God Almighty We Are Done At Last!

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

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

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

My ANM:105 project for 'photorealism'.

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













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

















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

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













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












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













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

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

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

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

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

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













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

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

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

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

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

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

















- - Charcoal outline (fine line, medium tone)

















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

















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

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

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

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

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

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

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And then.....

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

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











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

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

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

So hopefully this will teach me to post more regularly.


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

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

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


That's about all - Later

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



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

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

Artistic Value...

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






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











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

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

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

Bumpers...

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

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

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

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

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

Bells Are Ringing...

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