[Challenge 1] The Leviathan of Dindrane's Solitude (A06)

[aeralure]

Location: A06 - Guinevere

Tags: Challenge 1, Kawashita, Guinevere

Challenge 1: The Leviathan of Dindrane's Solitude

Deep within the sands of Dindrane's Solitude a creature of immense proportions lurks...

What is this Dune you speak of? I know not what that is.

I had been working on a scene set on Marden since I joined the week before I made my first weekly entry, but I wasn't terribly happy with it (yet anyway, despite some ideas I really liked - they may return in the future in some other form). The situation has changed since then and, when I found out "Alien Activity: None" did not mean a complete lack of alien life, I knew I wanted to build in a desert anyway, so I set it aside to start over this week on this idea. I really wanted to try building it.

I didn't outright name the creature, nor did I tell a story. I had both in the form of some tall tales told by smugglers, but I wasn't sure if the challenge excluded all human contact or just the corporations, so I only named the desert in which it lives, which got its name during a probe's flyby. The reference is Arthurian as well, just as is the planet.

I had so much fun with this. I was surprised how much. The body rings worked out really well. It's very flexible and poseable - twisting and bending all over the place, although the mouth cannot close all the way to a point due to my snotting it up and adding teeth. I thought for a while about the desert sands. At first I tried tiling it, but it didn't look right. I tried snotting it, but LDD gave me issues with not wanting to align things like they would in real life when studless sits next to studless. I settled on trying to imitate the ripples in the sand with a half studded, half tiled approach which seems to work, especially as the scale for the sand is quite small, given the creature is really big.

No Spice. The valuable resource on this guy is its teeth. Harder than diamond and good luck getting them.

Edited June 20, 2015 by aeralure

[Dardanel]

You matched the colors perfectly! :D I really like this MOC : ) That thing going from its mouth is sand, right? That's the vibe it's giving me :D

If you want, you can try giving LDD to POV-Ray Converter a go. It will enable you to produce even better renders!

[narbilu]

Wow... nice LDD, love the size of that.

[SpacerSteve]

Very cool!

[aeralure]

You matched the colors perfectly! :D I really like this MOC : ) That thing going from its mouth is sand, right? That's the vibe it's giving me :D

If you want, you can try giving LDD to POV-Ray Converter a go. It will enable you to produce even better renders!

Thanks! Yeah that's sand. I had at one point made the sand dark tan, which did differentiate it from the mouth, but it didn't look right for the kind of sand I wanted. Maybe I will play with some other ways to do it. I have another idea for how to do the sand that I may try, but first I need to work on my weekly.

I'm working on getting rendering working. It's funny - my test renders done in a thread elsewhere on the forum with help from a few members went off without a hitch after the troubles getting the right software and setup for my Mac. The problem I experienced last week and now this week is exporting from LDD to LDR format. Once I do that I can use LDView to convert the file to a POVRay file and then I can use POVRay for the Mac to render. The issue however has been either part errors (for Strong Gale there were some missing parts I fixed but one engine part rendered like a corkscrew not a lego part lol) or missing parts (this week's was missing around 50% of the bricks and they were just tiles and basic things - I can't rebuild that much of it in Bricksmith). I'll look at LDD to POVRay Converter again. I think it was PC-only at the time I looked. Maybe I can get around that somehow. The quest to fully render continues!

Wow... nice LDD, love the size of that.

Thanks! I had read the 24x24 stud size restriction and though to myself "wow, no problems there," but once I made the head I was like "oh oh."

Very cool!

Thanks!

[pombe]

Great worm! Your build really captures that moment when it erupts from the ground! I also like the hole in the sand where it comes out from.

[Mike S]

Great build! Did I miss the worm memo?

[LittleJohn]

Great work here! I really like the teeth

[Jody Meyer]

Ahh the sleeper has awaken....dune reference. This is fantastic, try blue render it works well, there is a link in the digital forum on this site

[aeralure]

Great worm! Your build really captures that moment when it erupts from the ground! I also like the hole in the sand where it comes out from.

Thanks! Really was hoping to capture exactly that. Glad it was conveyed. The hole is several layers of 2x4 and 3x3 wedge plates. It really only shows from the top view. I'm considering another run at the sand in general - if I have time - but the hole would be built the same.

