Re 3D Modelling and Software

It's been some time since I've done any meaningful 3D modelling.  It could be argued that my current project barely earns the name but... it's something.

With a potential ZA hobbying competition coming up I wanted to 'compile' some bits/components/body parts into some bespoke STALKERS.  I have 3D files from Anvil and other sources and wanted to put them all together into a single model for printing, rather than printing out lots of bits and gluing them up.

With this in mind I decided (for reasons not entirely clear) to download the latest Blender software and have another crack at learning that. I had dabbled with it some... 4... 5 years ago maybe. At the time I was already heavily ensconced in Sketchup and had all the processes and hot keys for that in 'muscle memory'. Safe to say that Sketchup and Blender are ENTIRELY different beasts and I found learning a parallel set of processes/keys very frustrating - so I finished off the projects with Sketchup and ditched Blender.

With years to fade that Sketchup brain-programming I've found (re)learning Blender to be far from the chore that it was previously.

Opinions follow... (where opinions only reflect the software in the context that i use them. I've seen awesome end results from both)

Sketchup is quite... basic. Which is not to say you can't produce nice/suitable results but it's imo... entry level software. If you want to quickly map up a model of your backyard with lots of straight lines and some token furniture to see how it looks and get some distances and perspective, it can be super-quick and super-effective. I'd probably use the term 'light architectural' to describe it. 

I had a crack with another software that I can't remember the name of (TBA [ed: Tinkercad !]) in ther interim where you had to build up different adjacent 'layers', just placing object on object, layer on layer... that was god-awful, though I'm sure I didn't have all the tricks and knacks to operate it 'correctly'.

By comparison Blender is pretty hardcore, and while Sketchup (entirely for example) might have 100 features, Blender has 1000 - including animation, in-depth mesh editing and sculpting (which I think wasn't in there last time i looked at it). It's orders of magnitude more powerful and tbh like most software, you're probably only going to be interested in using < 10% of that functionality. Because of all this functionality there is A LOT of hotkeys, key combos, menus, mouse techinques... it really requires effort and study to dig the functionality YOU want out of it.

So why did I bother?

Partially out of curiosity.  Partially because even when i Sketchup-ing I believed it had the functionality I wanted for 3D modelling, but I was already in a Sketchup headspace.

Even with some hours in the driver seat I think it's probably harder to make a comparable quick-and-easy 'backyard sketch' with Blender. You can undoubtedly get a similar/same result but it's trickier... or there's more involved somehow.

Anyway i got some results and will be firing up the printer later today when it warms up a bit - we're just 2 or 3 days from the start of (damned) winter.

Manoeuvring and transforming the individual objects around Blender is becoming more natural, the sculpting mode is very handy, and I did some basic mesh editing/fixing of the models. I'm wouldn't say that Sketchup is bad (it isn't) but Blender definitely offers more scope for 3D modelling such as I'm doing. If you're looking to get into 3D modelling seriously and have used neither, then I'd probably start with Blender rather than start learning Sketchup 'habits'.

So that was something fun to keep the brain busy. However...

Multiple softwares... multiple ways...

I do find it annoying that there is so much variance in software, for example even just looking at an object. For example the   windows 3d builder  vs  blender  vs  photon slicer     ALL have different mouse button functionality for pan/rotating/zooming in their environments.

Yeah, you (re)remember before long which ones they use, but it's annoying.  Anyway enough whining.

Update - More models...

The hobby challenge is actually for a full crew, so 2 extra models required. Scientists this time...

Despite being scientists they still have hardware and are classed as Veterans so they've probably been out into the zone dozens of times and can handle themselves just fine in the field. Obviously they're not independents like the actual Stalkers, slugging it out day by day just to survive. They also presumably have government or corporate backing equating to perhaps better kit, avoiding malnutrition and gut worm.

Scientist 1 is techiest/nerdiest of the new models, classed as a Researcher, and will be the crew's anomaly specialist. There are new character classes which have specific abilities/skills/stats and so on.

Scientist 2 is classed as a field agent, and more a broad-strokes investigator (Point of Interest specialist - aka environmental hazards). The 'shootiest' class of scientist... they know the zone is hazardous and come prepared... though they're still limited in combat options compared to Stalkers.

The models are very chop-shop and I may get inspired to fix up a couple of ugly bits with green stuff and physical modelling depending on how the prints look.

