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Archive for the ‘3D Art’ Category
Monday, June 25th, 2007
Ian Strandberg and I are working on a Half-Life 2 mod that will be used as game footage in an upcoming film by Devi Snively called “Death in Charge.” We’re creating a genuine mod that will be played and captured to be used in the film. The game itself is called “Blood Splattered Corpse Orgy,” and will be set in a bright, cheery upper middle class suburban home. Then the player kills some zombies, and all sorts of parts fly hither and thither.
 Ian has mapped out the basic layout of the level already, and has some appropriate custom textures in place, and I will be doing most of the furniture-building in my role as “environmental artist.” For my first task, I’m building a coffee table (referene pictured). I’m starting tonight in 3ds Max and Photoshop, and hopefully will have something either later tonight or in the morning to show, if not a final product to insert into the game.
If you want info on the *real* coffee table, visit Stoneline Designs.
Posted in Level Design, Half-Life 2, Game Design, Game Art, Art, 3D Art | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 29th, 2007
 While I worked with zBrush briefly while working on The Dork of the Rings, I never gave it a real chance as a sculpting tool until I started hearing good things about it from my pal Ian. He picked up a license, so I decided to try it out.
The first thing I tried was a rough, horned humanoid. I started tugging on geometry, using different alphas for brushes, and got that result. I wasn’t working with any reference materials, as I was mainly “sketching” in 3D, which is next to impossible in a more technical 3D program, such as 3ds Max or Maya.
I tried out a few of the newer stuff (at least new to me, if not new) such as painting masks to get the final results.
With my next “sketch,” Jigglypuff, a Pokemon character, I wanted to be true to the design and work from reference. This, like the other, is unfinished, and I hadn’t even figured out how to turn symmetry off when I made this render! A newer version actually has a proper puff.
Posted in Art, 3D Art | No Comments »
Friday, May 4th, 2007
For the creation of the Bank Boom piggy bank model in “The Dork of the Rings,” I wanted to document some of the process as I went along. Unfortunately, a major step (zBrush editing) is missing from the screenshots, but I can talk over that when I come to it!
This was definitely a learning process, and I can say pretty assuredly that I would not use this process exactly again. Much of the fine manipulation to sculpt the surface of the bank would have been done in zBrush, rather than the finishing touches for just the geometry that I did here. I would’ve also started with a more refined concept piece that featured front and side views for reference in modeling.
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Concept Sketch
Bank Boom was a location oft referred to in the script but rarely seen. The only time the audience ever really saw the bank in the script was when the heroes were in it. Late in production, I approached the director, Tim Richardson, about creating a shot for the opening narration based on the small piggy bank that’s on the map of Muddle-Earth.During a working art meeting, I sat down with my notebook. After one or two iterations, I had the basic visual concept down for Bank Boom within the hour. |
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Blocking Out the Surfaces
At this stage, I’m working in 3ds Max, creating primitives (such as cylinders and planes) to block out the major features of the surface. Much like you have to put up the frame of the house before you start putting up the walls, major shapes are put into place, and then edited, smoothed, refined, and further moved and tweaked. |
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The Shell
I’ve got a shell of what will become the bank. All the surfaces are (nearly) connected, though in this shot the legs haven’t been attached, and it’s smoothed out a bit and ready for surface manipulation to turn a bowling pin with legs into a pig. |
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High-Resolution Surface Modeling
Here I’ve got not only the major surfaces together, but it’s also smoothed, subdivided, and features like the ears and nose have been pulled out. I used one of 3ds Max’s features called “Paint Deformation” to push and pull surfaces using a graphics tablet stylus. This feature is like tugging at or pushing in pixelated clay. |
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Accessories
I’ve started to model some of the accessories, such as the hat, monocle, and eyes. They’re close to finished products at this point. I’ve also began to toy with and use experimental lighting. |
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Puffy - Whoa, What Happened?
Yeah, this is the spot where I’m missing some screenshots! I did not take any screen captures while working in Pixologic’s zBrush. This program is quite a different paradigm than any other piece of software out there. It’s not quite a 3d editing program, but it’s not quite a 2d program, either. It’s a bit of both.
I imported the pig object into zBrush, and used it’s amazing, sculpting-like 3d manipulation tools to puff out the flattened ears, pull down some jowls, and basically give the face and body much more character than it had before.At this point, once I had the geometry set, I began working on the surface texture in Photoshop. |
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Fitting it Onto the Scene
Working simultaneously on the Bank and Mauron’s Tower (seen in the far distance in the perspective view of the screenshot), I began addign environmental objects, such as the road, parking lot, and billboard, to sell this as a large object in a desolate plain, and have it fit in with the background plate provided by the digital matte painter Nate Ferrone.
I created the lighting and objects well enough to sit it in the scene, but for added flair, I turned over the 3d layer to Nate to paint over.He provided me with a differences plate that I could overlay in the final animation render. By hand-painting (using Photoshop) detailed highlights and shadows, he simplified what could have taken weeks extra in lighting setups in 3ds Max.By the way, everyone in Lardor drives white 1996 Ford Escorts. |
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More Details
This render was taken to get more details in the face and show a closer angle. The background has not been altered, so the framing is a little odd. This was only meant to show some of the detail in texturing, including the text on the billboard, not at all legible in the final product! |
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Elements
The screenshot here is the background plate with the elements popping in and out. Click on the thumbnail to see the animation. |
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The Final Shot
Click on the thumbnail to see the final shot hosted by Google Video.
Software used: 3ds Max, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premier, Adobe After Effects
This shot, for “The Dork of the Rings,” is used when Frudo Buggins puts on the ring, and encounters the security camera of Lord Mauron.
This is the final version found in the movie with music, sounds, and the actor composited in.
Mauron’s Tower model was originally created by art coordinator Ian Strandberg, which I modified, textured, animated, rendered. |
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Other Lardor Shot
Software used: 3ds Max, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Premier, Adobe After Effects
This shot, for “The Dork of the Rings,” is used when Frudo Buggins puts on the ring, and encounters the security camera of Lord Mauron.
This is the final version found in the movie with music, sounds, and the actor composited in.
Mauron’s Tower model was originally created by art coordinator Ian Strandberg, which I modified, textured, animated, rendered. |
Posted in Animation, Film & Video, Art, 3D Art | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007
Posted in Animation, Film & Video, Art, 3D Art | No Comments »
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Ian has mapped out the basic layout of the level already, and has some appropriate custom textures in place, and I will be doing most of the furniture-building in my role as “environmental artist.” For my first task, I’m building a coffee table (referene pictured). I’m starting tonight in 3ds Max and Photoshop, and hopefully will have something either later tonight or in the morning to show, if not a final product to insert into the game.
