The Flash Modeled And Textured

    So, I worked on another character piece since I was already in cartoon mode from doing Patric Star from the Spongebob Squarepants cartoon (in my previous post).  Plus, this is only my second attempt at character creation but, my 1st character with "human like" characteristics. 

    I decided that I would model him in Maya and ZBrush so I could work with ZBrush's new hard surface sculpting brushes and the GoZ functionality which came in useful several times for small adjustments.  I envisioned the process going a bit more smoother but it turn's out that being a "perfectionist" doesn't help when you want something  perfectly smooth.  Especially, when you are pushing and pulling millions of poly faces around! :)~

    All in all the final model came out exactly how I had imagined it!  I couldn't be happier!  Hope you enjoy it as well!

Patrick From Spongebob Squarepants The TV Show; Modeled And Textured

    Thought it was time to expand on my portfolio styling again with this piece.  I was a big fan of Spongebob a couple years ago and thought I would pay homage.

    This is for anyone who has looked at my work and thought I wonder if he could do cartoony? :)  I had a lot of fun doing this piece and it brought back some good memories along the way.  I think I will have to create Spongebob and maybe the Krusty Crab to go along with it.

    Stay "tooned"...ha ;)~

US Army/Navy Chenowth DPV (Desert Patrol Vehicle) Game Model W.I.P

    I am currently in the process of modeling and texturing a DPV, a vehicle that US Forces have used in the field since the Gulf War in 1991.  This model is the preset version DPV formally known as the FAV (Fast Attack Vehicle).  The DPV is manufactured at Chenowth Racing Products, Inc. a company that has been producing this vehicle since it's introduction into the armed forces in 1982 but didn't see action until 9 years later during the Gulf War. The DPV proved to be a vital piece of equipment and since then has never looked back!  There have been several versions produced over the years.  The latest now known as LSV's (Light Strike Vehicle) which looks like a cross between the DPV and a Hummer!  I still think that the DPV is still more bad *ss then the LSV though!  But hey, that's just my opinion. :)

    The following renders are to show you my current model setup at 13,000 Tris.  My target tri count was 13,500.

Hope you enjoy! 

These several renders are of the completed model with and without wire frames.  The next step I have in mind will be to destroy it...

And here is the modeled destroyed after it was hit by a rocket launcher/grenade/landmine I leave that up to your imagination ;)

 

Stay tuned for the textured version...

Back From Vacation!

Hello Peeps!

    Sorry, for such a long delay in posts!  I was away on vacation for the past month!  Yeah, yeah I know what you are thinking... A MONTH!? Dang, I wish I could do that!  Well, if you were freelancing like me at the moment then you could probably do it as well! ;)
    I went back to PA to visit the family which was really nice!  Then on the way back to S.F I stopped off in Vegas to party it up for New Years which was awesome! :)
    Anyway, I am back!  And ready to go!  I will be posting "something" in the next week or so.  I am currently working on a couple of random side gigs and I will have to get back to "it" after I wrap them up!  So, stay tuned!

My 1st 3D Landscape Using Vue 8 (I Call It Fall Mountain)

    I had heard a while back that the big software for creating vast environments in the movies and even some video games lately has been from a software know as Vue.

    Now, I have tried to sit down an learn this software before about a year ago but just didn't have the time and energy.  I am really big with keeping up with the latest and greatest and since I am out of work at the moment I have been keeping busy learning lot's of new things to add to my tool set! 

    

    So, with me being an "Environment Artist" and all I thought it would be cool to give it a go!  This software is pretty bad a**! After taking some time to study the "how to" videos I was up and running.  The biggest trick about this software so far is customization of pieces.  Oh, and the thing that takes the longest of course is getting the rendering to look right!  Colors,lighting, atmosphere, sizing these have to be constantly tweaked in order to achieve your desired result and with each change means more rendering...  It's a constant battle! ;)  But, with a little more practice I am sure I will get my work flow running nice and smooth!

    Here is my 1st attempt with Vue.  I just wanted to get the basics down and get a scene completed.  This is far from being photo-realistic but I can see achieving photo-realism with a bit more studying! ;)

Here's to the start of a beautiful relationship! :)

Happy Halloween! My 1st 3D Pumpkin Carving! Say hello to Tiki-O-Lantern!

    I know this is a little late but I couldn't help it! I just had to post it! I am proud of my 1st attempt at carving a 3D design into a pumpkin and wanted to share it with you!

    Every year as far back as I can remember I have always carved a pumpkin for Halloween.  Well, this year was a bit different! Usually, I would just go about carving my pumpkin the same old tradition way.  Carving all the way through the till I saw the hollowed out inside where my candle would shine through.  

