monkey business

1. First,I createdthe bodyfor mysidekick. Tocreate the
bodyof mysidekick,Iwasusinglotsof spheresall
conjoinedtogethersothatI wouldgetthe feel thatit
wouldactuallybehave like aregularcaterpillar.
I alsoaddedsome extradetails,butIremovedthem
because Iwantedto re-dothembetter.
I startedoff the entire thinginthe wrong way; I was
addinglotsof differentshapesthatdidn’tneedtoactually
be on the designat thisearlyinthe productiontime.I
changedthese (removedthem) sothatI couldfocuson
justdoingthe bodyfor the start of production.

2. I thencompletedwhatIwantedthe bodyto looklike. I
completeditbyusingmore spherestogeta segmented
effect.Asitisbasedoff an insectitneededtohave
segmentsinitsothat it wouldlookasclose to its real life
counterpart.
I removedthe additionalbitsIhadpreviouslyputon. They
weren’tneededatthisstage andtheywere incompletely
the wrong place,also,Ineededtocorrectsizeswithout
havingtoomuch hassle.
At thisstage,I wantedtoget the mainbodycompletedas
thiswas the base canvas foreverythingelseIwantedto
add to it.I coulddo whatI wantedwiththe bodyas I got it
to the base effectthatI wanteditto be.I laterwenton to
add featurestoit,and change the base body verylittle.

3. I addeda pointystabberontohistail.Thiscan be usedas
botha highpower,unbreakable drill.Also,itiscoveredin
the fastestactingneurotoxinknowntoman. Thiswas made by addinga cone to the endof the body,
thenbevellingittothe desiredeffect. Asyoucansee,I
had addedthisinearlierdesign,butitwasn’twhatI
wanteditto be whenI originallyputiton.
Thisis where Istartedto add differentfeaturestothe
body.I couldbasicallydowhatI wanted,aslongas it
followedmybase design.IknewbasicallywhatIwanted
on it,and where itshouldgo,I justhad tomodel it.

4. I useddiscsto make some sawblade thingsthatsit onthe
back of the roboticcaterpillar. Icopyand pastedthe discs
so that theywouldbe identical andmade sure theywere
symmetrical onthe pointsof the cylinder.Ididn’tmirror
at thisstage as itwas easiertojustplace theminthe
correct spots.
I justuseda standard cylindertomake a pole thatthe
discssiton. If I animatedthissidekickcharacter,the pole
wouldbe extremelyflexible.
At thispoint,Istartedto add evenmore detail toit,all the
while referringbacktomy original designs,makingsure I
was ontrack. I didn’twantto change the original ideatoo
much as itis a prettysounddesignintermsof howI
wantedit.

5. I startedto add long,thinconestobecome the spikesof
the saw blades.Thiswasjustbasiccone that I’ve stretched
out to become the desiredshape.
As isclearlyvisible,Ihave notaddedspikestothe other
side,also,Ihave not addedspikesall the wayaroundthe
diskwhichhasspikesonit.This isso I can mirror itlaterto
geta more evencoverof the spikes,ratherthanhaving
themunsymmetrical.
I beganto add more detail tomy design.Detail inthe form
of small,precise shapesthatcouldtotallychange to
overall lookfromakid’stoyinto somethingyouwouldnot
wantto meetina dark alleywayat3 inthe morning.

6. As youcan see,I have mirroredthe entire modelsothatI
couldgetthe spikesevenonone of the discs, sothat
whenI eventuallymirrorthe entire thingtospikesonthe
otherside,theywill be completelyidentical.
If you lookclosely,youcansee thatone of the discsvery
clearly hasthe spikesevenlycoveringit,whereasthe
otherone doesn’thave any.Again,thisissoI can mirrorit
to getit identical andsymmetrical.
My designatthisstage I beganto want complete
symmetrythroughoutit.ThiswaswhenIstartedusingthe
mirrortool to getthingslookingidentical.Of course,if you
zoomedinclose enoughthere mightbe some anomalies.

7. Lookingclosely,youcansee thatI have nowmirroredit to
getsymmetrical spikesonbothsides.Theyare perfectly
even,andcompletelyidentical.
I wantedthe whole thingtobe completelysymmetrical,so
I usedthe mirror tool a lotso that nothingwouldbe
uneven,though,laterIdidhave toadjustthingsafterI
mirroreditso the physicsmade sense andwouldactually
workin a real worldsituation.
I alsousedthe mirror technique onthe legs,whichwere
juststumpy,bigconesthat I placedthroughoutone side
of the bottomso that I couldmirrorit andget themeven
so that if itwas broughtintoa real life place,itwould
standeven.

8. As isvisible,Ihave startedtoadd the same conesthatI
usedforthe sawblades, ontothe back of my sidekick.
I addedthe conesto the back of the design.These are
some of the thingsthatI needtotweakas if I leftthem
howtheywere,some of the pikeswouldhave clashed.

9. Thisis where Iaddedfinal details,likea little crestresting
on topof the spikesthatleadupis neckand ontothe top
of mysidekick’sneck.Thisiswhere Ireallyfinalisedthe
idea.