Return to the ring.

Hey all,

I've been way out of touch. This post marks a promise of one post per week minimum, soon this blog will be much improved and forwarded to one of the snazzy WordPress Video oozing websites at zebwood.com/ pretty excited for that!

Here I am going to post some past student work over the last quarter! Its important to showcase truly hard work, the work that spent much more time than was required, and for that I am proud and eager to see what each of these students will put out in the future.

Rigging: Our Intermediate 3D Animation course is actually all rigging. We don't use scripts although some add them to the machinery portion of the assignments to get automated rotation and chains. Anyway students are to by quarter's end to have a fully functional Organic [creature/human] and a mechanical rig [robot/weapon/vehicle]. The entire rigging process is covered with exception to Motion Capture data integration. Hopefully we can squeeze that in down the road.

As always here are the best in no particular order:




Character Modeling: This has to be one of the most stressful classes for students to take. They are introduced to character modeling and edge-loop modeling, unwrapping, Zbrush, and normal/displacement mapping in this class and asked to create a fully realistic character that is rig-able as well. Our pipeline is Maya-Zbrush-Maya and we are getting some really great work. I'm taking a traditional sculpture class in hopes to increase my vocabulary and instruction in the ways of Gesture and Proportion. Thanks Jacob Dobson for allowing me to join in the class.

As always here are a few of the best form the class in no particular order:



Finally, I'm proud to show one of our graduates first solo-shorts that in my opinion is the first totally complete capstone. This includes pre-production, production, and post production artwork audio. Brit Baue is now employed full time at Ganett. Congrats Brit.

Britt Baue Capstone:

Best of Spring 2010

The Spring Semester was my first full time experience at the Art Institute of Indianapolis AND THE STUDENTS WERE GREAT! My Special Topics course MMA 311 turned out some really awesome work, it quickly became one of my favorite courses. We also had a Character Modeling class, a VFX course (particles, cloth, hair, fluids, dynamics), and the the first half of capstone shorts.

Below are some of the best of each class in no particular order! The capstones will be kept quiet until the next quarter. :) Keep up the great work guys!

MMA 306 - Character Modeling

The students were charged with learning Maya's modeling tools towards organic modeling. Their final was to develop a low resolution skin, and then take it into Zbrush 3.5 for high detail sculpting and painting. The output is back in Maya some applied Displacements as well.



MMA 311 - Special Topics

Jason Roll studied in depth Environmental and object Unwrapping and texturing for low polygon environments. He used only Maya's unwrapping tools, something I stray away from in most cases! You can reach Jason @ his website, he does many commissions for Matte and Environment Paintings already.




Christopher Perkins decided to study both Maya and After Effects and how he could integrate 3D and Camera movements into After Effects. Chris is working on many independent projects. Chris is a great 2D animator and has his own 2D animation series currently. Check out his website Guttamind.com



Cuong Tran decided to jump into Maya Cloth and NCloth Dynamics systems for his topic of research. The students were charged to create something both Technically Difficult but Artistically Beautiful. I think Cuong did just that. Check out Cuong's website kiareri.com



Finally, Ian Dillingham decided to research that art of Fur in Maya for his upcoming short. Ian successfully applied Fur onto a Horse model, and will also be adding fur to another model for his short. Ian can be contacted @ ibdillingham@gmail.com




MMA 405 - VFX

Visual Effects class was a interesting experience because we were switching topics every few weeks. (Particles, Fluids, Cloth, Rigid/Soft Dynamics, and Hair) For their Final the students were required to render a short amount of frames revisiting a favorite topic, or to combine several effects for one shot.

It went very well. Stay tuned for a compilation. the videos are so different, I'm trying to figure out the best way to present them.

New School, New Students, New Work!!!

So for those of you that don't know I have been pulling double duty teaching on two campuses this semester. With this the new responsibility of Teaching at the Art Institute of Indianapolis I have switched over to teaching all Maya courses and while it was a struggle to make the teacher-side switch, I think we all were very successful this winter quarter.

Below are some of the best of(s) from a Camera and Lighting course, a Rigging (advanced animation) course, and a Advanced Lighting and Materials Course.

Camera & Lighting:

Camera and lighting had a very unique final project. They were charged to recreate the both the lighting and the camera movements from their favorite movie. What turned out was pure gold. I saw this assignment as a substantial risk, the students gave very polished work.




Rigging:

Each student had to use a pre-made 3D character model and a non-organic model, one found online or one created on their own. After obtaining their model(s). The students were charged with creating controls that would benefit an animator to make the Characters or robots move, Emote, and in sometimes change color. It was a very difficult class, yet the most rewarding. Funny how that works.



Advanced Lighting and Materials:

Students were charged with lighting and texturing creatures, environments, or objects of their choice building upon the information they had learned in other courses. WE had very good results!













Stay tuned from more from AI as we start another quarter! Best of CGT are coming up in a few weeks!

Best of 2009 Fall Semester

Continuing my ritual of showing off most of my student's work. Here are the best of my classes from the Fall semester of 2009. This semester was great in all aspects as I taught 4 classes, 2 of which were new to me. I don't know if I'm allowed to show off my Art Institute student's work yet so stay tuned. (I taught Maya and After Effects compositing there)

CGT 221: This class is introduction to Architectural Visualization. Students spend the majority of the semester figuring out the program, modeling, and in the last 3 weeks get to try out lighting with mental ray and using the Arch and Design Materials. Each students contact is here and/or on the work.

