± Working Title ±

blogPost.title

2011-01-04T08:50:00.003-07:00

So here's a sketch of an idea i had for something i've been wanting to try in maya for quite some time but never knew if it was something i'd be able to do (without spending an eternity forum/tut hopping in hopes of finding the answers) and i think after i do a bit more research i'll be able to do something like it. The idea is to call for particles to either be emitted from the sphere center or at any random location within the sphere and have a mild velocity going outward. Place a cube somewhere in the sphere and record the location of its 8 vertices. Then, use the "position" of each particle to write an If/THEN expression that basically states: IF a particle's location is within these vecotrs (x,y,z locations) then it's color will change to a random value between white (what all the particles are by default) and blue.

I've learned a bit about writing expression in the past few days, but i haven't learned about conditional statements/test/whatnot yet...so i'll see if i can't figure out an expression for this and give it a go. If anything, i might just be able to use dynamics and state that whenever a particle comes in contact with the cube (which obviously wouldn't be rendered) it'll change to a random color within a given range...so either way i'm sure i'll come up with a technique to make this idea happen.

What's on Draft?

2011-01-02T11:26:00.009-07:00

     Here's a rough 3D mock of how i imagined 2 parts of the city being - the Merchant & Guild Quarters (though 'quarters' might be switched out by something else depending on the kind of vocabulary i choose to use in the world). Merchant Quarters are where most shops and bazaars and such are, where as the Guild Quarters are where guilds and things of that sort are located (a lot of quests originate here).

     This is just another angle of the work thus far...closer up just so you can get a feel for the size of the dividing inner-city walls and the larger outer wall. Its all just quick concepts and such right now...so a bit of this might change (or just get greater detail).

     Here's a quick mock i made of archives before working on the town layout - just setting out basic shapes to get a general feel for what may or may not work in the long run. Size/details will definitely change as i realized some of what's in the picture won't really work in the end...but the overall 'feel' will kind of be the same.

Finally!!!1|1|11

2011-01-01T12:26:00.010-07:00

    So it's been a long time since i've made a substantial posting, and it probably be longer still ttill there's anything really worth it on here - but i figure since i've got the shit to put on here...why not do it anyway?

     So this is the concept i came up with for the wall that goes around the main/initial town in my story (it would be the equivalent to Traverse or Twilight Town from Kingdom Hearts I/II). I was heavily influenced by the Great Walls of Ba Sing Se (from Avatar: The Last Airbender), but there were a few times where the wall just seemed...funny and whimsicle because of how it rose/fell and weaved along the mountain crest.

     I can understand why a wall built like this would have an ever-changing 'levelness', but since there's elemental manipulation in my story, i don't want to be limited to "real world" mechanics...which is kind of why i find some of these pictures i captured so funny.

     This is a pretty good kind of "middle ground" between the rise/fall of the terrain and the levelness of the wall. Again, i wanted mine to be a constant height, so this would only partially represent my idea.

     This is the kind of...aesthetic i'm going for in my wall design - grand, towering, impenetrable, almost as if it weren't man-made. I mean, the ground at the base of the wall isn't 100% level, but they maintain a constant height all around the inner-city. There's far less terrain near the city of Ba Sing Se than in my story, but the constant height thing is almost a must for me.

    This was a concept sketch i came up with for for my main town (after the post below this one, but before my design for the wall) and it might not make much sense to the viewer without any insight into my story/worl, but i'll eventually have some 3D mock-ups going on to illustrate the train routes and underlying terrain (i was kind of aiming for a small mountain/hill range encircling one larger mountain/hill that would have the Archives library sitting atop it)

More sketches and designs to come soon now that i've dusted off my Wacom tablet and found it far easier to sketch "layered" ideas in photoshop than on paper and then transfer.

Train-ing

2010-08-15T19:39:00.007-07:00

This is just a draft (slightly composited with some touch-ups in photoshop) of what i'm thinking of making the layout of my first major town (and hugely skill-tasking project) of Quinsa. Since it's going to be a sort of hub where alot of different trains, people, goods, and what have you come through, i gave the train layout a lot of thought (and try not to picture a single set of tracks along each line...there's going to be a few sets and maybe another level in some places - sometimes a larger train will utilize two sets of tracks because it's so huge).

So i'm going to finish touching it up tomorrow and should have a clear 'inked'/line version ready along with some better place markers and more flair.

Just uploading to have a place other than my hard drive to put it.

Pump-King

2010-04-28T18:19:00.014-07:00

So this is a well overdue assignment for my Texture & Lighting class - though it's been done for a little while, it's been overdue to be posted on my blog for your eyes to see. What the project is, is that we're given a model of a pumpkin (as you can plainly see) and using only a noiseNode and adjusting the settings of that and the PhongE shader (so no actual 'texture' file used) we have to make a 'Chocolate', 'Copper', 'Leather', & 'Orange Peel' pumpkin. It's to teach us how things can be achieved using nothing but procedural textures. They should be pretty obvious which pumpkin is which material, but the only one i couldn't pin down is the Copper one - to me it still looks like a milk chocolatey kind of material.

-- Enjoy

Dr. Suits?

2010-04-13T14:55:00.003-07:00

I read this comic this past sunday (i recently started liking Pearls Before Swine because of the kind of humor the author puts into the comics) and thought it was well worth putting on my blog as a random post.

...For Texture

2010-03-31T14:14:00.006-07:00

          So it's been a while since i posted anything for....well anything. I've recently had to go part time at work (and i mean über part time...) so i could have excess time to get caught up with school work and everything else that has since been let go.

          So as i'm taking a break from the extremely large amount of demonstrational videos i've been watching, i figure i'll post some stuff on my blog and hopefully keep it up as the semester progresses.

          So the only thing that i really have to show so far is the "Alley Project" that was the first half of my Texture & Lighting course (finishing it counted as my midterm). We were given a blank model (basically the wall, door, handle, curb/street, and pipe attached to the wall), and have to add our own elements to it as well as create textures for everything using only photographs we take with out digital cameras.

          I'm not going to post all the pictures i used, but i will post the 'color' files for the wall and street so you can see what it all looks like.

          So the first image we have is called a "Beauty Pass" where it renders everything in view, applies any textures added to materials, and renders shadows based on the lighting situation. This image was rendered in MentalRay (so the shadows aren't so dark and there's some light bouncing happening). But for the most part, it's very simple.

          This pass is called "Ambient Occlusion" and it basically reads the proximety of objects to one another and adds shading depending on that data (it's also refered to as a "Dirt Layer/Pass"). This is usually rendered in it's own layer and multiplied over the Beauty Pass to add extra shading and light imitation.

          So when you put the two layers together you end up with this image. There's subtle differences, but you can still notice a difference between the two.

          I went ahead and did the same scene but at two different times - just to see how the lighting can kind of change your perception of the textures applied to the objects.

          I'll possibly post more about this later down the road....maybe even take a whole new set of pictures and redo all the textures - maybe.

Updates.....

2010-03-15T13:36:00.002-07:00

....coming soon.......

i swear...

Do The Hedgehog!

2010-02-03T09:32:00.002-07:00

Drawing courtesy of DJ

Raise The Rufus

2010-01-29T12:16:00.011-07:00

          So this morning i started messing around with sketchbookpr (continuing from last night) and i just wasn't feeling it, so i decided to go through my vast collection of images from the net and DJ to see what i thought might be fun coloring and getting used to my tablet, and i came across a few chibi versions of notorious FFVII characters. I knew i wasn't going to be able to color all of them, so i picked the one with the simplest outfit and printed out a hard copy. I scaled it down and layed the paper over my wacom tablet and traced over it, transfering it to photoshop. The image to the left is what i got.

          I darkened it a little bit, because when i first traced it (and mind you, no line was gone over twice) i had the pencil's opacity on about 30% - so if i went over a curve a few times, the median of them would be darker than the rest. But i realized that without taking more time to go over and refine it in PS, it would be faster to ink the printed copy, and scan it into PS to then color.

     So the left is the inked version of the drawing DJ did so long ago. It's of Rufus Shinra from FFVII. And the right is what i ended up with after...an hour or so? I'm not sure exactly when i started, but i know i first got on my computer around 10 am and i finished this around Noon (and there was time spent in sketchbook pro, looking for images, printing, inking, and scanning....so an hour is a good guess). It still has that 'sketch' look to it - because of all the little specks and stuff around the lines, but when i'm done coloring it, i'll go in and use the smudge tool to get rid of em.

Look A' Muh Dais

2010-01-28T23:11:00.004-07:00

          So this is an isometric sketch i did a few days ago (forgive me for not cleaning it up in photoshop and getting rid of those isometric guide lines). It's basically a concept for part of the set where the FF Sonic short will take place. There's not a whole lot of detail in it just yet, but there will be - well....it's only fair to warn you that only so much is going to be done by pencil and digital drawing....it's much faster for me to do detail actually in Maya than on one medium and then in Maya.

          So here's me going over the Isometric Sketch in Sketchbook Pro (the drawing tools and aids are awesome in this btw). I'm only going to do a small section of it (only the stairs will get the most drawing done, the pillars won't cover all of the stairs drawn). I'll go in afterwards and try my hand at coloring it just to give it some characer (and practice on my end). But that's what i've got as of tonight, tomorrow i'll work on it a little bit and try to finish the new menu for my job.

