FranknSon

Trick or Treat - Indie Filmmakers Tackle Monstrous Task of 3D Animation
independent filmmakers start development on "Pixar style" 3D animated theatrical film with the same technology used in "Toy Story" and "Shrek". “FranknSon” will be a 3D Stereoscopic feature animation film which is in development and will go into production next year (http://www.FranknSon.com).

The full article..

KickStart!

I decided this needed it's own post.

One of the freelance jobs I am working on is pitch for 3D Animated feature film done entirely on an indie budget. I am really excited to be a part of this and hope we can see it all the way through. Unfortunately with any great project we need the funding to do it, so a kickstarter campaign was started to try and raise some of what we need.

Besides just ability to pledge money the link below also has a cool video that explains the project better then I ever could, so why not check it out? And maybe pledge a few dollars if you are interested?

FrankNson Kickstarter

Updates and a new job...

Sorry I haven't been on in a while(again). I managed to get a new job as a cashier a Lowe's, a home improvement store if anyone has never heard of it, and also managed to snag a few freelance gigs which I am really excited about.

I don't know how much I am going to be able to update this blog with work since these are the first freelance gigs I have ever had and I don't quite know what I am allowed to show since I am under contract(probably nothing). So I will try and work on some things on the side if the work gets slow, but until then, wish me luck!

Tutorials

I have been busy over the past week trying to get the hang of the Blender interface. Its been a little difficult being as it is so different then either 3DS Max or Maya. I keep hearing how great the interface is but I have to say at the moment I am still a bit skeptical.

Anyways I don't have much to update with so I figured I would post some links to the tutorials I have been using that seemed like the most help. This goes beyond the blender tutorials and into other programs as well.

Blender:

Character Modeling in Blender
Nystic.com

Cinema 4D:

Cinema 4D Beginner Tutorials

After Effects:

Video Copilot

Flash:

OnEnter Flash

Animation Help:

Animation Lounge

Tin Scene

I put that tin in this scene instead of the snow globe, it makes a little more sense. And yes, the candle flames are just brush strokes done in photoshop. I think I need to learn how to make some convincing flames, I'll add that to my to do list.

I plan to spend all of tomorrow learning how to use Blender. I've practiced a little in it, but I think I really want to dive in and try to get the hang of that program.

Tin

A quick model of a tin on my desk. Had some issues unwrapping due to some bug in Max. I would try selecting faces but for some reason it wouldn't let me select them after the program had been open for 5 minuets.

I swear that program does this just to annoy me...maybe it's just the heat.

Updates...

I haven't posted in a while due to the job search. I haven't received many new leads in the past few weeks so I have been scouring the internet in search of new opportunities. At some point I lost track of my creative side and stopped doing anything actually productive. Hopefully that should be done with and I hope to get back into Modeling and maybe even looking some more into After Effects, (working on that quick demo reel reminded me how much I like editing and working in that program.).

In the mean time I have finally broken down and decided to look for a normal job such as being a waitress or cashier. I need to get out some more and eventually my funds are going to dry up if I don't earn a paycheck.

It's kinda disappointing, but it shouldn't stop me from doing what I love.

After Effects

Had an interview today with a company that wanted an Adobe After Effects freelancer, so I dug through all my files and put together a really quick demo reel of my stuff. A lot of it is old, and any of the live action footage isn't mine, it was given to me for the lesson(it was a college assignment).

I can't say it's that great of a reel, I definitely would want to update it. Will it get me the job? Probably not, but it's better then going in empty handed.

(I seem to be having technical difficulties with photobucket, and the video won't upload to blogspot either...I'll have to try and fix this.)

B. Coon

Sort of a raccoon beaver mix, hence the B. Coon title.

No luck in the job hunt so far...I get the feeling I may have to force myself into factory work again. I do not look forward to the 11hr 6 days a week schedule. I wind up so exhausted that even thinking seems tiring. So there probably won't be many updates if that happens.

Just have to keep trying I guess.

Drawing Classes

I wanted to take some figure drawing classes, or just find a workshop to go to. Unfortunately I can't seem to find any decent ones in the area. I did go and meet the instructor to some classes that are about 45 minuets away without traffic. The classes themselves sounded good, but the drive was a bit to much...way to many highways and the traffic was pretty bad. The new semester for the county college start in a month or so, I hope they will be offering something.

I also need to find my scanner...

Modeling Reel

3D Reel 2010....finally.