Great build! Did I miss the worm memo?

I know, right?! I'm expecting more.

Great work here! I really like the teeth

Very happy with them also, thanks! As much as I was thrilled with how the body rings turned out (key part of the build, of course, as I wanted it bending and turning), when I built the first tongue and put the teeth on it - that was the moment I felt like I was going to be able to make it like I pictured it in my head.

Ahh the sleeper has awaken....dune reference. This is fantastic, try blue render it works well, there is a link in the digital forum on this site

Ah, Dune. Such a great book. I really should reread it. Wait! I said I never read it! Do-dee-do... whistles. Thanks for the Bluerender suggestion. Maybe I'll try it. I'm on a Mac. It's powerful enough, it's just some of the various conversion tools from one format to the other are PC-only. Willing to try anything though as I would really like to make the leap over to actual renders.

Edited June 18, 2015 by aeralure

[mccoyed]

If this were bricks, this worm would be so much better than the measly little water worms of Arium Major. But hey, maybe they're related!

[aeralure]

Perhaps they are!

If only this were real bricks... I need a better collection. Having returned to Lego recently with no bricks, best I can say is I'm working on that. This site and then this game inspired me to try to do so. However, to build things like I have been may yet take a while. Currently I can build some really small things in real bricks. This one is perfectly buildable and solid. It doesn't use anything too crazy. Having checked it all, there are 5 tan hinge plates (the kind with 2 and then 3 fingers) that would present the most difficulty acquiring. It needs a few 2x4 plate wedges for the hole, too, and they aren't terribly common. If there are any weight problems due to the breaching nature of it, it was designed to lean on the sand trailing from its mouth.

Edited June 18, 2015 by aeralure

[Big Sal]

Wow, the use of blue on this is unexpected, but it works really well! Great use of that new flower piece!

[Blackhawk STX]

Fopr being away from legos for so long, you do a damn good job in your builds. I'll have to see what I can come up with...

[shmails]

That would truly terrify me!!! Wonderful work.

[aeralure]

Wow, the use of blue on this is unexpected, but it works really well! Great use of that new flower piece!

Thanks! Surprised me too, but I was very happy with the result. I use that flower part in my weekly build too!

Fopr being away from legos for so long, you do a damn good job in your builds. I'll have to see what I can come up with...

It's all your fault, you know. I kept stopping by to visit and I'd see your kits and always be thinking to myself "I miss my Lego!" I have to thank you doubly! Looking forward to things you build.

That would truly terrify me!!! Wonderful work.

To be honest, me too! Thanks!

Edited June 20, 2015 by aeralure

[Lord Tyrus]

Fantastic worm!

[aeralure]

Did I miss the worm memo?

I know, right?! I'm expecting more.

Yesss! Another worm appears for AG this week! The rumored clandestine Worm Memo circulates!

Fantastic worm!

Thanks!

[Blackhawk STX]

Thanks! Surprised me too, but I was very happy with the result. I use that flower part in my weekly build too!

It's all your fault, you know. I kept stopping by to visit and I'd see your kits and always be thinking to myself "I miss my Lego!" I have to thank you doubly! Looking forward to things you build.

To be honest, me too! Thanks!

Yeah, yeah. Kill the messenger...

[aeralure]

Yeah, yeah. Kill the messenger...

It's your fault for getting me back into Lego and for that I thank you, as well as for your appreciation of my efforts. I'll show you some more about LDD and you'll be well up to speed with that in no time. Both of us have some limitations in actual parts, but I liked what you built this week. Looking forward to what else you do.

[NuckElBerg]

That's one nasty looking worm! Beautiful, love the azure teeth!

[David FNJ]

That's quite the worm! Glad I didn't run into any of those XD

Excellent job!

[aeralure]

That's one nasty looking worm! Beautiful, love the azure teeth!

That became my favorite part too, despite other things I enjoyed while working on it. Thanks!

That's quite the worm! Glad I didn't run into any of those XD

Excellent job!

Thanks! Not yet anyway, right? Domination on Guinevere is still but young.

[Andromedas Gates]

The judges awarded you 5 points.