The Evolution of the Assimilators

As most of you who have been watching this mods progress, you probable noticed the constant changing of the Combine Assimilator.

When this project began, the idea of an assimilator was that it would be a mechanical machinary that would intake diverse "loots" and output a new, per-say, "gift" to its owners. Since my first modeling experience started because of Unreal Tournament 2004, where the environment usually has a mechanical feel to it, of course I'm talking about some indoor maps and not outdoor maps... Although still being a total "n00b" at this, but having the will to become better, i decided to make it, instead of giving up and getting lazy on my couch and feast upon fattening gourmets all day and crying to all-so boring soap opera stories, no offense folks... Well enough of my blabbering and back to business.

So the first model i came up with was a mechanical monstrosity, also known has "Hog-your-pc-resources-to-render-me-since-i-have-alot-of-polygons". It was basically a sphere with a input, output and legs to support it from the sides. Fortunately that was just an early version created with 3D Studio Max 7.0 which means, no images where taken for it.

The second model was roughly the same principal but then again, its was just too ugly and again too much polygons...

For the third model, since i was initially starting with the Rebel Assimilator, i decided to make something created with other objects. Let me explain. Since the Rebels don't have alot of raw materials and time to make something new, they would rather recycle old parts to create something new. Hence i came up with the idea of having different pieces of everyday objects we see in our lives.


But yet again the polygon count was just too much for a simple object in the game. Just the Green Generator had the same amount of polygons as the others combined together. You might see the generator as a loot though, a stripped down version of course.

At this point, I was starting to become hopeless, I just couldn't understand how to model something nice looking to incorporate within our mod. To relieve some stress, i decided to take it out on the poor Striders who got caught in my way in Half Life 2. Then it hit me. Why not create something that isn't mechanical... sort of, but biological. And after a few clicks here a few clicks there and the concept of the Biological Combine Assimilator emerged.

By using Softimage XSi 4.2 Mod Tool, for the first time, i came up with this hideous monster following this paragraph.


But as you can see, its uglier than anything I've seen till today, aside from the Orca girl or thing who lives next door (shivers)...

After working hard on this concept, I finally came up with this one, which isn't the best thing you veteran gamers have seen, but its actually a big accomplishment for me.


The final model is actually a bit modified than this one, but it mostly resembles it. For the beta release, it will not be animated, since I suck at animating... (that was pretty straight forward there). But I promise till the final release of the mod, which will hopefully be on schedule during Spring 2007, the Combine Assimilator will be fully animated with sounds.

Till then, we thank you guys for the support...