Monday, November 3, 2008

IDK

Man....I've really fallen out of the habbit of making somewhat-regular posts.....gotta break that.

Well there's been quite a bit going on since my last post (my last big post....the one below was just so my friend could see my torso rendering - i actually finished it.....so maybe i'll post that here too).

I went and had another outting with my friend McKay shooting his rifles (and i gotta say i'm developing a taste for it). There's a few videos of us shooting his cop killer an the german, trying to hit two frozen 2-liter bottles of water.







Um.......how about......Animation always has an appropriate place in my posts.


My current ANM project is dealing with character modeling (which includes modeling, riggind/binding to a skeleton, animating the skeleton, facial deformations - like make an "O" mouth - and creating a walk cycle).

First step was to pick a character and do a profile sketch in what's known as the 'Bind Pose'. The Bind Pose is the pose animators use to model characters before binding them to a skeleton (if you ever take a video game and make an 'image' of it on your computer and pull the 3D character models out of it, they'll ALL be in this pose by default).

So whether the character already existed or was one we created didn't matter, all that mattered was the pose and picture for reference.

So i chose Shadow the Hedgehog (basically the evil twin of Sonic).




So far, acording to my friend DJ, it's coming along nicely (and i agree despite how frustrating it is working with the type of 'geometry' we're using).

Here are some renders of what i've gotten done so far...the head won't need to be done until the middle of next week:








The Chaos Emeralds (glowing gems) i threw in there for fun because that's what all the games focus around and to give it a little something extra to make up for the fact that i think it's not as good as it could be (i might actually redo the model during the winter break).



Oh yeah - i was a Mormon Missionary for Halloween:

(which is funny because everyone...practically everyone, i work with is mormon and because everyone else i know knows where i work. (And the woman in the picture is one of the 'Ladies' at the justice court i help out at, Kimberley)

So here's me and McKay, both Mormon Missionaries (funnier still because he is Mormon):



My Grandma dressed up too, as a 50s cheerleader:

psst....don't tell her this is here....i don't think she'd like the fact that this is on the web when she's making that goofy face - i took the picture when she was saying 'shoe'.





I took the Arch of Constantine (the first Christian Emperor or Rome) and made a 3D model of something i want to put in my game (based off the design and concept of the Arch of Constatine:

Arch:



My Arch:



I guess that's it for now, i'll try and post something by friday, or on friday, to show you how everything else is coming along.

Late


Song of the Evening:
Monica - For You I Will

Friday, October 24, 2008

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Holy ***** *** ****** Batman!!!

Damn it's been a while since i've made a post - tho i've thought about it several times as i was falling asleep. When was the last time i made a post....*checks*............*whistles* - damn, almost a whole month ago. Well a lot has happened since then....lets get it started!

Well let's start with the most recent thing and work backwards then:

My ANM:105 project for 'photorealism'.

We were supposed to pick a building, whether one we pass all the time or one we found online didn't matter, and make a 3D replica of it - complete with lighting, textures; the whole shebang. So i picked this cool little family-owned/operated cafe near my work called He Brews Cafe.













The first step was to create some orthographic drawings (orthographic basically means without linear perspective.....like building blue-prints). I didn't actually do any of the building; what i did instead was the windows - just basic measurements/ratios, and walked around the building measuring certain things (how many verticals were in the metal railling, the dimensions of the lumber, things like that).

















Then you go into Maya (the software we use for the class) and use those drawings for reference (you can import them into Maya and make a 'to-scale' model fairly easily).

After a long-ass period of time getting used to Maya's crappy UI and Hotkeys, i finally got the model finished (it seriously took about two weeks, a little each day, to complete). Once you do a whole bunch of other crap (bookmarking camera angles, blacking out the original building in the photo, and things that make me cringe when i think about them) you end up with an image you can insert 'renders' into:













Here's the model composited into that image with a kind of universal texture and lighting:












After you get the lighting right (basically trial and error), then you go on to texturing the finer details of the building (shingles, wood, metal railling, conrete slabs, painted front/sides, painted window frames, etc.):













Below is the video of all of those elements, but layered so you can see how they really fit together.




