Bird Number One WIP 2

Due to the complexity of this model, I am using a hybrid approach here - Generating geometry from curves, edges, positive thinking.. Hey - I'm not picky. For now, I am concentrating on getting the basic structure sorted out.

Maya 2008's smooth preview is very helpful - and the features Barry mentioned in his last post are some of the main reasons I decided to bite the bullet and install it a home.

(That and the fact I have been using it at work since its release.)


As you can see things are not really far along just yet, as I am having to flesh out some aspects of the design as I go .


Because this guy is mechanical, as opposed to organic - I have to make sure all of these bits and bobbles will move correctly once assembled. That means a lot of minor adjustments as I rough in these pieces in a way which serves the design while allowing me to get the performance I need in the end. The frames here have the poly smooth preview on them for clarity - but the mesh I am actually working on can be seen in frame 1.

Also, I feel like the original concept bird is a little too friendly, so I may be tweaking the overall proportions some as I go.


Death from above!!!

Maya Tip of the Day #4

The subtitle for this post is, "Getting To Know Maya 2008."

I'd planned on being cautious about moving into Maya 2008 on this project. It started, back in the "way-before time" on Maya 8. We were wishy-washy about moving onto 8.5, so wishy-washy in fact that Maya 2008 was out and about by the time we upgraded to 8.5.

Well, lo and behold, I look at James' latest post and, "what the hell!?!" Holmes is rocking the bird in fully up-to-date '08 style. Thusly, I'm happy to present the following post.

Unlike James, who's actually working in the program, I've only opened it a few times and clicked around on some of the "What's New" links. Two things that are new, that've drawn my eye, are the Poly Smooth and the "X-Ray Active Components" shading option.

I've not yet spent much time with the new Poly Smooth but it may be usable enough to replace the Connect Poly Shape scripts that I've come to know and love. Well, maybe not entirely replace them as they do lot beyond simply creating a smoothed proxy but it looks like a nice little addition to the toolset. I look forward to putting them to a more extensive test. The ability to quickly toggle the low-poly cage on-and-off, and to manipulate either it or the higher-poly model is great.


As to the new X-Ray shading option, I think it works for me.

When I'm modeling, I spend a lot of time jumping from X-Ray to regular flat shading. I'm always having to check if I've selected an extra face here or a stray point there. The gesture to toggle X-Ray shading via a marking menu is pretty damn ingrained in my workflow at this point. But this new shading option, which doesn't X-Ray the entire shape or scene but only the selected components, it's pretty clean. One of the tenets of creating usable interfaces is, "only show the things that are important At This Moment." The old X-Ray option, when you were trying to check your selection, showed more than you needed to see. It showed you what you didn't want selected as well as what you did want. Too much information.

Having said all that, I don't think I'll take the old X-Ray out of my toolbox entirely. This new option won't do anything for you if you're trying to add to your selection. In that instance, X-Ray is just what you need.

Okay, I've gone on long enough on very small subjects, but stay tuned for further "Getting To Know 2008" posts in the near, or far, future.

Cheers.

Bird Number One WIP 1

Nothing too exciting here, since I am at the first stages of modeling this guy. One thing of note is that I don't have an orthographic side view, so when I sliced and diced the original concept art to create the image planes (see screen grab) I created one from the perspective view. These image planes are hooked to 3 ortho cameras within the scene and on separate display layers, so that they can be easily toggled. Also, I am not really counting on these image planes to be 100% accurate (to scale, etc.) - Since some minor elements may be changed as I go anyway. The perspective one is something to look at while I figure out the best way to tackle this model.

Bird Number One Concept Art

Here is the concept art for bird creature #1, provided graciously by Nigel Sussman. Stay tuned as this progresses into out first completed character.

Holiday Slowdown

No updates lately...but that's what happens sometimes.

So what's the news, both good and bad? Well, the work project that felt like a mini Bataan Death March is in a much better place now. It didn't air on the 26th as it was originally meant to but I think the pressure from Discovery has lessened a bit and we should be able to finish it working only "normal" hours. When this sucker does finally hit the teevee, I'll post an update.

Holidays were great with two sets of folks in town. One set's still here but all the hoopla's died down enough that I've been able to start laying out UV's on the first building. w00t!

With Borders gift card in hand, I went book shopping the other day. I had a long list of books I wanted, but on a whim decided to check the computer section for a book on mental ray. I didn't really want a book on mental ray but I knew that I needed to learn more about it. I only know what half (a third?, quarter?) of the mental ray shaders do and I'm far from being able to optimize renders in any way. Well, I found a damn mental ray book and forced myself to buy it.

mental ray, an artist's guide to rendering is one hell of a book and it's already making my brain hurt. a lot. I'm giving it a first read-through with a highlighter and without sitting in front of the computer. After going through it once, my plan is to go back through and crank out test renders, to see if I learned anything. Cross yer fingers.

The last bit of good news for now is that in a couple weeks I'll be starting a MEL scripting workshop offered by CGSociety. I'm excited to dig in to a little code. It will probably slow down the project some but I don't think it'll grind to a total halt. Hah! Of course it will, but I can dream, can't I?

No pics to post now, because there's nothing remotely interesting about UV layouts. I'll post painted texture maps but that's still a little ways away.

Cheers.

Two Weeks, One Building

Now that is one hell of an achievement!!!

Or something.

It's the same old story, work is kicking my ass. On top of that I picked up a small page-layout gig that's been taking a bite out of what little free-time I've got. Having said all that, here's one little update. This is the end of the modeling for now and it's time for some UV layout and some basic texturing. My UV layout skills are not great so here's a chance for them to get better.

Cheers.

Some messed-up normals in that new building, fixed in the subsequent pics.

Off The Face Of The Earth

So I actually have a few days of decent posts and then it all goes to hell. Arrrrghhhh!!!!!!

The last week, nearly two weeks now, just about killed me @ work. Lots and lots of styleframes to make in very little time with constantly changing goals. I canceled a few vacation days, including today which I worked from home while some plumbers tried to fix a leaking pipe somewhere in the bowels of my foundation.

Along with all that, James and I had a sort of "come to Jesus" conversation where we started talking about how the project was working and where it was going now that we're in different cities and both working hard.

This is all a ways of saying that I've done jack on the scene, or the project or the models - whatever scale you care to look at, it's been on hold. Today was supposed to be a big modeling day for me. Alas but no.

I should be back on the horse starting tomorrow evening - I hope, I hope, I hope.

Cheers.