The blender experience was really good - far more instinctive now. This is still the realm of 'assembly' rather than 'making', which would involve more extrusion and sculpting. But in terms of navigating the interface and 'feeling' the xyz axes... very good. 

update ends

Until next time...

House Party - May '21 - Munda Day

Didn't even have to reschedule this one (though rona played a bit part in the previous session being postponed).

Necromunda, being smaller boards than Epic (especially Mega-Epic) meant that just a 6x4 table-topper, plus an extra plank was enough to put two munda boards on the main table.

Ended up playing... 3 games which was more than sufficient.

A 750pt mission, a 1,000pt mission, and a 1,000 point 4-way uber-mission.

First games were me (van saar) vs dan (delaque)...

and tom (escher) vs gary (enforcers)...

we played specific scenarios, just so we weren't mired by the 'general ruck' malaise - aka to give us some focus.

the 750pt games were something like 'assassinate the corrupt enforcer' - where the team in the middle had a VIP target that they had to escort to the edge of the board, and the other team had to stop them.

This was quite hard as there's a lot of board edge to cover with very few models.

On my board the VIP escaped, on the other board the enforcers managed to shoot him with a sniper as he wasn't adequately meat-shielded.

I think we did lunch bbq after that. Weather wasn't appalling for (general winterly unpleasantness) and it was at least warmer than when we started.

We then went to our 1,000pt squads as a build up to the final mission.

This was my 1,000 pointer... I included melta/claw guy (2nd pic) mainly just so I could try him out/give him a run as he seemed unlikely to make a seriously built list... that said... 

The squad had Fury with twin sub-carbines as the Leader and Overseer skill, paired with Rysaph with a combi-plasma and fast shot skill.  This is a fairly common van-saar loadout that allows the plasma gunner more than 2 actions per turn as the leader can bequeath their actions to another model. so you could potentially shoot plasma 4 times. Or duck out, shoot, shoot again, duck back in. It's a bit cheesy, but cheerleading models isn't unique to this situation, and all crews have access to it. Davos the Melta/Claw guy for shiggles, and the rest are basic lasgun dudes with no armour or extra game to speak of.

The scenario object for second game was for the defending side (tom) to have 5 ammo crates and for me to run over and try to steal them. In our game there was a lot of death for the first 2/3rds of the game, and only in the last turn or two did either of us get back to the mission and start hauling crates away... actually i didn't get any but I kind of rolled up the right-hand side of the board, while tom had the left. If we had kept playing I possibly could have hauled one, maybe two away, though tom's gals would have been pot-shotting me the entire time... and we were down to 2 models each.

Sat out in the sun while we waited for the other game to conclude, around 2pm the warmest part of the day and the sun was nice.

Then we started a 4-way game, the Ambot in the middle was the target. It had some funky and unpleasant rules such as overwatching you if you tried to shoot it... or if you ended your turn in line of sight of it... or something...

I was entirely focused on getting my crew up to the Ambot with the intention of having the melta guy swat it good. Managed to avoid conflicts with the other gangs aside from a minor incident with a wayward dwarf (Enforcer hanger-oner)...

Escher crew...

Pic stolen from tom's insta...

With everyone loaded onto the elevator (which was out of LoS), one of the other gangers ran into cover and hit the 'up' button (and sneakily remaining out of LoS).

Melta guy hosed down the Ambot with a strength 8, 3 wound attack and melted it to slag. Done.

I fully acknowledge that everyone else was generally letting me stick to task.

That said the Enforcers and Delaque were getting distracted by having a bit of bif on their side of the board. The Escher did have their crew approaching the Ambot.

The 3 wound critter was a pretty tough customer though, and i'm sure the regular gangers (mine included) would have suffered several casualties beating it down the conventional way.

All good fun. I had a great day and hope the visitors did too.

Although we 'only' had 3 games, games are rarely quick activities, so getting 3 in was an a worthy effort. Think we finished up around 7pm... 8pm at the latest.

Until next time...

Zona Alfa - Terrain - Junk Build

Yeah, yeah, more terrain. But still different than the others.

As a participant in this particular hobby you go through paint. You end up with a bunch of empty paint pots. What do you do with them?

I asked this of a fellow hobbyist who was into building terrain out of junk (paraphrasing), he suggested industrial pipes, bins, vats... pretty much variations of paint pot but smaller.

doing some gardening i found that some of the plants came with 'name tags' on these tag-holder stands/spikes that were pretty cool. held onto a few of them thinking that i might be able to come up with some kind of terrain 'something'.

