UH-T1 First Response Rescue Unit - game model

The main problem that we've seen with big disasters (Hurricane Katrina, Tsunami in Indonesia, Haiti earthquaqe etc) is the first thing that happens. The infrastructure just completely collapses. I would pose the questions: how come we are able to put a special operations force, on the ground, with such great effectiveness to go after military objective(Irak war),and somehow it eludes us to have the same kind of "ready to go" force, that can get in and set up a temporary infrastructure to help out in this type of situation? And not just as a national level, but at an international level. It's stupid not to have that. The UH-T1 is a fictional rescue helicopter, featuring an upgraded UH-60 Black Hawk (entered service in 1979) with a custom RED CROSS paint. Visual wise, it combines the classic american look with an innovative body kit, as it's based on the following Sikorsky prototypes:

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Piasecki X-49 is a four-bladed, twin-engined, experimental compound helicopter under development by Piasecki Aircraft. The helicopter utilizes Piasecki's proprietary vectored thrust ducted propeller (VTDP) design and includes the addition of lifting wings. The concept of the experimental program is to apply the VTDP technology to a production military helicopter to determine any benefit gained through increases in performance or useful load.

The X-49A flight demonstrator is being developed with funding from the US Army's Aviation Applied Technology Division to demonstrate the ability to increase the speed of existing helicopters to 200 kt (360 km/h) or more. The flight demonstrator has been updated with a lifting wing taken from an Aerostar FJ-100 business jet. A ring tail has been added and the helicopter drive train modified to accommodate VTDP.

The compound helicopter technology was first demonstrated in trials of the Piasecki 16H-1 and 16H-1A in the early 1960s, when the helicopters were flown at speeds up to 225 mph (360 km/h).

Video:
TEST FLIGHT

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The Sikorsky X2 Demonstrator is an experimental compound co-axial helicopter under development by Sikorsky Aircraft.

Coaxial rotors are a pair of helicopter rotors mounted one above the other on concentric shafts, with the same axis of rotation, but that turn in opposite directions. This configuration is a feature of helicopters produced by the Russian Kamov helicopter design bureau.

Coaxial rotors solve the problem of angular momentum (the tendency of the helicopter body to begin spinning in the opposite direction to that of the rotors once airborne) by turning each set of rotors in opposite directions. The equal and opposite torques from the rotors upon the body cancel out. Rotational maneuvering, yaw control, is accomplished by increasing the collective pitch of one rotor and decreasing the collective pitch on the other. This causes a controlled dissymmetry of torque.

One other benefit arising from a coaxial design include increased payload for the same engine power - a tail rotor typically wastes some of the power that would otherwise be devoted to lift and thrust, whereas with a coaxial rotor design, all of the available engine power is devoted to lift and thrust. Reduced noise is a second advantage of the configuration - part of the loud 'slapping' noise associated with conventional helicopters arises from interaction between the airflows from the main and tail rotors, which in the case of some designs can be severe. Another benefit is increased safety on the ground; by eliminating the tail rotor, the major source of injuries and fatalities to ground crews and bystanders is eliminated.

Videos:
Sikorsky X2
LTH


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The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a private humanitarian organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland.

The ICRC has a special job, based on the Geneva Conventions as well as other international law, to protect the victims of international and internal armed conflicts. This includes people hurt in war, prisoners, refugees, civilians, and other non-combatants. But the ICRC is a private organisation. It is not controlled by any government, group of governments or international organisation

It is the oldest organisation within the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and one of the most widely recognized organizations in the world. It is also the most honoured, The ICRC won three Nobel Peace Prizes in 1917, 1944, and 1963.

The original motto of the International Committee of the Red Cross was Inter Arma Caritas ("Amidst War, Charity").

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random work

I am trying to improve my texturing skills and to become faster by modeling/texturing some random game models. Here are some recent projects, created mainly for practice. You can see the wire mesh/more angles and even more models on flickr.
(the modeling was done in blender, texturing in gimp)

3D interactive museum, featuring the early history of Nintendo

There are two things that i really like about the classic video game consoles. The first one is the rudimentary design, showcasing primitive technology, that you can pick it apart and put it back together by yourself. The simplicity of the construction makes me feel in charge, so that i am the one using the machine, and not vice versa. From the perspective of a tech-guy, you can learn lots of things just by studying the case. They don't make them like in the old days. The second thing is the gamplay. These days, it's all about graphics, fancy CGI, big explosions and giant robots. Back in the day, they had to compensate for visuals with engaging playability. They also had to use simplified graphic elements and rough animations to convey emotions, taking advantage of the fact that the human brain needs very few pixels of information to recognize a character. Games like pong, pac-man, donkey kong, space invaders or tetris will always be interesting because of the pure gameplay, representing the golden era of video games. These days, they are still very popular on portable devices and they represent a great source of inspiration.

tip: press "P" to save screenshot

easter egg: press ctrl + shift + W to transform the NES into a movie poster.

use WASD and mouse to move around, thanks tutorialsforblender.com for the mouseloook script

i can't guarantee the contrast, saturation etc, as i am away from home and it's very hard to output it out on a decent monitor. I will fix it in time and also provide better screenshots.

Space Invaders Remake

This rough scene is my own take on the classic arcade game Space Invaders.

Gameplay elements:

-you can move the defending blocks by left clicking and dragging them with the mouse, to form new strategic arrangements, or just to group them when they become isolated.
-you move your ship on two axis using the mouse. as a result, you can dodge between enemy fire and also choose the firing distance(which is important, due to spacing/timing)
-you have limmited ammo
-once you hit the UFO you get an extra life

Graphics:

- i did my best to keep the classic proportions for the ships and the feel of the old game.
-the ship's gears are animated using bones (also, as you are being hit, you will see the rotating gears stopping one by one)
-the menu is added with alpha planes over the background
-the blocks have four lives each - as they loose one life, they become reddish. also, they are not affected by your fire!