My Students 2009

For those of you that don't know. I have had the privilege to teach a couple of courses for the CGT department during my graduate studies. This has truly been a rewarding experience that has had a lasting impression.

I teach 2 courses. CGT 221 is an Introductory course to 3ds Max and Architectural Visualization. Students in this course are charged to both learn the software and reproduce an interior with acceptable renders at the end of the semester. This semester has by far been the most successful.

I am very proud to present the best of the class (in no particular order):





















The other class I teach is Introduction to Animation and 3ds Max. Students are responsible for learning the basics of all pieces of the production pipeline. They are required to storyboard, create an animatic, model, texture, light, rig, animate, render, and use After Effects to compile their work into a narrative storyline. This class is very taxing on all the students, but the work keeps getting better and better. We really emphasized production value this year. I am very proud of these students' work as well.

Here are the top 4 of this semester (in no particular order):

CGT 241 Best of 2009 from Zeb Wood on Vimeo.

If IUPUI were Hogwarts, these '1st years' have just mastered the Petronus Charm. Geek-out.

If you are a past student (not 2009) please feel free to post a link to your video as a comment!

I'm Sold. Autodesk Mudbox 2009.

One of the latest CG Society Feature Articles went over the newest Mudbox 2009 release. Simply, amazing potential. Bravo to Autodesk for investing in the product and backing its refinement! I never thought I would steer from ZBrush's fluidity. But I think I may veer off course and take the plunge.

For those of you new to 3D, and are asking "What the hell is this ump-teenth Autodesk release you speak of Zeb?!" I answer. ~ The one you have been waiting for kiddies!

I won't go into every little feature, but the 2 features that stood out primarily to me was in the "realtime shadows, reflection mapping, ambient occlusion mapping and depth of field." Mudbox can handle well into the 30 millions of poly's as well! Thats like sculpting with water ladies and gentlemen... I saw this demo live @ SIGGRAPH 2008 in L.A. and I had to pick my tongue off of the floor.

Game changing software capability # 2 for me is the ability to model and paint in different subdivisions on different layers and at the same time be able to control the opacity and multiplier effects of each layer in combination or individually with the ease of painting alpha maps! "WTF?!" you ask... Unlimited control I answer.



I leave you with some goodies~


The famous Mudbox frog


Harsh Borah


Danny Williams


Peter Zoppi

If you want to see the full article check out it out at CG Society.

Looking forward to the summer. Muscle project is almost complete, and I want to make creatures again. Now with Mudbox 2009.

SIGGRAPH IUPUI Student Exhibition Interviews

For all of those of you that made it out to the exhibition, you know it went amazingly! I am very proud of all our students and how they presented themselves this year and look forward to being apart of this event for years to come!


Here are links to some pictures and audio interviews Truffle Media's John Blue did. John was a premier sponsor for us, and we hope to continue partnering with him in the future!


Pictures from John

Wenie Rahardja
Zach Barner
Toybox Rags to Roger Purdue Team
Steve Lingg
Stephanie Whealy
Steven Peavey
Marina Sichuga
Marcelo Meijome
Joe Lee
Jenny Sampson
Jeff Szorc
Frank Tai
Erika Yasuno
Drew Shelton
Drew Bush
Chris VanNoy March
Brittny Beauchamp
April Silva


Thanks again for everyone that participated in the event and to all the buisnesses that helped SIGGRAPH Succeed leading up to the event!

Don't SIGGRAPH

SIGGRAPH IUPUI is proud to release its first live action promotional video for the 2009 Student Exhibition: Don't SIGGRAPH! If you haven't heard of the event, it is going to be face changing for IUPUI and central Indiana students.



The video is for advertisement of the event on Friday, April 17th, 2009 from 5pm-10pm at the IUPUI Campus Center room 450. Everyone including business professionals, students, faculty, and friends are invited to check out the amazing work that IUPUI computer graphics students have to offer!

For more information, visit our website at siggraph.iupui.edu. I better see you at the event, or else! Please share this video and information with everyone you know! Send it to your mom even. "Hell, I did!" ~ Josh Corken

Contour test with Organic Models

I am finished with the low-polygon versions of Maxwell and now the boy Michael James Chapman. In the next few weeks I will be in ZBrush creating Normal and Displacement maps for all of the above as well as some temporary textures to show off our project in April.

The contour shader I used to render the Wheelchair Turntable unfortunately it doesn't work as well for organic models because of the smooth curves. But it was worth trying. Stay posted.

Wheelchair Model

So one of the main characters in our story is a boy who is sick and confined to a wheelchair. I figured that a wheelchair model would be fairly easy, but took an approach that allowed me to replicate all the details of the fasteners, welding(s), and intricacies that actually make up a wheel chair.

The rendering style is one I have been wanting to experiment with for a while. It is a combo of Mental Ray interior lighting setup, Ambient Occlusion, and a Contour shader to add the Vector Stroke look. Pretty happy with it.





I have no idea what is up with Blogger's compression of video Mine is Quicktime H.264. Will look into it soon.

Skull Completed

So here is the completed model for my skull I am using for the muscle based rig.

I'm sure you will note that the model is faceted. This is because it looked off being so smooth (skulls are not smooth) I plan on roughing it up and texturing it via Zbrush with some more time. But for now having it faceted keeps it rough enough for me.





On to a bit more research. I have a little problem trying to figure out how I am going to ensure the NURBS based Muscles stay attached to the skull geometry to simulate how muscles are attached and slide over the skulls of real humans.

Wish me luck!