Junk builds aren't something I've really done before, there's usually a plan or design (i.e. epic ship) or a specific project I'm basically copying (outpost).

I started assembling the empty pots, the plastic tag-holders, some container caps... bits and pieces.... junk.

The end result is the... "Merran Corp. Passigen 4000"...

These are passive (no moving external blade) wind generators that are deployed within the zone to produce power - normally only by permanent military or scientist bases/camps as they are hideously expensive.

The sail at the top funnels wind down into the generator which is in the housing directly below, the larger container is mainly an energy storage unit (battery).  Both of the barrels are huge chunks of metal that provide vibration dampening for the mechanisms and anti-tip to counter the sail, the result being that they provide excellent firefight cover. The units can be linked up into a larger grid to provide redundancy and smoother power levels - preferred by the scientists for their delicate instruments.

Rumours circulated that they contain some componentry including some kind of artifact fragments. They are rarely left unguarded and are usually close to camp, aka within sniper or drone range. Stalker camps are unlikely to have one though you might see an occasional, restored and barely-functioning specimen near permanent trading settlements.   They're also too heavy to shift around without heavy vehicles so any abandoned ones (usually broken) are more likely to be stripped for salvage with the special components removed before some GI lobs a grenade in to finish the job.

Back and front...

They're big enough to provide some useful cover variation on the table. Mixed in with some drums or trees or sandbags or something they should be useful.

Turns out I didn't have any unpainted pics so that's it.

Until next time...

Zona Alfa - Electro Anomaly

Another small project.

Electros  are one of the more common (official) anomalies in the zone. More-or-less a patch of ground that has built up an electric charge somehow, step on or near it and blazing arcs of electricity shoot out and fry whoever triggered it. They're often found in clumps or groups and can cover a relatively large area.

I just made one. Idea copied from someone in the fb group.

The base is relatively small, wanted another small anomaly that i could drop next to a hotspot rather than an objective feature.

Pin holes drilled through a mdf base. The wire is from a spring that i straightened out - wanted something that would hold it's shape. Pushed one end through and zig-zag'd the wire with pliers. both ends were shaped into 'L's so it wouldn't pop out. Once the wires were formed i made another based and epoxied it to the underside of the main base. This covered all the wire popping out under the base.  I then cut that secondary base in half to reduce the height slightly. No wires protruding underneath - happy.

Glued on a couple of mulch wood chip which would be logs or debris. I think i originally was thinking of doing rocks but this is what happened.

Painted up. I think it will look better in situ in a darker setting. It turned out a little 'busier' than i had perhaps hoped for but it will do. it's not horrible.

"STALKER!  Don't take another step unless you want this whole sector to stink of bacon!"

The base size is a little smaller than the globe, possible a little larger than the vortex. It will be suitable for dropping in.

And that's that.

Until next time...

Dropzone Commander - Introduction (aka: say what now?)

Due to reasons (including but not limited to; other people also interested in it, see it a while back and thinking 'that's cool', and let's say... a general malaise with certain 6mm systems, they were on sale, the system is still actively supported) I ended up getting some starter boxes for Dropzone Commander.

I had seen these models painted up in display cabinets in a couple of FLGS some time ago and it looked interesting, but I'd passed it over as;  i) it has more of a... battletech/anime aesthetic than I normally like,  ii) I already had Epic as my game for that scale/genre (6-15mm massed battlefield).

Similarly, at cancon there were often some Dropzone Commander/Dropfleet Commander (hereafter DZC/DFC) items floating around in stalls but with less intensity that most other systems. I was, and still am, wary of 'peripheral games' after my experience with Halo version (company closes, no support, no players, lots of tiny paperweights).

Dropfleet Commander is sometimes referred to as the spiritual successor of the long unsupported Battlefleet Gothic, having being designed by the same author (to what extent I do not know).

With the stars aligned and after a quick chat to the local players about the game (sadly i didn't know they were playing until after they had finished otherwise i could have watched/learned!!) I ended up with a couple of cheap starters.

Over the last couple of days I have assembled the UCM faction, which was a relatively painless process...

Squared away (though they will probably get painted before anything on the existing paint queue)...

There are 5 main factions in this fiction. UCM probably being the most 'vanilla' group. There is a bunch of backstory and fluff which I haven't delved into too deeply.  Probably want have a game or several before investing too heavily in the fluff (or more models for that matter). 

