Friday 27 January 2012
Unit 3 Maya work.
Such as it is, if only I didn't need to work as often I dare say that there would have been more.
Thursday 19 January 2012
Unit 3 Final Image...finally
Well, here it is. I've been tweaking lighting for a while, redid my bump map using the surface of Ganymede! Applied and coloured some fog, and I'm really proud of myself.
Please let me know what you think.
Please let me know what you think.
Unit 3 Matte Painting Custom Brushes.
Figure 1 is my rain brush.
Figure 2 is my cloud/smoke brush
Figure 3 is my rock/bark brush
Figure 2 is my cloud/smoke brush
Figure 3 is my rock/bark brush
Unit 3 Bump Maps.
How cool is this!!? I just found a site that provides close up images and bump maps from the Planets in our Solar system, oh and the bit of obsidian I am currently using for my render.
Here I have Pluto (actually Ganymede one of Jupiter's moons), because i'm a sentimental old fool and I think it still deserves it's place, Mercury as it has the broiled appearance that might come in useful.
Here I have Pluto (actually Ganymede one of Jupiter's moons), because i'm a sentimental old fool and I think it still deserves it's place, Mercury as it has the broiled appearance that might come in useful.
Unit 3 Final Image Progress.
Well, this is where I am up to this point. Please let me know what you think. Of course it's too late to influence me but the feedback is always useful.
S
S
Wednesday 18 January 2012
Monday 16 January 2012
Unit 3 Matte Painting Progress
This is the point I am up to now. Please lavish me with thoughts and feelings. I'm pretty happy that I'm near a point of completion, or rather a point where I have to be careful not to overwork things.
Images are slightly out of order.
Enjoy.
Images are slightly out of order.
Enjoy.
House of Usher Thumbnails
Here are the remaining thumbnails I have littered around on various scraps of paper. Apologies for the shadows but I have appalling at home light issues. Shouldn't complain really. At least I have light.
Friday 13 January 2012
Thursday 12 January 2012
Tuesday 10 January 2012
Unit 3 Matte Painting.
An hour or so on the tablet sees me here. Gonna step away for a little and see what I can see later.
Unit 3 Maya progress: House of Usher
These images show the next stages I am progressing through. I have heightened the building, added three steps to the front taking the front vectors of the bottom step and moved them to create the causeway. I then used a duplicated cylinder with a deformity at the top (under the causeway) to act as the causeways supporting struts. A slight rotation on each pillar should be interesting when the scene is lit and nearer completion.
I then deformed the buttresses to give a more rock-like appearance. I'm not happy with the two smaller buttresses at the front they just look odd at the moment, but the remaining three look pretty strong. I have a slight concern that I have deformed these smaller details to such an extent that i'll need to start afresh but ho hum.
Sunday 8 January 2012
Unit 3 Maya progress: House of Usher
I've shaped, sized and added the buttresses. The building still doesn't look quite as I would like. I'm off to do some research of remote stone castles and monasteries. I also need to start seriously thinking about my Matte painting. I want (ambitious as it may seem at this stage) to have a final view not dissimilar to the angle above. My matte painting will form the background. I propose to paint in an electrical storm with the light of the storm being the primary light source. With a nicely toned black/blue blinn I believe I can create a surface that should react well with the light source and strike that cord of weird believability.
To the internet to find stonework and lightning,
Huzzah!
Friday 6 January 2012
Unit 3 Film Reviews
I have changed my standard Scribd format for writing straight into Blogger. For presentation purposes I would be interested to know what people think.
Have a good weekend people.
S
Unit 3 Film Review: Don't Look Now
Directed by: Nicholas Roeg
Written By: Chris Bryant, Allan Scott
Based on a story by Daphne Du Maurier
Julie Christie - Laura Baxter
Donald Sutherland - John Baxter
Massimo Serato - Bishop Barbarigo
Renato Scarpa - Inspector Longhi
‘Don't Look Now brilliantly portrays the loves and losses we all experience, our here and now dictated by the fallibility of human nature and the cruelties of time.’ Putman D., (2011)
Dustin Putman gives a very concise account of the issues that Nic Roeg’s 1973 film presents.
