3d Workbench

Another piece I got to work on

2012-01-06T15:13:00.000-08:00

I briefly did a bit of clean up on the character rig for this short. Mostly weights and joint location adjustments, with a few controls added to help the animator. Friend of mine informed me of the project's completion today, so its kinda nice to see the final project complete.

http://vimeo.com/33958876

First glimpses

2011-12-27T18:24:00.000-08:00

Wanted to do some actual animation, so I started this piece. I intend to deal with the lips pointiness after the initial blocking, considering trying to fix the weights on the rig would be like removing a leg in order to massage it. Something or other happened when they ripped it from the game, in that all the weights are so wacked, that should I want to fix them, I'd literally have to start from scratch, which in this case, I really, really don't want to do. Far too many unknown factors in the file and the model. Its bad enough that any adjustment I make, some edges convert themselves to hard and makes everything all jagged. Nay, I say, Nay!

The song is from Batman: Arkham City's end credits, as part of one of Joker's many missed calls. Play the game or watch someone play it. Great story and splendid voice work and animation.

New generalist reel

2011-08-23T15:20:00.000-07:00

Rendered hovel

2011-08-12T18:20:00.000-07:00

Finally finished this thing.

Update 09-03-2011

2011-08-03T16:38:00.001-07:00

Decided to go back to this project again and try to finish it up a bit more. Altered some textures and replaced 2 of them. Added some lights for the glow caps beneath the platform in order to show their own light, as well as increase the visibility of the plants and water. Also stopped using final gather in order to reduce render time. At this point I don't think I'll need it for the scene.

Zombie project

2011-07-22T04:57:00.001-07:00

Reviving some files from the 10th planet project so I can update my reel. Still have the fly by scene to re render, though I'm going to have to add stuff into it for quality sake.

[edit]

Adding the turn table and short animation done for the project

shoulda been posted sooner

2011-07-22T04:09:00.000-07:00

Untitled from Marvimation on Vimeo.

Should've posted this sooner. One of the earlier projects I helped out on. I was responsible for cleaning up the rig for the character, followed by working on the animation from 1:38 to 1:49.

I figure I'll just leave this here

2011-07-19T02:31:00.000-07:00

Worked on this while at Syndrome Studio. Modeled the tv shop, laid out the environment, adjusted some lighting, and animated the geo for the steps in the segment from 1:10 - 1:24.

more fluids testing

2011-05-26T03:38:00.000-07:00

trying this out for a potential client.

Website Assets WIP 12052011

2011-05-12T04:04:00.000-07:00

Current state of the lab. added the generator off to the left. Still needs a glass pane to cover the orange liquid geo. Tall cylinder contains the turbine fan blades (will show later) that help move the liquid. Trying to thing of a way to infuse the blue lighting points into that section, since blue has become an indicator of the various points of interest.

[edit]

low angle with lighting.

10th planet pieces

2011-05-09T15:47:00.000-07:00

So I asked my boss, and he gave me the green light to post what I worked on, so here are a few bits.

anti material rifle

Plasma launcher for aliens.

assault rifle clip load system. This one was a bit more unique, in that it had to be a back loaded clip, so a traditional hammer firing system. So I went with that metal storm system instead. (look it up on youtube and feel the fear.)

Primary ship for the humans.

image plate for the video.

I'll post the working rigs for these and the drop ship later on.

Website Assets WIP

2011-05-02T05:54:00.000-07:00

So then, while I continue to find work, I've decided to rebuild my website. From scratch. So below is what I'm going to use for my UI. Figured I needed some practice in my cg work, going from modeling up to rendering.

So this first piece is just the current layout of all the components built thus far. Not much of anything to look at from this angle. The back wall is going to collapse and pull sideways to reveal a large monitor. Thats going to function as my gallery menu. The massive computer terminal will be the demo reel and video menu.

This is going to be the website HUB. The orange panels will link to the different sections of the site, minus two which link out to this blog and my new blog.

