"False Maria" robot from 1927 silent film "Metropolis"

hellnbak · 18 Jan 2016, 03:02

Much appreciated, Ken.

@hellnbak said:

...
Was going to include a bunch of background stuff but that seems to bore some people. I might include some stuff later on, as the model progresses.

+1 for more background!

Thanks Richard. Yeah, I will include some background stuff eventually. Lots of good info to pass along.

You're really using a pre-6 version of SU? Just curious as to why.

Anyhow, been playing around with this, thought I would post a few photos.

First, the robot on her "chair".

Difficult in the respect that few shots show it, and of those that do the vast majority of them are from a distance and show very little useable detail.
An interesting fact -- The seat of the chair was set at angle because the "suit" did not allow Ms Helm to sit all the way down. But even with that an apparatus had to be rigged so that someone pulling on a lever behind the chair slowly tilted the seat forward until she could stand on her own.

Also took a stab at Maria on the lab table, just prior to her 'essence' being transferred to the robot

Still a lot to do, about 600 miles of cable and wiring to add, a lot of electronic doo-dads, this, that and 'tother. Gonna try to make the face look like Brigitte Helm, now that should be fun.

Both of these scenes proved very frustraing because of SU's inability to work realistically with 'glass' or transparent surfaces. Go below a certain amount of transparency and no shadows are cast or received, along with other problems. Drove me nuts, finally just gave up.

So much to do, so little time.

pbacot · 18 Jan 2016, 06:22

Wow. Did you model Maria too? This is wild. No one gets such results from pure SketchUp rendering.

Mike Amos · 18 Jan 2016, 11:27

Steve definitely DOES get those sketchup results, the question is how.......

pbacot · 3 Jun 2020, 04:25

Came across this on another forum. Totally forgot... What a great subject and execution. Just really inspiring. I would like to see the geometry.

HornOxx · 3 Jun 2020, 06:15

I missed this contribution in 2016, so thanks for digging out this great work

@pbacot said:

...I would like to see the geometry.
Yes!

Bryan K · 3 Jun 2020, 06:23

Yeah, that is one excellent model.

hellnbak · 3 Jun 2020, 12:52

Wow, this is so weird - hadn't thought about this model for a long time, then just a couple of days ago I came across it and have been working on it since then. Then I received an email saying that someone had replied to this topic, after more than four years. Really strange.

Anyhow, thanks for the nice words, much appreciated as always.

First off, in reply to pbacot's question from back in 2016
@pbacot said:

Did you model Maria too?

No, it was a model that I got from the warehouse. Had to heavily modify her, broke her neck, her arms at the shoulders, elbow and wrists, and her legs at the knees and ankles. (I know, it sounds like I need some serious therapy, and I probably do, for a number of reasons). All in all, it was probably more trouble than just making her from scratch.

I will post some shots of the geometry later this morning.

Been working on her face, still cannot get it right. Very frustrating. I actually did start work on a full-size bust of her to hopefully help me with this, but set it aside upstairs for a while and then discovered that it had fallen off the table and had separated from the armature in a number of pieces (a homebuilt armature, not as stable as it should have been). There's just no way to get something like that back on the armature, so I threw in the towel on that little project. Very disappointing.

I'm looking forward to posting some of the background on Metropolis, this movie has such an unbelievable history.

hellnbak · 3 Jun 2020, 22:55

Sorry, had to get some sleep. Like a lot of people nowdays, my sleep schedule is pretty much out the window, so I sleep when I can.

Anyhow, here are some shots showing the geometry.

some closer shots showing the head, since it shows up as pretty much a black blob in the full figure shots.

If anyone would like some closer shots of some of the model, just let me know.

Bryan K · 3 Jun 2020, 23:14

Incredible geometry. Thanks for the wire frame close ups!

That would cripple my computer.

tuna1957 · 3 Jun 2020, 23:38

hellinbak , This is just freaking epic !!!!! Can't think of how many times of wondered about "Maria" since your first posted images. Glad your back with her.

I'm a HUGE fan of the old movies. Found "Metropolis" on DVD last year. Have watched it innumerable times. The results they were able to achieve with the technology of the era is astounding.

Bryan K · 4 Jun 2020, 00:32

A movie way ahead of its time, tuna.

Have you also seen Shape of Things To Come? Another movie ahead of its time.

pbacot · 4 Jun 2020, 00:55

Thank you for posting! Now excuse me while I study this and weep. No really, if I have any comments I want to take a good look at it first.

Mike Amos · 4 Jun 2020, 07:57

It is, like the cars Steve, did. Epic indeed.

hellnbak · 5 Jun 2020, 22:58

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, been dealing with major problems with my riding mower. A few days ago I was mowing, and suddenly got a huge cramp in my thigh muscle. Well, you know that when that happens you have to straighten your leg, immediately. To do that I had to stand up on the mower, but when I did so it started to shut down because of the stupid "safety" switch under the seat, and rather than just let it shut down like I should have, I decided to sit back down (with my leg sticking straight out to the side), which did keep the mower running, but somehow resulted in the mower not moving at all, no matter what I did. Pushed it back to the barn and since I haven't gotten around to building the tractor stand I described in another post, I had to labouriously get it raised up on stacks of short 2 X 8's. Determined that the belts were all ok, and now I'm checking into the variable speed pully and the transaxle. Meanwhile, I've been mowing using my push mower, which is less than ideal given a number of physical factors in my tired old body. Mow for 10 minutes, rest for 20 minutes, repeat. Absolute exhaustion, and not a small amount of pain. Awww, poor baby. At least I've been sleeping well. Anyhow, that's the beginning of my 'How I spent my Summer Vacation' essay. I'm hoping I get an 'A' on it.

Hope to post some stuff soon, maybe this evening. Want to get into how the robot was created (the real robot, not my model). It's pretty interesting (to me at least).

Thanks for all the kind words. Hope you are all doing well and staying safe in these insane times.

Steve

pbacot · 6 Jun 2020, 01:01

Sounds scary. Glad you're OK.

Mike Amos · 6 Jun 2020, 08:57

^ likewise, stay well Steve.

Bryan K · 8 Jun 2020, 02:55

Stay well Steve. Get better soon.

hellnbak · 23 Nov 2020, 16:39

Well, it's certainly been a while. Sorry. The events of the world have been intruding into my life much more than I'd like. Going a bit crazy here.

I will post more here just as soon as I can. Actually I've been thinking about posting a number of my 'one-off' models here, figured I might as well otherwise they'll just rot here on my computer without anyone ever seeing them. Plus, given the current situation who knows how long any of us actually has?

Anyhow, bear with me.

Steve

Mike Amos · 24 Nov 2020, 10:50

When you are ready. Very nice to see you back here, stay well.

pilou · 24 Nov 2020, 11:51

Yes this Covid period is some pernicious!

Maybe this site can be used for import some body without less effort than all build in SU! (free)

else there a robot here!;)