          Smaller details and 'Sectional' layouts of the pillars and arches will definitely be in the mix (tho mostly just for practice). So i'm trying to keep stuff on here fresh...check back later.

Stroke Of Luck

2010-01-25T21:12:00.008-07:00

          So i got my Wacom Intuos 4 (Lg) digital tablet today, as well as the 2010 version of Sketchbook Pro, and was taking it for a spin to get used to using a pen instead of a mouse and all the 'sensetivity' behind it, and the only thing i really got out of it was this sketch dejon did of Cloud as a hedgehog. Now, granted it's not the best work, i was just getting used to changing brush szes, using the opposite end of the pen as an eraser (which i thought was incredibly intuitive), the only part of the picture i like myself is the gloves.

          So since i've got sketchbook pro now, and it allows for extremely acurate arcs and lines and various other aspects of drawing my free had is always void of, i should, though i'm not sure what they'll be of, be able to post some pretty detailed conceptual designs on here from now on (though probably as sporadic as everything else). My classes only really focus on techniques and concepts (like lighting and texture, rigging, and basically anatomy), so i won't really have any 'projects' that i'll be posting stuff done in sketchbook (though the things i do in ZBrush when i get into it will definitely be posted).

          So that's really all i've got for now, i'm off to read Stop Staring, one of the books i got this semester that i think will really o pen up the way i tackle projects and modeling things. So far i'm onyl a few pages into the book and it's already changed the way i think about lip synching and the way most people go about it (with dozens of various blend shapes for each phoneme, each pose of the mouth keyed on a timeline).

          I've got a couple of other books (one focus entirely on particle systems - maya only - that i'm going to attack in the summer if not earlier). So as i get into my books, if anything visually intriguing comes of them, i'll be sure to post it.

A Head On Our Way...

2010-01-18T12:18:00.020-07:00

So since i got kind of board waiting for stuff i'd rather leave up to "professionals", i went ahead and started making some things on my own for the FF/Sonic Mash-Up. One of which is a few facial expressions that a "Hedgehog" character might have (cuz in the Sonic Universe, certain 'species' have different facial feature constuction - like eyes that are connected or eyes that are seperate from one another).

So I took this "Shadow" (as only he would look so angry by nature) profile picture DJ drew and erased the majority of the arching 'eyebrows'.

That gave me this picture. I took this image and went over it a couple of times, drawing in the rest of the eyes as they might appear for various expression (much like eyebrows are used.....though evidently Hedgehogs, through some evolutionary marvel, are without eyebrows and have the capacity to camoflouge their mouth when not talking). So after i thought of the most common ones, the ones i'd need to make Blend Shapes for, i put them side-by-side and got this:

I then started to go over them with pencil to plot out my edgeloops (*wink* Alex *wink*) and how i'd need to deform the default face to get good representations of these expressions. I haven't finished doing that yet, but i'm well on my way. One of the main hurdles is that i haven't plotted edgelopps on the defaul expression.....so i don't really know how which loops would move since i don't know how many and where and what-have-you.

          But to remedy that, i started making a clay head for what Cloud would look like. I only got about an hour and a half on it (a little less after getting situated and figured out what not to do). I only got as far as his 'jaw' and the left half of his eyes (and while i threw a crude ear in the picture....that's no where near what it's going to look like, just to show where on his head it is and how it looks prior to putting in spikes/hair).

          So this is what i got so far. The eye/pupil is just for kicks...i won't need to plot edgeloops on that - so the finished model won't have any iris/pupils. With the exception of the ears and the spikes, the eye/face is probably only every going to get as far as what i've got now, since it's symetrical i only need to model have and just mirror it when i'm finished. I'll model both ears since they'll be helpful in determining where the spikes go on reference pictures.

          Since it won't really matter unless I got way further than the scope of this 'Short', i figure i might has well post it somewhere...otherwise it'll just be on paper forever.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

          So everyone pretty much knows the elements that compose a Sonic The Hedgehog game right? Robotnik/Some evil force threatens the world in some way and Sonic is seemingly the only who can stop him with his carefree attitude, disregard for personal safety, and a psychopathic desire for the consumtion of Chili Dogs. Early in the Sonic games, it was possible for the player to beat the game without need of the 7 Chaos Emeralds, but not too long ago (i think it might have been Sonic Heroes as the first game to do so) Sega started making it part of the sotryline to collect all 7 Emeralds in order to completely beat the game. If you didn't have them all, you'd get someone of a happy ending, with a little teaser at the end of it.

          And I'll be the first to admit it....Final Fantasy isn't for everyeone or even just anyone. So not too many people might be familiar with the elements that make a Final Fantasy game (although to a certain extent, they're the same as Sonic sans the Emeralds). So rather than generalize it for a Mash Up, DJ and I picked a specific scene that is basically Iconic in the FF Realm - where Sephiroth kills Aeris (and i really don't care what people say.....it's ends in S not TH!)

          So how we're combining the two is by taking the general character designs of Sonic characters and transfering Final Fantasy 7 characters to match the Sonic universe. We're really only going to focus on 3 characters; Cloud (Hedgehog), Aeris (Hedgehog....probably much like Amy), and Sephiroth (Echidna...so as to allow for long 'hair' rather than spikes). We're retelling 2 parts of the FFVII game; where Seph. kills Aeris, and the end where Cloud uses Omnislash. We're also going to encorporate a "Super Sonic" element to allow for the Omnislash (which will be similar to the upgraded version at the end of Advent Children).

          We'll encorporate the Chaos Emeralds too, although they'll basically be like Materia and have powers by themselves (more than Chaos Control too i might add).

          So below i'll go over the concepts for the Emerald/Materia breakdown as far as i took it (and i'm just using stock imagery of gems, actual materia/emeralds might have their own unique look to them - definitely color).

So here we have the Materia of Force. It allows it's user to control Fire based Magic and gives them great physical strength.

Here is the Materia of Agility. Its user can manipulate Lightning based Magic and gains unparalleled speed.

This is the Materia Longevity. User gains limitless Stamina and the power to control Earth based Magic.

This one is the Materia of Mentality. It bestows upon its user the skills of Air based Magic and great Mental Fortitude.

The Materia of Knowledge grants upon its user Water based Magic and unbelieveable Wisdom in every aspect.

This is the Materia of Being. It allows its user to conjur Spirit based Magic and provides Imortality.

This is the rarest of Materia - it might not even truely exist. It is the Materia of Unity. It allows for the manipulation of Time and all Magic and gives its user the ability to assimilate any and all other magic and Materia.

Tip Of The....Iceberg?

2010-01-17T12:32:00.003-07:00

          Okay, rather than try and include everythig in one long ass post, i think i'll chip away at it till i'm all caught up (Usher). So a lot of things have happened since my last post way the fuck back in October; I switched jobs (from building roof and floor trusses to being a waiter in a restaurant), I barely passed my classes last semester (one i actually got 'administratively dropped' because things were so hectic i had technically been 'absent' for 3 weeks), and some other things that can't be quickly summarized.

          The job thing really isn't all that important, it's a typical job change - miss the guys i used to work with and love some of the regulars at my new job (and the extra cash and not having tax taken out of wages doesn't hurt either......not till April 16th anyway).

I've been working on a lot of things (mostly in the concept stage tho) like the collaboration with my friend DJ with using Sonic characters and elements to recreate the "Death To Aeris" scene from Final Fantasy 7. I've been chipping away at the major "Kingdom Hearts/Final Fantasy" story i've been working on....i won't be comfortable doing anything in the 3D realm until i've got another few classes or semesters of Maya under my belt (and certain 2D artists quit dragging their feet *cough*DJ*cough*).

          I've already registered for the Spring '10 semester, and i'll be taking ALL MAYA CLASSES (finally). I've got a class on Rigging, one on Lighting & Texturing, and my last one is Organic Modeling (using Multi-patch techniques and what-have-you). So i'm really looking forward to all of those classes (especially the Light/Texture cuz i usually spend a good amount of time on that anyway just for fun).

          This semester feels like it's going to be a good semester, all classes that involve maya (so actually having to be home to use clay or charcoal/canvas isn't the slightes bit of an issue). My Tax return should be pretty good, so that'll probably go to flying some friends out during spring break or my birthday. And the way my work schedule is and my 'projected' schedule for working on school, i'll probably have a good amount of time to go to the gym on a regular basis (i really love running and would like to, as goofy as it sounds, fill my shirt a little more.....too bad there's no excersize i can do to fill my underwear a little more - "Ladies, am i right?"

          Well that's about all i've really got to say, the sparknotes version anyway, and the next post, now that i'll be taking my laptop to a job that has WiFi, shouldn't be too far off and should be pretty frequent.

God Almighty We Are Done At Last!

2009-10-09T22:36:00.005-07:00

          So finally finished my Red Mage model as much as i'm going to try for the scope of this particular class (but when it's over, i'm definitely going to try and add some more zest to it).

