This is a 3D reproduction of the very cool drawing mekanixa XI by Its a bit of a first, I've never made something from someone else’s drawing.

Machine parts I've done to death and so presented no real problems, however there were a number of unusually shaped objects that took a bit tinkering to get right.

The belt on the left hand was a bit tricky, the usual method of extrusion along a CV curve proved unsuitable because it doesn't give control over the angle of rotation at any given place. I ended up lofting a whole bunch of modified NURBS circles.

Posing was achieved by use of a number of deformers for the torso and a parenting hierarchy for the limbs rather than by a skeleton.


The texturing was kept fairly minimal, lighting was done with a HDRI textured skydome and a spotlight. Both lighting and texturing presented the usual cavalcade of nightmares, though in the end it rendered so well that it needed almost no adjustment in Photoshop.

Made in Maya
Rendered in Mental Ray
Post on Photoshop

Here are some addtional shots: [link]