A done and a WIP

So as I promised (I think) here's a render from the directed study project that I did with three other people who were doing a combined CSC/Art Bachelor's. I was actually quite pleased with the final product and I have the feeling it will be on youtube eventually, so stay logged on for that (tuned doesn't work anymore).

I've also started a battle on simplymaya as I think I mentioned, so here's a couple WIP screenshots from that.


This one was a bit ambitious, as I'm going to basically have to construct and texture an entire cartoon city, as well as build, rig and animate a character in a car. I'll have to stay busy with this over the holidays, but when it's fun, it's not really hard work.
Here's the battle threads if you want to follow along there:
http://srv01.simply3dworld.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=53
Dango77 is my "opponent". He's really good at modelling, and really nice too, so it will be a lot of fun.


Later,
Stuart

Quick note

Getting really really close to finishing the directed study project. I'll post a production still (i.e. a rendered frame) if/when I get permission from the others. We'll see if this ends up on youtube ;) and if so, there will definitely be a link.

Entering a mini-challenge/battle with someone on simpymaya, so there should be some good WIP shots for that. I know... Christmas will be really busy, but I couldn't resist. This blog has been silent for too long.

My computer has been rendering pretty much straight for 48 hours with 8 cores at 100% and yet there's a cool breeze drifting from the output fans. I really love my new computer. Worth every penny. Maybe. Anywhoo..... I'm just backing up my computer and trying to upgrade my OS. I tend to blog when I'm waiting for some other task to finish.

I'm doing the read-a-book-a-month personal challenge, starting with Brave New World by Aldous Huxley as my December novel. It's a mind stimulating book, that's for sure. I might post up some of my thoughts on it when I'm done if anyone's interested. That's pretty much all that's new for me, and the disc is almost done burning, so I'll bid adieu. (Call and raise you an au revoir)

Stuart

Movin' right along

So you've probably noticed I haven't posted anything even after I finished Nanowrimo. Not to worry, I have been working on Maya (and Mudbox a bit), but since I've been going through training kits that don't follow a single project through there haven't really been good WIP items for me. I've also been working on animating my scenes for the directed study which is coming along and getting close to finishing.
So I'm in the middle of:
Intro to Rigging: Kinda technical and quite long and disjointed (hahahahaha... anyway) so I can only take relatively small doses of that at a time
Intro to Mudbox: Lotsa fun this one, working on the tablet to do some digital sculpting. This one actually does have a project to work through so I'll probably post up a couple screenshots next time. It does make my hand sore after a while, I need to get a good position on the stylus that allows me to press the buttons on it comfortably.
Intro to PaintFX: Just started this one, and it uses a tablet too... but pretty interesting so far. I haven't found PaintFX to be useful much in the past, but I'm sure this will change my limited perspective.

I finished Intro to Dynamics a while ago and learned how to do some pretty nifty things. I'll have to give it a try on a project of my own sometime.
On a note that is more related to my potential career, molecularmovies.com released a Maya toolkit that allows you to import PDB models (empirical structural info on molecules) and work with them for purposes of animation. I'll have to play with that too. Looks very handy for a topic that would otherwise be a pain. I'll keep you posted as I go through these training kits. I think I'll have to take a break after these few and see if I can apply the principles to a small project of my own. Tutorials work best in combination with repetition of the techniques, so I'm anxious to strike out on my own. Builds more confidence as well.

More later,
Stuart