[update 06022011]

This is going to be the first thing that the viewer see's once the site loads. Will add some sort of panel that says enter/proceed. Something fancy like.

This will be the links page, or at least that which leads to my friends. Need to add another panel for my personal links, which will be on that space on the right. Also added that pipe with the blue liquid in the background, because lets face it: what lab doesn't have some volatile substance draining from some hidden location into another tank for all to see? Also going to add some kind of indicator bar just above the link screen, as well as some kind of touch panel interface for the window, since it seems a bit empty there.

Just an overhead of what the floor of the tank looks like.

quick and dirty render of the website sign.

blowing off the layer of dust

2011-04-26T22:07:00.000-07:00

Going to post a bit of what I did here. or rather link to it.

Did the whole of the ships sequences, from modeling up to the final comps, as well as the vid showing a gun being modeled. I'm not particularly thrilled with the final pieces, since I short-cutted so much of the rendering to meet the deadline that had popped up within the week while my machine was handicapped, so I feel I could have done a better job rendering. If the project ever picks up again, I'll reconsider doing those particular sequences with the proper setup, but for now I'm not gonna touch them. Going to work on some personal stuff again, now that I have a new machine and some time. Mainly going to redo my website (make a flash and html version).

Update 03-09-2011

2011-03-09T11:47:00.000-08:00

I know this place has been slow, but can't really render much without a vid card. Hopefully, with my new job, I'll have the funds for it soon, though I may just save up and build a new tower from scratch.

15-01-2011

2011-01-15T18:01:00.000-08:00

added a blackboard, books, a magnifying glass, and a wine bottle. Figured I won't show the walls since they are going to get rebuilt from scratch anyway.

[update] 17-01-2011
Walls added. Redid the glow caps and changed some of the plant life.

9 lights, 9 layers.

Hovel revive

2011-01-11T16:52:00.000-08:00

Decided to dust off this piece from last year and begin updating it. I need to rework a lot of the objects since the geometry is too dense for what the object is. I'll probably add more glow cap mushrooms underneath the floorboards to emphasize the water thats supposed to be there, as well as show the plants that are in there as well. I know I'll add some more objects into the room as well, though I'm not certain what they'll be just yet. maybe some tools or pictures. I also figured out how to get the fluids to act like fire, so the lanterns will have flames in them finally.

[updated w/ new light to brighten dark spot and slightly desaturated the green lanterns in the room.

Building my lair up

2011-01-06T03:15:00.000-08:00

Yeah, so I got on this bit of a tech binge, and wanted to build something involving rotating bits and some kind of plasma. So I decided to make my own variant of a fusion reactor. Hammering away at this slowly to pass some time while I wait for work.

Update circa 12-12-2010

2010-12-13T17:46:00.000-08:00

Not much to report personal project wise today. Been focused on finding more work outside of Marvimation. What I have done can be found on their Facebook page. All of the character animation for Arthur so far is my handy work, though some of it is still rough. This is also the rig I helped clean up and streamline back when I first started. Curiously, in the short time I've been a part of this particular project, I've seen several people appear and disappear from the list of animators. I've yet to determine if this is good or bad.

Update Time

2010-10-29T03:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I haven't shown to many new projects I can claim as mine (the last one being the prowler). So this time around, I'm displaying a club I'm modeling out. And no, its not one of those rave clubs full of flashing neon lights and techno, but more of a small comedy/ performance club. Think of the Ink and Paints club from "Who Framed Roger Rabbit".

Where the spotlight would sit.

From the stage

From the bar area

From the Entrance doors

Another project I did for a friend

2010-10-05T22:21:00.000-07:00

Something I decided to do on a whim. My friend showed me a model he was working on, and I offered to rig it up for him. Being a hexapod, I figured it would be something a bit different, and how right I was.

2010-08-19T02:59:00.000-07:00

The third one in the set. This time, a rear view darting down a tunnel.

Under the Bridge

2010-08-17T18:52:00.001-07:00

The next plate shot for the prowler, this time with more structures involved.

