Wicksy's Washable Wonderings

Fire Base Fly Through

2011-07-26T14:08:00.003+01:00

So I've whacked the whole thing into UDK to get a quick fly around going. Getting things blocked out in 3D ALWAYS helps :D

Sandbag parallaxing...

2011-07-16T15:56:00.002+01:00

I've been mucking about with my sandbag textures in UDK to see how it works using Parrallax mapping (or Bump offsetting, there's so many different names for it floating around out there :s).

Basically it uses a height map to give it more depth (which I rendered out using Xnormal) and the results look OK. I don't think this does so well up close but at a distance, like the top image, it works very convincingly.

I think for the walls that you get up close to you just need to put geometry in there...

Baked bags

2011-07-15T16:37:00.002+01:00

So I ended up making a ridiculously high poly wall in Max from the mudbox sculpts. I was actually pretty surprised that my computer and Max were able to handle the some 5 and a half million tris, and as a result it gave quite a good bake through Xnormal.

The piece itself tiles but at the moment the baked texture doesn't, so I'm going to have to tile the geometry a bit and hope my computer holds out.

But I'm pretty pleased with the results, nice and clean, can't wait to see the results of parallax normal mapping in unreal using a height map as well...

Sandbags

2011-07-14T19:54:00.002+01:00

Been doing some sandbag walls, this is just with the normals. It's a tilable wall piece that clocks in at 1,344 tris.

Mud-Rocks

2011-06-28T17:39:00.002+01:00

I've been getting into mudbox a bit lately since I've been doing more organic structures. This is a rock sculpt thats baked down, but there are a few errors and overall the bake came out a bit grainy :s

Rocks Finished

2011-06-15T16:12:00.001+01:00

Rocks are finsished now. Textured in mudbox

Afghanistan Fire base

2011-06-15T15:49:00.004+01:00

I've been pretty busy with bits and bobs lately, from degree show work to some personal stuff. To strengthen my portfolio as and all round environment artist I've undertaken a mini project that should fit quite nicely with the organic forms I plan on practicing on.

This project is based around a Fire Support Base in Afghanistan. This base is basically a strong point that sits on top of a hill with good sight lines, which gives it the ability to give support fire and defend the region. The base features heavy machine guns, grenade machine guns, sniper posts and motors pits. For my scene I will be focusing on the machine gun nests that look out onto the valley.

These nests are trenches that are dug into the side of the hill and then fortified further using sandbags, wire boxes, rocks and wood beams for support. These trenches also double up as living quarters, which would be a great chance to get some human touches in there.

This nest is based off of a real life base, which was featured in the documentary Ross Kemp in Afghanistan. It has a fairly comprehensive base tour that shows quite a lot of details and traits of the fortifications.

I plan to use UDK, and to use UDK terrain to create some nice looking Afghanistan valleys for the machine guns to look out onto.

This is my block out below, taken about 4-5 hours it maps out my ideas and preferred layout of the trenches and the sort of details I want to include. As ever I aim to reuse as many assets as possible to get a modular and efficiant scene. More to come soon...

Rocking out!

2011-06-15T11:34:00.001+01:00

I really need to do more organic structures to expand my portfolio and skills, so first off rocks.

This is a method that uses a combination of several noise, displacement and turbosmooth modifiers. All non destructible and highly editable!

Spitfire revisited pt.2

2011-04-28T18:17:00.000+01:00

And here's a few more shots of the Spitfire...

Spitfire revisited

2011-04-28T16:40:00.004+01:00

It's job applying time, so I'm getting together some more polished looking images of my work.

Check out my portfolio here... http://tom-wicks.daportfolio.com/

Quick shot...

2011-03-09T17:05:00.002Z

Quick update. Have been importing assets as of late. I'm still struggling with the lighting, there seems to be loads of fuzziness in all the shadows. Have also nearly completed modelling the low poly z4, will post pics up when it'd done.

Speedy...

2011-03-07T01:09:00.000Z

Need to paint more!!!

The pretty blunder...

2011-02-07T17:46:00.003Z

This was done for a bit of fun whilst I was at BMW, whilst the world cup was going on. It's a high poly model and is made up of 2 x 2048 diffuse and normal.

It's a great looking piece of kit, that ruined the world cup and was dubbed a "Disgrace" by legendary boot designer Craig Johnston, the creator of the Predator boot.

BMW stuff...

2011-02-07T17:13:00.003Z

So I just remembered that I've never posted any of the work that I did at BMW on here (the non-secret stuff that is) so here goes...

