Imperial Ornithopter Concept

 So I also played around with an Imperial 'thopter to appear briefly during the exterior shots of the Emperor's palace on Kaitain, based on concept art by Ville Ericsson?
With the still work-in-progress adaptable folding wing design from the Atreides 'thopter.
The other issue of course is the Atreides 'thopter is also Gold.

Atreides Landing Field

   As you all might have noticed, I've been pretty quiet in this forum for a while, but My new job - while fun - has plenty of long hours and tight deadlines to meet, so I have barely had a chance (or I must admit - the motivation) to sit down and work on the DUNE: Special Edition...

That said, I AM still working on it!

Found better versions of the original concept art from 1984 a while ago and with a better understanding of what is going on in the art, I reworked My model of the Atreides Landing Field to better reflect the design... (It's still in progress so proportions and sizes are all in flux)

More Original DUNE Production Art

Was also excited recently to find some more (or better versions) of some of the original production art (By Tony Masters and Ron Miller), including a couple of pieces I had not seen before.
I present them here in rough chronological order

Atreides Ornithopter

(Click on images for larger view. Click TITLE to link to animation on youtube)

Here's the one that started it all. Modeled in Lightwave 9.5.
I first modeled the 'thopter from the theatrical release using reference photos of a really good model kit that I found on the net.
Once I had made the original one I decided to adapt it into a new "flapping" version.
As I rather like the unique "U" shape of the Harkonnen 'thopter from the movie and because nearly all technologies end up having the same basic geometry (Look at jet airplanes for example... while each manufacturer makes them look different, the same components are all there in roughly the same places), I decided to make the Atreides thopter roughly have that same shape, although in this case its more of a "V" shape.
The wings themselves have been through numerous iterations, but are ultimately a sort of flexible "Spring" in a wing shape, with a section of aircraft wing in the middle for flaps and mounting things like sensors and weapons. The underside of each wing houses a small "foot" that extends when landed to support the tal heavy design.
As in the book, the 'thopter also features small booster rockets - and I am thinking of having some unfold at the back of the central hull for landing purposes.
The landing gear was a pain in the ass to model and rig to work as I have only two or three fuzzy images of what it is supposed to look like.

Atreides Frigate

(Click Images To View Full Size)

Here is My model of the Atreides Frigate modeled in Lightwave 9.5.
It's a fairly complicated design with lots of curving, tapered surfaces and intricate surface details that were tricky to model.
This is the older version, as I was able to contact Ron Miller the production artist on the movie, who was kind enough to supply Me with some of the original blueprints and several shots of the original filming models he had in his possession . Having studied those, I can see that I am going to have to make significant changes.