[Update 10/12/2010]

Did some adjustments and changed the scale of the car, since it was too big in comparison to the truck you see in the background. Still needs some fine tuning though

quick test

2010-08-14T09:19:00.001-07:00

A test render with just a beauty pass on it and radial blur on the wheels. I'll put up a complete version later.

[Edit]
Final version

Contains a beauty, diffuse, occlusion, spec, and reflection passes. Compiled in photoshop

08032010

2010-08-03T18:14:00.000-07:00

This took a little over 4 hours to render out. Need to make some adjustments and fix the lights a bit more.

Back to prowling and a bot on the loose

2010-08-03T02:22:00.000-07:00

So the TMR rig is revised, for the most part, and is currently being used by my friend Jessica. I've no idea what shes up to with it, but it aught to be interesting.

Meanwhile, I finally got back to working on the car, mainly fixing the tail lights so that they don't look like bricks.

Looks a bit nice now, and since the cover is twisted, it should make for an interesting caustic effect when its actually rendered. I also adjusted the turn signal so light can be reflected sidways now, since before it was pretty much another chunk of metal. I just need to re UV the accent, since its new geo, and the mr light texture would look all wonky when it turns on.

TMR Update

2010-07-31T02:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I couldn't help myself. I decided to just rebuild the rig it had. Not entirely from scratch, as the joints I left from the first rig were still useful. A lot of the old controls will probably be broken though, since the deformers they used to control aren't there anymore. It's looking good so far though, now that there are a few more extra movement directions for the clamps, and the hierarchy chain doesn't look like a tornado struck. I did leave the aperture in the eye alone though, since it would take way to many joints in that small region to recreate what was already there. Kind of a nice break from the Prowler. I'll either work on that or switch over to the lightsaber again next week.

07272010

2010-07-27T04:32:00.000-07:00

Decided to change things up and retexture the TMR using mental ray and trying out the mr lights. So far I've only used a portal light for overhead. Gonna add the remaining 5 for the display boards, and probably make a new environment for it.

The Hunt

2010-07-17T02:21:00.000-07:00

After some time, the car spot is finally done. Most would be happy, but me being me, I know there is always room to improve. What little animation I had done for this project essentially got cut since there was quite the laundry list of issues with the scene. Oh well, such is life. Anyway, I posted it at my site for now, so go ahead and take a looksy. The original drive off animation can be found here.

Darkness Flows

2010-06-09T01:34:00.000-07:00

Built this a while ago, but decided to finish it a bit, including a working blade adjust, power adjust, and power switch.

It also has color adjustment controls for both the glow and blade colors for added variation.
ex.

I intend to make this a full on dual phase saber, adding another control point so the blade can snap forward at least another foot.

Prowler update 02062010

2010-06-02T05:23:00.001-07:00

Another update to this handsome beast. The headlights got rounded out and a large amount of geo got cleaned again from the wire frame turn around I posted. It still needs a bit of work, and I'm debating on whether or not I should put turn signal lights on the sides and those extra lights some cars have on the lower front bumper.

[Update]
Added close-ups of the head lights and tail end.

[UPDATE #2]

A bit more cleaning and usage of sub-d to ease the rendering a bit. Render layers are just about set, and now the car has rear view mirrors. Unfortunately, for some reason, when rendering a reflection pass of diffuse pass, it reads glass as a negative space and masks it out or leaves it completely black. Pulled out a separate layer to do these, but still wondering about it.

Hey, you guys remember, right?

2010-05-25T17:24:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you do. If you don't, here's a refresher. 2 months ago, I was asked to model a car. The first one was good, but it looked too much like a hatchback, so it was rejected. The second one was too much like a muscle car, so that was rejected. Well, The coop survived, and is up on my site now as the PSX Coop. But what happened to the second car, you ask? Well, I've been tuning it up and doing a bit of body work. Its just about ready, so now I'm going to start posting some better shots off it, starting with a wire frame turn around.

