IDW #112: Anti-Orbit Self Propelled Artillery - Voting

[yoitisi]

IDW #112 Topic: Anti-Orbit Self Propelled Artillery

Deadline: Friday, October 9

No voting for your own entries! I repeat, no voting for your own entries

Give critiques and comments, we're all here to learn from each other!

Original thread: IDW #112: Anti-Orbit Self Propelled Artillery

[yoitisi]

Got something done for IDW for a change

[Reymus]

ID gogo!

[SIME]

didnt have time to put in the extra work this needed, got a uni deadline coming up so ive had to put that first.

[Wixxi]

EDIT: Made it a bit more presentable.

Calling this design Sky Sweeper, a fully artificial tank designed to shoot very high flying objects. This thing is not driven by anyone but controlled by a very intelligent and sensitive robotbrain. It shoots heatened diamond rounds about the size of a beer bottle designed to maintain a steady course trough long flight, therefor prefect for high altitude firing. Because of the diamond casings around the shells it penetrates every single material. The armor of the Sky Sweeper consists of thick plated titanium covered with a light absorbing liquid mantle which makes it hard to spot in the landscape.

[siiilon]

AOA sp3 stands for Anti Orbit Artillery, Self Propelled, mark 3. Highly conductive alluminium alloy projectile is firstly shoot using explosive material within cartridge case and then further accelerated to absurd mach 12 velocity. Using distributed navigation is quickly rotated bullet further guided into it's target on planet's orbit. The whole artillery needs approximately 3 minutes to mount, get into firing position and load bullet. The capacity of atutomated bullet loading mechanism is 12 bullets. The artillery itself cannot locate orbit targets.

[yoitisi]

A few small notes on this round:

Seeing the enthusiasm in the thread I had expected one or two more entries in here, but overall it seems people had fun with it.

Sogbad: I didn't know whether you wanted to include your entry in the poll or not since it wasn't in the finals thread and you seemed to take the topic with a bit of humour so I didn't move it in here. If you still want that to happen let me know

[siiilon]

yoitisi: I voted for yoitisi, 'cause it has compact and believable design that simply looks like self propelled artillery. The only objection would be the technology combination. Old-school heavy tank and anti-gravity bullets. I guess if I admit such as technology (no problem) it would unimaginably affect the whole military technology (drive system, defending system,...). So it's a gorgeous anti-air tank, but not knowing the topic I wouldn't bet my money it could reach orbit targets.

Wixxi: I like the overall design, it has nice agressive "military" shapes. I see an issue where the cannon meets the turret. It's not that well readable "how it works".

SIME: Very nicely done and readable rendering and presentation. And the technology seems believable reaching orbit planet.

Reymus: I like it, the fire system is really believable. The problem I see it the weight ballance and clear demonstration of artillery's drive system. Also the scale is harder to see (it took me a while to spot the figure at the bottom).

Great entries all of you! I learned much watching your approach, thank you

[Wixxi]

My vote goes to Sime.
To be honest i like Yoitisi's render the most but Sime has the coolest concept and because this is a design "competition" (not rly but u get the point) my vote went to Sime, of course Sime's render is superb as well so congrats on the overall piece actually.

Also liked Reymus and siiilon's ones. Reymus used a very technical style which is nice to read the design well and has a cool concept too. But i'm not a big fan of the big rocket platform it self, i think it could use some more different shapes and more complexity.
Siiilon on the other hand has a nice render, but i think the design is a bit to default, i like it though, i just think Sime's concept is a bit more original.

Great work all of you!

[zimfin]

This was a tough choice for me but I went for Sime in the end. Yoitisi was less than a hair's breadth behind. If I could have voted for both I would have. Siiilon had the next, or 3rd in line with a cool design.
Well done everyone. I actually started a design but it sucked and I chickened out. Sorry :-(

[BEERLESS]

my vote goes to siiilon, because his design seems to have the proper balance and idunno... attitude? (its angle, bracing and platform seem very convincing) it seems like its really pointing to space with intention to hit
great renderings and cool designs, all around!

[kMh]

yoitisi – Really is excellent work. Something about the lighting feels off to me when seeing it in contrast to the sky but, this isn’t for environments so it’s completely irrelevant anyways I suppose. While I do really love the piece it just feels like a spruced up tank.

Reymus – I could be way off on my assumption of how your machine works but I would think the legs need to go in the back so that when it fires it has support from falling over.

SIME – I love the design and the over all detail and quality is quite nice but, at first I thought it was about the size of a car and then I noticed the ladder on the side. Perhaps giving some kind of scale reference would help or possibly some atmospheric blurring/fogging.

Wixxi – I think this overall just needs some more color and contrast to truly bring your image out. And while I could not tell you what it is, something about the canon feels off.

siiilon – Really intriguing and functional design and executed quite well, I would love to see more detail added. The only thing I really question is the lighting. It seems with the angle of your light and the way its falling on everything it should also be hitting the cab of the truck as well.

[Pixie Trick]

Great entries everyone! My vote goes to siiilon. Unique design, and realistic, believable along with a decent render.

Crits:

Yoitisi: Very lovely image. I agree with Wixxi about design vs. image. I know nothing about tanks, but it seems to stick very much to the "traditional" shape.

Reymus: "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." You really need tot stick those legs onto the other side of the barrel thing. Recoil goes in the opposite direction than the projectile. I like the play on the 'canon' shape. Very neat design idea overall however.

Sime: I really like the design! I think it's just me, but when I see it I think car sized at max even when you have those ladders etc. on it. I dunno why? The only thing that really bugs me is how delicate the legs are. I can see them getting broken or otherwise damaged very easily.