    Instead of going that route I had remembered seeing someone carve a design into the pumpkin without going all the way through about 2 years ago and thought I would give it a go since I am an artist and all.  This method is called subtractive sculpting.  I had performed this method before years ago while I was in school for my sculpture class.  But, the difference was I used a solid piece of clay not a hollowed pumpkin!  You are quite limited when using a pumpkin as your sculpting base material.  What I mean by "limited" is... I am sure many of you know that a pumpkin is not solid all the way through.  The thickness of the pumpkins "membrane" or "wall" varies per pumpkin.  When you carve a pumpkin traditionally the biggest task is to make sure your get all the way through this membrane so that when you put a candle inside the light will shine through.  Well, with subtractive carving it is quite the opposite!  You want to carve the pumpkin without going all the way through!  This becomes a bit of a challenge considering you can only guesstimate when you are getting close by always comparing how far in you are carving to the thickness of your membrane by looking inside and outside of your pumpkin.  There are little tricks that you can do to check how far you have carved into the pumpkin by shining I light on the inside of the pumpkin in the area where you are carving to see which areas are brighter than the other more light = thinner membrane.  I didn't do this for mine this year I just guesstimated and it worked out. ;)

O.K enough blabbing here are is the final results of the night. This took me about 4 hrs to do including gutting the inside of the pumpkin too!

Enjoy! :)

Barrel Prop

    Here is a prop that I created for the organic texturing scene from my previous post below.

    The base model was modeled and uved in Maya and then exported and sculpted/textured in ZBrush 4!  The Color,Spec, and Normal maps where then exported from ZBrush for use on the low rez model in Maya.

Enjoy!

Organic Texturing

     I recently completed a small "game ready" texturing/uving project for a company in southern California and thought I would share my outcome with you.

     I was told that the texturing should be "next gen" in quality (ex. Color,Normal,Spec,Vertex Coloring etc...) and that the maximum texture size was limited to 512x512. But, I could have several 512x512 maps.

    The following images are "real time" screen grabs right inside of the Maya view-port. With Maya's real time lighting and shadowing. Now, I know that Maya's shading engine sucks. And I know that I could have baked the textures but baked shadows was not allowed. My hope is that Autodesk will incorporate 3D Studio Max's real time engine into Maya in it's next release since 3DSM has real time soft shadows which look 100 times better!

    The final texture count came out to a total of (5) 512x512 maps (Color,Normal,Spec, and Vertex AO blending).

And here is a short "real time" turntable from Maya's view-port of the final textures applied to the geometry. 

Flood Light (Art Test)

    I recently took an art test for game company and I would like to share my outcome with you.  

    My task was to create a construction flood light as pictured below under 800 (polys) or 1500 (tris).  I was then suppose to take the model and make it fit into the game world which was a destroyed from a recent explosion.

    Ironically, my computer also exploded right after receiving the test!!! :(

    So, after some freaking out I got to diagnosing the problem.  Thought it was the Mobo at first but after running some test it wasn't.  It was the Hard Drive!  Good thing I backed up my work recently!  I ran out and picked up a new drive and hooked it up, pressed power... my computer starts to boot but suddenly it locks up on me! Dang! Back to diagnosing... after disconnecting this and re-hooking up that I was able to get my computer back on track and then I had to re-install all of my software!  Man, what a process.  After some online ordering and after a couple visit's to Best Buy for odds and ends.  I was able to get my baby up and running again!  Unfortunately, this couldn't have happened at the worst time... I was able to get the test done and sent in but unfortunately, it was just too late... the delay in the rebuild cost me the gig Dang! :(

    They were super impressed with my work and only wished I would have got it in a couple of day's sooner!  They got me on standby at the moment...

    Even, though I did not get the gig.  I had a blast doing this test!  I even learned a couple things along the way too!  Which is a win in my book!

    Here are my final images.  These images where all captured in "realtime" with all textures applied.  I was allowed a Diffuse combined A.O, Normal, Spec and Lightmap for this test.

Hope you like it! :)

Reference Pic:

"R" Is For ROCK!

    I have always wanted to create some cool textured 3D text and just never really got around to it in the past.

    Well, today that has changed!  I am proud to present to you my latest work of a scene with a style and feel of that would fit right in a Pixar or even Dreamworks 3D film (since they are looking pretty similar style wise these days).

    This scene is entirely 3D! Yes, even the clouds and grassy hilltop! :) 

    I created this scene with Maya and ZBrush.

    
    I hope you like it! Here are 2 images that are slightly different.  I couldn't decide on which one I liked better so here ya go. :)

"R" Is For ROCK!

My Demo Reel

Here is my current Demo Reel.

For best viewing please watch in FULL SCREEN mode.  You can select "full screen" in the right corner of the youtube video player you will see the "expand icon". :)

My Work While Working @ EA Games As A 2D/3D Artist

    My contract for EA Games just ended recently and I have been in the process of gathering my work that I produced while I was there to show.

    I was a 2D/3D Artist on the Sims 3 Team (As listed below on my resume in my previous post "Let's Get Started With The Facts".

    The first part of the post will be comprised of the 3D assets that I textured for use as down-loadable "asset packs" in which players can purchase through the Sims 3 website. (See "Let's Get Started With The Facts" post below for the Sims website url and my titles or you or click here and browse the store).

    The second part of this post will be composed of my Texture work both in their 2D state and applied onto a 3D "test" asset in the game engine. All textures were created personally by me for use in the Sims 3 Expansion Packs for both the development team and Web releases. (Please see previous post "Let's Get Started With The Facts", Resume to see my list of shipped titles). 

    The following images are screen captures of my textured asset (sets) that were assembled within the Sims 3 game. (These images were used as promo material for various websites and EA's main Store website).

Hope you enjoy!