          So this is a 'turntable' i created when i finished my model - it's a composite of two different layers, a 'Surface Shader' layer, and an 'Ambient Occlusion' layer. it's an extremely time consuming render process, mostly for the AO, but it beats trying to fake the kind of lighting effect you get from it as i'm not that experienced in lighting and Global Illumination yet.....yet. So the only part of the original model that's there is the head (it goes down to about the collar bone and terminates). So the gloves, boots, greaves, mostly everything will be bound and skinned to the skeleton i'm about to create rather than bind/skinning the model and then creating influences for the objects places over his body....man - PAIN!

          For the most part that's all i've got done, plus some renders in Mental Ray (with physicalSun/Sky) of the 'set' i'm going to use for my animation
.

POST Traumatic Stress

2009-09-21T21:22:00.004-07:00

So i totally forgot to add this image to my last post and thought it was well worth posting. just the outline of the Red Mage character design, colored briefly in photoshop, and labeled enough to know what all the difference pieces are that are going to be modeled.

Enjoy.

**Opens in new window.

WIP it good.

2009-09-20T08:07:00.011-07:00

          So anoter week has gone by and i have made some improvements over my last few posts - though i'm only going to show some of them. I inked and added detail to my storyboards (mostly spacial depth stuff so you get a sense of things), inked and colored the "Front View" of my Red Mage design, inked the Back View, and made sketches for my "Set".

          Page 1: I don't know how well this is going to work out, but i'm gonna try it anyway. Recently they've been showing episodes of Teen Titans on CN and Boomerang, and i love some of the styles they use to show certain things; like when they have a duel or someone running a long distance or something, they'll have the bottome half of the screen be completely black (to illustrate the ground the they're running on and force the subject into the middle of the screen without getting so close). That's what i'm going to try and do in some of the panels/shots of this animation (Spec. Panels 1 & 6-9)

          Page 2: Not much has changed besides the gradients added in Photoshop. Same stuff as the pencil version.

          Page 3: I decided what was going to happen in Panel 7, and it can happen quite a few ways too...though essentially they are all the same. The character can throw is sword "Blade-over-Hilt" and catch it with just a vertical jump before landing/striking downward - or - the character can throw it "Sideways" and catch it with a "jump-and-a-spin" before striking sideways. I would personally like to see the sideways one because the stance/pose he'd be left in would be more dynamic......but the blade over hilt would be easier to animate overall.

          Page 4: So this is essentially what the animation is going to be, though if it looks like it'll be longer than 30 seconds i have ideas of whta actions to cut/simplify/overlap. But either way, after the semester is done, depending on how well i picked up on the 'animating' principles and process, i'm definitely planning to make a longer verson of this idea...with more action and fighting than right before Demi Moore left Bruce for Ashton.

          So the details of the overall scene are somewhat lacking in the storyboards, so i decided to make a preliminary sketch to plot out the key points before i go in to model it (though usually i can sit down with nothing in my head and after a few hours come out with something awesome).

          It might be hard to tell what way the stairs are going and what is a new level and such, but i should have some rought renders and models in a week or two, so don't fret if it's hard to read.

          It's mostly just the basic outline of everything, once i actually go into maya and start modeling, things might change to look more 'organic' or natural....so the set probably won't look like this 100%...but it'll look relatively similar.

          Side Profile of the main room of the 'set'.

          Mostly what all is in this is just basic geometry and lighting elements, trying to say that the lights should only illuminate from tapestry to tapestry....so there will be black patches every so many feet (to try and accomplish a certain effect for the first shot of my storyboard).

Are you Board with my Story?

2009-09-09T19:22:00.007-07:00

     So the first week of school is half over, despite starting a week ago, and we're now able to submit our homework for the first week - which are Storyboards for your final animation concept. Mine are below and will go into further explaination later if at all (i think between the "Action" and "Comments" you can get the gesture of what i'm going for. Quite a bit is left out of the storyboards, esp. the environment - but the time it would take me to draw them to the level of detail you could appreciate....i could just as quickly made the actual model and show you from more angles and detail.

     Page 1 of my storyboard details the build up of the first scene - and the frame of the camera isn't going to be showing both feet at the same time, it'll more than likely be position in the middle - as to get the passing of both (i might try two version, one staying with the character, and the other catching up to and potentially passing him).
     Also, i'm going to try and space the lighting to make it seem more intensified, like when a person is riding an elevator and is lit every other second or so from the various floors/shaft lighting.

     What Panel 5 doesn't show is that before it starts tracking along the blade of the sword, i'll actually animate him unsheathing it (as best i can anyway lol) and do some fancy cutting so it doesn't look like it's own scene/shot before the track (FYI: tracking is moving closer or pulling back...not to be confused with "Zoom")

     Panel 7 left blank as i have not yet decided how i want my character to "Take off" towards the other person (whether there's someone what of a shockwave and he literally flies off into the room, or if i want to manipulate the lense angle to give it that 'worm's/fish eye view.

     Panel 10 is the point to which i am setting my semester goal - "Get to at least this point". I have the rest of the whole scene planned out (including things like the main character being thrown across the floor and flailling wildly and being thrown at a wall and doing that cliche 'sword-through-cloth to slow down his fall). So if i get to this point and have way more time than i know what to do with, i'll keep it going (which i intend to during the winter anyway).

So that's that, i'll post the designs for my main character and his "Opponent" when i finish doing all side (front, back, and side) and have designed the finer details of their costumes (which involves drinking paint and adding belts......meh DJ gets it anyway).

Time for another WIPping

2009-09-07T21:05:00.003-07:00

WIP - But for the most part done. Minor anatomical corrections and building up of the muscles are needed, but as a whole it's done and ready for rigging/binding - next up are the pieces of its costume - sketches to come shortly.

2009-09-01T16:55:00.003-07:00

So this Thursday is the big day - SCHOOL STARTS!!! It feels so fraking late. I feel like it'll be Thanksgiving in another week or two and then the easter bunny will be popping his head out of the groundhog's ass to see if there's two more weeks or Heroes. So this semester i've eliminated those pesky art classes that never seem to benifit me and always take up my free time or three hours before my deadline...either way they were a pain and i'm going to avoid it like a gay man trying to be straight.

So the only classes i've got this time are 3, count em, 3 that won't be as time consuming as before. they are:

ANM 202: Maya 1 (a more involved and detailed version of the first Maya class i took - much better amount and quality of information being dispensed and absorbed).

LA 256: Topics in Contemporary Mathmatics (the kind of math i like to do/talk about - statistics, probability, math in "principle" and not application).

FND 131: Figure Modeling (still not 100% sure what we're going to be doing....but it'll be made out of clay...clay figures....figure modeling.....yeah).

So the class that i'm really looking forward to, as anyone who knows me can tell you, is tha ANM 202 Maya class. I've spent a lot of time this summer practicing things i already knew (so they come easier) and learning knew things so i can apply them - whever they are needed or not - and get professional feedback...cuz the only people i ever really show things to don't have experience with them, so i get a lot of "That's kewl" (trust me....you can almost feel the W roll off their tongues). So i've already had a chance to look over the instructional videos for the whole semester and it looks like, though i don't know yet because i haven't looked at the syllabus, we're going to be making a polygonal character model after a character we chose (pre-existing or entirely original - for which i'm going to be using the Red Mage from FFXI) and learning how to rig skeletons and bind them to the character (as the last class had us model the character "over" the bones which were provided), render, light, ...basically all the things i did last fall but with more understanding and better advice.

Well there's not much else i can go on about right now because i don't have the sketches of the Red Made handy to post, but since school starts soon, i should have quite a bit to show you as i'm going to try and be the person in the head of the class this semester...so lots and lots of maya each week (hopefully posting anyway)

The Texture Of It...

2009-07-20T16:49:00.006-07:00

So i know it's been over two weeks since my last post, but i swear i've gotten a lot done - esp. in Maya; a few oculuses and texturing aside, i've got the "Altar" exterior completely finished (the interior is going to be the real challenge...no joke when it comes to lighting). So since i'm trying to go to school to eventually work in some kind of pipeline (and i'm not studying to be a pro surfer), i figured i'd try and adhere to the order of things as best i could; i wasn't going to texture or worry about lighting a single thing till i was as done with the majority of the model as i was ever going to get - and it worked pretty well.

Once i was done with the model, i was kind of on a Photoshop binge, so i finall came up with a logo/title for this Sonic/FF collaboration that i think turned out pretty well. Nothing too goofy like most Sonic logos (for a while i was considering the Sonic 3 logo, and putting the comet behind it somehow...ever having a pink ribbon around it to reference Advent Children - but there would have been too much going on), but it's vague and "Times New Roman" enough for a Final Fantasy logo. I'm going to eventually try and make this into a 3D model so i can do more with it in the trailer, but we'll see when we get there.

So once i started to get into the grove of texturing, i realized - although i always knew - that i didn't just want to have some stone texture endlessly tiled for all eternity. So i spent more time in Photoshop putting great detail into some of the major areas where a nicely developed texture will be appreciated. So one of the major areas i focused on was the front door - or rather two doors.

