i like it, i think it lacks a bit of functionality, which has always been an oversight in halo. the joints need to be freed up so they don't clip or restrict movement. next, i think some of the cut out parts of the armor need to have more depth in the model. also i think that the hex patterns in the visor highlight its low poly count, and the ones on the undersuit don't look too good either. the points on the back of the helmet should be sloped down farther like in the concept.
finally i'd like to say that armor ought to be practical, rounded edges help to deflect bullets better while flat planes absorb hits (round edges would better disperse heat too) but, the armor should still have enough grooves, connectors, insets, and modular pieces to allow the wearer to attach needed items or customize the armor to suit the environment (the grooves also allow for plenty of artistic freedom)

I have to agree with you on these things, but I have some doubts about how to fix some of them. The cut out parts, for example... I don't know how to give them more depth (maybe I could simulate the muscles on the exposed parts of the torso, but I can't find something similar for the other parts). And about the techsuit pattern, unless you mean that there are some uv errors (something that I can easily solve), I don't know how to improve them. Currently they are a detail map, and the only thing that comes in my mind is applying them on both the diffuse and the multi, and simulate the bumps via cubemap in order to get a result similiar to H4 (unless you want to completely remove them). I can easily fix the points of the helmet, the flat parts that should be rounder (maybe making them chubbier like xnx and the others suggested) and the hexagons pattern on the helmet (perhaps a better cubemap could solve the problem without obliging me to remove it). Yet I find some problems about these:

-the joints are, as they are, already designed to guarantee movement, but freeding them up could make the armor look too vulnerable on some parts...
-Grooves, connectors and modular pieces...

Note that when I say "I find problems" I don't mean "I can't solve those things", but I mean that, as the model is, I can't find something in mind that can fit those things. Perhaps what limits me is the fact that every armor in every Halo game had this type of problems, and if you look at all of them, you can notice that I can't find anything that can help:

Halo 1, 2, 3 and 4: http://static3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140101133336/halo/it/images/5/53/Evolution.png

Halo Legends: http://www.halotoynews.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/502px-HaloLegends-MasterChief-transparent.png

Halo Reach: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_LOBxT7xf1WE/TQVKX3oTPMI/AAAAAAAAAJc/MQmivFCd4JM/s1600/reach%25252525252B7.jpg

Halo Wars: http://www.therpf.com/attachments/f9/halo-wars-mk-iv-mjolnir-weapons-wip-template.jpg-202768d1372479722

If you can find something that can fit what you have in mind, don't hesitate to post it here. I prefer having a guide line instead of ruining the model in an effort to improve it. I hope I have been clear, because I find really hard to explain this limitations I find... :[

I think I get what he's saying about the armor joints being too...restricting. They seem as though they'd get in the way of a normal person's range of movement, let alone movement when we're talking full combat situations. In the pic of the gravity hammer you can see his wrist armor and back-hand plate colliding. The hand plate could easily be shortened so that it doesn't extend so far towards the wrist. As for the techsuit option, I think as far as the armor goes, and for it being "exposed" and vulnerable, that's what the energy shield is for. Even the spartan's armor (in the canon) doesn't stand up very well against covenant energy weapons. Significantly better than standard marine battle armor, but that's like saying a bullet has a harder time going through a tin can than through an aluminum can. Technically true, but....

I like the way you've segmented a lot of the plates that in the first game were more solid and "blocky", for lack of a better term. Maybe a bit more definition in the texturing would help bring out those details and prevent the large sections from looking too plain or bland.

Also, speaking of the techsuit, I think the H4 armor had that "futuristic" feel, in that it really made sense how it all went together. The techsuit encapsulates the spartan, and the hard armor goes on in segments over it. Makes more sense than just "get naked and put on this ceramic suit". That being said, this is an H1 mod, so modeling it too closely after the H4 suit would be a tad odd.

Maybe something more similar to the CEA armor?

In this pic:


You can see the segmentation of the plates (i.e. his thigh plates, knees and calves especially.). I have a hard time buying, even with CEA's version, that a suit that high-tech and complex would fit together so...cleanly, and so few moving parts to be seen, or attachment points. Instead of the rectangular pattern that the above image shows for the black "undersuit", you could implement the hex pattern, open up the plates a bit, and definitely keep that hex pattern on the faceplate.

