[Fan Art] The Big Cockpit...the journey begins

I suggest to Big G to place a seat of a plane, or a red BMW M3 seat. I am joking.

There is something I don't understand. I remember on an episode of the second season, I don't remember which one sorry, Roger was in his car, then he entered inside one foot of Big O, like entering in a garage, and the seat of his car on which he was sit raised up to reach the cockpit.

I have maybe badly seen the scene, but I believe at that instant the seat of his car became the seat of the cockpit.
So are those seats the same ones ?

Good morning gang,
Not much of an update today. I built the arch at the back of the gold ring, and then I spent most of yesterday banging my head against the monitor, trying to figure out exactly how to deal with the bubble dome. I tried this and that, tried to redesign the floor, toyed with the idea that there's an hitherto unseen mechanism that actually places it over the entire assembly, etc., etc.
The fact of the matter is that a half-sphere, rotating into place along a central axis, will intersect the vertical travelway for the seat and will effect the design and shape of the interior. No doubts about it. It just screws with the walls and the floor too much.

It started to get to me...I became obsessed. I drew diagrams. I cut a tennis ball in half and got a soup can and sat for a couple of hours just staring at it, trying to visualize the floor with the damned thing in there. After a while, I decided I was being a little "too close" to the problem, so I put it down for a while and got drunk.

Which goes to show you, if you have a problem, get wasted. It fixes everything.

After looking at the source materials for a while, I noticed that there's almost always the edge of the sphere, arching over Roger's head. I assumed that the dome was in the open position. Then the answer hit me in the face.
Day 9 morning update:
The solution: two quarter spheres, one nested inside the other. One quarter always remains above the back half of the cockpit, the other can rotate out and close the dome. Jebus.



This totally frees up the interior of the cockpit to match the sketch I was originally following. Freedom!
Also, Samir and R. Daniel - fixes noted and added to the list. Change the seat and headrest. Puffier and headrest narrower. I think I'll also add the overall curvature to the seat. This involves rebuilding only the red parts of the seat, I'm leaving the black parts as they are, because of the objects they intersect/interact with.

This is my list of items remaining on this project. We're definitely looking at wrapping it all up mid-to-end of next week. I don't have good visual materials on some of these items, so again, I plead with you guys for any scans or screen grabs you can find for any of the following:

Final control panel (with the four lights and flip-switches, I've got this one)
Outer top ring (with arch. I might take the liberty of making this object the housing for the dome. The dome always seems to just be drawn emerging from it. There's no details on how)
Outer skin & detailing (ribs and holes)
base ring
side cylinder assemblies
front glass
front interior side plates
two small monitors
large central monitor
interior floor and wall panels
Interior piping (I plan to spend a day or two putting all these in)
chair base
chair doors
seatbelt

Issues to address:
rebuild seat.
placement of joystick track relative to top monitors. This might involve a rebuild as well...I have most of the original template shapes, so rebuilding should only take a day or two...maybe.

Because I don't have comprehensive views of a lot of these last items, I'm going to build them according to what I have, and modify them later, when I can cross-reference other screen grabs (hurry up Netflix!)

You make a good job. I am happy to see day after day the progress of your project. Each progress gives me a bigger smile. What a chance we have to meet you.

You said the half bubble of glass is a problem for you ? I understand this problem. I myself wonder how it can be placed with the cockpit. We see Roger entering inside the "opened" cockpit, which means that the half bubble is tipped up to the back. But until where does this bubble tip to up ? I this half bubble is opened, it must normally 'cut' the cockpit from its basis. You know what I mean ? I understand why you were obsessed by this bubble.
You were until cutting a tennis ball on two ! LOL This bubble is a scary question.

You were right to cut the sphere in two quarter spheres.

Look at this picture, look at the sphere behind Schwartzwald. The sphere is cut in three or four, I don't know, I don't see.

To be noted : do not forget the 4 commands at the right side of the pilot. You know ? The 4 little lights, 2 red, 1 blue, 1 yellow, with their respective commands.

Important detail : You know the Big O can change its morphology, I mean that there are weapons which appears when Roger use them. At a moment in an act in the second season Roger fight against Hydras. He is electrocuted and had visions of the past. He also remembered that he had a hidden weapon to defeat the Hydras. So at a moment we see the paddles becoming bigger, and a lot of other details appeared. Also in act 26 at the end when he uses the Big O Final Stage Attack. One central command appeared thanks to Dorothy.
Will you take care of that ? There are too lot of things to make.

Good Job The Big G (GJTBG)

Good morning Samir and the gang,
Don't worry about panel 1 (four lights, some switches)...it's definitely on my list, I just don't prioritize it because that should come together pretty quickly. I often do that, because certain problems loom larger than others. I've gone through my list, and numbered off a few things that I need to resolve before I can crank through a pile of easy detailing. (it's kind of like a reward system)

I'm focusing on two bigger problems which I feel are either a failure of the design, or a failure on my behalf to see exactly how they would 'work' in 3D. I thought I had gone through and taken enough grabs from the entire series, but I seem to have missed some detailed areas, or while watching the show, I never realized that certain areas are never shown. The animators tend to stick to certain angles, and one seldom sees areas like what the back of the main monitor looks like at its base.
Sometimes, I argue with myself about straying from canon to make something work the way I see it has to work. I'm having issues with the bubble dome. Nothing major, it's just taking me some time to sass how it would really work. I got a lotta' doodles.

Day 10 morning update:
Focused on the two top outer rings. That's all. Spent most of the day cleaning up the scene, removing old guides and extra stuff that I had left in like a bunch of scrap wood on the workshop floor. Created my parent/child heirarchy so as to group elements together for animating.