These shots are of an environment I created when there when work was quiet. It started out as texturing practice, where I wanted to really get the most out of tileable textures. I started with the road an built outwards, and as I progressed people started to like it and suggested that I turned it into a realtime environment in which to view cars.

The setting is a mountain race track, featuring the iconic tunnels found all over the Alps and similar mountain ranges.

The rocks are made out of a modular system, where a tiling texture is placed over one rock formation. This rock is then duplicated and intersected to make a wall featuring interesting grooves and ridges. I picked this up from Crysis.

This scene is rendered in real time, with RTT Deltagen, one of the programs I did the most work in at BMW. I also rendered a HDRI from it for reflections and Image Based Lighting.

Portfolio up!

2011-01-24T13:16:00.000Z

I've finally got round to setting up a portfolio...

http://tom-wicks.daportfolio.com/

FMP Blog

2011-01-20T16:30:00.002Z

My new FMP blog is up and running. Follow all of my Final Major Project progression at 'The Pit'

http://thepittw.blogspot.com/

Construction complete...

2011-01-17T13:19:00.006Z

So here's some final screens of my finished rooftop environment.

Construction Site update...

2011-01-09T23:36:00.003Z

Nearly there...

Spitfire - Crashed State

2011-01-07T20:37:00.005Z

Here are some shots of my finished Supermarine Spitfire Mk.V in it's crashed state, from the 3ds Max Viewport using xoliulshader.

Spitfire - Damaged State

2011-01-07T20:34:00.003Z

Here are some shots of my finished Supermarine Spitfire Mk.V in it's damaged state, from the 3ds Max Viewport using xoliulshader.

Spitfire - Normal State

2011-01-07T20:27:00.008Z

Here are some shots of my finished Supermarine Spitfire Mk.V, from the 3ds Max Viewport using xoliulshader.

Nearly there...

2011-01-04T18:00:00.003Z

Phew so I'm nearly done with this one. There's a few tweaks I think I want to do to the ground plane, maybe bump in some scattered shards of metal around the place, and possibly tweak the soil around the nose. Whilst doing this scene I've been trying to keep it compact whilst believable, which is difficult when you're doing a plane crash, because stuff just goes everywhere! Still I think I've done ok. I pictured the plane coming in quite flat trying to do a hard landing but failing, bouncing along the ground, and then having a hard impact where my scene starts, breaking it up and as a result loosing momentum. I've got to say I've had great fun with this project and have enjoyed pretty much all of it! well maybe not the uv'ing, but planes are something I'm really into so I'm definitely going to do more in the future. Saying that I should pick up that MiG that's buzzing around here somewhere...

Mayday mayday...

2010-12-30T23:47:00.003Z

Am doing my crashed spitfire at the moment, here's some wips

Making Fires

2010-12-20T22:42:00.005Z

So Another quicks paintover of a damaged variant. This one's full on crashed and in several different peices. Have been researching crashed spitfires and there aren't many spectacular pictures about. Most of them seem to be in one peice, which I guess says a lot about the plane and their pilots!

Spitfire

2010-12-17T16:06:00.004Z

Paint over for the sort of thing I want my destroyed version of it to look like.

Going for a hard landing where not much damage is incurred.

May look at beaking one of the wings off.

Taking fire...

2010-12-14T16:21:00.003Z

Finished my damaged textures now. This plane's taken a fair amount of flak fire aswell as some high calible rounds :p Wanted to do a version thats damaged but not destroyed first before I move onto the destroyed one. For that I'm thinking of having it plowed into the ground after loosing a wing! More to come soon...

Like spitting fire...

2010-12-14T00:48:00.004Z

So a quick update here, textures for my spitfire are pretty much finished, still a couple of small details to add in. Have got a variety of camo variations, I think this blue marine one is my favourite, also have desert camo and the standard green. Decided to name it Tommys' Talos, as Talos, In mythology, was a giant bronze man with wings who flew round the coasts of Ancient Greece and protected it from invaders, thought it was quite fitting. Now to start on my damaged textures...

Spitfiring...

2010-12-11T19:29:00.007Z

So here's a few more WiP shot of my Spitfire. I'm onto texturing it now and I'm quite pleased with how it's going. Working with the diffuse, specular and normal maps in unison really makes texture creation easier and more flexable, allowing you to really decide how you want to get the details across. This is rendered in realtime using xoliulshader, and the maps at the moment are 2048s (always best to work bigger and then scale it down when you're done I find). There's still a lot more to do, I havent gone into dirtying it up yet and have only just started painting the scratches. More to come very soon.

