Comments on: bsg vfx: anatomy of a cylon

By: m.steyger

m.steyger — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 20:05:12 +0000

i still like the original cylons.

By: Awar

Awar — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 18:52:20 +0000

I like the new model as a solider but as a body guard/pilot I like the older model CGI redsign.

By: pedro05

pedro05 — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 13:00:44 +0000

I like the render of the clasic, the only thing that bugs me is the idea that the soldure is sapose to remble roman leagonares thus the sword on the old clasic, it is the only thing I think you are missing I thought it was really cool in the clasic battlestar.

By: mr tuffy

mr tuffy — Mon, 25 May 2009 23:35:02 +0000

Android vs. Cylon Tennis Tshirt!
http://store.thedept.com/product/android-vs-cylon-tennis

By: John

John — Wed, 13 May 2009 19:23:34 +0000

I like the old Cylons… cant find a good wallpaper of one yet… good pix here though

By: Dodger

Dodger — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 03:57:35 +0000

BTW I Wanted to note (I found this while looking up photoreference for my TOS cylon) — the “Face off” picture is really great in concept, but the reflection maps used are inappropriate. This is most apparent on the shinier Razor/Finale style cylon on the left — it’s reflecting things that aren’t there. That makes it look fake.

Another thing — it’s the same reflection map used in everything, which from what I can tell is the same shot that’s used for the background scene. That’s a fine trick most of the time, but you have to be very careful when you’re dealing with rounded surfaces like the paldrons and helmet — since reflection maps are projected onto a sphere and then reflected off the surface, it causes an effect where the pole of that sphere makes all the lights come into a visible pole, which is clearly not the case above the cylon from the background picture itself.

I’ve found it’s better to edit the picture to make the poles go away. A very easy trick is to make sure the top 1/3 of the reflection map (or the bottom 1/3 if looking from below) doesn’t have any noticable detail. You can check the map ahead of render simply by dumping it onto a sphere using a standard spherical projection.

Another option is to use three photos — one looking out, one looking up and one looking down, and merge them carefully in photoshop. Then you can leave in the details, and still avoid the “star arrangement ceiling lights” effect that the paldron and helmet keep getting there.

By: Dodger

Dodger — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 23:31:51 +0000

http://www.whatever3d.com/freebies/handofgod.png

By: Dodger

Dodger — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 14:34:58 +0000

Not super hi-res, or anything (but too big for most games, I’d imagine) — in case you wanted a copy just for the frack of it, here’s a CG

http://www.whatever3d.com/freebies/Cylon.exe (3.9 MB)
http://www.whatever3d.com/freebies/P7Cylon.png

(it’s in Poser format, BTW, but that’s an Alias Wavefront OBJ so it’s easy to extract)

By: dave

dave — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 23:06:45 +0000

Hi, sorry but I really do like the original, Football player in a shiny suit Cylons. No matter how good the CGI there’s nothing better than something really being there, the updated version has an insubstantial quality too it, they give an air of weakness, They looked very unconvincing in the scene’s too, if you’ve got a small budget doing shiney things reflecting a real enviroment is always going to show you up.

By: Nemo

Nemo — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 19:15:27 +0000

In a sense I like the Old, Old cylons the best because of the shining glitter :P

But the New Old ones have better design (evidently because the don’t need a guy in lol), yet lack that glitter and chromed apperance…

New, New ones are not that cool, but yes, they are more “future-like”.