Here's the PSX Prowler

Facial Rig

2010-05-19T01:33:00.000-07:00

Finally got my face rig out. I could have done a lot more, yes, but its mainly showing proof that I can once I know how. A learning experience is definitely what this turned out to be, since now I know how to properly use blend shapes to create facial expressions. I'll probably try the all joint facial rig next once I get the chance.

The facial rig, as well as the cat rig, can be found on my main site now.

07-05-2010

2010-05-07T03:47:00.000-07:00

New shots from PSX commercial.

What I'm going to call the final shot. At least as far as targas go. EXR will be next

06-05-2010

2010-05-06T05:02:00.000-07:00

A test that lead to a confirmation: Use my tower over my laptop for this sort of thing.

What it looked like on the laptop

What it looked like on the tower.

Maser render #?

2010-04-26T23:23:00.000-07:00

Adjusted light, color, and spec.

25-4-2010

2010-04-25T16:14:00.001-07:00

Another update on the render for the car. This time its multiple layers(plate, beauty, occlusion, diffuse, and reflection). I modded the shadow in PS so that its now blue instead of the tan color originally.

[UPDATE]

Now to full res of the project.

Maser Panther render

2010-04-21T02:28:00.000-07:00

basically where the final scene stands for the render

Maserati Panther

2010-04-07T00:33:00.001-07:00

Quick render of the new car. I only fixed a few textures and am in the process of rigging it starting this afternoon when I get on site.

Updated Panther PSX2

2010-03-11T02:48:00.001-08:00

So the car has been modded since last week, mainly consisting of vert tweeks and adding edge loops to key points. These images aren't particularly pretty, but its mainly to show how it compares to the old variant from last week. However, this time I have multiple parts for one area that I'm going to show to the client for approval, or rather my group representatives will.

First are two different grill types. regardless of which one is picked, I'm going to connect the opening to the underside of the car to make it more like it aught to be.

New-ish body shape

a lot has changed profile wise. The car now has a definite flow and a lot of the tension points have been removed, giving us a sleeker looking machine

The three different trunk hoods (this car will have a rear engine in my mind, so these are trunk doors) with slightly altered styles

3 different engine hoods, 2 with vents, and one flat.

and a new headlight system

New car model

2010-03-04T17:26:00.000-08:00

The new car at its current standing

Top

Side

front

3 quarter

The failings of a piece

2010-02-26T22:25:00.000-08:00

So alas, the car is a flop. She won't be used in the project after all, as our client did not like the design. Its a shame really, since the car is pretty much ready to go. Oh well, not much I can do about it now than to bite the bullet and start anew.

and with the headlights on

and the rig.

trying to figure this out

2010-02-21T01:34:00.000-08:00

without the windows

with the windows

Update 2-20-2010

2010-02-20T06:21:00.001-08:00

new glass shader for windows. rough interior pieces set in place. Hood lowered by a good chunk.

Update 2-19-2010

2010-02-19T06:52:00.001-08:00

The Panther PSX Is slowly shaping up nicely. The new car shader is on, which allows for that lovely blue tint on the highlights that are visible. There are new accent lights to replace the old ones, so now they're not as dominant on the car as they were before. Also, the car now has rims and brake rotors, though those need to be re-sized a bit to better fit the car. I also shrank the front end a bit, since I realized that a it would constantly be hitting pavement and asphalt every time it came out of a driveway or hit a dip. I may have to shrink it yet again or bring up the nose/lower lip a bit. We'll see depending on how I feel later on about it.

On a final note, I put it on a black bg as an experiment to see how it would look with just the lights and reflectors instead of reflecting the gray environment.

[UPDATE]

I was told the hood of the car was too high, so I dropped it down some. Below is the comparison to the old front(red) to the new one(green).

Ass end comparisons

2010-02-15T07:56:00.001-08:00

Back end of the Panther PSX, as it was dubbed by a team member. Added a spoiler as sort of an optional thing. Also added a grill like structure and widened the license plate area some, as well as added the exhaust pipes.

project Jag

2010-02-13T20:54:00.000-08:00

Right, so in order to conserve some room on the group site, I'm posting this vid here. This is just a rough idea towards the concept car for the intern project. Didn't enable wire frame, since most likely this thing will change in the following days. Meanwhile, the other piece to the puzzle is still up in the air.

