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! 

    

Some fun with A.E (After Effects CS5)

 

    Today, I decided to have some fun and do a small motion graphic title project with some recently acquired skills I had learned the other day.  I like to break out of the 3D realm every now and then and A.E is a great outlet for that!  I have always liked using A.E and enjoy creating motion graphics.  A.E has been something I have always tried to incorporate into my 3D background especially when it comes to creating demo reels!  Kind of goes hand in hand ;)  And since I know both A.E and Maya so well I think I might start to merge the 2 together even more over the next couple of months and create more motion graphics!  No promises we, will have to see how things go....

Resume: Let's Start With The Facts!

A Little About Me:

• 7 plus years experience in creating game based content such as architectural buildings, terrain, ecosystems and props in Maya
• 2 years of Professional game experience working for several game companies
• An ideal candidate with a diverse understanding of the game industry's art production pipeline
• Ability to create highly original game world renderings
• Ability to apply materials and textures such as diffuse maps, nomal maps, spec maps, shadow maps and light maps to models and integrate the models into the game using proprietary tools
• Experience in establishing good development practices and assisting team members to help with the evolving editing tools

(Current)
• Contributed as a 2D/3D artist for EA's widely popular franchise “The Sims 3","The Sims Expansion Packs" (EP's) and store content which is made for online release (SP’s) as well other unannounced Sims titles which are currently in production.

My Shipped Titles include: 
(EP)= Expansion Pack

(SP)= Online Store Pack 

"Clicking on any of the titles below will direct you to my work on EA's site" 

• Sims 3 Ambitions (EP) 
• Romanza Ceremony (SP) 
• Reception + Attire (SP) 
• Zen Again (SP) 
• Adrenaline Rush (SP) 
• Island Villa (SP) 
• Sun, Surf & Sand (Swim + Sleep) (SP) 
• Sun, Surf & Sand (Sleep) (SP) 
• It’s Game Time! (SP) 
• Championship Dreams (SP) 
• Ultra Lounge Kitchen (SP) 
• Faire Folk Outdoors (SP) 
• Hacienda Luxury (SP) 
• Haute Hip (SP) 
• Provence (SP) 
• Weba Yayfoo (SP) 
• Buccaneer's Bounty (SP) 

All of which can be found on the Sims 3 store at http://www.thesims3.com/

The Resume:

PROFESSIONAL SKILLS:

 Application Specific:

 
• Autodesk Maya 2010
• Mental Ray (Rendering)
• NEX Maya Retopology Plugin
• Topogun Retopology
• Z-Brush 3.5r3
• 3d Studio Max
• Headus UV Layout
• Crazy Bump
• XNormal
• Unreal Editor 3
• HDR Shop
• Adobe Photoshop CS4
• Adobe Illustrator CS4
• Adobe After Effects CS4
• Several Proprietary Apps
• Adobe Premiere Pro
• Final Cut Pro
• Apples Shake
• Adobe Flash
• Windows OS
• Mac OS

Skill Specific:

• High Rez Modeling
• Retopologizing of 3D Models
• UV Layout + Organizing
• Low Rez 3D Modeling and Animation
• Next Gen Advanced 3D Modeling
• Games Level Design
• Games Modeling and Texturing
• Environments and Props
• Visual Compositing
• Motion Graphics
• Texture Creation and Manipulation
• Lighting and Rendering
• Particle Creation and Animation
• Visual Effects
• Hard Surface Modeling
• 3D Character Modeling
• Digital Imaging
• Architecture
• Marquette Sculpting
• Color and Design
• Photography  

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: 

Electronic Arts (EA) 2D/3D Artist and Preset Creator Mar. 2010 - July 2010
Responsibilities:  