And remember man, it doesn't need to be "like one of the other games". Just look at your shotgun or sniper rifle, they look nothing like the originals or any of the sequel game assets, but they still have that classic look, with a custom edge. That's part of the reason I really love your tagset, they mesh well together, because they all push the envelope in a unique way, and they do it together as a cohesive set. The spartan model should be no different :)

for the joints, it'd be best to find a way to make them thinner in areas that make contact with each other, like elbows. also i can elaborate on what i was saying earlier if it'd help. it would be quite difficult and costly to have each piece of armor plating (chest, forearms, thigh, etc) be once solid piece of armor. furthermore having said regional armor units be made of smaller pieces allows for faster assembly/disassembly/replacement of damaged sections, makes for a better fit as there is some "wiggle room" between pieces, and helps the armor sections be better scaled for production (and even more cost efficient). having the pieces of said armor regions rounded allows them to better disperse force and heat (and deflect some glancing hits), but flat panels can be easier to attach to or reinforce. the idea is to get a balance of rounded and built up reinforced edges. lastly, while they catch bullets and can hang up on terrain, it helps to have grooves/insets/connectors to add components that adapt the armor to its environment(said pieces allow the designers to create their own feel/style after the shape of the armor has been established). also soi if u don't mind my saying i'd love to see what you'd make as your own armor permutation.

I've been loving how over the top your new designs are but now we have a skinny Chief?
Comon man!

I don't want to justify myself, but it's not always easy to get each time something new and original...

@Nex and @greg079: Thanks a lot for explainations, now I have more clear what I have to do, in fact I have already some ideas about how to fix those problems and add something new. I admit that this time I focused more on recreating the concept instead of adding my personal touch, but I'm going to add some things in order to make it more original.

Specifically, this is what I have in mind:
-Getting a better cubemap for the visor and making it more clean, in order to solve the hexagons issue.
-Making some trial with the bones in order to see which parts of the armor collide and fix them
-Applying the techsuit pattern on both the multi and the diffuse in order to simulate bumps via cubemap (the "reflection diffuse metal" cubemap doesn't give a glossy look, but it just creates an enlighted region that simulates dinamic lighting, so it can help a lot)
-Modify the geometry of the torso in order to make the muscles more evident
-Making some parts like the thighs, the lower torso and the arms larger in order to not look skinny
-Adding some details like grooves, connections, bolts and sharpen the existing ones in order to make the armor parts look like assembled pieces instead of just painted lines on the diffuse (I forgot that the MJOLNIR is composed of multiple pieces, the H4 epilogue shows clearly what greg079 means about having multiple parts in order to better assembly and disassembly the armor)
-Some decals like the red triangles/arrows of the Halo Legends armor, maybe? (tell me because I'm not sure about this)



Honestly my ideal armor is very similiar to the concept I found. Of course it's not the same, but there are some things that I always loved, and that it has:
-the helmet, imo, should be shaped in order to make MC look angry when he slightly inclines his head (like in this pic: http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/QJEPfbrnleU/hqdefault.jpg)
-the chest should be separated in three parts, a middle armor plate and two simmetrical pieces on each pectoral. Other than that, I don't find anything better because honestly I find the torso the most boring part of the armor...
-the shoulders should stand out of the rest of the body, or at least stay above the neck attachment. I liked a lot the H4 shoulders, but imo they should have been nearer to the arms and a bit smaller
-the arms should be designed in order to perfectly fit each other but, on the other hand, I love some "aggressive" parts like the elbow pieces
-the hands should have a finger protection, though I hate the H2/3 handplate due to its circular holes (they remind me of lego blocks lol)
-the pelvis should be shaped in order to not make too evident his... HE-HEM...
-The legs should give comfort in movement, and have a sleek design
-The feet should be squared, and not look like actual shoes
-lights, of course
-the back should have some sort of visual magnets (because the backpack weapon should go somewhere, right?) and that "mechanical spine" that it has in Halo Legends

While a lot of these were already in the concept, I added the rest. Anyway, I'll try to get a more personal shape adding more details. I'll post the (I hope) final result here

Get a Backup this tag's looks awesome and the marterchief helmet Look's really awesome the flood to but i loved the MasterChief tag

Since it's built for combat, when you say "aggressive" pieces, like elbow joints, are we talkin' BADASS elbow joints?



