I decided to do a different kind of mecha and going with the theme of a gentle giant, I decided on a giant panda. Making such a flexible animal into a robot proved to be quite a challenge. I tried to maintain a balance between the look of a real panda and a stylized mecha. I had to make the outer plates in the midsection rotate independantly of the joints they surrounded for better mobility.
I used 3ds Max 7 for all of the modelling and a combination of tweaked darktrees and procedural max maps for the shaders. Rendered using light tracer with a skylight, several omni lights for specular highlights and a direct light for overhead specular detail.
I hope you all like it.
>> Hi resolution image <<