Making It All Work

3D art is not easy.
Putting together a single scene in 3D involves many different disciplines. As in many art forms, you first try to visualize what your end result should look like. This involves deciding the mood, the focus, the color scheme, the emotion and probably many other things I'm forgetting.


You build your models (which include principal actors or a focus), which involves an understanding of scale, spatial relationships, thinking in more than two dimensions, an attention to detail and understanding complex shapes.



Texturing objects involves understanding the physical properties of materials, how light reacts with an object, be it how color is affected, the mysteries of reflection, specular and gloss, light absorption, refraction, diffuse and other properties of light.

Laying out a scene involves, orienting and placing each object,
as well as a main camera, in order to match as closely as possible what you originally visualized. Understand space and scale and how the eye works in general is critical.

Lighting the scene takes into consideration not just your sun or moon,
but also the different properties of different man made light, as well as how light bounces of objects and in a sense, travels around your scene.

Animation, maybe the most popular of the disciplines, involves a strict understanding of natural motion, physics, acting, and concepts related to telling a story.

Each one of these steps is incredibly involved. Many books have been written by artists great and not so great, and many larger studios employ teams of people to handle each one of these stages.

I've somewhat wrapped my head around modeling, both hard-body and organic (although I could stand to get better), I understand the fundamentals of UV/Texture mapping, again, with much room for improvement.

However, there are the three other things that I'm still learning how to do.

Because of the fact that I haven't really attempted much animation, I'm saving that for last, but for the life of me, I can't figure out scene layout and lighting. I've bought books on lighting in the past, but most of it still alludes me.

Falloffs, intensity, the difference between the effect of an area light, an omni directional light, a linear light...

The difference between ray traced shadows and shadow map based shadows...

Global illumination, HDR imaging...

Then of course, there's layouts. What's the scale? How do you define scale in an image? What about the backdrop? How does the atmosphere and the time of day come into place?

I think that if i figure out the concepts behind all these things, maybe I can fly off this plateau that I've found myself grounded on for so long. I want to put things together, not just objects, but scenes. I want to put together little tiny bits of reality, one piece at a time. I want it to look damn good.
And I don't know what I'm doing wrong so far...

Getting Back To My Roots

Taking a break from cel shaded fantasty stuff, I thought I would delve back into the more realistic types of modeling. Inspired by god knows what, I thought I would try my hand at making a sort of futuristic, high quality, luxury hoverboard (i'm thinking honda or toyota, not sure yet).

Making something that's not bulky, but streamlined and sexy, as many luxury transportation vehicles are, I decided to go with spline modeling as opposed to poly or box modeling. This will allow me to 1) plan out the curves and contours before I start modeling, 2) keep everything sleek and sexy and 3) help me brush up on my high-poly spline modeling.







I'm going for a porcelain/fiberglass frame, with rubber bumpers/foot padding.
Things yet do to:
Finish modeling details
UV Map
Shade and Texture
Produce Particle Emitter effects
Rig with basic character

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far

APPLESEED was a joy to watch.
This is not news, as it's been out now for three years.
Not only was the story intriguing, but it was one of the first cel-shaded action movies from Japan to make waves in this country. Being a huge fan of cel-shading, this was a huge inspiration to me.

Appleseed, based on the graphic novel by the same name, was written by Masamune Shiro, and the graphic novel was so well received that it won the 1986 Seiun Award for Best Manga. Shiro, a fan icon inthe cyberpunk scene has gone on to pen many more stories, but for a large group of fans, Appleseed was a crowning achievement, followed only by the Ghost in the Shell series.

Two things come to mind when thinking about stories by Shiro; his frequent use of strong, female leads in his stories, and his philosophy on mecha and its limitations. For as much as I've seen, Shiro's stories have always had strong female leads, something which I admire. Let's face it, guy's and dolls, there are a lot of kick-ass women out there who hold their own just as much, if not more than men. Recently, there have been more heroine's in major media, Lara Croft, Ripley from the Aliens series, Battlestar Galactica's Starbuck and more that I'm sure I haven't mentioned. This is not to say that Shiro makes them larger than life necessarily, like so many male heroes have been, but he shows a determination and inner strength, as well as physical prowess that matches the boys. It's this fan's opinion that doing such was a great move by Shiro, as it not only set his work aside, but it finally gave the spotlight to those who deserve it.

