Transforming Bike Mecha

— PROJECT NAME

Transforming Bike Mecha


— ROLE

Design, modelling, texturing, rigging, animating


— DATE

Summer 2015


A transforming robot design, human operated, about 20 feet tall. The machine is used by a raider to launch strike attacks on the supply convoys of an occupying force. It closes in at high speed, before transforming to humanoid form for attack. Sleek and nimble, yet tough enough for close quarters combat. 


The transformation is designed to be 'realistic' – simple and robust, rather than hiding behind a whirling mass of CGI pieces or using ‘anime magic’ to scale and hide pieces. Inspired by Shoji Kawamori’s aircraft mecha for the Macross franchise.


3ds Max 2016, Substance Painter, Marmoset Toolbag, Unreal 4.


Transforming from robot to bike in Unreal Engine 4

Low-poly mesh in 3ds Max 2016, 20k polys. A high-poly mesh was used for baking various maps. Viewport shows Stingray ShaderFX material applied, enabling use of PBR textures.

The model uses 4 2k PBR textures – albedo, emissive, normal and a packed roughness / AO / metallic. Created using Substance Painter 1.5.

A custom rig was built to handle both transformation and general posing. Green bones may be stretched during transformation, to allow for pieces to telescope.