Spitfire update...

2010-11-30T17:03:00.003Z

So here's some work in progress shots of my spitfire, still got a bit of modelling left to do on it, but it's coming along. Got a low poly interior in there at the moment but will add more polys to it if I've got some spare.

At the moment it's about 3,500 so I've got plenty spare.

Up, up and away...

2010-11-25T12:44:00.007Z

So my rooftop's coming along. It's in UDK now and the past week or so I've been dressing the scene. I might make it a bit more busier with assets, but I don't want to over crowd it or I might start to see too much repetition. So far I've tried to keep it as varied as possible scattering things about and having different groups of assets. Crits always welcome :D

If I was in world war two they'd call me spitfire...

2010-11-16T23:22:00.006Z

So my trip to Duxford on the weekend to get reference photos was met with great success :D I managed to get a load of good reference for Spitfires, and one of the mechanics even let me step over the velvet rope so I could take some detailed pictures of the flap mechanisms on the wings. As far as textures go, I'm going to be hand painting this plane probably with texture overlays. The idea of simply slapping photos onto it just doesn't seem right anymore, even though I'm quite happy with my texturing skills, they can always be improved.

The photos will provide me with information about surface details that I will need to include, and I will take full advantage of the Normal and specular maps on offer.

The past few days have been spent modeling it, and so far I'm pleased with how its going. One thing I might need to sort out is the amount of flow lines going towards the tail at the bottom, it's looking a bit crowded down there.

I'm also making an Airfix version of the Spitfire to help me, and I can't stress how much it helps. For anyone doing a vehicle, get yourself an Airfix version, you won't regret it!

From now on I'm going to divide my time between my Vehicle and Environment. It allows me to switch what I'm doing if my attention starts to wander...

Speed-a-roo

2010-11-13T18:24:00.000Z

Time's-a-cracking on....

2010-11-13T17:08:00.005Z

So time's getting on and it's nearly time to start my vehicle project, but more on that later.

In the past weeks I've been cracking on with my rooftop project, and overall, I'm please with how it's coming along. I'm a bit behind the schedule of finishing this week, but it doesn't worry me too much. I'm not going to rush it and do a bodge job, I really want to get it down, and make a good portfolio piece with it, because at the end of it, I need stuff that I'm proud to present to people.

I did spent a fair amount of time concepting and coming up with ideas, but when I look back it has only made my project stronger. I went through and blocked out my ideas to get a good idea of what they would look like, and from this it helped me pick the most interesting idea.

I would really encourage people to do this. If you've got a few ideas, block them out it max first. Having an idea in your head is always going to look amazing! mostly thanks to the capabilities of the human brain, but when you start to get it down on paper (or 3d), things will change. Limitations come in, and things will not look the same as they do in your head. This process will only take a few days and will help you massively with decision making and your perspective on things.

Anyways back to my project. I have most of my assets textured now, and my next big task is importing them into unreal and building the scene. A lot of my items will be duped a lot, due to the nature of scaffolding and bricks, but this allows me to save on texture and tri budget. I have posted some screens of the layout I'm going for as I just realised there are no finished mock up screens here, apart from the paint overs.

I'm off to duxford tomorrow to get some awesome reference for the legendary Supermarine Spitfire, which will serve as my model for my vehicle project.

quick painty...

2010-11-12T23:13:00.001Z

Doodle me this...

2010-11-11T22:57:00.000Z

I'm back! With some random doodles...

Hot down, summer in the city...

2010-10-21T23:09:00.001+01:00

Quick messy paint here, used advice about more solid brushes, kinda cool. I like the feel of a hot, dry New York city summer...

Good end to an evening...

2010-10-19T23:17:00.003+01:00

Well today's been a bit of a write off since I got my new iphone, but all is not lost.

A quick paintover, sunset palette here, nice colours but probably won't be suitable for an actual level.

Spent about an hour and a half on it.

Paint over...

2010-10-18T22:14:00.002+01:00

A paintover done for my rooftop. Spent about an hour and a half on it. Not overly pleased :/ will be doing some more over the coming week, hopefully to more sucess...

Hands 'n' Feet...

2010-10-14T22:05:00.004+01:00

Here's a few sketches I've done in my spare time (from life).