[Update]
Slightly more modifications to the body, plus a car paint shader test and the wire frame

Update 3: near done with the back. Took some concepts from a fellow team member and implemented them into the design. Theres actually another set of brake lights just below the back lip of the car, but they aren't really visible yet because of the lighting I used. You can kind of see the light housing peaking out underneath.

Update 2-2-2010

2010-02-02T23:40:00.001-08:00

Ended up changing the table after all and replaced the legs on the chair. Took off the cave walls to better display the actual stuff in the room.

minor update 1-30-2010

2010-01-30T19:18:00.001-08:00

Slightly tweaked final gather settings, moved a lantern to the right, added a workbench and swivel chair, and tweaked a few UVs here and there.

Update 1-22-2010

2010-01-22T03:48:00.000-08:00

Slightly modified table, adjusted UVs, new wood texture, increased reflection/refraction levels, adjusted the bottles' incandescence and ambient levels, and added a new dresser piece. UVs and texture on that are temporary. May add a light source at the base of the table or make a new table all together.

Update 1-12-2010

2010-01-13T02:57:00.001-08:00

So, uh, yeah. It kinda grew into a larger scene after all. Not having any word on the actual intern project pretty much spawned this. Some of the textures need tweaking and the lighting needs fixing, not to mention the damn place is so freaking empty, its just plain not done. At least the main supports are done. Suggestions?

And a closeup of the modded textures/lights on the jars. They need more tweaking as well, probably the damn incandescence this time, but I'll get it somehow.

Got bored

2010-01-08T06:13:00.000-08:00

So I decided to do something about it. Whether or not something comes of it is to be determined. This still isn't really done, since I want to add some words or some other kind of details to the jars, but I don't know yet. And yes, I won't render in complete black next time. Maybe.

I'll probably add some lanterns above to cast some light overhead. Maybe a warm violet or a cool green.

The render so far

2009-12-08T03:11:00.000-08:00

This is just the occlusion, color, specular, and reflective passes. shadow pass was pretty badly messed up for some reason, so I'll need to try a different method than originally taught.

[update]

I got the new shadow pass on it. Tried to do a glow pass, but something about the background shader refuses to work properly. That'll be fixed shortly. Thankfully shot 1 is almost done. Unfortunately, its the shortest one, so it'll be some time before this thing gets done completely. Crud.

With the glow

The Baretta 92FS

2009-12-07T06:23:00.001-08:00

Started on the first model for the game I'm working on. So far this thing is just over 530 polys. still needs several things.

[update]

Added hammer and trigger. Did some minor cleanup and smoothing out. May end up taking out geometry to let the engine render it more easily, since its at 714 right now, and the game is supposed to be 3rd person.

Slide, hammer, and trigger now have a limit to their movement. This'll get rigged in 3ds max once its unwrapped and the normals are set up.

The full compilation

2009-12-02T01:15:00.000-08:00

I finally got the whole thing running relatively well, and somehow the muzzle flash looks better than it did before thanks to the recoil animation. All thats left for this thing is to do a few render tests and then a full on render.

Particle Cannon fly through

2009-11-30T22:14:00.000-08:00

Just giving a quick camera move through the complex.

I'll do an occlusion pass of this event, if it doesn't turn out too dark, and then post a demonstration video on what portions of the scene do what.

singularity

2009-11-26T00:38:00.001-08:00

What happens when an object moving near the speed of light hits a stationary object in normal space? Something like this perhaps, though highly improbably. Still looks cool though.

Lock n' Load

2009-11-18T03:20:00.000-08:00

A bit of camera work now on the loading sequence. I'm pretty ready to start rendering, though I need t separate a few things into their own layers, such as the fluid effects, but everything is primed. Might have to do a bit of texture work on the target as well.