Wixxi: Again, a bit 'ordinary tank' I think. In terms of the image, I think better lighting would help bring out the shape. In general it seems a bit underexposed in photo terms.

Again, great job everyone!

[meganite]

Howdy all! Beautiful entries. I voted for siiilon. Here's my crits:
yoitisi - very beautiful render. I love all the texture and the sharp edges. That said, it seems like a very traditional tank, and tanks are not what I think of when someone mentions something to shoot down satellites in orbit.
Reymus - Interesting design, looks very unmanned vehicle style... the scale guy throws me off, I would expect more detail on a thing that large. A little bit too simplistic for my taste, but definitely gets the idea of self-propelled across.
SIME - Wow, cool concept, nice rendering, reminds me of Big Dog. That said, the quadrupedal design doesn't seem that robust for things shooting that high velocity rounds. But maybe it's better at recoil, who knows. Presentation-wise, I think the image could also use more color, and the text is a little hard to read.
Wixxi - Again, looks like a tank. Nice design though. I like all those random grooves for no apparent reason. Is that a little R2D2 in the back? (the sphere looking thing?)
Siiilon - Well executed, I love the atmospherics. Very military looking, great lighting. Though I'm not so clear on the self-propelled... but you could say the projectile is. Also, Mach 12 is super-ridiculous, but I'm not counting descriptions as part of what I'm evaluating here The details really give it a sense of scale, and I like the fact that it looks like an action pic, showing this thing actually in use.

Great job everyone! Maybe I can participate in next round... it only happens if I get bored with my thesis...

[napalm]

Nice work for this round, everyone!

I vote for Yoitisi for the quality of his composition, the respect of the subject and the overall accomplished design.

Sime you did great. Perhaps, the addition of a background or putting the AOA sp3 in action would be excellent.

For the others, I think more time would make the difference. My last comment goes for Siiilon, you did a "towed" anti-orbit artillery (not a self propelled one)

[Reymus]

I voted for SIME, the only thing that bugs me is the gun barrel itself seems to be unattached to the main body but for two supports.

Wixxi - I like the compact design, the cannon almost seems it could be an arm of such an unmanned tank if it was off to it's side a bit more, the black border hurts more than helps though, it would have been better if you had just continued the background.

PixieTrick - Rockets don't produce recoil, my only thought was the heat escaping from such a large launch, and I thought of not bracing against a huge recoil but some treads that would dig in front for optional support.

[Wixxi]

Thanks for the constructive critisism guys. I aggree with all the critics given. But the main reason would be time though. I started waaaay to laate on this and i didnt have the time to explore more concepts and render settings like other light and other colors. Anyway i liked to work on it, however under an adrenaline rush it was fun XD Oh and dunno if you guys have noticed but at some parts the perspective is way of as well so yeah it kinda sucks in the overall but next round i'll try harder

[Sogbad]

No problem Yoitisi, I'm always putting as much humor as I can, especially in personal work. I just wanted to win again so I could have 1 more IDW star than you.

[Majenkus]

Fun round to vote for because all of the entries were quality.

I voted for the design that I thought communicated its purpose best at a glance. Voted for Siiiiiiiiiiilon.

The other entries fell into the trap of relying on technologies that we can't really see, understand, or be effectively visually communicated. Basically, I'm the asshole who votes and doesn't even read the description

Yoitisi - Insanely professional render and presentation, but I think the crits already mentioned are about right.

Wixxi - It looks like a badass tank, but just a tank.

Reymus - Kudos on taking a chance with an unique design, though, I personally found it difficult to relate to things or technologies that I know (but that may just be because I have no imagination).

SIME - Slick sci-fi style. I think the placement of the gun, how it is facing "backwards" and pointed up, was a good choice because hunting things in orbit isn't really an aggressive operation because the satellites don't shoot back . . . yet. The look of your rail gun doesn't necessarily communicate that it shoots into orbit and it gets overwhelmed a bit in the strange (in a good way) method of propulsion.

My last comment goes for Siiilon, you did a "towed" anti-orbit artillery (not a self propelled one)

Is that a fair crit? I'm not sure about the precise definition of self propelled artillery, but I didn't believe or see any indication that the gun could be detached. I just assumed the thing was jointed in the middle so that the turning radius wasn't prohibitively ridiculous. Maybe someone could enlighten me.

[SIME]

Hey Guys, thanks for the crits and i think they are all justified! wish i could have put a bit more time in as it was fun to do.

Yoitisi - very profesional looking render and i love the concept behind the rounds however i felt you could have pushed some of your forms a little and been a bit more creative and adventurous with how your vehicle looks and moves. fantastic work tho man!

Reymus - i like the idea of the extendable arms but they seem to be supporting the vehicle in the wrong place, it may have been worth moving these behind the vehicle.

Wixxi - some really nice alien like forms in your design, i feel you could have pushed the tonal range a bit more in ure final render. you seem to go from dark to medium and not alot between, maybe try getting a full range of values throughout your piece and it will be much stronger.

Siiilon - Like the Barrett style chamber as i said before but like yoitisi i feel you could have been way more adventurous with your forms and in how the vehicle moves.

[yoitisi]

Hey thanks for all the crits everyone, would love to see that happen more often! I'll try and give some crits too over the next few days, though most has already been said I think.

Sogbad: Haha well it seems I won't get one extra star either this round so. Next time post your entry in the finals thread and we'll see who comes out on top

[Seekr]

SIME, loved the Rail Gun and the amazing use of excess alloy for the ammo