Calling all robots- extras needed

[Parables]

Hi everyone- I'm fairly new here and could use a hand. I'm burning out trying to do all of the design work for the various settings, props, and characters in my comic, and realized that it would be much easier to whip together models of some pre-existing robots to use as extras. My comic is done using 3D drafting software and rendering, so once I've assembled them they can be re-posed and re-used easily.

I need: Any robots you're willing to let me borrow from your comic. Simpler ones are easier. Basically anything between Bender and Robbie the Robot is reasonable. (Unfortunately realistic human faces are out, otherwise I'd be begging to use some of the sexy gynoids from Data Chasers.)

In return: You'll be credited, of course. Your character(s) will show up as scenery in my comic, and if you're willing, I'll save the file for future cameos. I'll put together some nifty fanart for you, and even send you a 3D computer model of your character if you like. If I'd be useful for you, I could put your character in various poses at various angles and make you some reference pictures.

Examples of my style can be seen at: http://s246.photobucket.com/albums/gg104/parabucket/Esthar%20Gate/

[[geoduck]]

I have a couple you could use, if you want.
Hector is a humanoid robot; he starts appearing here:
http://mansionofe.comicgen.com/d/20040807.html
You of course don't have to include the damage/patching (especially if you're doing it with CG..) Also, I'm well aware that the way his eye and mouth are visible when viewed from the side is impossible with true 3D; you would probably just want to mount them on the front of his box-shaped head.

And if you need something a little more bulky and "industrial" there's the unnamed "shopbot", which first appears here:
http://mansionofe.comicgen.com/d/20060319.html

If it matters, both of these so far only appear in these two sections.

[Phact0rri]

all my robots (myself included) are androids.

[VinnieD]

I have only one robot in my comic but he's quite prominant, having been billed as the villain in the second Nailbat Story, and requiring a crossover with Evil Inc. in order to construct him.

First appearance here http://www.antibunny.com/d/20070616.html
He also adorns most of the cover of Nailbat Returns http://www.antibunny.com/d/20080306.html

Not sure if he's too hard to render though. He's very sleek and curvey with no hard edges in his design, but it's not too over complicated. Thought he comic its self is in black and white I suppose i owe you a color pallet. His body is a strict 2 color design. The upper arms, upper legs, Chestplate, and helmet are all dark blue (also very shiny) the rest of his body is dark gray, the bats are jet black.

His eyes of course are yellow. The cover is a good reference for his distinctive LED style eyes.

[Parables]

Huge thanks to geoduck and Vinnie D. Phact0rri, if I could, I'd have loved to use some of your baristas. :-/ You've got a new reader, though.

Hector and Metabat were both a blast to put together. I did a pretty faithful reconstruction of Hector- cracks, patches, and everything. Metabat is a challenge, and he won't turn out quite perfectly but I hope it's passable. I'll put some pictures up soon, but there's one last thing I need to figure out- what is the symbol on Metabat's helmet? I can't quite get the proper shape of it from the reference pics. It seems to be a hexagon-based stylized skull, or am I off?

I'll try and put together the Shopbot next. Do you mind if I use Nunsuch as well?

[Phact0rri]

Huge thanks to geoduck and Vinnie D. Phact0rri, if I could, I'd have loved to use some of your baristas. :-/ You've got a new reader, though.

glad ya enjoy it. *s*

[[geoduck]]

I'll try and put together the Shopbot next. Do you mind if I use Nunsuch as well?

Sure, and feel free to give him whatever kind of feet you want, if it's necessary to see them.

[VinnieD]

Yes the symbol is a skull, though more of an octagonal than hexagonal skull. It's the same symbol that's on Nailbat's mask and is designed around the concept of merging a skull with a stop sign.

There's also an inverted nail symbol on Metabat's chest.

BTW when you're done I hope you don't mind if I post up a pic of the model in my fanart section, with a link to your comic. I just love getting art and I've never gotten a CG fanart so that's doubly cool.

[Parables]

Just posted some fanart to the fanart thread! I think the skull worked out nicely, but unfortunately you can't make out the nail symbol because I accidentally made Metabat far too shiny. Oops. Will correct that in later appearances- this image took about two hours to render so I didn't have the patience to do it again. (Please don't ask me how long it took to get the glow in his eyes just right without turning Hector yellow from the glare.)

I would be thrilled to be on your fanart page. Unfortunately, I don't have any of my comic online yet for you to link to, but you've helped things along by letting me borrow your designs. This comic takes forever to put together, so I probably won't start publishing it for another week or two. I need some time to build up a buffer. I'll let you know when I have a link. In the meantime, let me know if you want either of your characters in any other pose- it's not difficult to do now that I have the models.

Anyone else? There's dozens of chairs to fill here!

(Edit: with the addition of Hector and Metabat, their drinks, including olive, pimento, and toothpick (look very, very closely) this scene now has 714 objects and 245 lights on 38 layers using 40 materials, and I haven't added any of my characters or extras yet. I just wanted to brag about that.)

[VinnieD]

And I do love how shiny he is. That's exactly how I pictured him in my head. Shiny and metallic all over and oh so very menacing like he's going to mess you up any second now. Great job. I'll link you when the comic's up. Just send me a PM or an email to let me know. I'll plug you on the front page too due to this being both a fanart and a cameo. Double awesome.

[[geoduck]]

Yes, very nice! Thanks for doing it; I'll post a link to the Forums or Photobucket or something..

EDIT: Actually, now that I think about it, I'll post one of the versions this Sunday instead of my daily post. Once you get your comic up and running, I'll add a permanent link.

[Parables]

Thanks to you both! Can't wait to see Mansion of E this Sunday with my art on it.

Finished Shopbot and Nunsuch, and put together a shot of the two of them together at http://s246.photobucket.com/albums/gg104/parabucket/Esthar%20Gate/?action=view&current=shopbot-and-nunsuch.jpg

(The lolcat-uninitiated might miss this one.)

[[geoduck]]

Cool. I'll post that one as well, either the same day or the next Sunday. Another strip that has a robot is Station V3; you might ask him if you can use Floyd..

[Parables]

Thanks again to both of you. I finally have a website to link to: http://esthargate.comicgenesis.com/ ... I've put up links to both of your comics, let me know what you think of the 'portal' graphics I'm using for links.

Had a good look at Station V3, but decided in the end that Floyd was too simple in form to translate well into CGI. Like the comic, though.

[VinnieD]

Oh, good I'd been saving the pic of Metabat and Hector until you got it up. I finally get to show it off. Your site has been plugged on the front page, and the pic added to my art section.

As for the site. It's a bit bare bones. I think it could use some features like contact info, and a shoutbox, possibly some rant/blog/news space as well.

[Parables]

Cool! Much appreciated.

I hear what you're saying about the site needing some development. If you click the 'home' link, there's a few more things there, and I'll be continuing to add to it. I'm not overly concerned, since I'm not really expecting much traffic right now. I won't really be 'allowed' to run around plugging the comic for a few more months, while I build up enough of an archive.

Do you think it's too early for a shoutbox?

[VinnieD]

Couldn't hurt. You can get a pretty good one at http://myshoutbox.com. Might be a while before anyone uses it though, but givent he lack of time investment it involves people are more inclined to use it than a forum.