Alison Wallace: aliwalla@iupui.edu
Nicole Bradford: bradforn@iupui.edu
Tara Carlile: tcarlile@iupui.edu
Megan Newbury: mnewbury@iupui.edu
Jason Smith: jason@jalanvisuals.com , Jason's Blog

They always turn out great work despite their frustrations. In no particular order:


















CGT 241: This class is introduction to 3D Animation. It sounds like an animation class but it is actually an introduction to every part of the production pipeline for a 3D short. Students are charged with writing their own 20 second story, story-boarding, animatic, modeling, texturing, lighting, rigging, animation.... You get the idea. They always seem to pull through and work their hearts out to come up with some truly amazing work for first time 3D artists. In no particular order:



I'd also like to acknowledge my new classes CGT 411 which was a capstone course. 2 of the teams worked on projects I'm personally involved with. Seamless Media created the entire IndianaUploaded brand, splashpage, and soon to be released website check out their work here http://indianauploaded.com/ and stay tuned!

Also, from CGT 411 was the team that did the entire storyboard production, character animation, and Cloth simulations for THE RED KITE a 3D short that will be released in April 2010. Check out what we can show you at http://theredkitemovie.blogspot.com/ I'd like to thank both teams for a wonderful experience, and hope they enjoyed (some are still working) it as much as I did.

Here's to another great semester and stay tuned for the great work coming out of the Art Institute of Indianapolis as well!

Avatar: A hopelessly Inspired Review

It has been a bit over 48 hours since I have seen a movie that totally renewed my enthusiasm and hope for film making.

I might first mention I am the type of person that will go out on a limb to find inspiration. I manage to find magic in the smallest of things, it is what one must do to stay creative and keep a sense of motivation in the hardest of times. Most films I enjoy, my dearest friends and family do not. Avatar was a welcome exception, the release also happened to be on my birthday of all days, leading me to be able to convince 35 dear friends and family to go see the flick. To my pleasure, not one of them was disappointed, and a few announced it was their favorite movie of all time. I was quick to agree in theater, but things have digested and I have come to decide to put this film in my top 5 all time, and favorite of the year (we have had some good ones in 2009).

Avatar regrettably isn't the most unique flavor, nor has it any sort of depth in character development. Its visual effects and creative vision however allow for a quick buy-in to characters that are close enough to human for an audience to become quickly attached. I have watched every major VFX blockbuster and 3D animated film since the time of Final Fantasy the Spirits within; Avatar ladies and gentlemen was worth the long wait.

There have been more failures in our craft than successes. It is possible to pick apart so much on a big screen when a story requires a near-human actor to both perform believably and to evoke a sense of empathy and relativism in an audience. Avatar manages to make you forget what you are watching is even CG (a most crucial ingredient it seems). There are some major undertones in the film that may get preachy, even pushed upon some, but they are all messages that should be re-visited. Some lessons from the past we may have forgotten, and others that dread upon us now are at the root of the film, yet any type of audience can see the questions and dilemmas this story attempts to address in a new yet flashy way.

Outside the story and the character development flaws comes the experience of watching Avatar. Even with the highest of expectations going into the film, a critical eye, and past let-downs fresh in my mind, I forgot the 'critic' within almost instantly and remembered how it felt and what is was like to watch something as a child again. The magic of watching someone run for the first time that can't walk, or master a beast and fly around a world so distant from our own left me in such wonderment and awe. This was an experience I can relate to only a few times in my life, and I get goose bumps even now while recalling this experience; something I will treasure for some time to come.


Even now the film seems like a dream. It sounds funny to put something up so high on a pedestal, but even outside of the production, storyline, characters, and visual effects this film, a huge undertaking of technology, passion, and creativity is a simple promise to creatives like myself that the magic is back. It may have never left, and for me that is way more than enough to keep me looking for and creating the next best story wherever it can be found.

I wholeheartedly recommend you go see Avatar in IMAX 3D, you are in for one hell of a ride. You know I will.

Indiana Uploaded is Coming!!!

Imagine an online ART community that supports, encourages, and inspires future Indiana artists through scholarship opportunities, criticism from professionals, and collaboration with other Indiana artists.

This community could encourage the next generation of Indiana's Traditional and Digital Artists to grow both inside and outside of the classroom, and at the same time, encourage them to stay in Indiana to study the ARTS.

Well, that community is HERE! Enter IndianaUploaded !!!!



IndianaUploaded.com is an online community centered around design competitions that high school and college design students can embrace and grow with as they hone their design skills and learn the value of collaboration and criticism.

Sign up today, keep up to date information about Rules, Registering, and PRIZES!!! Prizes will range from college scholarships, software, hardware, internships, contract work, and notoriety!

IndianaUploaded will go Live in late December with the first competition following shortly after! Your support by signing up now can help Indiana Uploaded secure scholarships and prizes! http://www.indianauploaded.com



For more info email: info@indianuploaded.com

Red Kite Characters Update

All, its been way too long! I missed you for the past few months while our Red Kite Group has been tearing it up! Where have you been? What have you been doing?

Me you ask?

Well, I'm Going a little crazy-outta-my-mind texturing the main characters, rigging, tweaking, rigging, tweaking, for our animators whom always find something wrong with my rigs... But working none the less. Just kidding animators, you are doing great!

Update:

- We have completed our animatic and are on our way to character animation as I finish off facial blend expressions for the main characters!

- Texturing and Rigging is nearly complete on all characters!

- We keep finding more assets that need modeling

- We just received great reviews for our animatic when we presented to our Score and Foley sound artists!!!!

- Vue (vegetation creation software) is giving us rendering woes, Ryan is tackling that issue as well as lighting!

- Texturing for Interior and Exterior environments is going well, as you can see in last week's post

Stereo is a big question mark, but we got our man Huckaba on it!

Here are some current screen shots of our main characters in ZBrush 3.0. Next week we will try to have a few shots of the animatic that we will show through progression. (can't let too much of the story out)

Enjoy!











Stay tuned for more updates! I'll try to post other happenings more often as well! Want to show off the rigs, but can't decide on a way to show them off as of yet...