blogPost.title

     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?

     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.

Pump-King

          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

...For Texture

          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.

Stroke Of Luck

          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.

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
.

Time for another WIPping

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.

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)

Altar Ego...

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

          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

          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...

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":

1. Vertices: 5,060
2. Edges:10,014
3. Triangles:10,100
4. 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

     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.

Weekend Work

     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

*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...

     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.