Toolkit Maya - Animations

Motion Path and Rigs

@Phil - Unit 2 - Secret Lairs: final piece re-submission

I still feel like my drawing is letting the scene down a lot, but i know i need that green light to progress, so here it is anyway.

I have redesigned my scene a fair bit, i wanted to give  a little bit more sense of space, and try to stay away from major sci-fi themes(something i did a little to much in my previous image).

I have given the throne a little bit more of a 'power' feel here, and also upped the scale of the scene as a whole. 

The main focus is now on the throne and reactor, which is gathering energy from powerplants on the surface, to reuse in the war.

CG Artists Toolkit: Character and animation - Week Four

Pixilation animation done this week, was lots of fun!~

Unit 2 - Secret Lairs: More Thumbnails

1 - Final Design, just needs a 

few more little details to add a bit more 

'wolf' to the scene.

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4 - Test out power cable designs

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6 - Skull throne

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Life Drawing: 13/11/12

Life Drawing: 6/11/12

Unit 2 - Secret Lairs: More Thumbnails and Ideas

Some really quick sketchs done last night, just toying with different ideas for my scene now, I'm trying to make it seem a little less generic in terms of design. one idea

 I'm liking is using medieval/Victorian architecture mixed with small futuristic elements at the moment.

I have also decided to get rid of the crystal element from my scene now, and have reverted back to the wolves stealing energy from the humans surface world.

Another thing i have thought a little more into is the passed on memory s aspect, i bel;ieve this would make them a race that honor the dead and have to much respect to destroy older things due to the memorys of those who built it being imprinted onto their minds. So another thing i can add is a lot of statues and carvings to the scene.

The throne right now is carved into a stalagmite grouping, with the back made to look like spikes, i think it looks a little more powerful then the diamond throne i previously had before.

And lastly i have decided on a scythe for my characters hero prop, i was trying to think what would represent power, but also fear. and came up with the idea for the Scythe  a weapon class only reserved for the Emperor. In my set i think this would look good leaning against the throne.

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Contextual studies – Formative Essay Research

The following texts and scanned in book pages are some of the research I have done involving my essay.

My essay will focus on The Fifth Element and its use of Realism to portray a believable futuristic city.

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Author(s): Floyd Nigel,  Bruzzi Stella

Title: Infinite city.

Journal Name: Sight & Sound  

Publication Date: June 1997

Stetson, special visual effects supervisor on the project for nearly 20 months, sums up the thinking behind the film's overall design: "The work Luc and his production designer Dan Weil did on the New York cityscape had a very specific aim," he explains. "Although traditionally New York is characterised by its grid-like, rectilinear street layout, curving streets and !-intersections would normally be used to constrain the view, so as to fit it onto a model stage in miniature, or into a live-action screen for that matter. Luc and Dan didn't want to do this. They wanted to depict New York as they saw it - a European rather than an American view.

Moebius' style is at once sweeping and meticulous in its architectural detail, an evocation of alien civilisations far away in time - and a wry study of the all-too-human beings stumbling through them. Mézières, rather less wellknown outside France, achieved cult status as illustrator of a series featuring Valerian, the Spatio-Temporal Agent. His work, too, is highly architectural, though distinctly more realist in line - with a 60s art deco look to it (not unlike the French strip Barbarella, which of course inspired the Roger Vadim film). Both Giraud and Mézières worked closely with Besson during pre-production, contributing designs for cityscapes, vehicles and interiors, with some shots taken almost directly from their illustrations.

Author(s): Newman, Kim

Title: The fifth element/Le cinquième élément.

Journal Name:  Sight & Sound   Go To Journal

Volume: VII

Issue Number: 7

Publication Date: July 1997

Various factions dash about an overpopulated universe colliding coincidentally with each other, so that the chaotic second half even stirs distant memories of such 60s larks as Casino Royale or Modesty Biaise. The most subtle joke comes when, on Fhloston, the alien diva performs in an auditorium which is, we are told, a perfect recreation of the Royal Opera House, prompting an audience aware of Euro-funding to muse cynically that a fortune has just been saved on big sets. The pay-off is that parts of the opera house are then comprehensively trashed in a big shoot-out, suggesting that it is a James Bond film-sized set after all.

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Book Scans:

Book one: Building Sci-fi Moviescapes, by Matt Hanson

Maya - Lighting & Rendering

This is my first attempt at Lighting & Rendering in Maya. I think it worked out pretty well!

Unit 2 - Secret Lairs: A little Scene Progress

Following my ogr i am currently trying to think of more ways for my scene to reflect my character.

A few ideas i have had so far are things like adding in rock carvings(statues), paintings, suits of Armour  maybe a symbol and adding in the city as a back ground behind the throne, to show his 'empire'. I'm currently in the processes of doing more thumbnails to reflect these changes.

I have decided to revert back to my original idea of the Wolven race stealing power from the human city above, based on feedback from my ogr. This should better reflect the desperation of my race as the smog is filtering down into their world from above, and their need for energy to advance the invasion plan.

Unit 2 - Secret Lairs: Online Greenlight Review

Secret Lairs

Unit 2 - Secret Lairs: Thumbnails and concept art

The above is my first attempt at painting my scene, after Photoshop Phil showed me that some of the perspectives were off i decided to redo the image.

Fig 2 is my final concept piece, i had 

fun doing it as i was enjoying the colour pallet a lot. ^^

Unit 2 - Secret Lairs: A Few digital pieces

Throne concept, i wanted the throne to stand out, as i feel it needs to be something that shows great power. 

This is a scrapped piece, i ended up disliking the perspective a lot.

This is what i have for my final concept piece so far, still wanting to add a few things like computers, monitors, add some more smaller lights and refine some of the edges as i want to avoid making ti to smooth/washed out. Also undecided if i should keep the wires hanging down around or not, as i think perhaps they are taking soem of the focus away from the throne and power crystal.. Opinions are welcome and wanted! ^^

Unit 2 - Secret Lairs: Thumbnails 8-10

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Thumbnail 10 is mainly a test to try and get to grips with the scale i want the cave to have, and to give painting cave stalactites and stalagmites another go after the last project!

Maya - UV Maps

 First try at rendering, the whites are way too bright!

Second try i toned down the whites, which improved the look a lot.

Photoshop - Layer Masks

A test done during the Photoshop lesson on Friday, tried to recreate the sign made during the live demo.

Maya - Common Shaders

Chrome

Maya - Character Modeling

Photoshop - Tile Texture

This was my first go at making a repeatable tile texture for use in Maya. Outcome works well being repeated in all directions.

Unit 2 - Secret Lairs: Rough Thumbnails

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