Zanar-pattern light cruiser: Difference between revisions

The CRS light cruiser featured in the [[Axis Studios]] cutscenes for ''[[Spartan Ops]]'' was modelled by contract artist Steve "Coolhand" Tyler - a 3D artist specialising in hard surface design and spacecraft modelling. Throughout 2013, Tyler released a series of blog posts on his personal website titled "Big Spaceships", which detailed the creation of the Covenant CRS-class light cruiser and the {{Pattern|Maugen|armored cruiser}}. Throughout the blogs, Tyler refers to the latter RCS-class armored cruiser as a [[CCS-class battlecruiser]] and the ''Zanar''-pattern as simply the "cruiser".{{Ref/Site|Id=Tyler1|URL=http://coolhandgraphics.blogspot.com/2013/02/big-spaceships-003-covenant-ccs-battle.html|Site=Coolhand Graphics|Page=Big Spaceships 003 - Covenant CCS Battle Cruiser - part 1|D=13|M=11|Y=2022}}{{Ref/Site|Id=Tyler2|URL=http://coolhandgraphics.blogspot.com/2013/02/big-spaceships-003-covenant-ccs-battle_26.html|Site=Coolhand Graphics|Page=Big Spaceships 003 - Covenant CCS Battle Cruiser - part 2|D=13|M=11|Y=2022}}{{Ref/Site|Id=Tyler3|URL=http://coolhandgraphics.blogspot.com/2013/05/big-spaceships-003-covenant-ccs-battle.html|Site=Coolhand Graphics|Page=Big Spaceships 003 - Covenant CCS Battle Cruiser - part 3|D=13|M=11|Y=2022}}

During the production of the models for Axis' cutscenes, Tyler was given four weeks to produce the two models - described as "the largest, most complex" models he had built to that point in his career. The light cruiser was the first of the two models to be produced, and used a low-detail model from the game as a base to work from. The bow section of the model was the first to be completed due to being relatively self-contained, allowing Tyler the ability to estimate how much work would be needed for the rest of the model - while using a previous model from another unrelated project as reference for scale and complexity. For detailing, Tyler followed the designs on the in-game models for reference to hull style and guidelines, with reference additionally taken from H.R. Giger's work on ''[[List of references to Aliens in the Halo series|Aliens]]'' for additional detail. Ultimately, Tyler's model proved ''too'' detailed for a ship on a small scale such as the ''Zanar'' and his work was instead used as the basis for the larger ''Maugen''-pattern ship. The final ''Zanar'' made by Tyler was relatively stripped back compared to the earlier renders (shown below).{{Ref/Reuse|Tyler1}}{{Ref/Reuse|Tyler2}}{{Ref/Reuse|Tyler3}}