Dan WIP 001

Hi Andrew,

Have decided to start modelling as i am sure that a few of the design issues will work their way out as I go.

For the metalwork sections I have decided to start with using some poly-grids. I thought this might be a good plan anyway.

At present, all of the sections that I have modelled are all still in separate bits. Not sure whether to keep them separate for texturing purposes, any suggestions?

Anyway, here are a few images of the model as it stands at the moment.

Cheers,

Dan

OH Mesh update, W.I.P. 1

Hey guys,
He's a slight revision on my early meshes.
Compering this image against the mesh (which I'm modeling from) clearly illustrates how long his hair is.. A little worrying! I hope to have him finished by this eve, to test some hair, fingers crossed!

AM - Hi Emma

Sounds like you have a great resume to accompany your impressive design background. Having any type of traditional training is a huge bonus in the digital industry. At the end of the day you can always learn new software, but a fundamental understanding of design principles, illustration techniques and model making are highly sort after skills.

The digital work you have already done has a great style to it and I'm very intrigued to see a concept painting!

I can't offer too much help at the moment but it sounds to me like some blendshapes will come in handy later. Also, one big mistake most students make is to build everything in one scene and hit render. Don't forget that you can always comp elements together post render. Not only will this give you more control over the lighting and mood of your scene, but you can also fake aspects of your shots and save on render time. Just a thought :)

Anyway it looks impressive, so keep it coming.

AM - Yo Ritchie

Awesome illustrations! Your attention to detail is very impressive.

Good old Medusa. There is nothing more appealing than a woman with fangs, brass hands and venomous snakes for hair! She never had much luck though did she...




Can't wait to see some concepts! Bring on Medusa.

AM - Gday Alex

Looks like the years of scribbling and doodling have paid off. You have a great style and your project has some great potential.

The tree is a perfect example of a good reason to use Zbrush or MudBox. As I've mentioned before it will be a good idea to model in as much of the shape as possible in XSI and then add the bark detail with Zbrush. You could really go crazy with this and get a seriously detailed displacement map.

I like what you're planning to do with the windmill, ladders and walkways. There is a huge amount of potential for this one and I'm keen to see your progress on it. I don't know what your plans are for texturing later on, or if you are going for a clean or dirty style, but personally I think some nicely integrated moss would be great.

One thing I always get my modelers to do is place a scale reference object in their working scenes eg: human, matchbox. It really helps you plan where details go and how sharp a bevel should be, or how tall a door should be.

Also, depending on what type of shots you want to render out it might be a good idea to model an extra high resolution section of the tree and a building or two. You can have a nice wide establishing shot, but then crop in on a section and show off a great point of view within the tangled limbs.

Once you have decided on the placement of your buildings, I'd dump them under a node and move them to World 0,0. Then you can line them up next to each other and start adding in the detail. This way you can keep some consistency with your models and also easily compare how they are looking against one another. When you are happy with them you can place them back inside the tree limb and start integrating them and making them feel like they have been there forever.

Keep it coming!

image addition from alex

yo peeps, here is a rough pic of maybe what the texture work and colours are going to look like. buildings are not final, their design is going to be tinkered with

Emma Howard Bio

Hi my name is Emma Howard, thank you for agreeing to set this blog up.

My Background
I have previously studied Fine Art at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design and Production Design at the National Film and Television School.

I have previously been commissioned and exhibited my fine art work and have worked (freelance) in the art department (set design) for Film/Television, with the role’s of runner, art department assistant and buyer.
I have not worked within the creative industry for a few years and have been doing other things such as travelling around the world. I hope studying at the NCCA this year will help me make the transfer from working with traditional methods to working digitally.

NCCA final project brief outline (April-September 2007)
I am planning to do one project over the 2 terms with its focus on modelling and texturing. I would like to create an environment that forms a kind of cityscape (does not necessarily have to be a city) that has another worldly quality to it (Sci fi/horror/fantasy inspired). I do not plan to put any characters within it. I am at the design stage at the moment and am aiming for a highly imaginative, fresh design. I have created this sketch model and have been playing around with the design and composition, i will develop this into a concpet painting.

In its presentation I would like it to have a slight music video feel. I would like to animate the architecture and plan to look at simple effective solutions to bring the place to life and possibly forming from nothing. This idea is inspired by the Rhapsody in Blue, New York cityscape forming sequence in Disney’s Fantasia and I have been looking at lots of time-lapse stuff.


NCCA Work: Group project last term, I work on a game mod using the Half Life 2 engine and my role was environment lead. I designed this environment and built most of it, everything is low poly and the pictures are in-game shots.





Work prior to starting at the NCCA: Some examples of my fine art and set design work.