Bulding my Ideas

2010-10-14T18:34:00.005+01:00

Here we go then, my last idea, the modern day construction site. I was going to do the whitehouse roof as my forth, but to be honest I don't think I would have run with that one, and it doesn't give me much room for creativity. So I've decided to do the modern day construction site instead.

This sketch is basically another highrise building only under construction. I've filled out the scene briefly to get a rough idea of things. Scaffolding has a big presence in this scene, I like scaffolding because there is no set shape to it and it can be mess and un-organised, and often is.

One that I havent added here is tarpauline. This would add more walls to the level and make it more confined as you walk around. The animation posibilities of it would really bring the scene to life aswell.

So my sketches are now done and my initial ideas are roughed out to a standard that im pleased with.

Now I've got to choose one...

The Empire builds back!

2010-10-13T17:08:00.007+01:00

Drum roll for idea number 3...

Construction Site

This one really interests me because building sites are always cluttered and look busy, they also have a lot of movement present in them. So my original Idea was to do a modern day construction site, but I came up with a spark this morning and thought I'd combine it with one of my previous ideas.

The Empire State Building. I've always seen pictures and old rough footage of it being made and the perils those construction workers went though on a daily basis, and it facinates me. You see them walking along creaky wooden planks and shimmying along girder, with no reaction to them being hundreds of metres high and one wrong step away from being nothing more than a mess on a New York side walk. When see the pictures there's always so much going on, it didnt have the orderlyness and health and saftey these days.

So I've made a quick mockup of a corner of the Empire State just to get and idea of what I could achieve.

2 down...2 to go

2010-10-13T12:05:00.002+01:00

...And a quick, last version of my eco roof. Wanted a better shape for the building.

'H' is for...

2010-10-13T02:46:00.004+01:00

Ok, so I've knocked out another rooftop sketch. This one's a big H, as you can probably see. I've made the focal point(s) for this one the wind turbines. I Definitely think my rooftop needs some sort of focal point, something to build around. I think those huge spinning turbines would look great in motion too. The lower level in the middle helps break it up and lessen the repetition.

Ive made the surrounding items (near the base of the wind turbines) slightly different to each others, again to break the repetition. I'm not sure whether this is correct or not, seeing as the are they same mechanisms, so they should use the same surrounding stuff, I'm not really sure. Artistic liscence has to jump in somewhere!

Right I'm going to bed.

Look Maaa, I'ma saving tha world!

2010-10-12T20:00:00.007+01:00

It's time to end my 8 hour modelling sesh with a blog post i think.

Que Idea number 2...

The Eco Rooftop
I guess this ones a fairly obvious choice but i like it, Mostly because of all the green gadgetry that comes with 'saving the environment' (if you want to call it that, I tend to call it 'feeling less guilty').

When Heather mentioned that the people from ninja theory, I think it was, said the environments needed more life, so I think that having moving parts and small animations would really help.

So far I'm only on my first 'sketch', this is partly because I've spent a while modelling a load of rooftopish assets. This first one is quite a simple, and organised rooftop. I did this for a number of reasons. Firstly I had no initial organisation so I wanted to get everything in there to see how it looked, and not to make it too confusing to the eye.

Secondly I like the idea of having the roof sectioned off for different equipment, for that's how this multimillion dollar corp. might have designed it, to be as efficient and organised as possible. Also if it were in a shooting game it would help the player with navigation and orientation, eg. "We've got two tangos by the wind turbines"

Now that I've built the majority of the assets for this rough out, doing the others shouldn't prove too time consuming...

Castle to b4...

2010-10-11T18:38:00.008+01:00

Ahh so we're fresh into the acedemic year, and the rooftops project has been handed to us.

Looking at the brief I was quite dissapointed, it seemed very concentrated and didnt give enough freedom as I'd have liked. I started by thinking of ideas that were a bit different to what the brief stated. I was a bit worried that they were all going to get shot down and I'd be told to make the 'New york roof top for a third person shooter' to the word. But I was luckily surprised when Heather like my ideas and was keen for me to think about a different theme.

So onto Idea number 1.

The Medieval Castle top
Here I want to create a rooftop from medieval times, especially along the lines of Guard towers and Castle walls. The idea of showing the presence of security without characters is an interesting one for me, Not to mention all of the gritty worn down brick and rock textures that I'd need.

My first Max 'sketch' is a city gate. The structure is basically part of the city walls, with a lookout post and defences. I think the inclusion of different levels of height is vital in creating an interesting level layout. I have roughed in some castle architechture just to get an idea, but it is by no means historically accurate. If I decide to go with this theme I wil of course research the architechture in more depth.

