First off, I'm not an artist by any stretch of the imagination. I'm a programmer (meaning this is programmer art) and I'm only 17. But I spent a lot of time making this catapult for my 4E5 entry (like 4 full days) and I'm quite proud of how it's turned out. Here's a shot of it in my game engine: And here's one from blender, so you can see the texture without lighting: It's 851 triangles with a 512 by 512 texture. I'd really appreciate some advice on how to make it look better.

not bad... As for improvements, I cant see a spring mechanism or something which would make the catapult spring forward when the rope is cut ;)

In true medieval style, you just bend the wood:

It's actually animated too, but it seemed a bit weird to cut the rope and have it materialise again out of nothingness, so I just left it there.

EDIT: If you'd like to see it in motion, here's a test app:
Catapult Test

[Edited by - RAZORUNREAL on July 8, 2006 9:04:08 AM]

What's with the moving light?
It looks very realstic. Good luck with your project & 4e5.

for programmer art that is not bad at all... better than a lot of starting artists' work actually. what type of game is it for?

its actually very good :D the animation looks extremly good becouse it bounces on and off a bit. i relly dont know much about catapults but i think it would move a bit or jump becouse of the force when that thing that carrys the rock hits the bar(i mean the whole body+wheels).keep it up !

Looks great for an RTS game, if not for a first person game. Is it just me or are the normals on the cup in the first picture off?

Though, about the whole spring mechanism, catapults didn't really bend their wood so much. They actually used rope for the springiness. You see the wood beam that is at the base of the arm (hopefully you do, you made it)? Well, that would be replaced with coiled rope wrapped about the arm. No wood needed there. It works surprisingly well.

Also, many catapults didn't use cups at the end of the arms. Frequently, it was a sling like a trebuchet.

Of course, no one really cares unless it's supposed to be a simulation.

Edit: after seeing it in motion, I have to say that the normals of the cup are definately not so great. other than that, nice work!

If you are going to spend 4 full days building something, at least research how it operates first!

http://science.howstuffworks.com/question127.htm is a good start.

Quote: Original post by RAZORUNREAL
In true medieval style, you just bend the wood:

It's actually animated too, but it seemed a bit weird to cut the rope and have it materialise again out of nothingness, so I just left it there.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure you don't cut the rope every time you want to fire it. I'd imagine there's some kind of release system.

Quote: Original post by Professor420
If you are going to spend 4 full days building something, at least research how it operates first!

http://science.howstuffworks.com/question127.htm is a good start.

I did, and read that. Wasn't specific enough to be any use, so I just went with a system I thought would be appealing to players.

Quote: Original post by Ezbez
Looks great for an RTS game, if not for a first person game. Is it just me or are the normals on the cup in the first picture off?

Thanks, and yeah it's for a tower defence game. You're right that the normals aren't great. They're "correct" for the geometry, but that needs some work. Not sure how to fix that without messing up the texture coordinates, but I'll have a go.

Quote: Original post by Ezbez
Though, about the whole spring mechanism, catapults didn't really bend their wood so much. They actually used rope for the springiness. You see the wood beam that is at the base of the arm (hopefully you do, you made it)? Well, that would be replaced with coiled rope wrapped about the arm. No wood needed there. It works surprisingly well.

Ah, I see. Thanks! I did a bit of a search before I started, but didn't come up with much.

Quote: Original post by Ezbez
Also, many catapults didn't use cups at the end of the arms. Frequently, it was a sling like a trebuchet.

Ok, but that's more trouble to make. I may yet make a trebuchet... Can they be used defensively? I need some sort of heavy tower.

EDIT: Fixed up the bucket normals. Turned out the normals around the edge of the bucket were shared between the top and bottom, which was really too sharp without more tesselation. So I just made it a hard edge, which looks good enough for my purposes.

Thanks guys!

[Edited by - RAZORUNREAL on July 9, 2006 1:21:08 AM]