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Before that, yesterday morning in fact (Saturday), one of my good friends McKay took me shooting because i wanted to do something since it's been a while since we hung out. This was the first time i had every shot an 'actual' gun (the only thing i had ever fired prior to that was a BB gun), and i have to say that i thoroughly enjoyed every second of it.

McKay's 'Pride & Joy' and the rounds that go with it:














There really isn't a picture of me fireing it, because i preferred to have video....it's just so much better - unfortunately McKay was being a goober and managed to get the moments 'in-between' the ones i wanted him to get....so my initial reaction to the kick-back of this high-powered rifle was sadly not recorded :(

Here's a video McKay got of me, my first reaction (mostly the laughter)


I did get a good shot of McKay holding it....the rifle i mean.....his rifle.....*blushes*













And a video of him shooting it so you can see how good the kick-back is:



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My latest art assignment: Drapery - you better B-leave it.

My last post had me in a pissy mood because my art instructor had given me a C for my work when i thought i should've gotten at least a B- (which of course is a little more that a C+....but still not a "C").

So i was pleased....to some degree....to find out that a much more complex assignment and subject landed me a B (which is what i wanted anyway).

So i bascially submitted each step i took to my instructor to make sure i was doing it right - but since i had obviouslyfinished each step before submitting, had she actually said there was something wrong with it...i probably wouldn't have done anything anyway because it's all in charcoal.....not so easy to undo as graphite.

So here are the steps I took:
- - Pencil Outline (supposed to be charcoal...who cares)

















- - Charcoal outline (fine line, medium tone)

















- - Dual Tone shading (light tone overall, medium tone for shadows)

















- - Final Rendering (of course i skipped the interum steps...but it was mostly *charcoal* *smudge* *smudge* *erase* *rinse* *repeate*)

















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Umm.....OH YEAH!!!!!

Holy Christ! I was in JCPennys the other day (Thursday i think it was) and was talking to my grandma who works there. As i was walking away from her register, someone calls out (at the time i didn't know what they were saying...all i heard was my name at the end of it). So i turn around and lay eyes on the last person i had a crush on/asked out/hadn't seen in over two years: Aloina (pronounced Ah-lone-uh...somewhat like 'alone').

Man, you wouldn't believe the mad rush i made to land a hug on her to make sure she was actually there. We used to hang out all the time at work (Wal-Mart) and flirt in passing (well i was flirting anyway...she was just being playful).

Oh man - i honestly can't even try to explain how happy i was - my cheeks were sore from the constant smile i had on my face. *sigh* Ah, the good ol' days.

*will not open in new window because the dimensions are 1200x1600 pixels*

















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And then.....

Well i guess i'll throw it in the mix. Because Maya always seems to piss me off when i use it, i started working in Blender (my 3D software of choice and upbringing) making a newer version of something in my story: the Curator's Study.

There isn't much detail in it yet, i only had about an hour or so to get to where i was, but there will be soon. I have a feeling about this version of it too - i think it'll stick if i get everything right as i go.











The layout/design of the rug (red) and the course it follows is based off a design i developed for a mechanized piece of....something - like a compass/altar (have yet to figure out how it's used in my story....all i know is it will be somehow):

*will not open in new window because the dimensions are 1683x1856 pixels*

















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I think that's about it. There of course were a bunch of other things that happened...but some are kind of special moments and others were fleeting and can't be recalled at this moment.

So hopefully this will teach me to post more regularly.


Tomorrow's Agenda:
- Start New Art Assignment (same process/length as drapery, but with the human torso)

- Go through and give critiques on fellow students to kind of make up for the lack of it in the previous week.

