How'd they do that anyhow?

Craig: Here we talk about a few miscellaneous, yet snappy sharp aspects of some of the artwork that was done for the game.  One of my personal favorites (besides the Iron Ring forge) was the work to give George Dyke a megaphone.  Tons o' fun.

Hear no megaphone, see no megaphone, speak no megaphone.

We had nary a megaphone in sight when we were taking the photos of George Dyke at the pit.  What were we to do? Well, we actually looked for one for a bit, but then figured what-the-hey, and off we went.  Yup, he's holding a milk jug. George Dyke, he's the jam!

When all the cutting and pasting of Georges out of their pit backgrounds was finished, we had to find a way to get a megaphone in there.  In walked the magic of Corel Photopaint, and 3D Studio MAX.

A model of the megaphone was built in 3D Studio, much like how the Iron Ring forge was constructed. To fit the megaphone to each frame of George, in all his crazyness, it was twisted and turned around to best fit the placement of the milk jug. Yes, George's megaphone says "fish" on it.   fish

Here he is in all his bull-horn glory.
The jam I tell ya, he's the JAM!

Your Iron Ring is ready.

The idea of having an "Ultimate Weapon" was something that Rob and I had toyed with for a while.  One day we stumbled over our own silliness and realized that the very symbol of Engineering itself could and SHOULD be that tool.  Thus the Iron Ring became a part of the PoleGame, and there was much rejoicing.

We toyed around with this idea for a while, and decided that just as one has to toil away for four years in the dungeons of Queen's earning their degree, so must they work to obtain their Iron Ring in the game.  A point system was set up where the player must cause, through various crazy actions, the crowd to become, and stay, excited for a period of time.  All the while the F.R.E.C.s in the background are in their frenzied state, the iron ring is being earned.  This is how the idea of an Iron Ring "forge" came about.

The forge is an exaggerated mechanical device which demonstrates the four different states of an Iron Ring in development.  At each 1/3 of the way to completion, the forge swings onscreen and stamps the blank into the next stage of its development.

1) A square blank of metal

2) The blank is stamped to become a squashed circle

3) A hole is punched out of the circle

4) Final forming stroke, where detailing is put on the ring

Poof!  Your Iron Ring is ready.

Now came the fun part.  What should this monster look like?

Here are the stages of development that the Iron Ring forge went through, before become the coolio 3D wonder it is today!

This is the first draft of the forge, penned on the back of some Mech. 350 notes (Yes, I did pass the course, but barely)

This "final" conceptual drawing was actually done on the back of my BIOL 111 midterm exam.  The design was done here, just needed to be built.

Thought I'd try colouring in the sketch and test it out in the game to see how it looked.

After many an hour building and animating it, the forge was completed.  A few minor revisions in form to make it fit onscreen better took place.  Yes, that is an omega when it swings in :)

How was it made?

Once the concept was down, and the sketches made for how the forge should appear, all there was left to do was build it.  Using 3D Studio MAX, I constructed a wireframe model.   By "painting" on textures, I was able to assign colour and texture to the model.  Later, just as a photographer would, I set up appropriate light-sources and cameras to illuminate the forge and film it.

The swinging and stamping motions were created by assigning key placements for the forge, like start and finish, as well as the stamp position, and allowing the computer to fill in the sequence.  Much like a junior animator, the software helped create the transitional frames from one important action to another.

What the heck was it going to do anyway?

We thought a lot about this, a decided on something unexpected.  The mystical nature of the powers that the Iron Ring conjures up, when directed towards someone who is not yet "seasoned" in the Queen's environment, cause a rather alarming change.  The frosh are transformed into a more "primitive" yet symbolic  gesture of Queen's spirit:  sheep, and cows with the wings of eagles.  I say no more.

Legend of the Greasepole Website maintained by Rob Burke. Last updated October 2004.