Oh my.... That is absolutely amazing. You can really see all the process that you've made. I wish you luck in the rest of your endeavor.

I don't know how you do that. It's amazing ! Bravo .

Thanks for the well wishes.
Day 10 evening update:
Very productive day today. Got the base for the outer casing put together, put in the details, and added the exterior large cylinders on both sides.

I notice you have resolved the problem of the half bubble. GREAT !
A couple of days again, and the "nightmare" will be finished for you. The cockpit is, according to me, finished at maybe 85 % now .

More astonishing, this IS the cockpit; this is not LIKE the cockpit.

GJTBG

Yeah! The bubble's taken care of. You might notice that I've modified the outer gold plate that rings the top exterior, and created a secondary plate to cover up where it emerges from. This seemed to be an acceptable addition, considering that there's no other place for the bubble to emerge from. It was easier than cutting a hole.

No update today...it's the weekend. I've been crankin' on this for over a week straight, on top of a contract job that I've been doing, band practice and my homework. I'm taking a couple of days to rest.

Incidentally, I found a new angle source image on the base ring and that front silver plate...I've got it all wrong, so I've got to fix that and get it out of the way.

Bravo for the job Big G. You merit a break of course. Yes now that you are talking about the base of the cockpit, I wonder if it will be a grave problem to create it. Indeed, I noticed like you that the base is not flat. The golden cylinder must be drawn to overlap with the rest of Big O's "throat". It must be flat for the cockpit, but not to be well placed on the throat. Do you understand me ?
Anyway I trust you. You did a very great job. Too bad that there is nobody in the forum who can continue the project in making the whole city in 3D, or the vehicles, the megadeuses, the characters, etc ....

GJTBG

Hey, not commented for a while.
This is very good, also I didn't realise Big O has a bubble over the cockpit, you learn something new everyday. Almost.

Keep it up!

Dude man ive got to say this is really kick ass

Back in the saddle and headin' west on this today.
Work day 11 update:
Scrapped the old base and rebuilt according to the new image


Then I added the front glass panel and capped some of the open geometry.


Here's a test render with the front glass and my early geometry for the central monitor


The central monitor geometry in place, rescaled to clear between the foot pedals


And a series so you guys can see how the dome will animate into position.

Howdy gang. Getting closer!

Day 12 Update:

Wrapped up the central monitor.


Added in the two top small monitors


Exterior view of the two top monitors


Began laying in the interior wall sections and floor.




I'm taking some liberty with the interior walls and floor sections because there's no really decent visual source for this section of the model, and I'm stuck guesstimating the overall shape of the walls from the bends in the pipes from that sketch I posted previously. I'm also adding some variation to it so I can have nooks and crannies for the pipes to tuck away behind. The walls will be much darker black, so they won't be extremely visible behind the piping. I think I can do a better job than just a half sphere with a black and white circuit pattern mapped onto it.

Of primary concern is the flooring directly beneath the chair, for the doors that the chair comes up through, and the placement of the foot-button for the Plasma Gimmick in the Hydra episode.

Incidentally, it was asked if I was going to include all the gimmicks that were revealed throughout the series. I've included some. Not all. I have the base model, which can be modified and added to later.

Also, I've checked out the seat from the Gryphon, and those seats look distinctly different from the Big O seat (much more padded and no black back side)...so I'm assuming that they're not one and the same.

Looking great as always! I'm looking forward to seeing it when it is completed.

I appreciate all the props you guys be givin me.

Day 13 update:

After discovering some new source images, I think I've got the central monitor wrong. It's off, so I modified the base and repositioned the top telescoping section.





I'm about 80% on the floor and interior walls. I had to modify the front sections nearest the pedals, to accomodate the floor button for the plasma gimmick.

Spiffy AND smarmy! Good to hear you're checking your references.

I'm crossing my fingers, hoping you'll go all-out and display some creativity with the circuit-pattern of the pit.

OMFG!!!!

That is awesome! I just saved a bunch of those pictures to my flash drive because that's what my gf wants to be able to do in the future...plus, those pictures are so awesome!!!!

I want to give her a goal to reach, so I am borrowing your pictures.

GO G GO!!!!

No problem about keeping copies of the pictures...go for it. That's why it's all on a public forum.

Day 14 update:
Completed the floor sections and the bottom doors. After going frame by frame through all the episodes, you can imagine my dismay when I discovered that Roger never comes up through the floor in the chair, that I had made that part all up. I guess I musta' got the wires crossed with some other giant robot anime. But since I'd planned for there to be doors, I decided to make 'em anyway. It's not readily apparent, but the four chair supports will rotate and slide outward, while the floor splits into 4 wedges and rotate upward.


Took care of panel 6 real quick. No materials on the lights yet.


And here's a couple of renders, just playing around with various materials and textures on the metals. I don't plan to make everything so reflective, but chrome and gold always look nice with raytraced reflections. Some geometry is still hidden, so if there's a gap, don't worry, it's covered. Just not in this render.




Left to do:
the piping underneath
Modify the seat and headrest,
build a seatbelt

I'm giving myself until saturday afternoon.

GJTBG

Very beautiful. You have nearly finished. Continue !

Bravo for the panel 6 ! Now you have the floor to do, which is very difficult according to me. Good luck. Thank you Big G to give us ... joyce. It's true ! we are very glad to see your craft !

One question however: what about those commands we see in act 3 ?

Look at the 1.54 th minute of this little show to see those commands

Sorry, my storage of attachment is full.

Good day Big G.