My second sketch is a trio of towers connected by walls, Only one of the smaller towers is embedded Into the larger more dominant tower. I think this has a very different sense of scale to the last one and I placed it ontop of a rocky hill to emphasise this. I also created a quick mockup of a medieval catapult to place ontop of the large tower. I think something like this is a good focal point, and having a large area on the largest tower could allow for some interesting possiblities.
So onto my final sketch, this one is basically an observation post, which I would envision to be place in a very high place looking over massive distances. The structure itself consists of one Main tower and three sub towers, all embedded into the Main tower. The job of this tower would be to guard strategic positions and signal to the main cities/forces of any incoming invasions. Unlike the last two, which would guard cities or important structures, this tower would be stuck out in the middle of no-where and it would be interesting to try and convey this in the sort of equipment and assets that would dress the scene.

So those are my 3 ideas for this theme. If I am to choose this theme I will probably try and evolve these ideas a bit more and get some solid conept work up and running before I even think about modelling it.

Stay tuned for more, this is only the first of four Ideas that I'm going to be sketching out on max in the coming week...

Back into it...

2010-10-04T16:23:00.004+01:00

Ahh so the beginning of my final year. After a welcomed break I'm about to dive back in, so I thought I'd dig the old MiG out and get it going again. Modelling's nearly done, will probably up the detail on the fuelsalge and canopy and then it's onto the fun process of uv'ing....yay :/

quick quick

2010-07-27T22:15:00.000+01:00

30mins...i need my sleep

Slum it!

2010-07-25T22:50:00.000+01:00

City of God...what a film

Falls...

2010-07-24T18:53:00.000+01:00

Ahh thats better...

Falls

2010-07-24T18:20:00.000+01:00

2010-07-23T21:55:00.000+01:00

Think I'd rather leave it as a sketch...

JUNGLE IS MASSIVE!

2010-07-22T21:10:00.002+01:00

A quick sketch, but im stopping 'cos I'm hungry :p I like this one so will continue with it.

more valley...

2010-07-21T21:34:00.000+01:00

Tonights quick paint

Forests' edge

2010-07-20T21:40:00.000+01:00

waterfall

2010-07-19T22:05:00.000+01:00

Beach it!

2010-07-17T17:46:00.002+01:00

meh...

A Bottle!

2010-07-14T21:33:00.003+01:00

Guess what I just watched...

Tunnel

2010-07-13T23:15:00.001+01:00

Quick paint before bed!

Valley Rapids

2010-07-12T21:44:00.000+01:00

Quick paint...

sketch

2010-06-08T20:36:00.003+01:00

Cave...

2010-06-04T23:04:00.001+01:00

Doodle doodle....20mins

Valley...

2010-06-03T17:50:00.000+01:00

meeh

Paint on...

2010-06-01T22:28:00.000+01:00

Gonna keep knocking em' out...

2010-05-30T21:04:00.002+01:00

Have been watching planet earth recently, stunning stuff. If you havent seen it already...you must!

Anyways, quick paint here, about 25 mins I guess.

Techy-Towers

2010-05-26T23:47:00.001+01:00

More of the computer-ish tech brushes.

tech-it up

2010-05-25T21:12:00.002+01:00

Got some pretty cool technology brushes.

MiGmore

2010-05-20T19:00:00.002+01:00

So picked up the MiG again. I know it doesnt look like a great departure from the last but a lot of tidying up has gone on.

Also tried to play with this renderer today, but you have to have an Nvidia graphics card for it to work, hmph! Looks pretty cool though, and has a free trial...

http://www.refractivesoftware.com/

Paint over

2010-05-19T22:44:00.001+01:00

Have been watching a Dylan Cole paintover DVD, so thought I'd get stuck In. Need some decent photos to start with though, this ones a bit washed out.

droppin' in...

2010-05-19T18:11:00.002+01:00

Spruce up of my previous paint.

Have really been getting into my paints recently, it's something that I'm really enjoying and if it can better me, it's all good. But most of all, its something to kick back and do after work, a welcome change of pace if you like.

Dropships

2010-05-18T18:17:00.001+01:00

Sketchin' out some dropships, will probably come back and finish this tonight or tommorrow.

Mountains

2010-05-18T17:19:00.001+01:00

Not overly pleased with this one, but hey, practice is practice.

Dockage...

2010-05-16T22:55:00.004+01:00

So I've been watching 'The Wire' recently and seires 2 features quite alot shipping docks...enough said really.

