3:53 pm on Nov. 2, 2002)

[CondorJoe]

Erm.. well I have an idea. If you watch the clip of legtracks junction with mainbody you see the plates pull around the upper part of the torso so it looks like one compleated unit. now what if you store the fists some where on legtracks unit? afterall legtracks has quite a unique features such as the catterpillar tracks and you dont see them anywhere on the compleated junction so it's the perfect place for storage.

[Crash]

As Andy says; you're trying to fit them in as fists which might not be easiest way. I reckon if you make them unclench into flat palms then fold them in two; somehow that might make 'em a bit more manageable.Yeah, I can see that working actually.

[AndyThomas]

Quote Quote: from CondorJoe on 5:50 pm on Nov. 2, 2002Erm.. well I have an idea. If you watch the clip of legtracks junction with mainbody you see the plates pull around the upper part of the torso so it looks like one compleated unit. now what if you store the fists some where on legtracks unit? afterall legtracks has quite a unique features such as the catterpillar tracks and you dont see them anywhere on the compleated junction so it's the perfect place for storage.I thought about the LegTrax option myself but actually the caterpillar tracks work against LegTrax because in flight mode they're stored on board LegTrax - which means there isn't a lot of space left in the lower legs, and also, I doubt Dai-X's arms could reach that low. However, one LegTrax option might be the Robocop approach. If you remember, Robocop's holster and gun were actually built into the outside of his thigh. So if there's enough space inside LegTrax (which would of course ignore the need for quite a few hydraulics type systems in the upper leg! ) you could store the fists like that. Ok, brace yourselves - I've done a sketch!

[CondorJoe]

The mans a pure genius. exactly what i ment. and hey who say's brad can't have his own artistic view it don't have to be exact. nice work Andy

[Bradster]

Hmm.Well, I can't really uncurl the fists because they aren't designed with that in mind. If I did try that, my only options are to do PLA on them or throw in some IK bones. The former would take *forever* to position everything and the latter would probably not keep the right shape.The fists can't hook onto the sides of the thighs on LegTrax because then LegTrax wouldn't be able to fold into solo mode. I'm already having trouble with that since it fakes most of the transformation. I still haven't figured out how to put in the treads! The scene with the caterpillar treads in episode 4 used *another* variation of the LegTrax model that simply can not work in reality.Andy's second sketch, however, may be a possibility. I'll do some tinkering and see if that'll fit...(Edited by Bradster at 5:49 pm on Nov. 3, 2002)

[felice]

Yes, sliding the hands out unclenched sounds like the most plausible option to me. Possibly with some kind of enginey thing embedded in the palm, to explain why the hands don't block the engines. I've done a rough sketch to explain what I mean: There's no need to show them unclenching; just use two completely seperate objects.Another option would be to make them inflatable. Possibly not the most easy to animate or technologically plausible option, but they do look kind of like they could be, and if the gas was sufficiently pressurised, they'd be pretty solid when inflated (like tires). And they seem to be indestructible, so is an indestructible balloon any less plausible than indestructible "skin" around a hand mechanism? 8)(Edited by felice at 8:44 pm on Nov. 3, 2002)(Edited by felice at 8:44 pm on Nov. 3, 2002)

[AndyThomas]

H'mm. The problem with that Felice is that Dai-X's fists are very chunky, and the engine exhaust takes up most of the area of the end of the arm in MainBody mode. As a result the breadth of even the open hand is probably greater than the breadth of the arm. I think I see what you're suggesting, but there just isn't the room for it because there isn't enough space for anything to come out around the engine exhausts. If this were a Transformers thing, as I've suggested in the past, then the engine exhaust would just slide in, vanish, and the fists would miraculously slide out! Unfortunately Dai-X doesn't lend itself to that approach either because as I've mentioned his fists are broader than his forearms... I meant to mention before, it's actually very common in anime for robots to have "fists on a stick" because they're often used as missiles, so there is a precedent for the fists being seperate units. The only other way to get round the fists appearing without being solid units would be some sort of nanotechnology, so that they were constructed every time they were needed. OK, I'm really reaching now

[felice]

Are you sure the hands are that big? I've checked out a couple of photos, and they definitely look small enough to fit comfortably inside the forearms. They might not fit through the exaust port, but the entire end of the arm could slide open to let the hand through, then close around the wrist. The thing I'm imagining embedded in the palm isn't the exhaust visible in ship mode; it's something smaller behind that - the narrow end of a virtual exhaust cone.There is precedent in Star Fleet tech for the hands to just be "beamed" in to existance from elsewhere in Dai X - the ground vehicles are beamed down to the planet surface in the attack on the grounded X Bomber where Lamia is captured.