Visual Development

This month started off with some fairly simple tasks such as UVing models which I will admit has never really been my favorite task to accomplish but we were armed with a few extra tips and tricks to make the task go much smoother, so I was capable of flying through the task and getting all of the UV work done so I could move onto the texturing part of the lessons.

The image below was from the third week of the class. I made the texture for the metal pulley, the scrapper, and the stack of washers and spacer. The bottle was not completed until the fourth week of the class. The Biohazard symbol and red splatter on the wall were added by me as well. I chose those items to add to the background and weathered them the way that I did so that they would look old and fit the overall feel of everything else in the scene. The splatter was just an alpha pattern I found that I really liked and adjusted the color to the dark red... it could be paint or it could be blood. I am wanting the viewer to decide. The Biohazard symbol was an old sticker that I found an image of and applied it as a 3D projection to the wall and then took an alpha of a dirt pattern and put it over the sticker to make it look old and worn. The wall was my favorite part of this week. 

Below is the final render from the final week of the class this month. Obviously the biggest change from the previous week is the bottle sitting on the books. For that I applied a mila material in Maya and built upon it making small adjustments here and there to get the look of the glass just right. I then went back and tinted the glass with a slight blue tint as blue, brown and green were common colors for glass to come in a long time ago, especially for tonics, tinctures, and medicines. I then had to do a ton of searching for just the right label to put on the bottle, and in keeping with the theme that I started last week I found a poison label that I thought was really cool and old looking. I got it positioned on the bottle and explored the idea of changing the color just a bit to make it look older and softer. More like a paper label and less like a sticker. Finally I applied a diffuse layer to the bottle with an alpha plugged into is that had the color set to a dusty brown color to make the bottle look like it had been sitting there for a while. 

The Ant

This is a fun little rig that we were given to animate a few times now. 

Walk Animation

My first walk animation. Its simple, its short, but I got an A on it.

Sir Mac

Let me introduce you to Sir Mac. He is a character that I had to model for my production modeling class. Being that he is the first character that I have ever modelled I am very proud of how he turned out. 

Hot Keys in ZBrush Are Your Friends

Originally I was going to make this post all about setting up a custom User Interface (UI) inside ZBrush to help make the work flow easier because I feel that the default UI is not very friendly to my style and work flow. I say "style" like I have been using ZBrush for years but after just a month of use you can really get a work flow that you really like and thus, you have a style. But our instructor for Production Modeling gave us a couple of Custom UI's to use and I fell in love with one of them instantly and have been using it all month long for my assignments.

There she is... I love this UI. The most commonly used brushes for me are set up across the bottom and the Edit, Draw, Transpose, and a few other useful tools on the right side. I just make one small change because I am left handed and I HATE reaching across my Wacom Tablet to get to the "Tool" menu so I just pop it over to the left side and I leave the right side open for items like the "Stroke" menu.

So since I didn't have to make a custom UI to make life inside ZBrush easier I set about making Hotkeys for SEVERAL tools and brushes so I don't have to go looking for them. The main one being the Solo tool, because while Yes, it is on the tool bar on the right side, but on the MacBook Pro that I am using you can't see it too well on the bottom of the screen. And if you are in the middle of a Retopology project and you want to check to see how things are looking that Solo tool comes in handy but you have to find the thing. So I my instructors advice and assigned it to the "S" key in ZBrush so it would be easy to get to. That was what got me started on the path of setting up my own Hotkeys, now let me take you down that path if you are unsure how.

To start off with setting your own hotkeys I recommend writing them down so you don't forget (like I did a few times). Next up once in ZBrush (this is for the Mac mind you cause thats what I am working from) you hold down the CMD and Opt (alt) keys and click on the tool or brush you want to set up as a Hotkey. At the top of the screen you will get this message telling you to hit the key or combination of keys to act as the hotkey for that tool.

Once you pick the key you want to assign to that tool you will get a message telling you that the Hotkey is set up.

And that is really all there is to it. Super simple really. Something that I recommend and this is something that I also got from my instructor for Production Modeling was to assign the brushes you use the most to the number keys. I would start with the most common being on number "1" and working your way across. But again I am left handed so I started at "0" and worked backwards so I could keep the stylus in the ready position and not have to reach across with my right hand for my "Move" brush. One other quick thing I can recommend for making ones life much easier and way more productive inside ZBrush is to make sure you set up your HotKeys on your Tablet as well. I will save that for another post because not everyone uses a Wacom Intuos tablet.

Oh one last thing... when you close ZBrush you have an option box pop up that asks you if you want to save your Hotkeys. Please click yes so you don't have to do what I did and set them up a second time. You will thank yourself later.