So I have the opposing starter to do, the Scourge faction.

My understanding is that it's generally simpler than Epic and thought to be more 'balanced' across the factions,  so I look forward to trying it out and seeing how it blends.  If DFC carries on and improves upon Battlefleet, then it's not entirely unreasonable to anticipate DZC might improve upon Epic and will hopefully be a decent set of mechanics.

I think there are 3 or 4 other locals gearing up for DZC so a willing player base certainly helps enthusiasm. Interestingly, I found out that some of the same local subset also have the Halo stuff... not that I really want to dig that out.

Update 20210510

Finished assembling the Scourge...

The tanks are all 'hover tanks' so once painted they will be mounted on the clear discs at the front.

Not like I will be magnetising them so they can sit in the drop ships.... that way lies madness... though i believe some people do or have done that.

Until next time...

Zona Alfa - Bubble Anomaly

Just a simple for fun project.

Was wandering bunnings looking for more serious stuff and found a bag of pretty rocks (right) and glass beados at a 2 dollar shop looking for...[from memory]... dog mats.

Same size at the human tree anomaly just cos... glass epoxy'd on.

Wall plaster. 5 litre tub... goes a long way most of the time. 

Pva, sand, various paints. Then some static grass. 

"No way I'm going near that thing, send the drone..."

Fairly simple but happy with the result. nice and bright instead of dull and nebulous. 

My only beef with this and the previous anomaly is that they're a bit big. They're not really going to pop out unexpectedly at a hot spot. They're more likely going to be a pre-set mission objective.

Am planning (and have started... of course) a smaller anomaly, an 'electro' which will actually be a little smaller than the vortex, which works ok as a hot spot anomaly. 

So there you go.

Until next time...

Necromunda - Van Saar - Done

It appears that it has been a while since my last brain dump.  Haven't done tonnes of hobby stuff, but seem to have got some done.

Two games days have come and gone since my last post. On both occasions I had one game of Titanicus in the morning and one game of Necromunda in the arvo.

It seems that I'll do just about anything to avoid painting AT titans, which in this context means I finished off my Van Saar gang for Necromunda.

Here is the family photo with everyone in there.

To be fair I was waiting on a weapons pack that I only received on the first of those game days before getting on with this particular project - it hadn't stalled from lack of interest.

Subsequently finished off assembly of the hoverboards, special weapons extras and 3d printing up an arachni-rig, just for fun.

The arachni-rig was a bugger to glue together as the print was... somewhat meh. no idea why, everything printed more or less ok, but the arm connection points were dubious... superglue eventually held and then epoxy afterwards to solidify the arms, so it's solid enough.
And looks fine from arms length.

It is quite a lot of models for a gang (29), and I don't think I'll need any additions in the future (near or far) - that's it. Unless they bring out a funky new model or something, which would probably be a while off. I think there might even be some left over body bits on the sprue that I couldn't be bothered assembling even. Really done.

Why so many?

Two reasons:

a) It is common for VS to run a lot of lasgun/lascarbine models as the bulk of the force. The VS models are relatively quite expensive so spamming this relatively cheap model/loadout is one way to get your body count (activations) up, which is fairly important.

b) A bit under half of the smaller/regular models are fitted with special weapons. These are the gang Champions/Leaders and although you only need one or two per game it's nice to be able to choose from multiple option which one you'll use.

It's looking like Necromunda might be the flavour of the month for 2021 - quite a bit of interest and quite a few players with gangs done or underway (both my usual hobby buddies and others too, so a chance to meet more folk).

We're still in the  small games / rules-looking-up   stage at the moment, but as we're getting more games under our belts the games flow smoother and with less confusion, especially on the basics which is good.

Am quite enjoying it all, and looking forward to putting these guys on the table again soon.

Update 2021-06-21

While focusing on 'core' gangers for the crew I overlooked 'Juves'. These are less experienced gang members often used (by other factions) as cannon fodder - VS are meant to be more long-term however.

That said they're cheap bodies with worst stats that boost your activations. Well worth looking into, or at least having the option available. 

I raided my left over VS sprues and managed to put together 4 Juves - 3 with laspistol and 1 with lasgun. Nothing spectacular but happy I kept the left overs. 

Has a look at my list spreadsheet and was able to easily put together 9-10 person lists at 1,000pts. Don't know if they'd be my preferred options, but proves the point. Seems friendlier than 6-7 bodies.

update ends

Until next time...