• Utilized in-house proprietary software to help manage, create, manipulate and assign textures and custom made “presets” (predefined textures and color settings applied to 3D assets to populate a players worlds which are fully customizable). These “default” states for assets within the game world are applied to organic, hard surfaced and abstract 3D game models.
• Created adjustable RGBA targa texture files, which was then converted into fully adjustable xml files that the game engine reads for in game users to have full control over. These files give the player the option to swap in and out customizable textures to create their own unique textures. All texture foundations were created based upon my original designs. Users have the ability to control the overall color and details of an entire texture independently depending on textures details. All of which have been separated into individual channels when created in Photoshop.
• Collaborated with art directors, producers, lead’s and art teams to gather necessary assets, artistic visions and input to conceptualize visually stunning final renderings. All of which helped in streamlining the creation process to ensure continuous integration for the overall look and feel of the game.
• Worked closely with art and web teams to create diverse theme based textures that can be used universally throughout the game world cohesively.
• Helped engineers trouble shoot program and game based “bugs” to ensure a smoother workflow between teams.
• Developed techniques to better understand the technical limitations of systems for which Sims games are designed.
• Contributed to further development of in house proprietary editing tools and software
• Designed from concept and photo reference both of which help to drive the creation and aesthetics of the Sims reality, fantasy and abstract textures.
• Quality tested and implemented all designs and assets in game and with proprietary game engine software

Freelance Artist (3D-2D Artist) May 2009 - Jan. 2010   

Responsibilities:
 

• Developed next gen cinematics, low rez in game models/assets and textured environments for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii consoles.
** Tools being used in development: Maya 2010, ZBrush 4, Headus Uv Layout, Nex Retopo plugin for Maya, PS CS5, XNormal, Crazybump.**
• Texture/Uv Layout Artist: 3D Environments Cinematics and game ready models
• Lighting Artist for 3D Environments in Cinematics and Games
• Rendering Artist: Environments and Assets using Maya 2010 Mental Ray and ZBrush Engine. • Art Director: Currently developing 2D art/UI for IPhone platform.
• Spare Time: Extending skill set/tool bag in the areas of 3D Environments for both Film and Games.

Trion World Network, Inc. (2D/3D Artist (UI) Jan. 2008 - Mar. 2009
Responsibilities:

• Established games general UI look and feel with the production and implementation of high end 3D and 2D assets into Visual Designs. As well as aiding the Programming department in developing better in house UI software with more user friendly functionality from the ground up.
• Conducted and attended team brainstorming and project building meetings on a weekly basis to help better design decisions and further develop games direction.
• Created and developed Wiki pages in which wire frames and general descriptions were posted to and taken from to generate art assets. All concepts and final renderings were posted here as well.
• Took ideas from brainstorming meetings and personal reference to conceptualized sketches.
• Used sketches to narrow down design ideas. I would then produce several computer generated designs using Adobe Photoshop, Maya and Adobe After Effects. Discussions with my team and art director would take place to make sure the designs look and feel were on task and final design would be chosen.
• Produced final in high quality renders
• Implemented final designs into in-house proprietary UI Program and then re-assembled for use in game engine.
• Uploaded game file formats to in house servers which would then be tested in real time.
• Bugs that were found were fixed by myself or if they were code specific would be noted on the Wiki and sent to programmers for fixing.

EDUCATION:

• 2002-2007: Academy of Art University: B.F.A. 3D Computer Arts: Modeling/Texturing/Visual Effects
• 2002-2004: Academy of Art University: A.A Computer Arts: Visual Effects

**For more info please see my Linkedin Profile here you can view my recommendations from past jobs and feel free to reach out and connect! Hope to hear from you soon!**

A new outlet...

    Today, I thought of trying a new approach to showing my art work to the public by creating a "blog" page. 

    While I have a website as well with older work on it @ www.outofthisworldent.org which I designed myself using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Dreamweaver.  I have found keeping a website up to date using Dreamweaver has been a big pain in the a** and just too time consuming (That is when everything on it is custom!)  I self taught myself how to use Dreamweaver and while I like learning new skills it is just a bit too much to have to worry about which in turn has brought me here.  I am seeking new means to show off my talents to the public, companies, and any one who is looking for a freelance artist!  Hopefully this "blog spot" will help me achieve this and also help in streamlining work flows making life just a little bit easier! So here goes nothing... :\