I didn't just want to have it be blocks of stone tiled up and down; i wanted it to kind of tell a story...like a mural does. So i went through my vast folders of 'royalty free' images and though about what would pertain to the main story of Final Fantasy VII (as that's the story we're following, only with the 7 Chaos Emeralds rather than rare pieces of Materia). And i think what i came up with works pretty well for those who know the FFVII story. I'm going to try and get the red around the right wings to look more like spplattered blood, and there's going to be some things that come out from other models laid over this that you can't see or get out of the picture (like gold lining...the kind of gold the Rings are made out of) but i think, for the most part, this works to my standards and what i wanted to accomplish.

So i've got the model finished, but i'm not going to show any updated pics of it until i've got it all textured....that way you can really take it all in. Another week or two and it should be done (floors and some things will, of course, be tiled and not have that much detail to them).

Altar Ego...

2009-07-02T17:52:00.013-07:00

So i've been working on the design of the altar that i'm going to use for the FF/sonic collaboration between me and DJ this summer (or hopefully this summer....and if not then through the fall semester when i get a whole lot of professional guidence in the art of character modeling). So i wanted to leave it open for my mind to wander - because it obviously has to reflect the Final Fantasy part of it, but having it be a lot larger than the one in VII leaves it open to have random - no excuse being there - objects that adhere to the Sonic world (random rails to grind on, loops. long paths to run along...thins like that).

So i spent a few good hours in Maya last weekend - things started to pick up once i realized I could use "Instances" and save myself some remodeling and duplication time. And then it helped to remember i could reposition the Pivot Point to make rotation and alignment extremely more accurate and easy. So this is what i've got so far, some varied renders and the sketches that i did before hand. Another few good hours (or a good day and it should fairly finished and ready for textureing - depending on whether i feel like modeling the terrain/location it's set in).

So here's part of the sketching i did for the basic idea of the altar (but once i actually started modeling it....certain things needed to be scaled way up for it to be plausible). What it originated as, was a fairly sizable Dais, above which was a free floating Roof. The only place the Roof was connected to the Dais (where the Altar would be located) was by two columns that formed the "front" entryway. The Roof, as it's size is pretty formidable, would be supported by Flying Buttresses (not only because they are really the only way i could think of supporting something like that....without forcing the viewer to 'believe' me - but because i'm always a fan of arches, collunades, and romanesque architecture).

So here you can kind of see how the "Towers" (though i usually refer to them as 'posts' while sketching for some reason...) are cylindrical in shape (they're not 'square') and have a small domed roof with an area you can freely walk around underneath. They have Paths leading from one Tower to the next, and each tower has an inclined path (with some stairs and handrails - cuz Sonic characters will need something to grind on; walk up all those stairs...Knuckles Please....) that leads from the ground, or nearby rock face, up to the tower. It then has another inclined pathway leading from the Tower to the "Floating" Roof.

So those are the basic plans i started with. Last weekend i got quite a bit done - although i'm trying to do the whole thing in a pipeline style resembling the industry's standard: Concept -> Design/Reference -> Modeling -> Lighting -> Texturing -> Animating (if needed) -> Output. So you shouldn't see anything textured till i'm finished with it as a whole. So here's some of the renders of the "Towers" i spent most of that particular day modeling:

Here's a shot of every detail of the Tower. I had only made a basic design for it - height is easily adjustable. I extruded the pathways just a little bit for easy connection later on.

Here's a reference to how tall the archway/entryways are as well as a look at the railing system (in it's most basic form) - posts and such will be added later.

Here is a look at the underside of the Tower floor's rim - to show how i's supported. I ended up changing this to where the underside of the 'paths' only have the outer support so the buttress/arch can fit between them.

Here's a shot without the roof on; again, to show scale and open space. Once i'm done modeling the "Roof", "Altar", and "Pathways", i will return to add small ornamental details like hanging torches and Oculuses and such.

So there you have the "Tower" portion of the whole scene. What i spent the next bit of time on was forming the pathways between posts, how far apart each post was from each other (as well as the degree of rotation between each: if the middle of the altar is the "Origin" and you have any post, what degree do you rotate a duplicated post to get it to where it's supposed to be). After careful consideration and though, the value for rotation between each Tower is 39.375°.

So once i got as much detail in the Tower as i felt i was going to, i saved it and stared a new scene. I imported the tower (because if i kept working in the Tower file and screwed up beyond repair.....i would have to do some major remodeling and 'starting from scratch'). So i took the Tower, moved it out in 3D space, and crated a "donut", if you will, to represent the size of the roof so i could figure out how far away from it the tower should be. Once i did that, i started to Instance everything. I then connected the pathways (only the floor) between each tower and instanced those as well. This is what i got:

This is a dead on view from the "Front". it shows the basic size of the Roof's floor - of course it might not be so thick in the future. It also has a small platform in the middle of everythihg (on the 'ground') that represents the size the actual Altar is going to be - Manni is in there too if you can make him out. Mostly everything besides the Towers is used for reference...so don't think it's actually going to be so 'bulky'.

Here's a better view of the Altar's size and reference to everything else....although because it's rendered over black it doesn't help that much.

A shot from above and behind to better illustraite the spacing, rotation, and connection of each Tower.

So that's what i got done in the better part of a day ( imagine what i could do with 7 *wink* ) and am going to try and spend the better part of 2 days finishing up the Tower section of the scene, which will unclude roofing, railing, support arches, and making the base of each Tower look like it was cared out of the earth (you can what i mean by looking in the second sketch picture above). Once i've done that, i'm going to move on to the "Roof" section of the scene which will unclide a good sized Collunade, railing, decorative recesses, and if i can find a model of a gargoyle somewhere that isn't insane in poly-count, i might import it to give it some gusto.

Renders to come by Sunday

Manni And A Pedi

2009-07-01T20:00:00.002-07:00

So this is Manni (short for Manniquin) and he's what i use in Maya to give a scale reference. He's 6' and likes long walks in any environment created by ~~God~~ I mean Jeffery. His hobbies include lounging and partaking in a good animation every once in a while.

- Manni -

A New Baluster....I Mean Post

2009-06-27T18:33:00.009-07:00

          Baluster without gamma correction (so textures are washed out)

          Same as above, but with gamma correction node.

          With Gamma & With Contour

*Does not open in new window

          Final versioin, including minor tweaks in difusion and bump mapping - this is what's going to be used in the Altar i'm going to be working on, a revamped version of the one Aeris was killed in. Should have posts late tonight or late tomorrow night.

4 Out of 5 Hylian Dentists Recommend...

2009-06-25T19:18:00.013-07:00

So this is basically the same thing as the Oprah's Book Club post below, i just grabbed an image of the "Hylian Crest" from my vast folder of reference images of...well, lets face it, random shit - and used it to make a 3D model of something. Still trying to work out the kinks in the contour rendering...i think if i upped the anti-aliasing it might look more smooth - but i'm really only using it to convey poly-counts and such.

So here is a list of all the things in this "scene":

Vertices: 5,060
Edges:10,014
Triangles:10,100
Faces:4,967

So there were quite a few faces in total for this model...despite it being something as simple as the Hylian Crest.

Oprah's Book Club

2009-06-21T18:03:00.009-07:00

So i was trying to think of something to model today, but couldn't for the life of me come up with anything that would be of use later...but i did figure out how to do "Contour Rendering" which allows you to render the lines that make up the polygons of the model so that people who know what they're looking at can get more out of it. So i decided to make a book...cuz it's an easy thing to model, but i also wanted to practice with deformers (what i used to give the paper that curve to it...cuz it was easier than trying to model it that way).

So i got the basis of the book done (spine/cover and pages) and wanted to add some of those antique metalic corners and possibly a lock...but i couldn't really find any good reference, so i decided to use the Crown Symbol from Kingdom Hearts and use that...so that maybe the book can be used later for the FF/KH project me and DJ are going to be working on. And i didn't decide to add the page texture till i was almost done...so that's why only one image has it shown...just for visual aid.

It's Been Spiked

2009-06-04T22:10:00.006-07:00

So here is what DJ came up with as a preliminary sketch to see how Cloud's spikes would translate to a sonic character's head and such. Front, Side, and Top views for me to import into Maya to make modeling easier (as i can model while using these images as a kind of 'stencil'). and then a perspective one that i started to go over, planning out how each object would be oriented and how the edges and faces would appear (to also make texturing and painting easier). So the only thing left to do is go into Maya and start making a first attempt at modeling the head/spikes/eyes. Once i've done that, we'll see how it renders and if there's anything that should be modified (maybe some more spikes added or moved, or whatever).

Weekend Work

2009-05-31T09:25:00.010-07:00

     So this is basically what i got accomplished Saturday. Not all day Saturday, but from start to what you see in the renders is maybe 3 hours (i spent a lot of time learning how to 'Sculpt' geometry and then wasted about half an hour trying to paint it...which never worked).
     So this little 'Island in the Sky' is called Rho (Greek letter for "R"). And i've been using it in my story forever, i just never got around to making a good enough model of it.

     There's a whole long reason why it's floating and why there's a 'shaft' coming from it, but i won't go into it now. But the bridge (if you couldn't tell that's what it was) was built because the people of my story's world believed Rho to be the Land of the Gods (similar to Olimpus; able to be located, but no mortal can ascend to the top). This whole scene is incomplete too. At the end of the bridge there's supposed to be a few mountains to which the bridge connects to.