Obviously not medieval, but I feel like if I elbow a grunt in the face, there should be more to it than just brute force. Spartans were supposed to be able to "brawl", but they weren't brawlers. They were scalpels with a lot of force behind 'em

glad i could help soi, but with the permutation i was thinkin' u could do your version inspired by the concept, and then have another version but u could be creative and make your own shoulders, chest addon, etc, whatever u like.

I'm feeling generous this time, so I'm going to do what you said: I'll release the current recreation of the Mark VII concept art for who likes it, and then work on my own version of MC's armor for my mod.

Here is the link for the Mark VII: https://www.dropbox.com/s/vdyfny30ci6uh94/soi_mark_vii.rar

Now I'll do the things I said, and take also some freedom with the adds. The final armour will still keep the original design a bit, but I'm going to add more details. I found some interesting additions in the H4 Warrior, Classic Mark VI and Scout armors that I could look into (more than the other armors I posted above). They're just an inspiration, though.

@Nex: Yep, that's what I mean. Of course with a sci-fi look instead of a medieval design, but that's the concept.

Pray 4 a new update of Adjuntant that could rip alll halo 4 models.

SOI, you could take the champions bundle armor models that someone here released (think it was waffles) and do the Mark V, but edit it to make it look a bit more like the CEA version?

p.s. dat h4 mk.V....

I like the chief. Has a good mix of h4 and h3.

I feel a slight anger in this assault rifle design because there seems to be a piece that i designed for the halo assault rifle that no one has thought of adding, but it's on this assault rifle... >.>
Did you take some designs from my old assault rifle concept... >.>
I don't think i have the original assault rifle that i designed. But i do remember someone who might have a resized picture of it... I think it was Maniac1000 or someone who scaled it to make it longer looking because when i drew it, it was a bit short. Who ever it was, do you still have it or remembered what thread it was from?

What piece are you referring to?

It's small but it's there. That rail looking thingy at the top of the gun that sort of blends in with the dark texture. Sorry it took so long to reply. I was looking through my drawing folders and my internet takes forever to upload pictures... -_- Here are some of my old designs. They sort of look the same but what ever. Note, something is wrong with my printer scanner and i can't find the install disk for it so i just took a picture of it instead. Also they were all designed pretty long ago from the other so some may look more like crap then the other. I'm not sure which one or if it was one of these, but-... Here they are. Please wait for the rest. I will just edit my post to show the others when they are done uploading. Please don't take any designs with out credit or asking. -_-

I think it was this one. (This is a reupload)


Or this one.

Edited by P3 on Jan 19, 2014 at 04:51 PM

I don't see an accessory rail on his assault rifle. He appears to have added two simple iron sights. In any case, I don't think you can consider a top-mounted accessory rail to be your own unique idea, because they've been putting them on guns since the 1980s, and you aren'tthe first person to think about putting a rail atop an MA5.
Edited by Echo77 on Jan 19, 2014 at 05:11 PM

I'm not seeing what you are talking about on the assault rifle picture you just showed me. I think you are thinking that i'm talking about that one accessory rail. It's just a little detail that shouldn't matter but. Meh, what ever. Just something to talk about. :p

I'm talking about that one thing that is on top of the first groove thingy on all the pictures but the last. For the last one it's that thing in the middle groove
Here is another one.


The last one

Maybe you won't trust me, but I've never seen your concepts before... Also, I don't see any resemblance between your rails on the top of the AR and my version. Maybe that pic doesn't show very well the top part of my AR, but if you see it in fp, you can notice that they are different:



P.S. Your drawings are quite amazing, btw :o

Oooooooh, that's how it looked like. I thought it was a literal rail like my designs. XD
Love the ammo counter on your assault rifle though. Looks nice! :o

Also, those drawings of mine looks like crap. :l
Those were pretty old. They should look alot better now if i were to redraw them. :p

i'd like to say i think u have a very unique style to your concepts and if u don't mind i'd like to consider them in my own work, credit will be given where it's due.

Sure which one? I'll make a better one if you want.

You don't have to be a genius to come up with something like accessory rails for the AR.

I know this! -_- I just wanted something to argue about because i had nothing better to do at the moment.

Wait... what's that thing on the right?
Looks a bit like the drinol.
Edited by Hammad on Jan 20, 2014 at 11:06 AM

P3, that's a nice offer, but i can draw as well so the only thing i needed from those was the style and concept. thanks regardless.

Ok. Got it.