Laura and John Baxter experience the loss of their daughter in a tragic drowning, then move to Venice where John Baxter is employed to renovate a church using his skills in antique building restoration. What transpires is a journey for both husband and wife, who suffer the emotional and psychological extremes of their independently and in very different ways. Laura Baxter takes solace through the chance befriending of two sisters, one of whom claims to have second sight, a skill which replaces her actual sight, whereas husband John buries himself in his work and the practicalities that come with his role, both as provider and husband.
In order to portray the removal from reality (as opposed to a full blown descent into madness) the director uses a somewhat abrupt and jarring style both in cinematography and editing. ‘Like some manic slasher on the loose, Nic Roeg cuts compulsively, severing the natural arteries between cause and effect to expose a more irrational kind of narrative continuum...a true classic, worth looking at not just now but long into the future.’ Bitel A., (2011) While some may disagree with Bitel’s assessment of the continuing worth of Roeg’s psychic horror (Vincent Canby writes, ‘Not only do you probably have better things to do, but so, I'm sure, do most of the people connected with the film.’ (2010)) for the most part this is a solid, suspenseful plot, ambiguous in places due in part to it’s execution but still full of promise.
Notable scenes are of course the couples love making in the second act. This is a breath of fresh air in the middle of a very troubled tale. It defines (for me) a point in the couples relationship and ongoing loss where they rediscover themselves as man and wife, man and woman. This is important, as those used to a more mature, loving relationship will know. I think the way Roeg edits post coital shot of husband and wife staring dreamily and ‘back patting’ accordingly.
Another pivotal, albeit slightly protracted scene is that of Sutherland narrowly escaping death on a very shaky gantry inside the church. Again ferociously cut in post-production the scene seems to depict the point at which Sutherland’s madness finds it’s grip, indeed, it is proposed that Sutherland is in fact more unhinged than his wife. Only after watching the entire film and musing on it’s merits is the audience encouraged to consider the impact of Sutherland’s second sight on the images he sees throughout.
The final scenes are of Sutherland pursuing a small childlike figure, dressed in the same red coat and boots his daughter wore on the day of her death. Gripped by mania he pursues and corners the figure. In arguably the most famous and disturbing scene the figure turns, revealing a shriveled, haggard face, almost witch like. The creature (presumably the same responsible for the spate of Venetian murders which we are alerted to sporadically) turns and whilst the horrified Sutherland is frozen, on his knees she/it cuts his throat leaving him to bleed out as his wife Laura struggles to come to his aid.
What is Roeg’s message? I cannot surely say. Perhaps it is an over indulgent message, stating that grief, if ignored or somehow circumvented will return to consume and destroy it’s host. But for a couple battling the gloom of their own sadness, there must surely be strength in numbers.
Critic Bibliography
Bitel A., (June 20, 2011). ‘Little White Lies’, rottentomatoes.com
Canby V., (July23, 2010). ‘New York Times’, rottentomatoes.com
Putman D., (October 15, 2011). ‘dustinputman.com’, rottentomatoes.com
Image List
Poster Image: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dont_look_now/
Thursday 5 January 2012
Tuesday 3 January 2012
Unit 3 , Maya early images.
This is the next recorded image of the House of Usher. I have created, segmented and manipulated (thus far) a plane which shall form the mount on which the house sits and the lake floor. If anyone has an easier way of manipulating textures in the plane other than vertex, by vertex please let me know. Hopefully my remaining unit 2 and 3 Maya tutorials will provide the answer.
Monday 2 January 2012
Maya turnarounds for House of Usher.
Tentative start on modelling. Used a cube with lots of added edge loops. Scaled the vertices tapering the building giving it the Obelisk shape I feel will lend well with the stone nature of the building. Faces have been created, extruded 3 times for the windows and once for the door.
I then selected and moved vertices along the bottom edge of the house which, when the landmass the house sits on is in place will give the building its rock like appearance. Any advice anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated.
I then selected and moved vertices along the bottom edge of the house which, when the landmass the house sits on is in place will give the building its rock like appearance. Any advice anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated.
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