Journal Cover Final

I don't know how the time goes by.

Well that introspection was fun. Here's my final journal cover. Had some rendering crises (pl.) but I managed to enlist the help of four iMacs to get through it. I probably didn't optimize my render settings quite as well as I might, but I couldn't afford to spend time trying to dodge memory errors while optimizing every little value.
I think overall I'm pretty happy with it, considering I only opened C4D for the first time in January.

Hope you like it. Come Monday I will have officially finished classes for this semester, so next week I'm hoping to update and cleanup my website with some more info on current and past projects (and get rid of the lorem ipsum). So there will be a fair amount more info on what this journal cover is supposed to mean. It does all have a reason. It's not just a random collection of lab equipment and a rodent; but that will have to wait. Just a note, I don't know if I mentioned it before, but I haven't optimized the site for mobile devices or older browsers, particularly Internet Explorer, so if you do want to see what my site is supposed to look like, please try a modern browser like Chrome or Firefox (yes, I know IE is getting better).

Still one more intensive weekend of work, then I've got another project to do before end of April, and my first committee meeting to prepare for (yay, master's project!). But despite all that, I'll have some time to unwind and slow down at the end of April.

Later,
Stuart

Lab assembly

Getting most of the elements together for the journal cover. WIP render of the stage so far. There's a hamster conspicuously missing here, but it's on the way. Getting the fur/hair system working will be a fun challenge. Nick suggested I use hair instead of fur for more control and faster rendering, and after seeing the difference, I very much agree.

Later,
Stuart

Neuroanatomy concept

My final sketch for neuroanatomy illustration on the blood brain barrier:

Note that this isn't a final piece. I'll be rendering it by importing illustrator paths into photoshop and going to town on it with paintbrushes. It's intended to be a textbook figure. Like most people, I decided to take up the whole page with picture. My textbook wouldn't have many words.

 Fur test and model of a "generator" (in quotation marks because there's no generator that actually looks like this).

I posted these images on facebook originally, but now they're here, for those people that don't use facebook. I've been continuing to try to sort out how best to manage my various "sites". This blog will continue to be the source for all important information, updates, and images. I mostly post links to new blog posts on facebook, but occasionally I'll post a WIP image that may or may not end up on the blog too. I'll post various links and thoughts too sometimes. Just if you're curious about my facebook updates or are worried about missing stuff. :)

My main website is progressing steadily too. Still will be a while before it can go live, but pieces are slowly coming together.

Later,

Stuart

Populating the stage

I've been modelling bits and pieces for my journal cover over the past couple of weeks. If you've been keeping tabs on my facebook page, you may have seen some of the assets I've been working on. Here's a quick render of most of the stuff so far that I threw on a multi-tiered stage, just to get an idea of what I still have left to do (lots). Found out that Cinema4D has a cool watermark feature built into the renderer itself.

And of course the big news is that this blog ticked over 10,000 views, so that was pretty exciting in a... somewhat arbitrary statistical way. But thanks so much again for your views, (family, friends, colleagues, and internet passers-by), it really keeps me motivated to learn, create, and share my work and ideas.

Later,
Stuart

Lab equipment

Got started on modelling some lab equipment for my journal cover. Still slow going modelling in C4D, but I'm learning some things here and there. I wonder if it'll be tough getting back to a maya workflow after this. Hopefully not.

I really don't know too much about rendering in C4D, so it'll take a while to get good WIP renders out, but here's a type of ambient occlusion for now.

Later,
Stuart

Automotive finished

Finished up the old rolls... can't take any credit for the texturing, just a b c following the tutorial, but I think I learned a couple things anyway. And the lighting/rendering was all a preset from the tut. Well, okay, I can't take credit for anything here, but it was a learning exercise, and I quickly got a good feel for modelling in C4D.

Next up is some organic modelling?? Or should I spend time on something else? Speaking of cars... Top Gear is back!