Shiro once created a Rules of Mecha article a while back detailing the physical limitations of mechanical augmentations to the human body. Why is this significant? Well, in most movies, books and film, the artistic direction is completely implausible. Let's say you have Joe Action who loses both arms while fighting off a ferocious tribe of pygmy armadillos. Joe gets back and has bionic arms grafted to his body. Now he can lift up cars, steel vault doors and the like. Nope, sorry Joe, no dice. According to Shiro's articles, while the bionic arms themselves may have the capacity to lift an incredible amount of tonnage, they are still grafted to Joe's original bone structure. Due to the transfer of weight throughout the body, the shiny new arms would be fine, but the rest of poor Joe's bones would shatter. He's probably cry too... pansy.

Observations such as this changed the way that mecha (specifically human augmentation) has been designed. For example, all of the physical augmentations that deal with strength have been written to include fully reinforced skeletal structures.

So why do I bring all of this up?
Because there's a sequal coming. It has been announced today that Appleseed Saga Ex Machina, the sequal to the first movie, is now in production and will be released Q4 07 in japan (so most likely Q1 08 stateside). From the trailer available on the official Appleseed Saga Ex Machina website, the technique and direction has significantly improved, as well as the quality of animation. Its being directed by the #1 fan of slow motion doves, Mr John Woo, so expect a good amount of gun-play and eye candy.

So am I excited? Oh hells yes. Not only does the fact that the series is continuing excite me, but seeing the cutting edge technique is something that I've been waiting for. Don't get me wrong, I like my share of ogres, donkeys, talking cats, talking, gingerbread men, talking penguins, talking toys, talking rats, surfing penguins, lost zoo animals, superheroes, talking mammoths and talking cars as much as the next red-blooded American, but I'm growing older now. My tastes have changed. I'm glad someone, somewhere has notices, and is making movies accordingly.

Dave Loves DAVE Loves 9.0

GEEK POWERS, ACTIVATE!

Ladies and Gents, you are now looking at one of the newest accepted applicant to the Digital Animation and Visual Effects School, affectionately referred to as the DAVE school. Lemme tell you about this place I like to call Heaven.

The DAVE school is located smack dab in the middle of sunny (and from what I hear, friggin humid) Orlando, FL. It's actually in the back lot of Universal Studios, FL. It features a slew of computer labs, motion capture green screen room, recording room, and some of the best instructors that a CG hopeful could ever ask for.

The DAVE School program runs for one year, and is broken up into 4 sections called "blocks". Each block focuses on a different levels of proficiency, starting with basic modeling and knowledge of Newtek's Lightwave 3D program, architectural modeling and rendering, character modeling and animation, bluescreening and compositing, and finally group dynamics, leading a team. During the program, aside from digitally compositing yourself into any movie of your choice, creating a good amount of portfolio and demo reel, you work with your team to create not only a half live action, half CG short film, but a completely full CG short film.

The instructors at this school are second to none. People here have worked on a variety of blockbuster movies, fantastic television, and more. They teach what they know, they teach what they love. These are people that left various studios, companies, and firms to teach people like me how to work together in groups like this, how to put together a demo reel, how to use what we have to create fantastic images and video.

Not only that, but after graduating, graduates can still use all the facilities that the school offers. Demo reel hosting, access to all new classes and new professors, access to green screen facilities, etc. All this for the low price of $29.5K. There inlies the biggest hurdle. Financial loans are available, but that's still close to $30,000.
Kinda makes me really think seriously about it. Not that I would ever miss this chance, but more like I would work harder at this than I ever have; ever at school, and ever at work. I have to put all I have into this. And I plan on it.

In other news, I just purchased the upgrade for my personal copy of Lightwave, bringing me up to version 9.0. This one has a slew of new advancements, and hopefully, It'll help me find my groove again, and get back to producing (and hopefully finishing) many many products before I move over to Florida.

Clock's ticking. Time to get to work.

Motivation

(fixed so that anyone can post)

So I’m a day late. Sue me.

It’s been a while since I’ve touched Lightwave 3D. I have no good reason as to the hiatus, except for the fact that I’ve been very busy. My full time job has been consistently taking precious hours out of my day, as well as hours away from sleep. The recent move that I’ve made, from downtown Stamford to North Stamford, was an ordeal, but is just about done. However, because of the lull, motivation is lacking.