- Heroes (this trumps everything else....all stops when this comes on)


That's about all - Later

Song of the....Week:
Anthony Hamilton & Miri Ben-Ari - Sunshine to the Rain
---------------------------^
-------> Speaking of Miri Ben-Ari, who is an extremely tallented violinist, I start my violin lessons this coming Wednesday (or will at least try to, tho there might be a potential scheduling conflict that may force us to use a different day of the week)



And here's a pic from a long time ago for you Brad:

*will not open in new window because it was made in Can-a-duh*

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

I don't C Why...


Honestly, i am considering requesting a different online teacher for this FND:110 class. She gave me a fucking "C" for the last homework i posted (not the immediate picture below, but the one i said i did).
Here is her reasoning as to what's wrong with my image and why it got a C.



= The cylinder's top ellipse looks good, except that its right end is a bit pinched.
= The bottom ellipse has a slightly pointed left end.
= The sphere and the cube have good structure. The cone, though, has pointed ends.
= There is also the sense that you're too close to the objects, because the cylinder and the cone are
leaning in the opposite directions.
= Normally, they should both be perpendicular to the table.
= The shading is started very well, but it isn't quite finished.
= The good thing about the shading is that the overall pattern
of light and dark shapes is very effective.
= What makes the shading look unfinished is mainly that most
of the objects don't have the full range of values.
= For example, the cylinder has about three.
= The sphere maybe four, and the cube only two or three.
= The cone has a greater range of values than the other objects,
but it's missing a lighter value.
= The cylinder's left side, and its top, should have more half-tones.
= The transition from light to dark on the cylinder should be more gradual.
= The sphere should have a visible highlight, and the lighter values
should get darker and darker as they get farther away from the highlight.
= Here, too, it would be good to have a softer transition from light to dark.
= The cube should have a couple more values.
= Parts of the darkest side of the cube should be darker.
= There should also be more difference in value between the two lighter sides.
= There is also the matter of outlines
= Right now, there are outlines around most of the objects, and around each of the cube's sides.
= In a finished drawing, ALL of the outlines should be done away with,
because they mess up the illusion of space (they remind the viewers
that what they're looking at is a 2D page, as opposed to 3D space,
since in 3D space, there are no lines).
= For example, the only way I should be able to tell where the
cylinder (A) ends and the table (B) begins is by a shift in tonal value.
= The line in between (blue) should not be there at all.
= The same applies to all the objects' edges, as well as the cast shadows' edges (light blue).
= Be careful about where you want to use the darkest dark that your material is capable of.
= It is usually better to use it sparingly, in small areas.
= This is because when you cover a large area with a very
dark, opaque layer of charcoal, it can attract a lot of attention and be distracting.
= Here, be careful about the dark value on the right side of the
cone (yellow), as well as the area of cast shadow immediately
to the right of the cube (white).
= It would be better to make them lighter, more transparent,
as opposed to opaque.
= Also when working with cast shadows, each cast shadow is
usually at its darkest immediately next to the object, and
gets lighter as it gets farther away.
= Its edges usually get softer with distance from the object.
= To create a better illusion of space, it is often better to make
the front edges of a cast shadow crisper than its back edges.
= For example, the front edge of the cylinder's cast shadow
(red) should be crisper and darker than its far edge (purple).
= Right now, it it the other way around, which can be distracting.
= The image as a whole would work better, and appear more finished,
with some more shading in the background.
= For example, it is usually a good idea to make the background
and the foreground different in value, because it helps create the illusion of space.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

An Apple A Day...

...apparently gets you crappy grades. My next assignment for FND:110 is to draw a simple still life set up. So i decided this time i'd see what the teacher looks at when deciding your grade rather than thinking what i've got is worthy of a B.

So i always pass up the "A" grade because my skills aren't that great. So i started on "B", and she mentioned that arrangment of items should be reconsidered for better eye flow, and then, out of nowhere, she actually said (which meant she thought it was important enough to mention) that the apple was 'too tall and thin.'

Can you believe that crap!? It's not like he draw it as if it had the width of an apple core; sure it's thinner than it is tall - but come on...where's the A for Effort?!?!?!?!

I can tell i'm not gonna like how this teacher grades....She gets an "F" (for Fundamental Failure)

Monday, September 22, 2008

Artistic Value...

