oh by the way, Rodentpete your other transformers are awsome. in fact, the only reason i havent built a ravage or laserbeak yet is because i think you nailed em both. eventually i wll be doing them, but only because i want the styles to match.

very nice, and thanks. i keep forgetting that the pits are supposed to have some cranes and things over them... one day i vow to finnaly add them in.

some time soon i plan to do some random cybertron underground interiors. somthing easily useable for a battlefield... just a nice basic area that's clean and wont lag you down to look at.

unfortunatly every time i try to do a "basic" terrain, i end up building a city.

her's my new War Within era Ratchet..

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=d4a55bc244c6938fac4fd92dfb8e239e

Keep watching.

no easy solution to the effects im afraid...

for starters i use nothing but free software, the models are sketchup basic 100% and i use an old program called photo impact (comperable to photoshop) that was packaged with Aiptek's hyper pen (which ironically i dont use) the version i have came out in like 2002 maybe?- nothing i make cost me a dime.

in my model i use the shadow and fog functions (if you look at the styles in my model you see i also use a fog overlay that wont obscure my background the way sketchup fog does), and take into consideration the light cast by what im adding, then i export a 2d
image and open it with photo impact.
with that i use the creative lighting and particle functions and not much else. oh and also the airbrush feature to touch up the smoke effects.

the rest is just manual labor placing the effects and touching it up.

also i've found that just a simple blur at the end makes the line quality all look better.

heh chicken legs... stuff like that is why i dont like the beast wars era...

heres my latest G1 era transformers, i been busy.

the Combaticons-

Onslaught

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=4f44a0c33af08fe477e21aa92afd81b0
Vortex

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=84fc385f78dd89aa77e21aa92afd81b0
Swidle

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=95cf88bc95390eca77e21aa92afd81b0
Brawl

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=fdfdbf815a14ba8677e21aa92afd81b0
Blastoff

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=f735c5c743ca79c077e21aa92afd81b0
Bruticus

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=85a1314339ab5aa177e21aa92afd81b0

War within Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=220b935603d6fe9a77e21aa92afd81b0

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=6a6871c489e7951a77e21aa92afd81b0

Shockwave
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=e2948a940ccbd57777e21aa92afd81b0

Mostly finished, but no real interiors. built to human scale.

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=f6c3b136bba905a58154f5840728896a

put up a vid of this model here-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYBld2IzUug

these are the renders-

thanks for the encouragement all, i just added layers to Kaon (i put the arena crowd and the energon shipment on seperate layers that only show up in their scenes) hopefully this will make for a smoother viewing experience. Enjoy.

hey, just wanted to show some pics of what ive been working on...

My Megatron Model-
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=40dce865415af5d77e21aa92afd81b0

Im gonna say he's done, if anything i might tweak the background... someday.

And
The City State of Kaon on the Planet Cybertron-
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=a240b816470212a134ca436481dbdb39

I still plan to add the senate chamber and maybe a litle more detail if i can fit it in, but apart from that i think it's pretty much done otherwise...

This post caught my eye because i just built dancers for my Energon Taverns in my Kaon model...

feel free to use her, but she'll be too big for the cage:)

http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/details?mid=a240b816470212a134ca436481dbdb39