Wednesday, August 25, 2010

You're Awesome Because You Read My Blog


Well, its been a while.
I would love for my excuse to be that I'm to bogged down in school work to post here, but that would be a cold, hard lie.
I'm not doing TEE (Australian exams). If there were exams for Computer Graphics I probably would be doing them, but there isn't so no pressure for me. I'm easily passing Year 12 with my easily passed non-TEE subjects. I'm going to TAFE after all, I don't need exams. The VET I did at Central TAFE last year is enough for me to just simply stroll right in next year (actual words of my guidance councillor).

So what have I been up to with all my school work free time? A new 3D project of course.
BEWARE! WORK IN PROGRESS!


The back story is that these mammoth structures were built to accommodate towns and cites after some sort of world-wide disaster (I'll leave that to your imagination).
I'm only working on the one so far, but when its finished it will be copied to the handy pre-made concrete structures you see behind it. What I'm working on right now is populating the rooftops with shit.
You can see a work in progress thread on the CG Society here.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Mixing Media

The last couple of days I have been searching through the sites of 3D studios in Perth and one thing I notice that they all have in common is that they all do architectural renders.
A good example is this.
Its great how they create the building renders and then mix them with an actual image, it must be some kind of gypsy magic.

So I thought I would give a crack at it, and the result was this:


Any Perth natives out there may be going ''hey, what the hell is that huge monstrosity doing looming over Fremantle?'' Well fret no more, I just used that picture because its the only picture I could find which I took that shows a good landscape to work with.
The model is from a tutorial, so I modeled it but didn't design it. Direct all building related hate too that tutorial.
I'm pretty happy with how I got the perspective and lighting to match. If you disagree I welcome you to tell me in the underused but perfectly capable comment system.

Friday, August 13, 2010

3D Wins

Just a short post here (for the people who have the slightly smaller attention span than average).
In my year 12 graphics class at school, one of our assignments was to make an entry for the 2010 National DG Design Competition. My entry got into the Notable Entry category.


The main picture was made with 3D Max and the titles in Photoshop. Its based on the Kowloon Walled City.
To tell the truth I'm not really that happy with it because I wasn't that experienced with 3D Max back when I actually made it. Its missing simple things like bumpmaps and proper materials, its even using the default scanline renderer. Ah well, at least it got in.
You can see it on display here.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Inspirations


Inspirations. Every kind of art form is inspired by something, and 3D is no different.
These are the things that inspire my 3D and my art in general.

3.) Other work that is full of awesomeness.
There are a trillion-billion other 3D artists out there in the world wide interwebs. One website which I frequent is the Computer Graphics Society. There are some great 3D forums there and a lot of the worlds professionals gather there to talk 3D. Its great, you learn heaps while at the same time you get inspired by the magnificent work that gets posted there.

2.) Life/Dreams
I put these in the same category because I'm the all mighty overlord of this blog and I will do whatever the hell I want. But think about it. 
Thinking?
A lot of good shit happens in life and life related dreams, so much so that art is made out of it. This includes stuff you see in the news, internet, drunk mates etc. It all has potential. 

1.) Music
Music is a big part of my life. I listen to it and play it everyday. 
It can just be the pure sound of a song that gets me going, or the mood/meaning that feeds my inspiration.
All in all, I recommend music in general to a friend.
The main bands that I like include Nirvana, KoRn and Pink Floyd. 
Of course there are a CD rack load more but I'm not going to fill this blog with every single band I like. I'm sure you get the gist of things.

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Money For Nothing



So I don't exactly have a job in the industry yet, but that doesn't mean I can't make money from it.
What I'm talking about is selling your 3D models on websites, like TurboSquid or Exchange3d.com, I've just started myself.
The idea is that company's or individuals can buy your models so they don't have to make them themselves (kind of like freelancing).
The beauty of it is that your models don't only sell once, you can sell as many as you like (of course you have to wait for people to buy them first).

Here are the following models which I'm currently selling:

Wall Fan














Available at TurboSquid and Exchange3d .

Portable Radio


 









Available at TurboSquid and Exchange3d.

Those two models are from renders I've made. I was making those models anyway so its good that I can possibly get some revenue back from them.
Just make sure that if you do decide to start selling them that you've made the models and textures yourself.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

3D ''3D''





Lets talk about something different now, but still relevant to 3D. Its either that or the epic struggle between me and my teachers for the right to wear black jeans instead of navy blue cargo pants.
Lets talk about 3D televisions.

Is it the new technology? Is it whats going to revolutionize our lives and influence our foreseeable future?
Short answer in my opinion, no.
For me the cons for this piece of technology heavily out-way the pros.
Whatever you do, you can't get around the fact that you have to wear those bloody glasses every time you want to watch some TV.
It totally takes out the social element that is television, I rarely watch TV (too many ads) but when I do its with friends and family, or while on the computer or my phone. The ability to do this gets taken away by those glasses. It just isn't what I interpret as television.
Also another con of glasses is the apparent health problems. Nobody is sure what the long term effects are because no studies have been done, but short term effects can include headaches, eye-strain and nausea.
It really is unknown territory, who knows what the effects could be.

Another thing I don't like about it is the lack of current content. So far its just been sports coverage in Australia, and frankly I really don't care about that at all. Call me a geek but I find nothing more boring than watching some dudes kick a football across a field for a couple of hours. BUT ITS IN 3D! you say.
Woopdy fucking do.
Also the amount of 3D Blu-Rays out there are minimal as well. And did you know that you need a 3D capable Blu-Ray player to play these? No, not the brand new Blu-Ray player you just bought but a 3D one. Its only another $400 (*sarcasm*).
But to be fair it is new, and the content should increase if it takes off.
If in a couple of years its still the biggest thing since spinach and ricotta rolls and the content is everywhere then maybe, maybe I will think about it.
I still have heavy doubts that it will though, those glasses take away the whole 'OMG kind of like real life' factor for me.

