VFS Modeling Project: Stingray Bike

 "Omlette du fromage!" -Dexter's Lab

I can already tell I'm learning something; this is the most intense modeling I've done since my 3D Modeling and Lighting class at Purdue. Here are some of the shots with and without the mesh, and some generic mia shading for the various materials. Just don't mention bikes around me for a couple weeks.

I'd love to hear some feedback on the modeling, since I know I didn't put a huge amount of detail into parts like the nuts and bolts. How's my polyflow? -wink- Haha!

-Anne

Orientation to Photoshop, Take 652

"As your mother tells you, and my mother certainly told me, it is important, she always used to say, always to try new things." -Hannibal Lecter

I am by no means new to Photoshop, and at this point I must have had at least ten orientation to Photoshop classes. Yet each time around I find myself learning something completely obvious that I have overlooked for years. This time around it was the warp tool within Transform, along with the million and one semi-useless preferences in CS5. At least some of it was important, like RAM allocation.

I also got a chance to practice my speed sketching, this time featuring Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter. The eyes and forehead look okay, but everything from the nostrils down needs work.  I used this photo for the reference.

Modeling and animation tomorrow! Good night all!

-Anne

Week 2 of VFS

"No more for me, thanks, I'm driving. -whump!-" -Daffy Duck

A few of us were sitting around in the common room and discussing classes. We came up with this list of homework: written scene breakdown and evaluation of a movie, acquire two movie trailers for Editing, 3D pendulum animation, 2D bouncing ball keys and breakdowns, detailed character designs, generic sketching, 5 object multiview clean ups, 5 object measurement document, 3D bike model, 3D shader exercise, and day and night scene lighting. I have a feeling I'm still forgetting some things, but you get the idea.


That being said, I'm looking for some critique on my daylight scene. This scene is not textured with a few exceptions, but do let me know if there is a distracting texture.

I've also got some sketches from Design 1. The class is currently working on project Snack Shack where we have to use urban vinyl and a style guide set by our teams to create one human and one robot character, one of which is the owner of a street food cart. Here are just a few of my preliminary designs for each character.

More developed versions are due for both next week, so I'll be uploading those as I finish them.

I also finally got a chance to composite my last render of the Desert Helmet scene. While the "finished" product isn't something I'm satisfied with, I find it interesting to look at the huge difference between my first version of the project and take 2 and 3. Check it out.

I already have problems with my latest version, but alas, my license has expired again and I have yet to take care of that. The good news is, I learned a lot in my Shader class today and already have ideas for how to fix this.

It's time now to sleep so I can get up early and start on that homework. Good night to everyone and GO CANUCKS!

-Anne

New Beginning: Vancouver Film School

"Results Matter." -VFS Motto


It's been a few weeks since I last had internet access on a real computer due to my relocation to Vancouver, Canada to attend Vancouver Film School (VFS). And we can't forget the subsequent issues with the moving company that has extended my lack of internet access, seemingly indefinitely. So, I can't show off my lovely pictures of the city or upload my nearly completed TotBS render, but I can talk about relocating and he city itself.

To anyone thinking of relocating to Vancouver from the US: it's expensive, but worth it!

It's amazing how much moving across country costs. Moving your stuff (in my case a small apartment equivalent of stuff) costs around $3,000. You can also expect to pay about double for rent if you want to live in a safe neighborhood downtown, or pay $100-200 for transportation if you commute. In fact, you will pay more for just about everything, even toilet paper. And never underestimate the cost of the little things: pots, pans, new trash bins, a rain coat, soap, household cleaners... the list goes on and on.

So what's the upside? People, especially store clerks and commercial employees, are unbelievably friendly. Traffic functions even when it's crowded because people let each other in. The spring weather is absolutely gorgeous! There are a million-and-one restaurants and all of them are delicious, and there is no shortage of things to do. Buses run on time, people are dependable, and you can find just about anything you need. And after living here for three months, you qualify for BC health insurance! Just root for the Canucks in public and everything will be fine.

Granted this can still be considered my first impression of the city since I have only been here for three weeks, but I don't see myself hating this city any time soon. I will have pictures of the city in bloom as soon as the opportunity arises, but until then, "GO CANUCKS!"

-Anne

Busy or Absent Minded? You be the judge!

"I've been in captivity for three months. There are two things I want to do. One, I want an American cheeseburger, and the other... " -Iron Man

Overdue update on that commission that I finished two weeks ago! It's done!

Check it out on my DA account.

I blame the "discussions" on "a forum" that I visit for distracting me. I've actually been drawing a lot more recently thanks to joining a Daily Sketch guild on said forums. Here's yesterday's piece for the topic "portrait":


This is one of the few I was inspired to put time into and try something different with. No lines! OMG! I really like how the face turned out, although the ear still bothers me. The rest of my sketches are on my DA account in the scraps section. I may just start posting them here though.

Or I might start posting stuff for this: Illustration Friday.

What else? Oh, I finally figured out how to make Maya export OBJs and FBXs again. Apparently it will sometimes turn off that feature in the plug-ins section at random. Either that or Loki (that's my PC's name) is screwing with my head.

I'm working on a redesign of an old project of mine, Tales from the Broken Stone. I had a friend/awesome alumni who works at Dreamworks give me a little critique, and now I'm trying to make some of the corrections. One being that he couldn't tell what the helmet was supposed to be made of. Here's a shot of what I've got so far. (BTW extra critique is always welcome!)


Textured with Mudbox 2010 for once! I may need to up my actual poly count for this scene, though, since the normal mapping gets a little lost in the low poly version. Now I just need to make touch ups in Photoshop and tweak the reflectivity of everything. Then it's on to the rest of the scene.

And now I have to touch up 34 pictures of a cat for my roommate. T____T I miss Timon so much!

-Anne

Deadline Bump

"Madame e Monsieur, bonsoir. Those who forge their own destiny. Those who balk at their own destiny. Time visits all men equally and imposes on them a choice for the future. When the final letter entrusted to the young man is read, what future will that bring about for us?"

I'd say I have definitely been watching too much Count of Monte Cristo: Gankutsuou, but I just finished it and no longer have to worry about being sucked in. I would say this piece restores my faith in anime's potential. I would, but it's just a retelling of a French classic. It just goes to show you, some of the classics are pretty bad-ass!

Anyway, I have another WIP version of the penguin-zombie piece.


He wanted to be sure I attempted the plaid early on, and I wanted to get the color blocking done. The shading and detail work, along with some blending and adjustment are next.... and eventually I'll have to figure out what to do with the different white tones. T_T

That being said, I finally have a solid deadline: Valentine's Day. Good thing I don't have other plans, because this might just eat all my time. Om nom nom nom!

-Anne

Final Presentation Finally

It took us a long time to get this huge file down to a reasonable size, but thanks to Larry, we finally have the final presentation to show off. The lighting was pretty dark during our presentation, and some of the words are hard to read, but it's the content that counts, right?

Pt. 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqQ77yblQHU
Pt. 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7E9sBfbQJU
Pt. 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5B2UikOvYjU
Pt. 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdPGNl8oARg

My portion of the presentation was the statistics and experiment design. It was a lot harder to make understandable than I thought.

-Anne