Every now and again, I hit a motivational valley in-between the motivational highs that I usually find myself in. Lightwave is there, just a click away, but I have no drive to start creating. These times usually coincide with depression or frustration that can be attributed to the other facets of my life.

For the past few years, (has it been that long already?) I’ve been trying to put together a story, one that I’ve become very invested in, and passionate about. I’ve wanted to tell this story to the world, for no other purpose than to tell it. However, after constant rewrites, constant artistic changes, technical issues, and general time constraints, I haven’t worked on it in a while. Like a puzzle with missing pieces.

After a recent trip down to Florida to see the DAVE (Digital Animation and Visual Effects) school in the hopes to eventually enroll, I think I’ve seen a spark of that motivation that has previously been so elusive. Seeing groups of like-minded people working together for a common goal, to produce something out of nothing but hard work, creativity and talent, lit the fuse to the creative barrel of gunpowder sitting within my artistic soul. I’m just waiting for the bang.

In the meantime, to do what I can to self motivate, I’m trying to think of what would look good in my demo reel and portfolio. As of right now, I don’t have much that I’m proud of anymore; amateurishly laid out scenes and models, less than decent texturing, shoddy concepts. After seeing the work that my peers have created, it’s clear as day that I have a lot of concepts to brush up on, theories to remember, and generally a long way to go. A while ago, I picked up some books on fantasy art, as well as figure sketching. I think it’s about time that I picked those up again, and taken pencil to paper again and started trying to find what is lost to me now.

Until then, if you render, keep rendering. If you write, keep writing. If you draw, keep drawing. And as always, keep rockin’.

Welcome Home

So, here I am.
New blog when I have a moment tomorrow~

The Saga Continues... Sort of...

So things at work have been so busy that I haven't had much time to really update.
'Tis the holiday season, and as much as i'm learning not to like it, I work in the retail industry. That's not really condusive to personal creative products.

As you can see to the right, I've been trying to find new ways to make the art that i've been working on better. It's coming along slowly, but I do believe that the effort will certainly pay off.

I've finally started on the first page of artwork based on the every changing script I have, and it's interesting to feel even a slight sense of accomplishment with what i've done so far. I just hope that i'm not so burned out after the holidays that I can't find the motivation to continue.

It's a good story if I do say so myself, and it would be a shame if I couldn't end up telling it.

Moving right along...

So i've finally made some (very little) progress in Nevergreen. Not a whole lot, but as the ancient chinese would say, "The longest journey starts with the first step"... or something like that....
Sometimes it starts with a beast-drawn cart!

I found a new way to rig characters (for lightwave) that has sped up the process of setting scenes up for shots tremendously. (Thanks T4D!)
With that, I'm able to really look at how I want certain shots to play. Now it comes down to working my writer to finalize the script, then format it for a comic page.


Next, i've been working on layouts after reading Writing and Illustrating the Graphic Novel. Got some good results, albiet not very many, hey but it's a start!

Busy weekend

It's so hard to find the time...
But this weekend, I made it a point to do some good work, and so far, i've had some good results.
Took the time to work on the weighting on some of my meshes, and made some new ones such as a cave for one of the early issues of my comic, a sword for the prologue, and printed out some high res pictures of my main characters.

All in all, pretty productive.

whodawhathuh?

Was my story too boring to elicit a comment?

there go my dreams!

Hey, been a while~

Sorry for the period of inactivity. Work has been hard and had a few family problems, (not to mention injury) to deal with.

As promised:

Nevergreen

In the beginning, the Goddess watched over Earth. Life was good. The people of earth were grateful to to the goddess for the clean water in the streams, the abundance of vegetation and wildlife to feed themselves, clean air, and most of all, no desire for war. For thousands of years, the people lived in peace, learning, adapting, building and bettering themselves. They never once forgot the Goddess. Building temples to worship her, writing songs to praise her....

The Goddess, Adella Rei, created the angels to govern over different aspects of her creation. Everything from the the changing of the seasons to the birds in the air were watched over by the angels.

However, Adella Rei's brother, Tepal, became jealous. There we no alters to worship him. In the depths of the earth, he concocted a plan. Over hundreds of years, he created an army to match the powers of the heavens.