Airfield

2010-05-15T00:48:00.001+01:00

another quick friday night paint...man i know how to party! Just started off and eventually turned into an airfield.

Speedy-paint

2010-05-14T20:24:00.001+01:00

quick speedy paint, using overlays a bit, needs some sort of vehicle screaming though it me thinks...

A quick paint...

2010-05-12T22:51:00.001+01:00

25mins or so.

Rockin all over the world...

2010-05-10T22:16:00.003+01:00

...well, just in Germany actually.

Experimenting from a tutorial from the blog of Sascha Henrichs, got to give it to him, a top tutorial right there, check out his blog, lots of cool stuff

http://saschahenrichs.blogspot.com/

It's about 1.2million tris right now so will hopefully get round to baking it to a low poly soon.

Heli colour...

2010-04-26T21:37:00.001+01:00

Phew, so added more detail, colour and i think thats done!

heli development...

2010-04-22T19:07:00.002+01:00

I like this one so I'm gonna continue with it...

Crit's welcome :)

heli on earth...

2010-04-21T23:17:00.004+01:00

Ok so ive done a little more this evening. First one is a gun platform, with a couple of mini guns mounted.

Second is seating underneat to transport troops!

Will carry on soon!

Combat heli...

2010-04-21T18:10:00.002+01:00

Had a desire to paint today at work, but thought I'd wait untill I got home, not sure BMW can use paintings of combat helicopters.

I though of a utility/support helicopter, which is why theres a big chunk missing. It could hold a ramp unterneath to ferry troops about, like the way that troops sit on the side of littlebirds, or have side arms to hold a hefty payload.

Spent close to an hour on it, and will return to gear it up.

Memory is cheap, time is not...

2010-04-06T18:17:00.003+01:00

Ok so after much procrasination, I've pushed myself to carry on with my MiG.

I did have a set back, where 3 of my most recent save files randomly corrputed, but thats life, files corrupt and programs crash, it's something I've got used to, so saving often is second nature now.

It's worth it to save to different files aswell, even if you end up with a 200mb folder and 174 versions. Memory is cheap, time is not.

There is NO excuse, people can bitch and moan about programs not being reliable all they want, but at the end of the day it is YOUR fault! YOU are unreliable and "a piece of shit"(just one of the many colourful phrases that has been belted from my lungs after a crash) for not saving.

So....MiG. Yes, progress is pretty slow, but as long as I stick with it I'm pleased with myself, since finding the will to work after sitting at a computer, on 3d programs for 7ish hours a day is a rarety.

Rifle me this...

2010-03-04T21:29:00.002Z

So I've got a little book that sits by my laptop, which, I like to doodle in. Have done quite a few weapon sillouettes so decided to take one into photoshop.

Will go into more detail with it and maybe even model it...

BEN!

2010-01-24T01:37:00.002Z

If you see a resemblance to anyone, I know you've played a great game! Polecats rule!

2010-01-14T22:47:00.002Z

Ok a bit of an update since its been a while.

On the MiG front there hasnt been a lot of progress, got the landing gear done now, aswell as a couple of bombs. The way im approching this project is to do 2 levels of detail. My first will be under 5,000 tris, i want to be able to effectively show both high and low poly modelling and the differences between them.

The high Poly will be close to 15,000. I'm starting off with the low, getting that completely modelled, and then moving onto the high. When theyre both finished I will uv map them one after the other and then move onto textures which means I will be able to work with them both in tandem, rather than complete everything on the low, then start on the high.

I will post pics when more is done.

Also I have been working on environment objects, and making them really look worn, and I have been pleased with them, unfortunately I am unable to let the outside world see them, but its good practice.

I have also been looking into techniques for making clouds. It's really interested me, partly because they are always present. I want to be able to get some good cloud making skills under my belt when it comes to displaying my work.

Well thats it i guess, as always it has been hard getting into self directed projects at home after work, but i'll push myself, you WILL see a kick arse MiG 29 flying through the sky by august, I promise...

schnell!

2009-11-12T21:07:00.002Z

Bit more speed painting, 25 mins i think, getting into it a bit more but small screens and small tablets arent good, especially when i work on a cintique all day :(

meeeehhhh

2009-11-11T21:43:00.002Z

hmm thought i'd do a quick 20min paint before i went to bed to get back into it. I need to practice, and my cloud brush...

love me!

