Unicycle

[artistx]

Here is a Unicycle I rendered out in Vray. I am very pleased with the speed of the renders. I rendered this out originally at about 3600 by 2600. On a PIII with 512mb ram it took about 5 hrs. This conceptual vehicle was designed to hold a balanced stylish frame around one wheel while presenting a sense of functionality as well. In addition, the unicycle was meant to present a fusion between the old and the new. 1930's and 1950's american cars which sported white walls, chrome accents, and side vents were used for color, material, and structural detail reference. General vehicle frame refence came from contemporary racing motorcycles. Critiques and comments welcome.

http://www.artistx_000.gullickson.co...cycleHiRez.htm

[percydaman]

cool stuff! Would love to see it rendered with HDRI!

[Ahmosality]

hiiiii ,,, nice render , nice design,,,,,,,,,,
go forward ,,,

[586]

Very cool I'm just curious - what drives the wheel? The axel looks pretty thin and I can't see a drive chain or belt.

Again, nice work!

[flipside]

Please change the environment to something more suiting a motorcycle! The contrast in modeling between cycle and enviro is too big.

But the conrast of the image itsself is too low, maybe adjust the levels in photoshop or something.



good work!

flipside

[RErender]

Very cool I'm just curious - what drives the wheel? The axel looks pretty thin and I can't see a drive chain or belt.

Again, nice work!

My guess is that there are rollers in the body area that press down on top of the tire. It is an interesting design, when I look at it though the "continental" kit on the rear seem to throw off the ballance, I think the footpegs need to be more substantial along with the suspension, also it would be nice to have a place to put ones hands. Finaly I think some "landing gear" would be essential for comming to a halt.

Definately a fun concept.

[artistx]

Percydaman,Ahmosality,Flipside,586,Rerender- Thank you all very much for your compliments. I really appreciate it.

Percydaman- I'd luv to try it with HDRI. I've seen some neat stuff done with it. I just have Vray Basic though. I don't think it can do HDRI.

Ahmosality- thanx for the compliments.

Flipside- I thought the clash between the environment and vehicle would make it seem like the unicycle was a luxury speedster. Now I'm thinking "luxury" and "speedster" may not go together. *LOL* Perhaps I used the wrong approach... My apologies about the image contrast. The monitor I was using must have been way off. Anyone know if there's a standard gamma setting out there for monitors?

586- Yeah, I agree that axle is awfully thin. There was definitely a great deal of trouble when I tried to concoct the mechanics behind the vehicle. In the end, the external form and balance took priority over the function. I decided that the wheel was driven by some polarity. (Far fetched, I know) I've always imagined the engine or driving force as being in the body of the unicycle. When I tried to fit the engine bodies into the vehicle I realized the best fit was two small motors on either side of the wheel directly above the visible pumps and a small computer just above the wheel close to the driver's meters. The computer would mainly gauge the dual engines and the wheel. The wheel was too close to the seat of the unicycle to place a decent sized engine above it. The back and forth balance comes from some sort of extreme gyroscopic control. The side motors can decrease or increase individually to allow angling. We don't have anything like it now, but we are getting there. Check out the segway at www.segway.com


RErender- The handle bars, kick stand and footpegs are needed items. A guy asked me "How would you steer that thing". I just said "Well in the future you can steer with these special gloves...". Then I suppose I would have to model in those gloves too.

It's fun designing conceptual stuff, but the functionality can be tough. I have a new respect for industrial designers and engineers....



Once again, I appreciate the compliments.