My homework for my analysis of Form class was to draw the four basic geometric shapes (cube, sphere, cone, and cylinder) and shade them in full value (which is a greyscale basically). So the first one i did (sphere), which i hadn't intended on being my submission, actually turned out pretty nicely - and i enjoyed every minute of it thoroughly. It's not exactly an "A" in the teacher's eye because there are some flaws in it...but i'd give myself an "A" for effort and the end result having never done this before.






This was my second attempt having just finished the sphere. It's a little blurry near the bottom...which is how it scanned for some reason, but you can still see a vast majority of it and i'm proud to say that although it's not a 100% symmetrical cone, and there areshading errors in it...i think this is pretty good for someone with no prior charcoal experience.











This is the picture i took of the four shapes at once (i figured it would take me a while to draw and shade so i took a picture so the shadows would move). This was my reference during the two/three days it took me to do the picture below (which i know kind of defeats the purpose because sometimes your subject can't sit there for that long...unless they're dead - which wouldn't be life drawing anyway).

So here's the end result after two/three days work (including sketching the shapes and contour lines, going over it in one shade, adding contrast by doing black/white, then shading and smoothing out the transitions between values). I'm pretty proud of it - i already sprayed some fixative on it and will probably frame it and send it to someone (not that my art is all that, but for my and what i can do...it's at least a bag of Ruffles)




Here's the second pass at my bumper, with improved lighting and adjusted flare intensity (much improved).

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Bumpers...

So my assignment for my ANM:105 class this week was to work on a bumper for my demo reel. A bumper is basically a little intro, usually no longer than 10 seconds or so, that'll basically become your calling card. Columbia TriStar's bumper of the 'statue of libarty' and 'Pegasus' infront of a cloudy background is pretty memorable.

So since i don't have a title for myself besides noob, i figured i wouldn't waste time doing something like 'Lighting' or 'Texture Artist'. So i decided to go with the mock company title i had been holding in my head for some time now: 'Omicron Entertainment'

I fixed some of the errors that were obvious with my previous assignment/post where people were not associating the large O with the rest of the word.



There are some issues with the flare intensity making it hard to clearly make out the surrounding letters - but all that's easily fixed by moving a slider down a few incriments; the only reason i haven't done that yet is because rendering it takes a while (and if i make it as perfect as possible on the first pass then it won't look like my skills are improving when it gets better the next time around).

That's it for now - homework for FND:110 tomorrow

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Wishing On A Star...

I'm heading off to bed early tonight cuz i really don't feel all that great. I could stay up for another hour or so and play some games, do school work (which a good student would do) or even do what i said i was going to do and try to re-enroll in TriCare (military medical coverage), but i'm not.

I was coming home just a while ago and had to get out my car to open the gate leading onto our property. When i was closing the gate and walking back to my car i looked up to see how dark the night sky was (and therefor how many stars were visible) and saw only one....

It was the star i gave to one of my best friends. It wasn't the same thing as where you call some 1-800 number and buy a star you can only see through the hubble telescope, this one had meaning. We had both known each other for several years because our relatives were practically neighbors (out in the boonies being even 1500 feet from each other makes you neighbors if nothings in between you two) and had spent several summers and winters visiting.

So during my second year of living out here, and his first after finishing high school, we spent as much time together as we could because we always considered each other brothers. So one evening, and i honestly completely forget the context of which this arose, i told him that particular star was his; that it's always there (because it always is) and if he ever felt lonely or sad or anything, to just look up at the sky and the star would remind him that he always had someone who cared for him.

Well after a whole bunch of crap i would really not like to recount, we were no longer friends (most of which was his fault - though some was mine) and i always get a little...well i guess depressed is too strong a word. I get down-spirited whenever i see that star (which is quite often in the late evening before the sky becomes sprinkled with stars) and i know if i'm ever in a relationship like that (either friendship or actual relationship) that i can't do that again because its been marred by that last experience.