2009-11-06T18:55:00.001Z

Though i'd say what im thinking, hehe :D

Guinea MiG...

2009-10-12T18:40:00.002+01:00

Ok so ive roughly blocked out my MiG. Have used 3 shapes, one for the main fuselage, one for the tail and another for the engine (all mirrored at the moment).

Am quite pleased with it, though i need to go into more detail in some areas, such as the canopy, and get the roundness. I'm only 1,300 tris in so I've got plenty to play with.

Untill next time...

MiGing it out...

2009-10-10T14:54:00.003+01:00

Quick screenshot of it so far. Keeping it simple and getting the overall shape down first. Trying not to add detail that isnt needed at this point.

Fucking MiGnificant....

2009-10-09T23:16:00.007+01:00

Ok so I've settled in fine, and the works going well..... but there has been a lack of activity on this blog recently, so I've decided to get of my arse and do something constructive with my spare time.

I have to say that working on computers all day, coming home and settling into a max project, doesnt sound like a break, which I suppose is natural right?

So I've decided that do motivate myself, I have to work on something fucking cool...

Thats right, just something that will hold my interest and make me want to model. So I've decided to model......wait for it....

a MiG 29......there's not much to say other than it's fucking cool.

The designs of MiGs have always struck me as what a fighter jet looks like. They really are an icon, a real Russian success. So my plan is to model in max, because I've been using maya for the past 2 months, and even though I have slowly been getting used to it, I don't want to loose touch with max. My theory is that if i keep working on both of them at the same time, I won't loose any skill on them, whilst slowly gaining skill!

My plan is to first model the plane and really get the textures down. I want to see an old, rusty, war torn relic thats seen it's fair share of combat, which means plenty of grime, and wear. I think this will mostly be in the textures, making sure i get the panels looking good and working into areas that are likely to recieve wear.

When this is finished, I want a nice environment to put this in, so im thinking a hangar, with lots of equipment about, tools, missles and bombs ready to be loaded on.

This will also be a great oppertunity to set my rendering skills up and really give it some atmosphere. I havent set myself a tri limit as per-say, but I dont really want to exceed 8,000 tris for the MiG, and I think the environment will be quite simple, setting up and putting the most focus on the MiG. As time constraints go, I'm aiming to have it done within an month, but we'll see...

Off I go...

2009-08-23T02:06:00.003+01:00

So the time has finally come, after about 6 months or so of waiting, to jet of to Munich, Germany to start my internship at BMW.

This really is an amazing opportunity that I've come across and to think it was a normal day, lunch time, sitting in my friends workshop eating lunch that someone mentioned it to me. It was pretty lucky I guess, right place at the right time and it really is weird to see what a brilliant chance to get ahead it has turned into. It just goes to show that you should go for it, no matter how small the chance, you have nothing to lose.

I think it just goes to show the talent that is on our course and how underestimated game art is. I really regard myself as lucky when I think that anyone, that's right anyone, on our course is good enough be in my shoes. I simply knuckled down on my car modelling skills and managed to impress my prospective employer, just as other people on our course have really worked hard to build their skills, and it shows. I really do believe that the people I've worked with in Game Art Design are some of the most talented and enthusiastic people I've ever been around.

I'll be leaving on Wednesday and I'm really looking forward to it. I guess it's a chance to start something fresh in a new place. I'm going to take in as much as humanly possible whilst I'm there, even if it may not realated game art. Knowledge of how other people doing things is key, and will enable you to explore different methods of getting things done.

I'm also really looking forward to settling in to Munich and learning to speak German well. I have been learning over the past few months and I have enjoyed it, but it will take time, and hopefully being in social situations will make me want to learn even more.

I plan to keep making game related models during my spare time, and hopefully find somewhere I can do life drawing. I will definitely keep posting and using the facebook, which I have found to be a great way of displaying work and critting.

Even though I will be back next year I'm sad to leave everyone in my year. I've had a great time with all of you, and I'm disappointed that I won't get to work with and along side you guys. I wish you the best of luck in your futures, and I know I'm going to be seeing your names roll down the credits screen real soon.

Aufedersein...

I like blue...

2009-08-04T17:10:00.001+01:00

A bit more photo montaging with a max scene...maybe I should try a different colour :)

Water under the bridge...

2009-07-28T17:41:00.002+01:00

So this is another play around with a max scene I made. I find this is a really quick way of starting a paint, ok so it may not be conventional painting, but it it cuts your time down and increases efficiency and precision then I'm all for it.

Right, next...

