The Droid/Ship Model is Finished: New Additions

This just means the model (or mesh) is finished. As is the rigging, so that I can easily pose it. Next up is the “materials” phase, where I will see about improving on the uniform metal texture. Then I’ll need to create some sort of backdrop or environment. But let’s get on to the new additions, and how they work.

Engines! My concept for engines is replaceable fuel canisters. One or both can be jettisoned immediately if they are hit with enemy fire, that way the droid-ship doesn’t get blown up in the fuel explosion. It also has much less powerful electric engines, and can even walk [image below from last post):

Below: vents. There are small engines inside so the ship can fly without its main fuel cartridges, though they are much less powerful. They also can be used to rotate the ship when it is attached to an enemy vessel using the distensible magnet/suction disk (also in prior post).

Lights. If the droid needs brighter light, it can provide it.

Back flippers, or paddles, or whatever we want to call them:

Let’s go with flippers. And at this stage I can offer an explanation of what they do, and how they operate.

Above, the front flippers can rotate up, down, or in opposite directions in order to navigate up, down, left or right.

Below, you can see how it operates. The pivot point is in the flipper itself, and the pivot cylinder is connected through an opening to the main ship.

This allows a wide range of movement in both directions. Below, you can see the upward range.

Here’s a front flipper in a strong downward position.

Below, the whole ship with front flippers facing downward.

The back flippers rotate perpendicularly to the front ones. They can help steer left or right, or create drag to slow down the droid-ship as well.

The transverse bar that connects to the pivot cylinder for the back flippers needs to be at a diagonal. Some of the geometry was a bit tricky for me.

This might make more sense if you see the joint by itself.

Here’s the droid-ship using the front flippers and one back one to make a sharp turn:

Here’s the droid-ship top, bottom, front, back, and side:

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Yeah, I decided to call it a “droid-ship” because it’s a flying droid, a bit large for a droid, and small for a ship. Nobody rides inside except the AI. He’s built for fighting, but he’s on the good team, folks.

Stay tuned for the next, exciting installment! And if you like the droid-ship, and missed the tool features, check out my prior post.

~ Eric Wayne

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