LIGHTING CLASS WITH JACK

Wed, 24th Nov. We watched various scenes from movies showing clearly the progression of CGI lighting and texturing from the Eighties through the present day.

This was an awesome look back at how far technology has come in twenty years. And very inspirational to apply to our own art creations.
TRON, The last Star fighter and Robots were the examples used in class. Jack was very informative with telling us about how and why the older movies looked the way they did. What was cutting edge in the day was laughable to us now, even as first year VFX students.

Jack will prove to be an awesome source for Lighting and texturing tips.

He is an awesome teacher, I love the one on one that he offers all his students. I appreciate it greatly.

PHOTOSHOP CLASS WITH JACK CONTEST

In the space of one 2 hour class the task was create a photoshopped scene. Teaching us deadlines.

FIRST ANIMATED PIECE, JACK'S INSPIRATION FOR ANIMATORS CLASS

This was the very first thing I ever animated and it's far from pleasing to watch. But not a bad starting point I guess. Jack was awesome through this class and was always around to help out with issues as they arose. This was a great entry level course to the software and animation.

I had workflow issues and software glitches that made things rather hard at times. But as Jack says "The software will teach you!" un-fortunately it's normally after you want to throw a $3000 laptop across the room!

Final grade B+ because I did not check the shadows box. "Seriously!" mmm, Next time I will not forget, it cost me an 'A' Jack!
Poor Jack, we as a class asked point blank after our grades had been posted what we had to do to get an A, I don't think the poor guy had any clue the grilling he was about to get from us. Live and learn Jack. (Jokes)

WHAT NOT TO SUBMIT AS A 6 POSE EXERCISE

This was my submission in Rigging class as a six pose exercise, that until the start of class I was actually happy with. Until I was served up a thirty minute bashing of my work, posing, and design layout. I don't think Tony found a thing right with this submission at all. To the point I had to hold back my rage in class as I was really getting my buttons pushed.

I guessed that this was to push me to better things in the future. But I did confront Tony about this after class. And he admitted that he was harsh on my work. But we said our bit and moved on like the professionals that we are. I get along with Tony great, I think I just caught him on an off day.  We laugh about it now, I love the fact that I can talk straight with Tony. And in-turn he pulls no punches either. Tony is a great teacher and a nice guy. Just don't do this to the Andy rig and all will be well.

WEEK 11 Classes

Upcoming week prior to Thanks Giving.

English assignment for Sara Lafler due Monday.

Assignment for Tony due Tuesday 9 am, IK Luxo lamp and Bonus scene animation.

Student Government Pizza Party Tuesday Lunchtime. 1 pm through 2pm

MODELING 1 With PERRY

 

After a very slow start in modeling, getting used to the software, learning hot keys and meetings with Perry.

"I was having issues with the human body!" But Perry helped me work through my concerns.

A light just when off in my head, my moment of clarity you might say.I went from never having played with any 3D software to building a model of a drawing I did years before. I find Perry to be an excellent teacher. Between Perry and Jack, Soft just clicked. I encountered all nature of issues with this piece. From work flow issues to texture maps. I feel that these teething problems have made me all the better modeler as a result.

After Friday's lesson on Lighting and Textures with Jack I feel I should now go back and use final gather and redo the lights on this model.

The biggest thing I learned through this piece was keeping files in the project. Textures are not forgiving. They look great at home but rainbow effect if you don't save the textures in the pictures folder of the scene.  And don't ever get cocky, just when you think you have it you are reminded that the software does hate you and another challenge awaits to be overcome. Fortunately I'm in the right place for answers!

I look forward to more modeling challenges, and texture issues to follow. Some great art should be created soon.

The original art of the OVERLANDER Motorcycle. Changed in 3d, as it became clear that my drawing could not work as drawn, the modeling process will teach you.

PHOTOSHOP CLASS WITH JACK

 Jack wanted us to experience the joys of cleaning up an image from a scan in photoshop. I have extensive experience with this program and enjoyed the chance to help my classmates.
Granted I knew what Jack was looking for and came prepared with closed line and strong inked line, but knowing this I imported my images into Illustrator and made them Vector based, making cleanup and rendering a joy. Art was drawn years ago, I just rescanned and rendered in class.
I have had no formal training in Photoshop so I'm enjoying the class alot. CS5 is very nice to work with and clearly superior to CS4.

I look forward to the next step in this class and move into the  story boarding process using Photoshop.

 

This was the original Illustration.

RIGGING CLASS

I may understand the rigging process, but very clearly I don't feel it's going to be for me. Maya is very computer techy designed and does not play well with my artistic learning ways. SoftImage on the other hand seems to come from an artistic background. Thus easier for me to pick up.

But Maya is getting easier day by day. This program will make your brain melt! I swear it hates me.

Watching Tony Lewellen animate the muppet head. "How does he get his head around this stuff?"

Entry for Friday 19th Nov, 2010-

 Generally getting the program, Maya still very glitchy. But managing to work around the issues I find from time to time. Through help from Tony and classmates. Thank god Tony records these classes. Or I would never keep up.

Watching rigging for two hours is really tough to stay awake. I find my eyes growing heavy in this class. 

I wish we had more one on one and work along with Tony time. Just to break up the lesson a tad. I think this would help me far more than just watching the videos.

Looking forward to working on this assignment though, may prove to be a chance for my photoshop skills to excel.