Especially since I hear there is a type of 3D in development that doesn't involve glasses, not as in like holograms, but that 3D still has the same effect without glasses (I won't lie, I don't really understand how it works).
Nintendo is already working on a handheld that uses this technology, its called the 3DS. There were playable prototypes on display at this years E3, and reports are that they seem to do the job, they just need a bit of tweaking.
Sounds to me that were gonna have 3D without glasses in the near future after all, unless a full nuclear war breaks out tomorrow, but I doubt that it will.

 

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

So Lets Talk Money

Hi! How are you? Good? Thats great.

So, me in the industry.
Where to start? Well an actual job might be good.
So where do I begin? As far as I can see there are two possibility's:
1.) I get a full time position at some kind of production house, it would be a real 9-5 office scenario.
2.) Do freelance. Potential customers see my portfolio, and BAM! They outsource work to me and I work from the comfort of my own dwelling.

Lets look at number one:
The whole 9-5 office scenario stereotypically seems to be a bit daunting and boring, but then again it would be my dream job. Its only daunting and boring when you consider it to be daunting and boring. I would enjoy a job like that very much, I would turn up to work everyday with a smile on my face and leave with the same one on. I do this type of thing in my spare time a lot as a hobby, if I was getting paid as well I would be well and truly over the moon.
I live in a growing city in Australia called Perth. As far as I can tell, the following studios are based there:
Last Pixel
Constructive Media
Torpedo
3D Millipede
Well their the ones I could find on Google anyway. There might be more, if you know of any leave a comment (especially if you own one (and especially especially if you want too give a certain blogger a trainee ship of some kind!)).

There use to be a lot of game development studios in Perth as well, but they've gradually closed down over the years, which is a crying shame. If there are any by the time I'm ready for work, I could get a job at one as an environment artist. Which would also be fricken awesome.

Now lets look at the second option.
Freelancing sounds like a very appealing option.
There are a lot of studios all over the world that outsource some of their work to freelances so they can cut cost, lots of them do it all the time which means the potential for work is huge.
But then again there are already a lot of freelances out and about, so that means competition. To stand out from the crowd you need an excellent portfolio so that you get picked. This is why I'm getting into the whole render thing before I even start proper education, I want to be the guy that gets picked.
If I don't get picked, I don't get work. If I don't get work its the dole line for me. Which isn't what I really wan t in life, I'm sure you can understand.

So as you can see I have a bit of work ahead of me, if I want this career I'm going to have to work hard.

/END
  



    

Monday, August 2, 2010

And So It Begins

I'm gonna call this my first blog post.
Disregard the other one, its just a 'WELL HOWDY HO!' post.
Don't even think of looking at the one that is now at the bottom of this one, the fact that this one is now on top shows how unimportant the other one now is.

So I want to get into this industry right? I certainly hope so because this blog will loose all its meaning if I don't. Luckily I do though so everything seems dandy.
I've been practising my 3D quite a bit lately, mostly because my Year 12 school year is nearly up and I will be going to TAFE soonish. I want to already know what I'm doing before I get there so I have an advantage, well that's the plan anyway. 
I've been practising making 'renders.' Renders are pretty much 3D scenes complied to look pretty. All the photo-realistic 3D pictures you see? They don't look like that when their in the workspace, in fact they usually don't look pretty at all. A lot of stuff doesn't come up until you render (bump maps, some lighting etc) which is fair enough because today's computer wouldn't be able to handle all that in real time, maybe in 5-10 years though, who knows.
Anyway the render I'm on right now is inspired by certain restaurants I saw while on a family vacation too Hong Kong last year. Their pretty amazing; steam, cheap plastic stools, tiled walls, which are usually all cramped into a space no bigger than my bedroom. Their full of character.


As you can see its a work in progress, one the of the main features I want hasn't even been added yet which is the steam. 
Learning 3D this way is so much better than just doing straight tutorials and nothing else. The amount of stuff I've learnt while just making this very piece is enormous. Its very learn as you go. I've come across heaps of problems and its simply a case of looking up a tutorial and applying it. I get what I want and I also learn something new. Win win. 
Of course sometimes it can get a bit hard finding the exact tutorial I want, but I guess its all part of the fun.

Also while I'm blathering about Hong Kong, I thought I would show you this picture I took and then attacked with Photoshop:

                            
  
Its the Hotel Ibis, near a part of Hong Kong which I can't remember the name of.
It really does stick out like a sore thumb because its the only splash of colour among a whole lot of stained white and grey, so I thought I would promote it with all its individualist glory. 

Anyway that's me for now, please check back soon!

-B-DAWG (pronounced Brendan).

Sunday, August 1, 2010

The Introduction...

Hey you! Yes you! The dude lurking my brand new, shiny blog. Welcome!
My name is Brendan, and this is a blog about me. More specifically it centres around my hobby that is 3D. One day I would like to turn it into a career, but that is a while away. I've been doing the modelling aspect of 3D for a few years now, but I've only just got into the whole rendering side things. Its been a lot of fun so far, but I still have a bit too learn. Next year I start doing TAFE full time (a collage in Australia) where I plan to further my skill.

A bit about me more personally.
I love playing guitar, drawing, writing (even though I don't do as much as I would like), listening to music and hanging out with friends.
I plan to integrate this type of stuff a little in my blog, but nothing too boring.

So yeah, that's about it. 
I'm going to update this frequently, so please check back as much as you like. Don't be shy to comment either, I will read everyone with the love it deserves.