So close I can taste it

2009-11-13T05:16:00.000-08:00

I've nearly got the feel I want now. Just need to speed it up a bit and extend the container a bit, and possibly modify the dissipation and temp, but its nearly good to go. Once thats done, I can fix the other two containers so as it doesn't chew up RAM while rendering.

muzzle flash rough

2009-11-07T06:29:00.000-08:00

This is semi close to what I'm shooting for, but the problem is getting consistency out of this thing. It never looks the same twice, and so far this is the best one. Much more tweaking is needed. The dust kick up isn't fairing much better either, but for now the flash will be the only one viewable.

[UPDATE]

I've got a semi-consistent flash going. Not quite escaping the barrel like the previous one, but emitting enough so it is just visible.

one step forward, 2 steps back

2009-10-31T03:39:00.000-07:00

Well, I've gone and wrecked another fluid container, so back to square one with the muzzle flash. Least I'm learning, though not as fast as I would've liked.

loading sequence

2009-10-30T23:06:00.000-07:00

Blah, I hate working with fluids. So finicky, but useful. I won't lose to you, FLUIDS!

Anyway, I at least got the gun animations itself pretty much set. There may be tweaks later on to add to the effect, possibly some braces failing and some upward recoil as a result of the momentum generated. I do have the fans going though, though at the rate their spinning, they'd hardly be noticeable, even with motion blur. As per the target the gun is aiming at, I may just create a destructible wall and duplicate it several dozen times in post to show the force of the shot. Maybe even have some other things destroyed on the outside of the building as well. Maybe even create a black hole event as a result of the speed through which the slug is traveling, (since in theory a rail gun is supposed to fire its projectile at the speed of light) where in the target object almost collapses in on the impact point, but explodes none the less.

confound technology

2009-10-16T15:56:00.000-07:00

Started working on the firing sequence, and my first order was to get the barrel to look overheated. Well, after a huge amount of trial and error, this is the result. I even have it rigged so that the level of the color can change with the use of a slider. Thank you set driven key.

Head sculpt

2009-10-11T23:31:00.001-07:00

So far its just the sculpt and the skin tones. Gotta model out the hair and attempt to rig it a different way, since the blend shape setup isn't working as it should. Model is based off my friend's face.

[Update]

placed a Lambert shader on top to give a better highlight on the warm and cool tones of the skin.

The MK-I has been confirmed

2009-10-09T07:12:00.001-07:00

I've finally put up the MK-I onto the site. It may be incomplete, but where it stands now does merit some form of display. I won't add textures for some time, and it will probably only be an occlusion pass from now on.

Check the main site to view it.

TMR 30D lighting update

2009-08-27T05:09:00.001-07:00

adjusted the lighting on here as well.

MKII updated lighting

2009-08-24T22:39:00.001-07:00

New lighting setup to bring out the gun's form.

New lighting setup

2009-08-24T04:51:00.001-07:00

Update: fixed the render issues using an increased filter. Also adjusted lighting again.

Based using studio lighting setup. Also added some textures to the armor bits. Not sure on the helm colors yet though.

LEDs on the endosuit

2009-08-19T21:34:00.001-07:00

Did a texture for the endo suit, which now includes some incandescent points of lights. More shots later.

The endo suit

2009-08-19T03:59:00.000-07:00

after a bit of trial and error in z brush, I managed to create the endo suit's detailed plating system, though they're probably be a flexible polymer. The details were projected using maya however, as z-brush would keep offseting the normals for some reason I probably missed. Oh well, I got what I needed and will continue with refinement work.

The Spartan Wireframe

2009-08-18T00:26:00.000-07:00

this is roughly what I'm working with. The dense patches are where the slashes and dents are located

Robot render

2009-07-30T03:47:00.001-07:00

Figured that he was the only thing not shown on this blog yet, so why not give him a nice render

render style idea

2009-07-19T05:08:00.000-07:00

So I've an idea of what I'd like to do for my reel, as in having the models in vector ray exploded in the background to show the parts and such, while a better render sits up close for details and textures. The vector rays will sit along side the concepts for their respective models.