     This is a rendering of the underside of Rho (if it was hard to tell from the render). When i finally finish an acceptable model (as this on is a bit too long and not right in it's overall hieght (when placed over the reference drawing i made a couple posts below, it didn't quite match up...) I'm going to paint it and apply some nice layered texturing (which i also learned friday). It's basically going to be grass on the top (along with more geography like mountains and maybe a small water source), and grass hanging over the side a little bit. Then dirt and soil for a bit, and then it'll transition into real hard rock and earth.
     I'm gonna try and make another model of it next weekend or something, now that i know quick ways to deform the geometry to how i want. Today i'm gonna go learn about Particle Effects:

*Next Up: A Rocket with Particle(smoke) Trail. I might even composite it into the rho scene as i will eventually be using rockets and such in it for good ol' fashioned destruction.

Cheating Mod Hack

2009-05-28T23:20:00.004-07:00

*Note* Does not open new window....just directs you to image...

Just a little something for DJ to show her the awesome cheating power of Maya's Paint effects Brushes. Each stroke (like a tree or feather, grass or basic building shape) can be further refined and tweaked to suit your needs. Like if you wanted to create a small city without actually making each building by hand (say you were taking an arial view or something from far away) you can set the number of buildings to appear in between each "step" (like in Photoshop some selection tools are made to put a marker after being dragged for so many pixels), you can set the variations in height (so if you wanted them all to be the same, then both numbers - max and min - would be the same). You can edit the texture so they all look like victorian houses or something. You can even set how many sides, roof details, things like that. Then just click and drag.

Image above contains red down feathers, 1 type of tree, 1 type of grass, a stone path, and some houses. I could have done more, but i just wanted to illustrate a point - so to speak

I'm Gonna Comp Me Some...

2009-05-28T22:38:00.003-07:00

So this is my first attempt at compositing something i made a 3D model of into a real-life photo i took. More to come....and hopefully better.

And so you can see what i was holding on to, or whatnot, here are the two layers i used to make the composited shot above. Basically, in order to make the keyblade render in the correct pose, i took the original photo (of me) and imported it into Maya so that when i look through the Perspective camera, it fits the image to the film gate (so no matter which way the camera moves....the picture stays with it). So just just moved the keyblade/camera around till it looked like they two of them would work together, and then i rendered the keyblade with an alpha channel so it would composite easily.

Key To My Start

2009-05-28T22:04:00.004-07:00

So these are just some perspective renders of the untextured model of the keyblade i made last weekend. There's still some minor things i need to add onto it before i texture it, but for the most part it's done and ready for use.

Iron Mad...

2009-05-28T21:20:00.005-07:00

Just a joke for DJ from one of her pictures of Tony Stark....the darker side anyway.

Testing, Testing...

2009-05-28T20:48:00.010-07:00

     So i was playing around in Maya last weekend trying to learn some new things, and these are the test renders for the few things i learned and will retain without needing reference in the future. The first pic is of the Maya physicalSun and physicalSky settings for rendering. It's basically an extremely accurate recreation of the lighting effects of the sun and blur/shaprness of the horizon and sky. The 'Sun' is a 'Directional Light' (so it can physically be manipulated lilke any other light in Maya) and based on the rotation (so the Aim of the light) it will adjust the color of the light being emitted from the sun (so early morning blue light = 0-20° or something. Sunset reds = 150-180°.

     So the first picture is me messing around with that and Final Gather, which simulates the way real light bounces off surfaces and provides reflected light.

     The secong image is me messing around with a Maya brush (cityMesh) and combining it with Sun/Sky and Final Gather. For some reason, when you use Mental Ray (a renderer for Maya) it's default texture has high reflectivity - so that's why you can't easily distinguish all the buildings and edges. I didn't feel like changing it because it was just a test for the brush stroke.

Summer Projects: Avatar Rebirth

2009-05-28T15:08:00.006-07:00

     So the summer is starting, and it's time to shake the cobwebs off and start getting into the swing of modeling again since i'll have a pretty intense Maya course during the upcoming fall semester. So during the summer i'm going to be doing two things in Maya to freshen my overall skills:

--> FFS: The Final Fantasy/Sonic crossover me and my friend DJ are working on...details in a few posts below.

--> Avatar Rebirth: I'll be trying to model some of the big-scale things from the video game i'm working on.

          So for both projects, i'll be the only one doing the 3D modeling and pushing my skills in as many areas as i can:
Texturing (including 3D paint and UV mapping);
Lighting
Environment Modeling (terrain, trees, grass, clouds, things like that);
Character Animation (which includes modeling, rigging, Inverse Kinematics...*shudder*, and animating);
Rendering (using multiple passes to achieve desired rendering)
Special Effects (like particle effects and such).

     So for right now, since the above drawing is the only thing i have to work with that's detailed enough for me to work with in Maya, i'm going to be working on this over the weekend and should have some WIP renders soon.

     As soon as i've got some good sketches for the FFS project, i'll start posting stuff for that on here as well.

Shadow of the Colossus

2009-05-23T15:32:00.004-07:00

So like my friend DJ did in her last post "A Gray Day" (btw....she mis-spelled grey - or rather spelled it the acceptable way while still being wrong), I took those greyscale art markers and went over some images (this is only one of them...others include the crystal in my blog's header) to further define the shapes and form of the subject so the eye has a bit more to look at then an extreme 2D image with no value. Maybe more later...

Fix Or Repair Daily

2009-05-19T16:36:00.004-07:00

     So Friday night, when i was at He Brews for the Karaoke night since it was the last day of school (here anyway), I somehow managed to lose my keys (and not just one....cuz otherwise i would have said "i lost my house key, or i lost my mailbox key). So i looked all over the place; under the only chair i ever sat in, in all my 10+ pockets, all throughout my car, on the ground leading from my seat to my car....everywhere.

     The only place i had visited after exitting my car was the Justice Court to fax some paperwork to my school for verification. So since i was leaving around 8:30 PM, naturally, they were closed for the weekend. So i had no way of getting my car home. No biggie, right - i'll just use my grandma's and get my keys back on monday. Turns out they weren't at the Justice Court....they weren't anywhere (Eddie even looked through the trash from the friday night to see if someone had thrown them away by accident; no luck).

     So there's this whole deal about figuring out what to do and having my car towed home. And then today - Tuesday - i get a spare...replica key made and almost have another incident. I go to Wal Mart to try and find a keychain or one of those things that go around your neck, and almost get locked out of my car. Turns out the key they made, for some weird reason, will start my car, and lock the doors from the outside...but it just won't unlock them. I'm just lucky i had that spare key that unlocks the car but doesn't start it...otherwise i would have been hard pressed......hehehehehehehe

     It's really dumb tho, cuz the key that unlocks my car was the one they used to make the copy of...so it should have made no difference whatsoever.

     Oh well

What A Fucking Sabbatical

2009-05-17T20:56:00.007-07:00

I can't believe it's been 3 whole months since my last post. There's been a shit load of stuff that's happened since then. I got a girlfriend, finished the spring semester, and a bunch of other little things (like starting collaborations with DJ and her friends).

So i guess i'll start with my girlfriend, Crystal...Naw. I'll make that a whole seperate post once i've got some good pictures of us to include in it (and now that i don't have school i should be - and i know i've said this before - more regular with updates). But since i'm going to be working on a few things this summer - mostly Maya related - I hope i'm better at making regular posts so the people who need to know what i'm doing can see it at their leisure.

So the main thin i'm going to be working on this summer - mostly after the middle of june since i need to make up some art assignments to get a better grade in my Figure Drawing class and not have to retake it - is a collaboration with DJ that involves taking Final Fantasy 7 characters (just a few of them as the project isn't that big; it's just working on a kind of teaser trailer) and translating them into Sonic characters. DJ is going to be doing the conceptual drawings as well as character layouts (defining certain features in great detail so that i may create better models with ease) and storyboards once it comes time to render the trailer.

We haven't, as of yet, come up with a plot for the whole thing. We might just leave it as a trailer and never come back to it, or we might make little webisodes since we'll already have all the characters made. u we're probably going to have Sephiroth, Cloud, Aeris no way am i ever spelling it with a "th"), Reno & Rude for comic relief, and maybe a secret antagonist. Who knows, we might not even have Sephy in there at all...could be some new enemy - screw Jen, Seph, and their stupid Kaddy. One thing that'll translate over kind of effectively is the Materia into Chaos Emeralds. Materia can be a pretty common thing in the realm of FF7 - kind of like cubic zerconias in the real world - they're pretty but nothing special as everyone has them. But like the end of 7, there were the Huge Materia you needed to blast apart the meteor...and of course the Black Materia used to summon it.......which lead to the Holy Materia used to destroy it.

So if my memory serves me, there were 4 pieces of Huge Materia, 1 Black, and 1 White...which makes 6 extremely unique pieces of materia. In the Sonic Realm, there are always 7 Chaos Emeralds (and depending on the timeline or story, 1 Master emerald). So it'll be no problem to translate the materia into emeralds if i wanted to...so if i wanted to retell the events of FF7 as Sonic Characters and Emeralds....i totally could.