I know it's stupid to ask but.. are you ever going to release those sexy looking weapons of yours? I can't wait to rip the sh#t out them! Sorry I am too excited... I love your work soooo much :D

1) He'll release his mod open source, so when it's done, rip ALL THE THINGS you want.
2) Don't bypass the profanity filter - it's not that I care, but it is a rule and I've seen the banhammer descend for less.
3) I'm right there with you. That's honestly the only good flamethrower model I've ever seen in this game, and I'd cut off my pinkie if he'd let me use it early (provided I don't release a map with it before he does *wink wink nudge nudge*)
Edited by NeX on Jan 20, 2014 at 09:54 PM

*bump* any updates? :D

Sorry, guys... This month has been an hell due to the university... but luckily I finished all my exams, and now I have more time for working!
About some updates, I have finished my version of the MC model (according to my tastes). Remember that this armor was made following my wishlist of things that I've always wanted to see in an armor, so maybe some of you may not like it, but I'm gonna use it in my mod anyway (mostly because I spent too much time on it, and I need to go on with the other tags). So... this is my armor:













I know that it is a lot similiar to the old version, but actually that was intentional. Anyway, I added a lot of details starting from the old version, polished some errors (like the proportions of the arms and the chest), made the muscles on the bodysuit more evident, added a lot of connections and segments, decals, lights, the H4 Rogue shoulders (inb4 "SOI is a H4 fanboy", I like them), more space in the joints, a better visor and, most of all, I brought back the antenna from the oldest builds of MC: http://s3.roosterteeth.com/images/Hellian66643f53a706b137.jpg

I'm currently working on the FP arms. The next thing that I'm going to do after them is the new HUD. I'll explain later what I have in mind for it...

It's hard to place what's changed, but he looks a lot nicer and looks really good. I like he's a blend between the live action, h4, and h2/3.

I'm actually enjoying the way you have this armor setup, but I have a few personal qualms, not about design, but just the work.

The texture on the shoulder plates looks a bit out of place, and from further away, seems like a UV error. I don't know exactly why its like that, but from what I can see, I think it might contrast a bit too much with the rest of the armor. On that note, there seems to be a bit of noise overlayed onto the forearms. was that intentional or was that just there?

The legs, more specifically the inner thigh, has some UV errors going on. I would assume that to be more because of the model, but if that's the case, editing the model to make that transition smoother shouldn't be difficult at all. The back and the shoulders seem to suffer the same fate.

Otherwise, I really do enjoy the way this looks. The upper rear area of the helmet is too sharp for my tastes personally but my opinion matters slightly less on that front.

I'm glad that at least you like the design choice. Most of the errors you pointed are actually in the rig, because I can guarantee that the UVs are fine. I'm currently messing with the skin modifier and the mesh in order to solve those errors (unluckily the techsuit pattern doesn't help in the joints, I'm thinking to remove it in those parts...). About the forearms and the shoulder plates, the noise on the former was intentional (though the original H3 texture already had it, and I even reduced it), while for the latter, I think the problem is that it was too "clean" if compared to the rest of the armor, so I added a bit of noise on it:



Also, I finished the Fp arms. There isn't really much to say about them, since you can already see how they should be in the MC model, but anyway, here it is how they look like:







I'm emulating the bumps on the techsuit with a cubemap, but the result isn't really accurate (It's in moment like this that I hate the fact that OS doesn't run on my PC...). Of course the model supports the shield shaders:



Also, I wanted to tell you my ideas for the new tag I'm going to make: the new HUD.
This is the overall concept of how it should be like (crappy reference pic):

The pic speaks for itself, but I need to clarify some things:
-The outlines and the visor overlays will be barely noticeable, in order to not occlude the field of view of the player
-proportions aren't right due to my horrible drawing skills (lol)
-The thing on the top-left of the motion tracker is the flashlight meter, that acts exactly like the AA meter in HR/H4
-the compass above the shield bar will be dinamic, and not just an overlay bitmap
-the slot on the left of the grenades is the equipment icon
-the little thing on the left of the weapon ammo counter is the ammo counter of the secondary trigger for the weapons which have it (for example, the grenade launcher of the AR)
-the outlines around the grenades and the ammo counters are just a crappy concept, they will be more elaborated
-every element will be straight and not curved/deformed like in H3

So... this is what I have in mind. Let me know what you think
Edited by SOI_7 on Feb 13, 2014 at 05:57 PM
Edited by SOI_7 on Mar 4, 2014 at 02:17 PM

That hud looks like the halo 4 prototype hud.