Post-Colo Colo Sketchbook Doodles

  With no university projects on top priority and much of my time spent working on a project for the studio  Butch Auntie, I admit this page has gone a little quiet. When I haven't been building and tweaking in Maya, or when renders are on the go, or when I have ten minutes such as at lunch, I try a bit of sketching. Colo Colo was still fairly fresh on my mind so I made couple of sketches relating to how the body could be improved. When it comes to making a better version this summer, I might try polishing him up in Mudbox.

After the design success of Nian and Colo Colo, I've considered focusing on creature design. Though of course that's not deterred me from sketching other subjects. The human form takes time and dedication to master. And sometimes these creatures need somewhere to live.

My hand-drawing skills have gotten a little rusty, and the technique I learned in 2015 regarding facial structure still needs time to embed, but I might be getting somewhere.

I reached the end of this year's sketchbook a few days ago, so I got a new one. I think I prefer 20cm2 layout sketchbooks, they're not as narrow as an A5 and they're not as cumbersome to carry around as an A4, but they're perhaps the best of both worlds. So on Friday I christened my new sketchbook with a pair of alien bugs. They're lacking in your typical bulbous abdomen because for a man-sized bug it seemed redundant; why store all your organs in a bulb emerging from your backside when your torso is now large enough to fit them all comfortably?

Stream Saturday 07/04/2016

With the academic year mostly over, I have a little more time for streaming. With an internship at the studio Butch Auntie, activity is also going to drop considerably due to a policy of client confidentiality. This stream in particular was fun not because of the subject, but experimentation with perspective, and halfway though I asked the stream's chat channel for suggestions on the tail, with the decision to make it more of a constrictor's tail.

Repost: The Best TIme Of Day To Not To Take a Selfie

  A re-post of my info-graphic animation The Best Time of Day to Not Take A Selfie. Created earlier this year before I set ot work on Colo Colo.

Autodesk: Year 2 Term 2 Stocktake

Dynamics

• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/maya-tutorials-particle-effects.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/maya-workshop-omni-emitters.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/maya-tutorials-further-dynamics-tests.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/maya-tutorials-emitter-types.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/maya-workshop-more-particles.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/maya-workshop-instanced-dynamics.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/maya-tutorials-butterfly-goal-weights.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/maya-tutorials-sprites-and-conditional.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/maya-tutorials-streamline-render-and.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/maya-tutorials-mental-ray-lighting.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/maya-tutorials-last-of-lighting-effects.html

Pipeline Two

• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/maya-tutorials-modelling-and-uving-low.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/maya-tutorials-pipeline-2-high-poly.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/pipeline-two-normal-maps-and-diffusion.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/maya-tutorials-completing-model-pipeline.html

Mudbox

• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/first-experience-with-mudbox.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/maya-workshops-mudbox-pepper.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/mudbox-workshop-modeling-techniques.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/mudbox-workshop-images.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/mudbox-workshops-creature-design.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/mudbox-workshop-character-preparation.html
• http://mstamp176.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/mudbox-workshop-final-character-design.html

Sculpting Worshop: Head Progress

  I had not posted it while in progress aside from orthographs of the head, but Garrus has come along fairly well during the sculpting workshop. The only drawback I think is I made the head slightly too large, as it ended up using a lot of clay to get a finished result.

  I have considerations for finishing him over the summer, I have more clay on the way and aside from detailing and a bit of smoothing, what remains are his eyepiece and the three horns that rise from the top of his head. I plan ot stick ot slow cooking him, only 115 degrees in the oven, trying not to think too hard on the worst-case-scenario of him exploding but a low heat might help offset that risk. If he does, at least I still have a record here.

He's come out fairly close to the source design, the lower face might be slightly longer than its supposed to be as he has a very deep head. But I have sculpting tools to rectify that as it likely jsut means raising the mouth-line..

Maya Tutorials: Completing the Model Pipeline

Spent time this afternoon finishing part three of Pipeline 2, which completes the primary model-making part of the game assets pipeline.

Maya Tutorials: Last of the Lighting Effects

  Continuing to make progress with the Maya tutorials that have been set. The last few relating to Mental Ray proxies, diffuse maps and motion blur.

  With the motion blur tutorial, I came to realise what might have been slightly off about Colo Colo as it ran (when it was actually in motion I had suspicions it didn't feel completely natural). So I was intrigued to discover the power a little motion blur could have on giving something a natural movement. I might look into motion blur in Premiere Pro and After Effects, however I have also considered making a mini-project out of refining the creature's model, which opens up the possibility of using Mental Ray's motion blur system without needing to essentially re-render images I already have. The displacement map tutorial has also given me inspiration to return to working in Mudbox to finish a model I had come a fair way on.

Maya Tutorials: Mental Ray Lighting Techniques Part 1

  These past couple of days I have been prioritising on getting Maya tutorials out of the way. And after a good few hours I am almost done with the Mental Ray lighting tutorials, which have helped me familiarise myself with final gather as well as techniques like portal lights, skydones. and compositing strategies to clean up images and make them look a bit less computer-generated.

  I particularly liked how this image came out using just a skydome, a pair of portal lights and the final gather feature to illuminate a bump-mapped pair of blinn surfaces..