Its very reminiscent of how Iron Man's credits were done, which is what I wanted to try to replicate.

Status update

2009-07-13T16:46:00.000-07:00

Chest plates are pretty much done. I may add some lights to certain portions later on, but its up for debate.

Another update

2009-07-10T01:32:00.000-07:00

After a bit of thought and some quick sketching, I figured out the mechanics for the sword canister unit on the thigh guard. Its innitially similar to The legging panels, but the sword place holder is similar to that of a cassette tape player. I did another variant of the sword handle, in that it extends at the head and base to allow for the knuckle guard emitters, while the stabilizer blade extends from the head. I've no definite design for the blade yet, but I may just go with a strait blade or the 4th design for simplicity sake.

[Edit] Fixed the plates and inner armor. no visible collisions now. Might leave sword mechanics out to save time.

More designs

2009-06-30T16:59:00.000-07:00

had these sitting on the website, so now I'm putting them here. Gotta work out the mechanics of the sword dispersal unit, but that won't take long.

Thigh guards

chest plates

arm guards

Helmet design

2009-06-19T18:04:00.000-07:00

Finally got a design I like. Felt that the top of the helm piece on the original concept was odd.

Boot panels test

2009-06-18T23:57:00.000-07:00

So the boot panels are rigged, as well as the securing talons on the base, so here's a quick vid of them working.

progress

2009-06-14T06:12:00.001-07:00

Boot plating and booster ports modeled out(not visible). Mechanics will be modeled and installed after armlets are modeled

Spartan shin and arm guards

2009-06-06T15:35:00.000-07:00

The first iteration of the leg armor. Asked around and was decided that the feet were the strongest.

Second iteration of the leggings. Started with a multi-panel sliding system, but swapped for a more streamlined look. Settled on that and began arm guard work.

Several variants on the arm guard, originally having the shield(see earlier post on shield design) under the armor, but was told to just keep it outside. Used style of leg guards for arm guard design, resulting in the finalized version circled.

2/3 done

2009-06-03T01:53:00.000-07:00

With the video portion of the 3d animation "Trash Me" complete, it mean's I've 2 pieces of my reel done. Now to get crackin' on the Spartan and compile it all.

And so I have a render

2009-05-29T03:13:00.000-07:00

So I've got a complete render of The Chimera finally, which means I've a third of my reel completed. I may have an occlusion pass separated later on, but I'm not certain of that yet. This just leaves the Robot to be rendered(which I'll probably grab from the animation its involved in) and the spartan to be completed. Now if only it were so easy.

completion

2009-05-19T03:24:00.001-07:00

And so the Chimera is finished. I'll play around with the render layers at another time, but here is the piece, Final gather enabled beauty pass.

Dragon Head

2009-05-16T19:33:00.000-07:00

Honestly, this piece has nothing to do with any of my other projects. It just happened.

Design updates

2009-05-15T20:01:00.001-07:00

So I've been playing with the sword storage system, and I'm leaning more towards a wrist holster on the right arm.

Meanwhile, I've thought up of another upper body armor design with a shield mount on the left arm. Still uncertain about it.

Spartan shield

2009-05-15T15:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I did a quick version on the shield, and I kinda dig it, but I want to get the energy portion textured properly before I'm satisfied. Obviously, the energy rail's unfolding design got swapped for an extension design, since the unfolding wouldn't hide properly without showing up on the other side of the arm. I've still to develop a connection unit to link it to the left for arm guard, but it'll come to me as I work on this.

Spartan pose

2009-05-12T00:26:00.000-07:00

I think I'm getting a better idea for him, but the armor is still a bit hazy. at least the shield is coming together in my mind.

more updates

2009-05-11T06:19:00.000-07:00

Textures are near done on the gun. added the battery case and battery cells to the list, and adjusted the main body colors. added texture to cables, though not set on their color just yet.