Over one horrific year, the dieties fought. Humankind, at first were scared, as they had never seen anything of this sort before, but soon chose sides. They decided based on loyalty, and new emotions they had soon learned; greed, and lust for power.

The temples were destroyed. The rivers and oceans poisened. On the seventh day, Adella Rei was struck down.

Tepal had won the Diety War. He conquered the heavens. The surviving angels were forced to serve under him, as they were the second most powerful creations of Adella Rei, humans being the first. All agreed to serve Tepal except one, Kyriel, the angel of hope.

In an unexpected move, Kyriel leapt to attack Tepal, to the rest of the angels surprise. Kyriel was struck down by Tepal within seconds. As an example, Tepal threw Kyriel's body to earth.

Over 2 thousand years have passed since the end of the Diety War. The earth still lays in ruins except for 3 places.

The Holy City, A city-state that worships Tepal as the true god is the culmination of science, technology and philosophy stands overbearingly over its inhabitants. No record of the holy war is kept, for fear of uprisings. The church controls the govornment and the military, and has direct contact with Tepal. There are 12 heads of the church and a number of archbishops. Often, people go missing, as the church performs experiments to further their own agendas. Those who refuse to follow the church are exhiled.

Kyriels remains, being made by the goddess, revitalized the surrounding area. A small villiage of refugees from the Holy City found their way here. They cultivated the land, and try to live in peace.

Those that did not find the remains fled to the mountains, near old ruins of Adella Rei's Temples. There, they learned to enchant rock and stone. They are very suspicious of anyone to enter their territory.

Not only did Kyriel's remains revitalize the land, but they brought something with them. As generations lived in this sacred area, strange markings appeared on some of their bodies. The markings were indistinct, incomplete, and were generally ignored, until the birth of Karin and Turi.

Sister and brother, orphaned at a young age, and teased for tattoo like markings on their faces, Karin and Turi knew that they were different.

Soon, they shall realize how different they are, and destiny has in store for them.

Phew... Well, lunch break is over. Back to work. I hope this sparked some interest.

-Phil

Ok, I lied...

I said in the comments that I was going to tell my story in the next post, but I havent taken the time to type it all up in a non-spoiler fashion. Plus, i've been working on my demo reel so i've been busy.

Anyways, here's a link to said reel, even though it's no where near finished.

Story in the next post, i promise.

London

I'm not going to rant or rave about how upset I am about this mornings events in London. I was born and raised there, and still have friends and family there.
All I will say is that my thoughts and prayers go out to londoners.


In other news, something I was working on a couple of days ago.

Evolutions: A long time coming

So I decided to look back at some of the work i've been making over the past few months, and the different versions of my favorite models. It's actually quite nice, 'cus I can see how i've gotten a little better than I was at modeling a few months ago. So, to compare, I made some pictures that I'll post here. They are of Karin and Turi, the two main characters of nevergreen.
Also, i've been sketching a new idea (well, not really a new idea, but a new sketch of an old idea) that I can show here, but not explain yet, lest the story be ruined. Will do that soon.

Karin


First version to second.

Second to third (radiosity was so I could really see the mesh)

Turi

First to current.

So much to do...

Did some work on a character named Loken over the weekend (tweaking, rigging). Not done with him yet though, as his fingers look like sausages...
His story is that he's the de facto leader of the band of desert rebels that the main characters meet during their travels. After I finish up on him, I have to design, model and rig his mountain counterpart.

Gotta keep going ahead~

Wahoo! Day 2 of 928475 (give or take)

So much to do, so little time.
I have to work on environments a bit, as my skill in modeling and lighting them leaves much to be desired. But what I really have to do is learn to do some concept art before I start modeling. Maybe planning absolutely everything will help me stay organized and motivated. I have to think of panel layouts, color schemes, logos, script and plot devices and much more.
We'll see. This weekend should be uneventful, so maybe i'll have some time to work...

Here are some picutres that i've been messing with as of late.

And so it begins...

First Post! Not much to show quite yet, as i'm not at my home terminal...

This is where I would like to post any ideas, concepts, sketches, revisions, scenes pictures and pretty much anything else regarding my cel-shaded story, Nevergreen, while it's in development. Hopefully, you can come here to check out some of the how's and why's of the comic as the series progresses.

Welcome.