and into second...

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!

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...

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....

Over the finish line...

Well it's finally done, I bumped it up with turbosmooth to get some super looking renders, but don't worry I've still got the lower poly one, clocks in at about 15,000 polys think, overall I'm happy, I was going to try and get some sexy looking vray renders of it, but max being max doesn't want to.

I don't think I'm going to have time to texture it this side of easter, with assessments next week, but it's on my to-do list, along with a whoooole bunch of other stuff...

Are we there yet?

phew, this thing's taking its toll on me...

Zoom zoom zoom

Quick update, a few more pics of my bmw m5. I'm pleased with how its coming along, slowly but surely...

Zoom zoom

So the other day I thought to myself... I want to model a car... so I did.

I'm not that far into it and I've probably got quite a way to go on it, but at the moment I'm pleased with it and I havn't gone into rediculus detail...yet.

My aim in this project is to get some really nice final renders, hopefully using vray, and making a car body surface that is convincing. Part of me wants to do this as a saftey net incase I don't get a job after uni, and 3d car modeling is a big thing within the car industry. Who's knows maybe I'll be lucky enough to get an placement with one.

This blog's looking a bit dusty...

Ok I'm back, yeah I know it's been a while but I though I'd return to tell you what Ive been up with lately.

So we've finished our group projects and I can say I'm really happy with our final level. It feels great to finally see something finished after working on it for such a long time, 8 weeks I think. We set out to make a realistic and current version of the lecture theatre only with a an un-detonated rocket crash landed in it. For me it was hard to create clean textures that look good. With my environment project everything was grimy and messed up a bit so it was possible to use loads of photo overlays and custom brushes to create textures that look good, but when I have to make clean, untouched textures they just don't seem to look as good. I guess it's something I have to work on.


On the drawing side of things I've nearly finished my layout pad in which I was doing the Land Air Sea yacht project. I started with the Inuit culture an moved ton from there to dog sleds and eventually ice speeder things. I really love using markers and keeping things sketchy.

Black Hawk Down

This weeks film was a real treat since it's one of my favourite films. Black Hawk Down is about a mission that took place in Somalia, when the U.S. Rangers and Delta Force attempted to capture people associated with a renegade warlord. The mission goes horribly wrong when a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter is shot down and what was planned as capture mission turned into a rescue mission.The Film is beautifully directed by Ridley Scott. The way it is shot makes you think that every single shot was carefully planned out and shot, and this is evident in the special features disc. I'd really recommend everyone to watch the extras disc if you can get a hold of it. It shows the storyboarding phase well and all the preparation and thoughts that go into the film.

Black Hawk Down also features and A list cast, with the likes of Eric Bana, Tom Sizemore, Ewan McGregor, Josh Hartnett and William Fichtner, all of which attended a boot camp to ensure the all acted and moved like real soldiers.

The sound in this film is also exceptional, every shot, explosion and ricochet makes you feel a part of the whole experience, and at the end of the day, that's what it's all about.

I'm not going to go on and on about how great this film is, so I'll say one more thing...watch it and be blown away.

Michael is the Mann

This weeks film was Collateral. I've been looking forward to watching this ever since Mike mentioned it, and I have to say its one of my favourite films, OK so I've got a fair few favourites but it's still up there.

First of all I have to say that I love the looks of every Michael Mann film I've seen, there's something about them which gives them style whilst looking different from each other. Miami Vice was another good one which I think used the whole digital camera technique, not to mention Crockett and Tubbs are as cool as a cucumber with shades.


I think that Jamie Foxx played the part of the unlucky and stressed out cab driver well having his freak out moments and doing all he can to escape the situation without success. Tom Cruise also fitted right into the role, showing a cool, calm and collected hit man, who possibly couldn't be any cooler with a gun.

The clash of the very different characters is interesting, Vincent (Tom Cruise) living in the moment and improvising, which is what most of his hits come down to, whilst Max (Jamie Foxx) being a planner, having a schedule, just like with his limo company he is setting up.

The colours used in the film are also worth talking about, with it's acidic colours making L.A. a bleak and seedy looking place.

If you enjoyed this film you really must check out some of Michael Mann's others...

The Kingdom, Miami Vice and Heat