I think i'm going to eventually name them - the emeralds that is - because you're either always going to refer to them by the location they were found ("you know, the emerald found in the such-and-such stage") or by their color...which isn't a bad thing by any means....but it'd be nice if they had names - even if it were something like "The Emerald of Power" - of which Red is an Archetype for......why do you think Gannon's triforce piece was red?

DJ said she had started a collaboration with her friends using RPG Maker 2003 (a bit outdated, but still just as good as anything if you want to achieve that 'old school' feel) and asked me - if i remember our convo right - if i wanted to help out. So i said sure because i think it would be nice for me to get out of the directive position and be delegated to for once. I'm just surprised they didn't do this a long time ago because i had RPGM2003 a long time ago and tried messing with it myself, though it didn't get very far because my understanding of games and their inner-workings wasn't as good as it is now.

So i guess i'll leave this post where it is and go work on the Sonic Collaboration.....in which i'm about to disucss with DJ since she's calling me right now....Lates.

Let There Be Light

2009-02-08T14:21:00.002-07:00

So my homework for FND 116: Perspective was to take the drawing we did from the first week and add value to it. So here's what i'm turning in for a grade. I'm probably going to go back (because this isn't the 'original' work) and add more detail - more cables...steps on the other staircase, metalic floor panels.

It's based off of an idea i'm going to put in my game, so now that i have a pretty good design for it, i'll probably make it into an actual model and animation during the summer before i have to go back to taking ANM classes for Maya.

I don't think i'm going to go back and revisit my below rending in Isometric perspective - with my work schedule being so hectic, i think i'm going to focus on what's for school and my violin practice.....ohhhhhh - speaking of which

*grabs violin and starts practicing*

Rho, Rho, Rho Your Boat...

2009-02-04T23:27:00.002-07:00

Here's a wire-frame rendering of something i made in Blender that was from the story i'm developing to be turned into whatever medium it can be (cartoon series, VG, book, w/e). It's supposed to be a raised piece of earth, and obivously the thing on the bottom is the crater created from it.

The shaft running down the middle of both is a way for certain large items to be lifted to the top (as there's a small city and research-like base up there). So i'm deciding to revisit it, but rather than do it in 3D, i'm going to try doing it in the isometric style of perspective (like the drawing below this post).

So i'll be working on the rough tomorrow at my favorite cafe in town after work (i should have a few images tomorrow (assuming i remember to post them) of the basic outline...blocked out using simple cubes, pyramids, and basic shapes like that.

After which, once i get it to a level of detail i like, i'll practice shading it using the technique i learning for applying light/shadow to an isometric drawing. This might take a while, but i should hopefully post as i go alond.

Figure Drawing assignments next week.

...Of Life

2009-02-01T22:13:00.003-07:00

It's The Gesture That Counts

2009-01-30T13:20:00.011-07:00

Below: My Two Linear Gesture Drawings For My Excersizes This Week

Below: My 3 Favorite Mass+Linear Gestures For This Weeks Excersize

We were supposed to do 5 Mass, 10 Linear, and 5 Mass+Linear, but these were the only ones i like enough to put up here. I'll let you know what they get once they're graded.

...Of The End

2009-01-29T10:25:00.005-07:00

Classes started this week and i'm really liking what i've got this semester (of course i said that last semester and look what happened).

My classes are:

LA 255: College Math;

This class is basically like an algebra/geometry class. I took my first quiz and the hardest question was "what is the prime factorization of 400" (which of course is 2*2*2*2*5*5). I'm taking it because its a prereq for the math class that i want to take "Topics if Contemporary Mathmatics, which does all the kind of math i really like, the kind that stimulates your higher level thinking...the kind you can't get through with a calculator.

FND 112: Figure Drawing;

The next step in my art class; where the last one was focused on detail 'after the fact' (value and such), this class focuses on detail of the subject (proportions and acurate rendering). Our first assignments are different kidns of gestures, so those should be on here soon.

FND 116: Perspective;

This class has already proven to be fun, mostly because our subject matter can be our own choosing, so you don't have to sit there and stare at something you don't like for hours. Our first assignment is drawing something in an isometric perspective (which i'll explain when i post the assignment up here over the weekend), but i basically recreated a battle map from Final Fantasy Tactics...it's awesome.

And ANM 109: Non-Linear Computer Editing (with Avid);

It's basically a class that introduces you to how scenes are strung together in movies and how shots are edited to impose a certain atmosphere or theme. Our first assignment deals with Lord of the Rings footage, so i'll post some of that once it's done.

those are all of my classes. I'm expecting to have a lot of fun with my Perspective class because i'll be doing a lot of things from Final Fantasy and my game.

Around The Corner

2009-01-24T09:02:00.012-07:00

Welp...school is about to start...in two days to be prcise, and i feel cheated. It seems like my school hasn't done one thing right since i've gone full time - the screwed up my financial aid account to where i was blocked for a week and that really fucked up my flow. Then they said they fixed it but didn't, which meant i had to wait longer than i wanted to to register for spring....which in turn meant i didn't get all my supplies in time...just - shit snowballs (if that makes sense to you).

But there is one upside:
One of my books for the class i'm NOT taking turned out to be more insightful than most college textbooks (or books required for college classes). I actually learned quite a few things just from the introduction that i felt i should have been taught from my CAPS (Computer Animation Production...don't ask me where the S comes into play....idk) class.

The whole book teaches you the fundementals of Maya while using examples and actual models from the movie Open Season Well...I haven't acutally popped in the DVD that comes with it, so i don't know if they give you the acutal models....but they give you textures and show you step-by-step how to create them.

So by the end of the book you'll have a basic understanding of almost everything there is to do in Maya (skeletal creation, texture mapping, animation, particles....GOD i love particles, and even compositing of effects created outside of Maya.

It's too bad the CAPS class i took didn't focus on something like this...a lot of students could really have benefited from this book.

Violin lessons are coming along alright....i think. My posture and wrist placement are horrible - but i get the job done. I need to work on sight reading...and memorizing finger placement (i always get worried my fingers are going to fall on the wrong note, so i look at them and in turn lose my place on the sheet music.) I'm really good and quick at learning songs to the point of memorization...but even when i'm playing it from memory, just looking at the book sometimes makes me mess up.

right now, as i hope you would have guessed, i'm learning some HP music. There's only one two songs i want to learn and one is 'Hedwig's Theme' (the general HP theme that plays at the start of every movie) and the 'Double Trouble' song (...something wicked this way comes - you know the song).

Actually...now that i think about it, there was a pop song kind of like that from the first or second Power Ranger's Movie (god - don't ask me how i remember that or what it has to do with power rangers of HP - probably because it has the lyrics trouble, double, and bubble). Google says.............it was Trouble by Shampoo

When i get good enough at each song, i'll take my camera and record me and my teacher playing it and put it on here (possibly two or three more weeks)

Is That A Post...?

2009-01-17T10:26:00.006-07:00

*Note to self; add Necromancy to resumé.

Well, a lot has been going on since last year - or last post.....whichever you think doesn't sound as long as its been. I've been keeping myself busy in my down time by working on my story - which i think has a pretty set and finalized plot to it...so the only things left to do are design characters, the world, etc.

I worked on finalizing my world map (below):

I worked on a couple of other stuff, but for right now i'm only gonna give oyu a bit so i don't wear you out on the first go 'round.

So here's my final for my ANM class that i FAILED!!! But that's all sorted.

Umm.....I'' post sometime next week with some more stuff....don't worry...it's written in my planner.

IDK

2008-11-03T22:27:00.004-07:00

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

Body Shot

2008-10-24T21:42:00.004-07:00

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

2008-10-19T19:16:00.032-07:00

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*)

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

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*

I don't C Why...

2008-09-24T15:00:00.006-07:00

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.

An Apple A Day...

2008-09-23T14:44:00.004-07:00

...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)

Artistic Value...

2008-09-22T18:52:00.008-07:00

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).

Bumpers...

2008-09-21T17:15:00.003-07:00

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

Wishing On A Star...

2008-09-16T20:45:00.005-07:00

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

Homework and Shtuff

2008-09-14T20:28:00.019-07:00

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).

Japanese Game Show

2008-09-13T11:38:00.030-07:00

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...

2008-09-12T18:16:00.006-07:00

Here's a pic my friend DJ drew from a version of my story that's been dead and burried for some time now. But it's fun to look back and have a larf every now and then....enjoys!!!

Archives Layout

2008-09-12T17:45:00.002-07:00

Here's something i worked on today for my story. It's just an outline of the place known as Archives.....5 guesses as to what it is. It's basically al the things i had known were going to be in Archives since i decided on it. The only reason i decided to kill some time drawing/planning it all out was so that it's finally down on paper and not fluid in my mind...the more that's on paper means the less it'll change if i have other ideas.

Birthday Pic

2008-09-12T17:23:00.006-07:00

Here's a pic of three of my best friends (l-to-r): Kyra, George, and DeJon. they were visiting me for my 21st birthday and we had stopped into the Justice Court that i voulenteer at to have a small b-day celebration. They took this pic for their own benefit and they finally got the film developed yesterday. Man....good times.