Updated textures

2009-05-07T23:38:00.001-07:00

So this is where things stand now. I still need a proper color for the barrel and battery casing, as well as unwrap the battery, but beyond that its just spacular and normal mapping and it'll be complete.

possible new project

2009-04-29T01:16:00.001-07:00

So I've had a bit of an "aHa" moment and have decided that one of my next projects will be a modernized spartan warrior. Its still a fledgling idea, but I have an idea for the shield that really floats my boat, and the idea for the sword isn't too far from what I'd like. As for the spear, well it needs work. I like the idea that it folds up, it still lacks that pizazz that I'm looking for. Time for more research on collapsible weapons.

Chimera Render

2009-04-25T04:39:00.000-07:00

Still not completely textured, but Things are moving along none the less.

This is primarily just a display of its form and new tripod.

From this angle, the binoculars show just how big this mother hubbard is.

Overhead view to show some of the connection points and the slide area

SPRG MKII: code named Chimera, construct complete

2009-04-24T03:45:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I've just finished modeling the Chimera, and am now on to unwrapping and texturing. However, that will need to wait until after at least two other projects have been built. I'll have a render of the model up, which includes the gun and a crate with a few rounds of ammo on top. I'll be building a small radio shortly, but overall the piece is pretty much done.

2009-04-15T23:24:00.000-07:00

Permanent location of the clip. Number of rounds per clip is 7. A rather bizarre idea for jettisoning the spent clip is to have it launched off of its guide rail using electromagnetic propulsion(like that of the main gun). However, because of the size of the clip and the fact that the primary function of the gun is meant to fire the slugs, the range would be very short, though potentially useful should the weapon's wielder need a small path of enemies cleared.

Thank You

2009-04-15T00:57:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my friends Teddy and D. Johnson, I now have a notably better idea for the ammo clip situation. Instead of going with a standard clip or banana clip, I'm gonna use a clip design similar to that of the P90, where the rounds are held sideways until loaded into the firing chamber. This should keep the flow of the gun nice and smooth as well, which was my main concern with the other clip variants. Also, its a notably cooler design idea for a clip.

updated design

2009-04-13T23:40:00.000-07:00

Added a new latch on the drive gear, seams to the drive gear to indicate separation, vent onto drive gear, replaced the battery containment unit for a better design, shifted the tripod arm support forward for better balance, added ammo cache release latch and temporary ammo clip placement holder. May change later on to improve design. battery needs to be further modeled. Will display once its at a better stage. Still need coolant container cap and revised tripod. May drop down the height to at least 2ft.

After really looking at the design, I'm gonna drop the drum clip and instead go for a standard box clip with a slight bend. It'll hold fewer rounds, but it will keep the form of the gun better.

brain storm

2009-04-13T19:01:00.000-07:00

So upon looking at the gun again, I realized that I could give it two types of shells to use for ammo. A solid howitzer round, and a shotgun-esque shell with multiple smaller bullets. For the shotgun shells, I'll probably use the metal storm tech idea that the Australians have developed, implementing a firing delay for the last round as the rest of the shell casing holding the explosive rounds goes out with it as a regular metallic slug.

Battery cell concepts

2009-04-13T02:48:00.000-07:00

This battery is for the new battery cell container, as the last one had some geometry issues

Current renders of MKII as of 4/7/09

2009-04-13T00:49:00.000-07:00

Current faces: 33507
current tris: 66272

Parts left to model:
loading mechanism, ammo box, battery unit

Parts needing to be redone/cleaned:
main body, tri pod legs, tripod arm, coolant storage unit

reference pieces for SPRG MKII

2009-04-13T00:48:00.000-07:00

Artists Renditions

original concepts for SPRG MKII

2009-04-13T00:47:00.000-07:00

Purpose

2009-04-12T22:52:00.000-07:00

This is meant for my 3d models, as well as their concepts, I create that I build for myself or am allowed to display by employers, once that option arises. Critiques of my work are encouraged, and suggestions are welcome.