(Blogspot's video player didn't work well with my reel... so trying a different one.)

Heart's Arrow

Just something quick I wanted to model. I got the idea in my head while waiting around for some things to render. Its supposed to show an arrow just missing its mark because 'something' got in its way.

Side Table

I was debating how to use my snow globe...so I decided to give it a small scene. Unfortunately the scene had a mind of it's own and went southwestern. The snow globe doesn't quite fit in anymore. I'll have to rework the colors a bit, even though I do like the Mexican feel of it.

Snow Globe

Decided to play a little with my wind turbine models.

Doctor's Desk

Took all my random models and placed them into one scene. Hopefully I can get my 3D reel done soon.

Rat

Been a bit busy for the past week with job searching. So here is a small doodle I made while at an employment class last week. For some reason whenever I get a pen I can't draw anything but these thick lined animals.

Medical Drill

The beginnings of a Medical Drill. Still has some smoothing issues and needs texture.

Medical Scanner

A quick model, it's not quite the same as the original, but it still came out pretty good.

Wind Farm Test Render

Getting a little closer to the what I want it do look like. Needs to be a bit darker on the bottom and the spacing of the windmills is still off. I mostly want it to look more like this.

Windmill Farm

Start on a new project. Want to make an scene for the credits on my modeling Portfolio. I'm hoping to go for the whole silhouette look so I am not to worried about the textures.

A little more...

Been busy for the past few days, so I only got some more shading and cleaned it up a little.

Erosion

My modeling port is coming along slowly. While waiting for one of the many renders I started doodling. Once again I need to plug in my scanner because my webcam doesn't really do the sketch justice. Not that there is much to it, but still it's a very low quality picture.

Rocks

The rocks look a lot better, though still not as good as I would like. I think its because I only used one rock and stretched it and rotated it a lot. That really messed with the texture and displacement. I'll have to try playing around a little more with it, but I think I can work with this for now. I took the displacement down a lot of the rocks to make them a bit more 'greyer' like the rest of the scene since nothing else has textures.

I got the rock tutorial from free3dtutorials.com

Modeling Intro

So I tried animating my lighthouse scene for the opening to my 3D modeling reel. Unfortunately the water needs a bit of work and the light on the lighthouse is going a bit fast. I still need to work on those rocks too.

Maybe if I actually get done with fixing this I might try and do the texturing.

Maybe...

(If the video is to dark try here.)

Car Beginnings

It's still no where near done, and doesn't quite look like the car it's supposed to be yet. I know the texture will definitely help it a lot, but I still have a lot of kinks to work out in the model.

Rims

Used another tutorial to make some rims for tires. I didn't bother adding lighting or shadows for this pic because the tires are going onto the car, I just made a quick render to see what they look like.

The tutorial is by Mike Nuts and can be found at http://www.3dvalley.com/tutorials/modeling-a-car-rim-in-3d-studio-max

Tires

Decided to try and model a car. I found a decent tutorial for tires. Unfortunately my computer crashed after I downloaded the video so I don't remember where the video is from. Though the video itself says its from 3DNuts.com, so we'll go with that.

Vitamins

I think I have to play around more with the bump maps on this, but for some reason my 3DMax keeps going wonky on me and won't let me select any polys. I'll try working on it again tomorrow. I should also try to find a better label it looks all chopped off and stretched.

Nail Clippers

I tried making this using only smoothing groups, unfortunately I think nail clippers are a bit to smooth for this.

They are pretty low poly though.

TissueBox

After makeing a bathroom curtain from lofting I wanted to see what else I could do with it. The tissue still needs a bit of work, but I think it works for the most part.

Thumbtacks

I for some reason thought a cork texture would be easy.

Basement Door

I don't know what came over me to model a basement door.

Well, it's something I guess.

Bathroom

I have been trying to brush up on my modeling, but it seems it's my texturing and lighting that needs work.

Lamps

Made some lamps and decided I didn't need them so I stuck some snow behind them and photoshoped in the lights.

Only a doodle.

So I have been trying to catch up with sketching since I have't done much recently. Unfortunatly it seems all this lazeing around has really gotten to me. The only somewhat decent sketch I could come up with was this doodle I made in my sketchbook. Unfortunatly the scanner is down again so I had to use my webcam to get it onto the computer...and my photoshop skills didn't help it much.

Well, hopefully with my new freed up schedule I can hopefully brush up on my skills and get to working again.