Character Design and Creation: Arm Project

This month I had to build an arm for my Character Design and Creation class. I am still getting the hang of using ZBrush so this is not one of my best builds but for being one of the first done in ZBrush I am actually rather proud of it. Ons of the things that I really take from this assignment is to not be afraid to just get in there and start playing with the tools. As my awesome instructor told us "If you make a mistake just hit undo and do it over again." So working in the digital medium is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Something else I have to take away from this assignment is that since it forced us to use Photoshop as well I am less bothered by that program than I was a few months ago. 

If I were to go back and redo this assignment one of the things that I would have to do with this project would be to just quit second guessing myself and just get in there and do it. And I would just reassure myself that mistakes are okay and they are part of learning. 

As you can see in the screen shots below... fingers are not my friends... but the rest of the arm looks great.

Methods of Design: Aesthetics Project Pt. 3

The Blue and Beyond

Christopher West

Colored Pencil on Bristol

2016 

Untitled (Cat #257)

Phil Sims

Paint on Canvas

1996

In the above project I took inspiration from the Untitled work by Phil Sims and in my opinion made it more appealing. I did find a colored pencil in my supply box that was very very close in the shade of blue that Phil Sims used in his original work. I used that color as the outer ring of blue just before you get to the black that was used in the corners. Another similarity is between the two work is that I kept with the abstract minimalist feel of the original just not as minimalist. For the most part that is where the similarities end, by using more blues I really added to the value range taking it from almost white in the middle to black on the outer most areas. Also by using the approach that I did it gave the work a sense of movement, your eyes are drawn from the outer dark colors to the inner lighter colors. The light "streaks" throughout the work help with this sense of movement by making it look blurred as if you were falling into the light in the middle. 

Methods of Design: Aesthetics Project Pt. 2

Into the Blue (WIP)

Christopher West

Colored Pencil on Paper

2016

So out of the three pre production sketches that I did for this project this is the one that we decided looked the best. So I am going to rework it and make it look better. I am thinking of trying art markers instead of pencils. Also I am going to add a bit of movement I think. 

Methods Of Design: Aesthetics Project Pt. 1

Untitled (Cat #257)

Phil Sims

Completed 1996

Paint on Canvas

Subjective Critique

Since taking an Art History class here at Full Sail I have learned to appreciate more different kinds of art and one of those that I have learned to enjoy is abstract expressionism, but the art movement that I have a hard time grasping the concept of is the Minimalist movement. I just have a hard time understanding how someone can paint a canvas a solid color and call it art. Its not creative nor is it original. It has no movement nor does it tell a story. Though it does evoke feelings but not good ones. Honestly in my own personal opinion anyone could have painted this and called it art. If this were my work of art I would break it up with other colors or give the work a sense of depth or movement. Anything really to keep it from being a boring stretch of blue canvas. 

Objective Critique

In this Untitled work by Abstract Minimalist Phil Sims, the artist painted the canvas a solid color of blue using several layers of paint to create slight variations in the shade of blue. This lends to a very unified solid painting. What this painting lacks though is any sense of movement or a solid focal point to draw the viewers eye. Paintings in this style should be viewed almost in a meditative state to get any sense of meaning from them. 

Model Creation (What I have learned)

Model Creation has been an interesting class thus far. And I say "thus far" because the class still has 5 and a half hours to go before it ends and the next one begins. In this class we learned about form and silhouette, holding edges on the models as well as proper edge flow, and details. Lots of details. We also go to take our models into Zbrush so we could do a little sculpting onto our models so they looks more exact. This class really taught us to pay close attention to the details on the models because they are important.

3D Foundations (What I have learned so far)

In my 3D Foundations class (3DF for short) it was my first real experience with using Maya and learning how to start building models from the basics like blocking out and working our way up to some more advanced techniques including laying out UV's and baking the Ambient Occlusions. For the final project in that class we had to take some of our models and lay them out in a scene that was provided for us and then render it.

Oil Gear Block Out

 Oil Gear 1st Refinement

Oil Gear 2nd Refinement

Oil Gear Final Refinement 

(Cleaned up)

Container (not a block out but close)

Container 1st Refinement

Container Final Refinement

This is only a small portion of what I did in my 3DF class but these models best show the advancement of my abilities in that class. They also show the best progression from first model to a more refined model that is borderline finished.

Introductions

Hello there,

My name is Christopher West, but to keep it simple I go by Chris. I am currently an online student with Full Sail University, where I am currently studying to go into the computer animation field. I am not sure yet if I want to go into film, special effects and post production, video games, or what ever else I can use my education for in the long run. I am at the point where I am just wanting to learn as much as I can so that I have many options laid out before me.
Deep down I am a big kid and a bit of a nerd, as I love animation and games so honestly I think this is the right path for me. The journey is still going to be long but I can do this.