Autodesk 3DS Max
The Making of Labyrinthine in 3DS Max
Labyrinthine.wmv (600×400, 1.5MB, WMV9 video)
Now:
It feels like it’s been too long since I’ve been able to work on a 3d piece. One of the last chances I had I was able to produce this, which suffers somewhat from a shortened time allotment but did give me a chance to work on moody lighting.
The Making of Corruption in 3DS Max
Corruption.avi (320×240, 1.1MB, MPEG4 video)
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Corruption was essentially my effort at something like a fine art sculpture, but with 3DS Max instead of ceramics. Saved file versions and test renders from along the way make up this visual roadmap to how I achieved the final sculpture and image effects.
Dynamics Demo
Download the animation:
dynamics.avi (400×225, 3.3MB, MPEG4)
-or-
dynamics.mpg (352×198 5.6MB MPEG1)
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This was my first attempt to inject realism into my 3d animation, leading to my discovery that it’s not easy to do.
Labyrinthine
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While I feel less than happy with many of my previous images, this one still pleases me. Probably my favorite aspect is the texturing, achieved almost entirely by lighting rather than traditional texture mapping.
Lighting (and texturing) is something I’ve traditionally struggled with, and it may not be perfect but the lighting here did accomplish much of what I wanted it to do; flaws are more in the realm of design than technique. Anyway, don’t you just love the contrast from shadow to highlights, and the soft bloom those highlights give off? I do.
Corruption
Update: see The Making of Corruption!
Now:
During my early sculpting days, when I sat in on a few of Valerie’s art classes, I developed an interest in making my own 3d digital sculpture pieces. This is perhaps my most literal attempt, the lighting and depth of field and little details were all intended to produce the effect of realism while still obviously describing an art piece sculpture.
Shackles
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Here’s a dark one, and I’m not just talking about theme. The thing I remember most about making this image is that it was the reason I began to think about monitor calibration.
This was probably around the time I started working the graveyard shift for a part-time job, and I hung up towels and blankets over the blinds in my room to block out as much light from the windows as possible. Having created, for the first time, a truly dark environment for myself (really just to be able to sleep when I got home in the morning), it started having an effect on the way I used my computer.
Widget Autospork 350
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Somebody once told me that this looks clearly like a glue gun. The amusing thing is that I think the person who told me that was interviewing me for a job, something with CAD and 3d visualization of industrial design pieces.
Morph and Explode Animation Tests
Download the animation test videos:
morph.avi (320×240, 388KB, MPEG4)
explode.mpg (240×180, 1.01MB, MPEG1)
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Simple tests I did while getting the hang of basic animation tasks within 3DS Max.
Demon Hand: 3D Modeling Project
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It seems like this was a point in my artistic development that I was just beginning to gain some confidence working in 3d, and suddenly started biting off more than I could chew. I can remember some very ambitious plans for characters that were simply hands, fighting each other with all manner of Asian weaponry like kusari-gama, nunchuku, etc. They were going to be animated pivoting and kicking as if fingers were legs, all the while performing complicated manuevers with chain weapons. No wonder I never finished such a project.
Then:
Demon hand is simply a working title for this modeling project, where my current goal is to make a fairly life-like hand. To begin the model I used the technique of box modeling, extruding and scaling faces on a primitive mesh to get the rough shape down. The hand will be modeled in a relatively neutral pose, for easier animation setup later.
Vortex
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My favorite aspect of this piece must be the funky greenish texture of the walls, everwhere the circuit traces are not etched. It’s both blockish and nicely grungy and tarnished, like metal with some sort of fungus growing on it. If only I had come up with textures as inventive for the rest of the materials, this might have more appeal overall.
After Hallway, this is the second in what is essentially a series of mine in “corridors”. I guess I just enjoy the long perspective shots (or have compositional stutters).
Occum’s Razor
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The modeling has its problems, but what bugs me most is the lighting on this piece. The sky is pretty great, but the guillotine itself is rather poorly lit. Hindsight, I suppose.
Then:
Spines
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I can still enjoy this piece as a 3d doodle. The simplicity and reasonable textures feel more forgivable than some of my overworked and under-designed 3d images. A part of me, seeing this again, wants to develop more simple, iconic 3d images and achieve better results on such a low level of complexity, before attempting more involved scenes again.
Hallway
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A very simple piece, this is probably the most basic modeling I’ve used in a rendering. It might have been fine, but the materials and lighting don’t feel like they do enough to add significant interest to the basic modelig setup.
On the other hand, I think I still enjoy long perspective shots. This was made before I had experience using depth of field, and it might have been nice to see some of that employed here; I have to admit I have a soft spot for distance and compositions that pull the viewer into the frame with great depth.
Power: Animation Test
Download the animation test videos:
power1.avi (320×240, 1.99MB, MPEG4)
-or-
power1.mpg (320×240, 6.99MB MPEG1)
Download an early test animation of the pod and its holder:
podtest1.avi (320×240, 840KB)
Highway
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I think that when I was composing this piece, I had some (vague, at least) idea of the composition I was seeking. That drove me to produce it.
The unfortunate part is that I had no idea what to use when filling in those compositional elements. Something dark in this lower corner of the image? An amorphous blob. Color? Er, yes! To bad they’re all over the place (in every sense of the word). Value? That means something in a visual design sense?
Ah, strangely it feels sort of good to MST3K my own work. Perhaps I’ve moved on from this level, though it might be hard to tell since I’ve also moved away from making 3d images, primarily due to time constraints. If I had the time, and could remember what Tom Servo’s profile looked like, I’d add an MST3K silhouette mouseover to this image.
Maleficent Head Model
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Back in my Max R2.5 days, I was still very new to 3d modeling. Organic curves and shapes were (and still are, most of the time) a big challenge. Working from, I believe, a Maleficent postcard image, I started practicing by roughing out basic features and then refining into finer details. Of course it seems that I didn’t get all that far into the refining stages, but it was fun for a time.
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Maleficent is a modeling project, my effort to create a 3D variant of the dark majestic villain.