Layer crazy...

2009-07-24T22:45:00.002+01:00

OK so here's another experiment with textures and over lays. I used a scene I whacked together in max using my car that I made a while back, and let loose with the textures and contast.

To get the overlays I would simply make a copy of the whole or part of the picture and distort it by squashing and using the perspective tool. Then mess around with then opacity and layer mode.

I'm quite pleased with the outcome :D

A lengthy pit stop...

2009-07-24T17:09:00.002+01:00

This is my summer project, even though I havent worked on it in a few months.

Its my Ferrari 158, model of 1964, which also won the world championship that year.

It's close to 6,000 tris at the moment, and with only a bit of the engine to do and the wheels to dupe, it should easilly make the 9,000 budget...thats if I get round to it :)

My next little project is to make my own car, a VW Polo...lets get cracking!

Paint to the max!

2009-07-24T03:40:00.001+01:00

Ok, another quick paint, used a max scene and messed about with textures

high contrast...

2009-07-09T22:06:00.004+01:00

It's been a while but I've picked up the wacom pen again.

Have been playing mirrors edge and wow, what a game. Its seems to have gone fairly unoticed but its fresh look and cool game mechanics (along with the awesome tattoo designs they've got) made it a really good game for me, and only £15! pick it up if you get the chance.

So yeah this ones kinda inspired buy that, i've really like messing with the levels lately and getting a vibrant, high contrast image.

This other one is a quick paint of an industrial city

There'll be more to come soon

and into second...

2009-05-11T19:33:00.003+01:00

ahh so I'm not about 3-4 hours into project I'd guess. I'm kind of disappointed because I'd thought I'd have more done by now, but it's true whats they say...you cant rush art :p

I've pretty much got the body work sorted. It has been more challenging than I thought, and I'm sure it'll get harder before the end. Anyway here are some view port shots, it's a smudge under 600 Tris at the moment, and I'm working to a budget of 9,000 so I've got a fair amount of lee-way.
More to come soon...

And it's go Go GOOOO!

2009-05-01T13:39:00.004+01:00

Ok, so I'm back, after a rather rude interruption by a stomach bug, but the important thing is I'm back to do some work.

I've chosen the F1 car and driver project as I really want to improve on my car models, and it's something I really enjoy.

Ive chosen to model the 1964 Ferrari 158 (oooh yes, vintage). There are several reasons for this. Firstly modern formula one teams are HIGHLY secretive, and therefore, are near impossible to get good quality blueprints or orthographic projections for. This is quite annoying as some of the modern ones have really refined, slimline designs, full of fins and gills.

Secondly I think there's something really cool about the model I've chosen. It has a really smooth body but then at the back it's full of pipes and engine components sticking out everywhere.

I also chose this model because it's got a very unique look to it, and its true that you could model a Peugeot 106 brilliantly... but at the end of the day, it's still a Peugeot 106 ( I'm not say that it's not a good car, just that it won't have the same impact on the viewer)

So I'll be around In the labs from Wednesday since I'm heading back to London for a few days for a certain someones birthday (mine). If anyone wants to practice their car modeling I've got a great video tutorial that helped me get to grips with them. Give me a shout if you want to 'borrow' it ;)

We're getting close...

2009-03-31T23:25:00.004+01:00

Well assessment time is closing in, and everything seems a bit weird, why... because I'm not that busy!

Come assessment time though out my life I've always bin tremendously busy in those few final days, but this time I'm quite pleased with my planning. Don't get me wrong I've been working pretty hard, I just don't seem as stressed.

Over the past week I've been working on my land sea air yacht project and the cultural walks project. I've mainly been developing my work and producing a final outcome. I like to show my development and I think it's very important when giving a presentation, but it's always good to have final polished images to show.

As far as my presentation goes, I'm going to keep it simple. I don't want to distract people from the images, In my view, as long as the images are interesting and displayed in a pleasing manner, you should need lots going on in the background with fade effects (I personally can't stand those crappy PowerPoint animations and over the top fades).

I must say that I took a peek at the summer project, and am very enticed. The main ones that have caught my eye are...

The formula 1 car and driver - since I really enjoyed doing my BMW, and an f1 car seems like a real challenge!

Rain forest crash site and survivor - I want to try and compete with the uncharted environments because they are quite simply stunning!

Harley and Hells Angels - Because Harley's are awesome and Full Throttle was a work of genius!

So we'll see, maybe I can get 3 done over the summer, I don't think that's unrealistic....