Skinning and Blend Shape'n

Hi all,
Haven't updated in a while so here's whats happening...
Got approval this week to move on to skinning abea - Finally!, really happy with how its going so far and should have it done by Monday ready for animating.
It also occurred to me as of 5 minutes ago that I forgot to put in the blend shapes for the head

*ssshhIIITTTT!*

so I'm frantically putting them in as I type this.

On a general note... Gamebryo is killing me... seriously! I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack every time I go to export to it... everything is working... for now... but you never know then it going to come back at you and kick you right in the balls... (by my count... about 4 times already)

Abea madness!

Hi all,

Haven't updated in a while so here's whats been happening at my end...
We're in our 4th or 5th week of production for Chameleon Circuit and I've been given the role of animator for the game (FTW!) I've also been modeling our main character 'Abea'.
I've made progress over the last couple of weeks, after modeling and remodeling, and I think I've finally got something that's close to the final, but I swear if I have to redo the feet one more time I'm going to kill someone! ......5 times already! arrrgh

other than that, alls good

You know your an animator when...

Hi all,

By now most people that I know should know that I love animating!...........if you didn't.... well..... You do now!

anyways just found this whilst randomizing my life and thought I'd to post it here.... Enjoy!

1. You find yourself walking outside and looking at the clouds and saying "aww....I could do better than that!"

2. The sight of the sun coming up (as you're leaving work) frankly disgusts you!

3. You have more toys than the average toy store.

4. When you have to remind yourself to Blink.

5. The first thought you have after you spill a carton
of milk on the floor is to hit the undo key.

6. You actually consider buying that caffinated soap.

7. You're walking down the street, imitating someones walk,
putting your own spin on it, not realizing there are people walking behind you watching..

8. You realize you've been listening to the same CD continuously for 6 hours.

9. Your hand looks like a crooked tree branch.

10. You've been scrubbing dialoge all day and when you take a break to get
something to eat, people talk to you like this, "wh the yoor we mittle bla.. wheershaw"

11. You take a lunch break, and you're 80 years old .

12. Your friends and family refuse to watch movies with you.

13. When you're in a conversation with someone and you're
analyzing their hand gestures and body language
rather than listening to what they're saying.

14. You can't turn on the lights without a gross
exaggeration of anticipation of your finger on the switch.

15. You do noises (WB style, etc.) when doing various actions.

16. You defend your favorite animation prog. as if it were a religion.

17. You know how to double bounce walk.

18. Boomerang companies are constantly calling you, asking if you could
come in so they could use your back as a mold for their new design.

19. 50,000 started but unfinished projects reside on your hard drive.

20. You are one of the two people that stay after movies to watch all of the credits.

21. If you've ever watched somone's hair move and thought how unrealistic it looks.

22. If your food isn't micro waved, your body goes into shock.

23. You actually find polka amusing. you can imagine a character dancing to it.

24. You say "ITS REFERENCE!!! OK>?!" when you act silly in public...when
In actuality you haven’t seen the light of day in three days and need to wiggle it all out.

25. You buy an electric blanket and a coffee platter that is plugged into the wall
near your computer so you don't have to leave....

26. You don’t answer your phone.

27. You have a mirror bigger than your car.

28. You sold your car for a computer.

29. You find clothes and food excessive spending, yet will drop
a couple hundred for a light table....and a cool mouse that massages your hand.

30. You sing your own version of the "Thong song....."
....your version being: "Phong, PHA-PHong,,, phong, phong...."

31. You own hundreds of sketchbooks for just ideas and scribbles.

32. You watch a DVD and watch it frame by frame.

33. You act out what you have to say to people...
rather than finding the right words.

34. Your family and friends assume you died.

35. You constantly try to use the hotbox to arrange your activities for the day.

36. Your parents laugh at you when you tell them that you make
cartoons until they find out you make more money than them.

Internships!

Hi all,

I've been thinking for the last few days about the up and coming internships for Tantalus, Infinite Interactive, Krome, E.A and so on.
I DESPERATELY WANT A JOB! at any of these studios and I feel as if I've just been hit with a wave of panic!
Oh my god! my work in 3D as it stands right now is a bit small, I mean I have a few good pieces and all, but I can only hope that they are at least close to the standard that these studios are looking for.
I'm planning to put in my short film from 2007, along with a few drawings as well as the character from last year (like the body, hate the face, if I could change it with the face I'm using for my current character then it would be awesome, but oh well) also the character that I'm currently working on will definitely go in... I'd love to put the six animations for it as well, but their just not finished!

anyway, I'm off to drink some coffee and V to calm down to a more stable level...

Catch you later.

Assassin's Creed Rant

Hey Guys,

Just got around to finishing Assassin's Creed and I'm sitting here watching the credits roll and that little voice goes of in my head...................................... "Kill Ubisoft!"

So whilst I load my shotgun and prepare for the carnage that is to follow, I'll just fill you in on my thoughts about the game...

(Deep inhale...)

WHAT THE HELL MAN!!!!
Seriously like oh my fucking god! How the hell can they even think that's a good way to end a game, no explanation no nothing! I won't spoil it for those of you who haven't played it... I'll let the game disappoint you. Here I am thinking I'm about to make sense of the storyline and THWACK! like a baseball bat to the head, GAME OVER MAN, GAME OVER! and I'm left sitting there looking like I'm pants on head retarded.

Other than the way it all ended, Assassin's Creed is pure awesomeness in a can, with sprinkles and fried chicken...

Another Update

Hi again,

Yet another update for my character



Let me know what you think, cause I'm having trouble deciding

Character Update

Hey guys,

Just updating my designs for this character... nothing is really set in stone at the moment, I just want to get these out there.

