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The Zentraedi Tactical Battle Pod, sometimes called the Walking Mech, is a robot used in a GoldSrc skeletal animation demonstration, designed to stress the engine.

OverviewEdit

The demonstration was shown to Next Generation in August 1997. It was intended to show the comparative processor requirements between standard vertex animation and skeletal animation, with skeletal animation being massively less processor-heavy, as presented in the demonstration.

The robot, having 6000 polygons, chrome textures and only 20 bones,^[1] danced in a small room.

The robot was intended to crash the engine, however, it didn't.

OriginsEdit

The robot itself is based off the Zentraedi Tactical Battle Pod from the Robotech anime.

TriviaEdit

• It is a common misconception that the robot is an early Gargantua. However, the two are entirely separate.

• It's believed that the robot was either the inspiration or beta version of the Gargantua, though whether this is canon or not is unknown.

GalleryEdit

The robot from another side.

Ditto.

Ditto.

Hi-Res from Alpha 0.52

ReferencesEdit

External linksEdit

• GameStar November 1997 preview, second 30, showing the robot dancing on YouTube
• Zentraedi Tactical Battle Pod toy