PS: Not that i know this personally, but that's Kyra's sex face...hehehehe.......and i guess i'll mention George has the same one too ;)

New Title

2008-09-08T21:37:00.005-07:00

This is the fruit of my evening's loi.....labor. I didn't spend that much time on it, because i started with an image size of 720x480 (which is what everything we do is going to be output in....*shudders* Don't fret, i'm going to always render high-quality images for you guys and lwer them for school. So i started out small and didn't feel like correcting it to bring out the detail i had wanted - next time.

I should've made Omicron a lot bigger.....*puts on to-do list*

ANM:105 sketch

2008-09-08T17:48:00.004-07:00

Here's another piece of homework for my ANM:105 class (which, actually, probably should've preceeded my previous post). It's basically just me trying to figure out another title/logo, and how to do a little 10 second animation of it for when the time comes. This is my first time ever doing any kind of storyboarding (though i'm not saying what i did was all that great), but i was surprised at how fun it was.

So since i figured that most people didn't know the large "O" in my previous pictures was attached to the 'micron' and was supposed to read 'Omicron', i figured i'd make all the letters the same size (or something like 'small caps'). So my next post, which might be later tonight (or wednesday if not tonight), should have another pic of my title with a little lense flare in the second "O".

Bells Are Ringing...

2008-09-06T21:27:00.017-07:00

School started for me already...Thursday if you can believe it. The first 'module' (lesson) doesn't end until next Friday (or sunday...whatever the 15th is......i don't feel like looking right now - you do it).

So my classes are:

- Computer Animation Production: ANM:105

- Analysis of Form: FND:110

- Art History Through the 15th Century: LA:120

- Digital Photography for Artists: PH:103

I expect most of my time consuming homework to originate from my animation and form class. I've already had to do a little bit of work for my animation class. That's what these two pictures are of - the title/logo for our demo-reel intro. It seems kind of stupid for us to working on our demo-reel as the class is a beginner class and most wouldn't be expected to have anything to construct a reel out of anyway. It's like my friend said, "It'd be like taking an art class and your first assignment is to make a portfolio." So this is what i came up - just some stock images from way back when with some snazzy text of the title i'll probably use when i make it big.

The homework i have for my form class is to draw some elipses, cubes, and all 4 basic geometric shapes (cube, cylinder, sphere, cone) in line-only, no value (basically just outlines of the shapes without shading or anything). I'll probably go into town tomorrow and work on some of that while i sip on some Starbucks or something. I should have some updates tomorrow or by monday (they're not due until sunday night at the latest...but it doesn't hurt to submit the work early and get critiques).

Song of the Evening:
De La Soul - Me, Myself, & I

Pistol WIP

2008-08-29T20:58:00.006-07:00

Of course it has nothing to do with a pistol...but w/e. Here's the latest version of the Red Mage pic DJ drew. I filled in the coat a bit more, along with the pants, boots, sword sheath, and face. I went against having him have brown eyes because of the color of his skin (it might've worked with a light tone, but if i change my mind later it's a simple tweak in photoshop).

The next step is to draw in the hand and sword hilt, color/fill those, and then do something with the feather (i still haven't decided what tho....but it'll be ah-some.

I added a little bit of feathering on the 'stubble' so it doesnt' contrast the skin too sharply.

That's about it for now - maybe some story developments tomorrow after i spend some time in town working on them.

Song of the Evening:
Luniz - I got 5 On It (Remix featuring E-40, Dru Down, Digital Underground, and others)

HOLY....

2008-08-28T20:31:00.004-07:00

Cow....as in i almost hit one - TWICE (that'd be two different cows, not the same one twice....stoopyd). I was driving down the road at about 8:10 PM and these 4 or 5 black cows (might've been bulls) only about 10 fucking feet off the side of the road. It was like they snuck up on me because at first i just thought they were shadows on trees being cast from my head lights...but not until they were passing did i realize they were cattle.

HOLY SHIT

That's what i yelled as i passed them cuz i knew if i had hit one of them it would've been over for me....cars vs cows - cows always win man...always

And about half a mile more down the road (which was just a little ways cuz i was going 55 MPH) one actually started to walk out into the road, i had to apply the breaks almost to point of them being 'slammed' and swerve into the other lane (thank god there wasn't anyone in that lane or i wouldn't've known what the fuck to do).

No new pictures - sorry...maybe tomorrow or over the window....i mean weekend (where the fuck did that come from?!?!?!)

To The Races....

2008-08-28T14:33:00.002-07:00

I'm just checking in so i don't forget to post a couple of things - but i'm off to help out at the Justice Court. Be back in a little bit...

Just wanted to mainly post the song of the day before i forgot:

Song of the Day:
The Cardigans - Lovefool

A Couple Thou...

2008-08-27T20:45:00.014-07:00

Today sucked. I called off from work because my upper-middle-lower back was still buggin me from last night. I didn't do much today cuz it was still buggin me so much, but i did manage to scan some pics that needed to be scanned (and color one that needed coloring).

This is a picture my friend DeJon drew for me when she was at comicon - it's Dave and Jerry from Code Monkeys that she got signed by the voice actors of the two characters. Now because the whole show is done in 8-bit graphics, i figure i'd show what reference material she used while standing in line.

This is Dave. Dave likes getting caught in the rain and pina coladas. His hobbies inlcude urinating in anything that'll hold about 8-10 oz of liquid (which often includes plants, bongs, sinks, floor space, and the occasional urinal), and putting dueces in the brownie bowl.

This is Jerry. Jerry enjoys completing games on time and red-headed jewish women. His hobbies include vomitting large amounts of last night's frozen dinner which usually consist of something green - it doesn't matter what he ate or where he is...all that matters is where it's going on the floor.

This is going to be my avatar once i finish coloring it to my liking. It's basically me as a Red Mage. She drew me in two different poses, but i'm going to use the one of me sleeping as my avatar - the only reason i colored the other shot today was because it was a lot easier...at least for some reason. You've gotta see the detail of the pic, seeing a thumbnail doesn't do it justice. Hopefully you'll enjoy the gradient and texture i gave his coat and hat...and basically everything - i want you to feel as though he was 'fabric'ated. When you look at the full-scale image, you'll be able to tell it's not done...so don't worry about it - i'll have something more for you soon.

That's pretty much it for tonight. I'm going to go into work tomorrow and hope i don't injure myself anyfurther. Tomorrow i might have a further colored pic of my avatar...or maybe not - we'll see.

Night.

Song of the Evening:
Nobuo Eumatsu - Tifa's Theme (Final Fantasy VII: Piano Collection)

......

2008-08-25T21:00:00.002-07:00

I'm tired.

I know why too - i was watching some commercial about johnsons baby oil or something, and it showed a mom doing whatever its called (where you press your lips to you baby's belly or cheek and blow, ultimately making a farting noise...which i'm sure is why the baby laughs - i'm mean who doesn't find flatulence funny?). Well i thought about who i'd proobably still find that ammusing today, even at 21, if someone did that to my cheek or stomach.

Then that got me thinking about how i'm still single and really don't have anyone who would do that (even that good a friend). So now i'm going to bed cuz it's a little past 9 and cuddling with Kevin makes me a feel a bit more tranquil and relaxed.

Night.

You can pick your friends....

2008-08-25T19:02:00.007-07:00

So i went and got a hair cut today (just a little off the top and even less in the back near my neck), and had the woman who runs the shop try some coloring in my hair. Neither of us knew what to expect because i already had chemicals in my hair from getting it straightened a while back...so we were surprised to see that it retained color and only became slightly more frail (tho i can comb through it and pull out it without worrying completely about it falling out or breaking off).

My first thought was to not do anything too extreme, just a little coloring. Marilyn (not sure how to spell her name....so lets go with this) said to start by just making it lighter - so we did and it worked....but it blended in too much with my skin color and hair.

So she asked me if i wanted to add some bleach to it and get some actual color (at the expense of adding harsher chemicals and risk damaging my hair). So i said yeah, and got some visible blond streaks. Of course once my hair was all poofed out after being washed they weren't all that visible (they looked like little pig tails showing in bushes cuz my hair was a little curly).

So now that i know how much my hair can handle as far as coloring and straightening, i've just gotta figure out what i want to do with it and go in one afternoon...can't wait for those pics and people's thoughts.

It was kinda odd when Marilyn was washing my hair - usually when she does it its after getting it straightened, so i imagine she's gentle because she doesn't want to do anything to damage my hair. But today she was working the shampoo in with the tips of her fingers (not really her nails because they were so short...but enough for me to feel it). I have to say it was a first...i've never had someone scratch my head before - i've picked my friend's nose before (luckily for me it was clean at the time) but i've never had someone do something like that to me before...i feel so dirty (hehehehehe).

I'll cover work tomorrow - including a hilarious story abuot how McKay broke (or injured) his tail bone...you'll love it - i know i did.

Song of the Day:
Glenn Lewis - Fall Again

God Almighty We Are Free At Last...

2008-08-24T20:22:00.003-07:00

Well that's what i was thinking anyway - at least for the past week or so. My grandma left this morning to go to San Diego for a week (won't be back till Labor Day) and i'm pretty much the only occupant of the house right now. Nothing feels any different (with the exception of being able to walk around the house in my underwear at any time of day). I spent the whole day enjoying my new entertainment set-up - playing Xbox 360, doing stuff online, and watching tv all on the same monitor/screen...all i have to do to go back and forth is push a button.