Concepts for the Second Project

Hello, Good-day, Good-evening, whatever,

Throughout the weekend I've been making progress on the 1st stage of development for the 2nd assignment. For the people that don't know, I've chosen to do a modern day bounty hunter, one that's gritty, grungy and in your face.

I know some people have been wanting to see what I've done so far, it took my AGES! to get off the mark with this one, which I'm not too happy about... but anyway there getting done now and that's all that matters.

I've finally got around to posting them here for your viewing pleasure... Enjoy!


Ok here's my first one... I've tried to do something more realistic this time other than my cartoony, or anime style. I'm just over it! Seriously! It's not that I don't love the style, and its been very effective, but I think its time for a change.

Well, now that that's all off my chest (*Big sigh*) back to the drawing. I originally wanted to have my character with long hair, but I'd end up having to put bones in it to get it to react when modeling comes around, so yea, I've been lazy and just gone with a short hairstyle.

Also I know this drawing doesn't line up correctly, I'll have to fix that... but I'm not to worried anyway cause I plan to use photo reference when modeling and just using the drawing as a guide.

I decided to alter the face with this drawing, I've gone back and made sure everything lines up, pain in the ass if you ask me, but it had to be done! also the hair has been simplified. I think I'll run with this, but its still a work in progress at the moment, got to add highlights and such, but tomorrow's another day...

Ok, action pose number one, presented to you in all its glory! la-di-da!
OMG this took me forever! I am so shit with proportions! done and redone, but I've got something that I finally like.
The two drawings are meant to go together as layers of clothing, layer 1 skintight leather , belts holsters and pouches, I'd love to add more, but I've got a poly/tri count to think about. 2nd layer is a long overcoat. Together I think these will be awesome, but I still don't feel like it looks very 'modern day', that's goes for my head drawings as well but I've still got to add in extra detail like tattoos , ripped clothing makeup ect, so I'll see how I go.

Lastly I have a third idea in the works involving camo, dog-tags and army boots. I'll keep you posted!

Catch you later.

Mortals... Tremble in Fear!

The Great Archives determine you to have gone by the identity:
Jack Pope

Known in some parts of the world as:
Seducer of The Flesh

The Great Archives Record:
A sensual one who knows the flesh - and knows the blood.

Oh the Humanity!

Hey Guys,

Finally got around to updating this thing...
First off I feel a scene of relief and euphoria surrounding my entire being since completing the first assignment. I'm so happy its done! I hate my interior though, but seriously Maya has been testing my patients at everything I have tried to do, (I'm sure you'll all agree) but I have still managed to learn a great deal from this experience so its not all bad.

Looking forward to the next assignment, whatever that is...

I'm off to do some personal projects

catch you later

More Maya Tips

Hi Guys,

I have a few more tips for using Maya if anyone is interested..

First is for repositioning your axis for objects in Maya - whenever you create a new object the axis for that object begins at 0,0,0 at the center of the grid. Sometimes the grid is nowhere near you newly created object, so to reposition, you can either hold down 'D' whilst using move tool, or you can press 'Zero' on your keyboard number-pad (just remember to keep 'num lock' off)

Second is repeating a previous function eg. extruding polys. In Max you could simply hold down shift and continue extruding, but Maya doesn't allow this. I originally thought I'd have to keep going back and forth selecting the extrude modifier and extruding, but by first selecting your modifier, performing the action and pressing 'G' this will allow you to continue your previous action (I know its an extra step, but at least it saves time looking though menus)

Maya Tips

Hi Guys,
Just been playing around with Maya for a bit and thought that you might like to know how to freeze your image planes when setting up for modeling. cause it been taking me FOREVER! how to figure out to freeze and still keep your planes visible. This will spare you the trouble
In Max this was easy, just go to preferences can uncheck 'show frozen in grey' ...
In Maya theres an extra step (like with everything you try to do in Maya! arrrgghhh!)
1st- select your plane and ctrl+A to bring up the attributes editor
2nd-Objects Display and then Ghosting Information and tick 'ghosting'
3rd- finally, hold RMB over your plane and select from the menu 'actions- template

This should get you image plane frozen in place and ready for modeling

Catch you layer!

Maya 2008

Hi Guys...

Heres whats been happening in my life... Knowing that we were going to change 3D programs before the end of 2007, changing to Maya 2008, I thought I'd get it early... like the beginning of the holiday break early... not wanting to spend $2000 and over to get it I downloaded it from a torrent website. TOOK FOREVER by the way (shit internet BAH HUMBUG!)
Anyways... I started to install the the thing and everything was good up until the point where I had to use a particular file to get it working..................................... It didn't.
So I thought my download was a dud... and continued throughout the holidays to find one that worked.

Well, right now its Sunday and we're all back at AIE in a few short hours (Awesomeness!)
I've just tried just for the hell of it the first Maya 2008 file I downloaded and surprise fucking surprise............it worked. turns out one file was corrupted and had to download another to get it working.

Pretty happy with myself at the moment................ just got out of using 2 Grand!
But what's really got my pissed is I wanted to practice with Maya all holidays and I feel like I've wasted all this time! ARRRRRRGGGHHH!

'The Heist' finally on Youtube

Hi all..

Hope everyone had an excellent new year.

Haven't updated in quite some time , so I thought I'd let you know that I finally got around to putting my end of year animation-The Heist- on you-tube for your viewing pleasure.
Still a bit pissed from what happened at The Loop, but I'm sure theres a silver lining somewhere to be found.

Oh well... the link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI6y5BPLkvM
Enjoy!