Later,
Stuart

Car modelling 2

The rolls is coming together... and so is modelling in C4D. I have to say that the tutorial isn't completely working for me though, cause we'll start making a piece and the blueprints are fuzzy and I don't know cars, so it's hard to envision how the piece will look in the end (like the fenders or something). But it's kinda fun at times and it's certainly satisfying to see a model coming together, especially when a strangely contorted piece of geo finds a place and looks automobile-ish.

In other news, my profile has appeared on the BMC website, along with my classmates's. Give 'em a read if you're at all interested. It's certainly a privilege to study with such talented individuals. Click the image below to get to the aforementioned page. The image is serving a dual-purpose as an image and a hyperlink. How convenient.

I've also restarted my personal challenge of reading a book-a-month. January was the Hunger Games trilogy. Okay, so technically that's three books, but they're quite fast to get through, and pretty entertaining. Nothing too mind-blowing, but overall enjoyable. I'll give the trilogy 4/5 stars. I'll probably check out the movie that's coming out too. February book? Not sure yet. I'm currently reading "Lighting and Rendering" and "Confident Color", but I don't think those count as leisure reading.

I'm still working on designing my website, and once I've got something concrete up, well you'll know, because you're all checking stuartjantzen.com on a regular basis, right? No, I was going to say, once that's put together, I'll change this blog style to match the website and be a little easier on the eyes. Hope you're having a good weekend.

Later,
Stuart

PS Oh yeah! The other big news is that I got a new wacom tablet... intuos 4. Can't wait to start doing more photoshop and zbrush work with it.

Car modelling

After doing some basic tutorials on C4D and then experimenting with the fruit bowl, I thought the best follow-up would be to do a more in depth modelling tutorial. So I'm following a DT automotive modelling in C4D tutorial; Rolls Royce, I think. This is where I'm at so far.

Before I started, I found the modelling in C4D to be strange, awkward, and unintuitive. That viewpoint hasn't changed dramatically yet, but it's getting there. It really just takes time, seeing other people's workflows and customizing hotkeys and the interface to make tasks as smooth as possible.

I acquired Digital Lighting and Rendering by Jeremy Birn, and I've started reading it. Quite informative and an interesting take on teaching computer graphics. It's not tutorial or even software oriented. Mostly all about concepts, approaches, and ways of thinking, which is really what I wanted.

On monday I viewed an open heart surgery... wow, was that ever interesting. Seeing a beating heart, seeing the difference in color between oxygenated and deoxygenated blood (neither is blue; both are red) and really just getting an appreciation for the demands of time, concentration, knowledge, and physical condition on surgeons.  Couldn't do it. I really couldn't be in that world. But I'm continuing to enjoy being in my world. Couldn't imagine a better academic program, really.

Later,
Stuart

Cinema to the fourth dimension

Weeeelll... been learning some Cinema4D as part of the communications technology course this semester. For those not versed in the nerdy spectrum of 3D software, C4D is closest to Maya (in terms of software I have posted about on this blog). In fact, there's very few things that one can do that the other can't. However, some modules are more advanced and/or cleverly designed in one or the other software, so it's not a bad thing to learn both C4D and Maya (or modo or houdini for that matter, the other two packages that I find intriguing: modo for modelling and houdini for FX). But I digress. Here's my first attempt at making something after watching a few tutorials. It's not that great, but it's a lot better than my first Maya attempt, which fortunately has been lost in the sands of time (delgo doesn't count and anyway it wasn't even my first attempt either).

There's a lot I could say about how C4D is so cool and way better in area xyz than Maya or how C4D has some glaring holes in terms of functionality that are frankly shocking, but I try not to be boring, so I'll skip some of that diatribe.

Here's a screengrab of the setup.

I honestly don't know what this shows, besides that the fruit bowl wasn't a photograph (I'm always willing to provide solid evidence for that)... hey look, the table has legs. And there are spiky lines that represent lights (you'll have to take my word for it).

I just noticed today the etymological connection between Cinema4D and Biocinematics. Hmmm...

Later,
Stuart