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I think that might be a reason i like watching movies so much. it allows me to escape into a world where things may be predictable (especially if you've seen your fair share of movies), but if you can detach yourself from being in the theater and relate fully to the trials and experiences of the characters in the movie, you leave slightly elated with the hope that you might someday feel the way the movie portrayed.

It's a sad fact when you look at it...if your life were anything like what you saw in the movie...you wouldn't be in the theaters watching movies like that; you'd be out having the life you wanted (which is why people who have lives like those in Friends, Will and Grace, That 70's Show, and other shows don't sit around the tv watching it - they're out living it.

It's probably even worse that i'm sitting in front of this computer typing about it rather than having someone to talk to about it - but that's just my character: i give excellent advice to my best friends about relationship issues thy're having, but never seem to bother them with anything that's bothering me. Well you can thank that excellent advice to many movies watched and relationships observed rather than personal experience.

I guess i'll go to bed now; my pillow is lying there looking lonely.


Song of the Night:
Mariah Carey - My All

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Homework and Shtuff

So this was my homework for my FND:110 clas. Set up the four basic geometric shapes and draw them 4 times, each from a different perspective view, and in line only (no shading for those who don't know and were too lazy to guess by looking at the drawings...hehe). So the first one was actually done 100% by me, no aid of any kind. But when i was done with it and going to upload it to my class, i saw a new post by the teacher saying that she forgot to tell us to draw it 4 different times in different views. Well by that time i was already out of drawing mode that i did each of the other ones quickly (tho in the same manner) with a regular pencil, then did a free hand with charcoal.

So this is the only one that was 100% from scratch. And i know what the homework was to do anyway (especially when you take the excersizes into account). It was supposed to familiarize yourself with perspective and repetition of those shapes (elipses and cubes) so that they come more naturally the next time you try to draw/sketch them.







Maybe took 85% the time and effort as the first one...but when it came to the charcoal...i really effed it up and it's noticable like the crators on the moon. I think the first one is the best one...which is odd cuz i didn't to a first pass with pencil (cuz it's easier to erase a mistake than charcoal).








The angle i took this pic makes the cone seem a little fatter than it should be...but that might be because it somewhat is....i mean the angle of the camera wasn't that severe.....come on now....geez.









By this time i was tired of doing this and hastily finished it....lets just say this was the first one and that's why it's sooooo bad...yeah - that excuse works.










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I was getting ready to sit down and do the above pictures when i noticed my cat, Vaan, laying on the floor behind my computer chair. It seems we have the same taste in fashion as he's laying on my favorite pair of jeans...i mean it's not like he picked em out for me (that would be awesome; to have a pet that would pic out your clothes...altough the potential for slobber and hair would be too high in comparison to the benefits).





And on an entirely different note, this is how i've been wearing my hair lately, but have done without it for the past week as it's gotten to that point where it's too long to do anything with it without taking too much time (this itself took a bit of time to do...compared to getting a buzz-cut ready to walk out the door).

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Japanese Game Show

Okay, i might be a little late because i'm sure this show has been on for years, probably a decade or two, but sicne they just started making an american version of the show called Hole in the Wall i figured i'd look at the original, japanese version (cuz they're always the best) and have never laughed so hard at a game show in my life.




Some of these, i admit, would be fairly fun to try out and see whether or not i'd be capable of doing them - but some of them, i laughed "WTF?!?!"



























This one was funny. Most of these pics are about the same size, so you don't get to see how the size of the hole compares to the people trying to fit through them...well you can imagine how small thise whol is. What the person was meant to do (which of course he didn't) was lay on his back and part his legs a little so that his left would pass through the baby's back and head and the right through the legs.



This one nearly killed me - they actually tried to throw one of their guys up in the air to make it through the hole....LOL




























These last few were just incredible...if they had actually gotten one of them correct i swear i would have gone into shock and probably still be that way for hours.

If you wanna see the YouTube clip of this show, it's embedded below - you'll also see some holes that i didn't bother taking screen caps of...