We'll see what tomorrow brings. Work of course - we've still gotta finishe some half-attic trusses that were left over from friday. But it should go by pretty quickly (especially since last friday was payday and at least one or two people go missing on the following monday). No time at the Justice Court, so if i don't make plans to do something with someone, it'll be straight home to finish either playing Lost Odyssey, or cleaning my room (but i've been able to live with a dirty room for quite some time now.....so i think we all know which one it's going to be).

Saturday -no Will and Grace :(

I guess i'll go make something to eat (like a vanilla ice cream/orange-juice float) and lay down to watch some tv on my brand new 22" screen....did i mention it doubles as.....yeah i mentioned it.

Night.

Song of the Day:
UB40 - The Way You Do The Things You Do

The "F" Word

2008-08-23T22:13:00.002-07:00

I feel so ashamed of myself for letting something so horrible slip from my mouth.

I was in JCPenneys today, asking one of my grandma's co-workers how much she charges for violin lessons.

"It depends..."

"On what?" i asked.

"On how long the lessons are."

"How long would you recommend for an absolute beginner?"

"An absolute beginner...?"

"Well, you know I 'fiddled' around with it a little."

I can't believe i said something so stupid and potentially funny without even trying or thinking about it. I didn't even realize what i said until it had already escaped my lips - i gotta tell ya; it's a good thing i'm not light skinned or she would have seen me blush like i never have before.

Party Hardy

2008-08-23T08:08:00.009-07:00

Yesterday was soooooo much freakin fun. Work and afterwards. We finished up the remainder of the attic truss job we did Thursday (though these weren't attic trusses). So we spent the whole day outside which wasn't all that bad...it's starting to cool off so outside is sometimes preferable.

It's too bad i didn't have my camera handy, i saw two things that were incredible. The first of which was a dust-devil that got pretty big, and after it's base met enough resistance it disipated - but continued to go on some hundred feet up in the air and pass over the table we were working on outside.

The other was a small cloud passing by and blocking out the sun. I looked up and the lining of the cloud was multi-colored (like when you make a bubble out of soap or some oily substance and you can see all the colors swirling around in it).

= = = = = = = = = =

On a funny note, i got another pepsi on break and burped when walking into to sit by my friends at work. This time i told McKay "That one was for you." At first he didn't know what i was talking about, but then he remembered and said, "Thank you, i'm honored."

There really isn't a sane person that works with me - take my friend Eric for instance. 5 of the 7 people who cut wood are Native. So for break they found a station that was being broadcast in Navajo. When Eric was coming back from the break room and entering the shed i usually take my break in, he started hopping around on one foot like he was trying to make it rain.

= = = = = = = = = =

I was invited by another coworker, Patrick, to go hang out after work with him and one of his best friends for his friend's birthday. So i decided to go. There isn't a moment of that evening i don't regret making the choice to go out - it was fuckin fun. I met them at my favorite resturant "The Native New Yorker". We talked about a bunch of stuff (work, games, movies, people, whatever happened to come up). After that we went across the street to anoter one of my fav palces "JB's" (not to be confused with BJs) and played some pool and talked some more.

I had to leave early cuz i bought a new 22" LCD HDTV with HMDI and STFU in the A while i ROFLMAO. It can be used as a computer monitor as well, so i figured i'd get it and just have everything on my computer desk (with the help of some cables and devices): Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, Computer, DVD, and TV (with the aid of a 12' cable reach around my room's wall).Can't do that yet tho, i need to get the right kind of cable to allow my computer to be displayed on it. So with that, i'm off to get dressed and go into town.

Song of the Day:

Jason Mraz - I'm Yours

Just A Thought

2008-08-22T20:26:00.004-07:00

Man. I knew someday i'd really miss the days from when i was a little kid, but i never knew it'd be when i was 21. Sure - there are plenty of things i can do now that i couldn't then, and i've got way more freedom than back then - but i was driving home from my outing with Patrick and his friend Sam and i had the windows down cuz it was cool enough.

I had my arm resting out the window and was doing that thing where you wave it around and pretend like it's the wing of a plane and if you hit the wind in just the right spot the car will take off and fly......of course i knew that wouldn't happen, and wasn't trying to, but it just made me miss being young.....er.

One thing that hasn't change tho is my love for star gazing. I looked up at the sky when i was opening the gate by my house and spotted the Big Dipper for the first time in over 5 or 6 years.

*sigh* Ah, the good ol' days.

Work It

2008-08-21T19:11:00.004-07:00

Well today was pretty fun - as fun as work can get anyway. It started out with some regular trusses (nothing too big...like 20-25 footers), but then we spent the last half of the day building this big-ass attic trusses that had spans of over 50 feet (not even Paris could handle something that big.....although today was HOT).

There was this one particular truss we were flipping...if you can call it flipping that is - when it was coming down there was some miscommunication and the thing practically fell apart. What made it even funnier (cuz i did find it pretty funny that all those staples and plates acocunted for nothing - yet this is supposed to support a roof of a house) was that the production supervisor, Steve, wanted us to try and do a reverse flip (self-explanatory)...but because it was falling apart people had to handle it like it was combustible.

Last break. I went and got a Pepsi...cuz Coke suckzzzzzz. When i was walking into one of the shed where we build trusses, i burped pretty loudly. So i said, "Excuse me...that was my mating call - it wasn't meant for you." and my friend McKay said, "Don't be so sure..."

I gave him such a look - and asked if it meant anything to him. He laughed and said he saw Patrick flinch when i burped......sure McKay. We act like such dorks at work - even more so while we're working.

Hopefully i'll get to go repelling again this saturday, if whoever is supposed to go with McKay don't chicken out (or he doesn't have to milk some goats/cows/blind dates/whatever).

yawn

2008-08-20T21:40:00.004-07:00

Well, i got my daily fix of shows (Will and Grace, Family Guy, ATHF, Robot Chicken), so i head off to bed. Sometimes i reall wish i didn't have to sleep though; especially since there's no one laying there next to me.

My birthday wasn't too long ago and i had some friends (3 to be exact) fly up from San Diego to spend a few days with me...it was my 21st so i wanted to have a lot of fun even if not doing much.

Well i had to share a bed with my best bud (nothing went on so wipe that smirk off your face and lower those eye brows), and i gotta tell ya, it put me at ease knowing someone was there. Not in that, 'if i roll over maybe i can get some' kind of way, but in the way where you feel a little less alone than you usually do.

It sucks being single...unless your a single who likes to s....well i guess i'll try and keep this a clean blog and not finish that though lol ;)

If i didn't live in such a rinky-dink town where it's hard to meet someone unless you grew up or spent half a decade working everywhere i'd probabl be laying with someone right now...other than my pillow who i've decided to name Kevin....just kidding, his real name is Thirstin and he likes star-gazing............

Just kidding - it really is Kevin :)

Night.

Like A Vigrin.....

2008-08-20T20:31:00.005-07:00

touched....well maybe not for the very first time. Talking on the phone is too bothersome at times, so i figured i give into peer pressure and get a blog myself. I swear, blogs were meant for people who love to hear themselves talk but can't find anyone to listen and give a damn - cuz they're probably the type who love to hear themselves talk but can't get a word in edgewise....and the cycles goes on.

Most of the time i'll just rant about random stuff - things that happened at work, skuul werk, and WIPs (but not the fun kind like Indie uses....he has the right idea though if you get what i mean....).

Expect another post in a little while - i gotta go watch tv: "If i miss my Will and Grace I become a raging bitch..."

± Working Title ±

blogPost.title

What's on Draft?

Finally!!!1|1|11

Train-ing

Pump-King

Dr. Suits?

...For Texture

Updates.....

Do The Hedgehog!

Raise The Rufus

Look A' Muh Dais

Stroke Of Luck

A Head On Our Way...

Tip Of The....Iceberg?

God Almighty We Are Done At Last!

POST Traumatic Stress

WIP it good.

Are you Board with my Story?

Time for another WIPping

The Texture Of It...

Altar Ego...

Manni And A Pedi

A New Baluster....I Mean Post

4 Out of 5 Hylian Dentists Recommend...

Oprah's Book Club

It's Been Spiked

Weekend Work

Cheating Mod Hack

I'm Gonna Comp Me Some...

Key To My Start

Iron Mad...

Testing, Testing...

Summer Projects: Avatar Rebirth

Shadow of the Colossus

Fix Or Repair Daily

What A Fucking Sabbatical

Let There Be Light

Rho, Rho, Rho Your Boat...

...Of Life

It's The Gesture That Counts

...Of The End

Around The Corner

Is That A Post...?

IDK

Body Shot

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

I don't C Why...

An Apple A Day...

Artistic Value...

Bumpers...

Wishing On A Star...

Homework and Shtuff

Japanese Game Show

Archives Layout

Birthday Pic

New Title

ANM:105 sketch

Bells Are Ringing...

Pistol WIP

HOLY....

To The Races....

A Couple Thou...

......

You can pick your friends....

God Almighty We Are Free At Last...

The "F" Word

Party Hardy

Just A Thought

Work It

*yawn*

Like A Vigrin.....

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

yawn