Multimedia journal

Client Project

2012-02-16T13:56:00.003Z

After my first meeting with my client i have decided to start thinkng about my composited enviroment in more depth, i have alot of film from possible locations but now i need to think about scale. I have taken some stills from some of my live action material and i have tried to fit my creature in some enviroments, i have been worried about using urban enviroments as live action footage as it does not keep with the Swarvoski brand, but with the use of filters, i could make something urban look more sophisticated. I have created some photoshop mock-ups of what i could use.

Artifact 2

2012-02-15T08:00:00.000Z

I have made some adjustments to the darkness of the dispersed liquid, which i believe takes away from the realism in the final piece. I have also experimented with adding a new lighter layer over the original Surface logo, this adds more depth to the final piece. Below you can see this in the images -

Darker liquid-

Lighter liquid-

Artifact 2 Test

2012-02-13T04:14:00.004Z

Artifact 2 Test from Annie Landau on Vimeo.

What i have created will be included in projected visuals for Nottingham based student night surface, i would still like to further develop this piece before i submit it as an artifact.

RealFlow Test

2012-02-08T20:27:00.003Z

Its taken longer than expected to get RealFlow to integrate meshes between Maya and 3D Studio Max, but i have finally figured out the basics, so more to come....

Visuals im working on...

2012-02-03T11:28:00.005Z

Visuals for Surface Notts.. Made in After effects i would like to do something in the style of Loom by Polynoid ( Below ) Im going to concentrate on designing something abstract which features geometric shapes

Visualisations...

2012-02-02T17:44:00.001Z

Espejos de Piedra from ~ Liv on Vimeo.

I would like to make something like this for Surface Notts, which is in keeping with the music of the night.
http://livmusica.wordpress.com/

Inspiration

2012-02-02T16:43:00.002Z

The video below is an advertisement for a diamond company. I think i could mimic some of the opening shots and composite some flying diamonds into the shot..

Crystal Test 1

2012-02-02T10:35:00.001Z

I have slowed down the animation on Premier Pro, ill probably need to play around with the emitter's settings some more...I have used a surface shader for the texture which probably needs changing...

Client Project

2012-02-02T00:19:00.005Z

Dynamnic's finally working, the diamonds will pour out of the creature i am currently modelling.. Below are some test images...

I have been asked to make visuals for my friends night Surface, i plan on combining the diamonds i have just made and some Real Flow liquid simulations...

Artifact 2

2012-02-01T13:23:00.006Z

I just found some really nice work on Cargo Collective, it looks like Real Flow has been used for the liquid simulation. Its something i would really like to do for my second artifact.

http://fatlace.com/

Artifact 1

2012-01-30T10:23:00.003Z

Artifact 1

2012-01-29T15:57:00.002Z

Photography

2012-01-26T20:51:00.005Z

I went to a reservoir today to gather some live action footage which i will composite motion graphics into for my 2nd and 3rd artifacts...

below are some stills from the footage collected..

Artifact 1

2012-01-26T19:52:00.004Z

Stills from my first artifact, the camera pan's out from a close up shot of the earth. After receiving some feedback from my tutor i was told to look at using different colours and to look at what the eye symbolised i have decided to use the earth which represents CBS as a international company at the forefront...

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" opening sequence

2012-01-24T23:15:00.004Z

The titles for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo feature breathtaking imagery, including some shots that utilise liquid simulations. Created by Blur Studios, they have described it as " a fever dream covered in black primordial ooze, telling the entire story of the trilogy in two and a half minutes"i will be sure to refer back to Blur's work as inspiration for one of my artefacts. The imagery conveys a message in its visual language before the film has even started, i am interested in creating visual languages for a company using similar techniques.

Client Project

2012-01-24T23:04:00.005Z

I'm making good progress with modelling.. still need to make some legs and attach everything... Not looking forward to thinking about rigging my 6 legged creature...

Artifact 1

2012-01-20T18:20:00.001Z

My research project looked at many different cooperate identities and the visual language they conveyed through their logo's. Companies like IBM, Apple and CBS all stand out to me, with logos have seen little or no changes in the last 50-60 years. The importance good static logo is imperative, but in this day and age where most graphic designers are expected to work in time based media, i believe companies need to start experimenting with dynamic motion graphics to convey their personalities.

For my first artefact i am going to use an excellent example of good logo design, the CBS logo. Which has hardly changed at all since it was first designed by William Golden in 1951. The symmetry and boldness of the logo gives me a lot to manipulate and work with, i intend on making the eye blink, bounce around, change colour and shoot through a number of different particle backgrounds that react to sounds - with the help of the particular plugin for AE.

Below are some mock - ups of my CBS logo in Maya, the eye now blinks which means i can concentrate on particles, texturing and animation which is where i hope to really give the logo a dynamic edge ....

If i have render time i would also love to try to experimenting with some fluids and the logo in real flow..

Textures - Client Project

2012-01-19T19:45:00.008Z

Inspiration by Australian company Umeric -

I would like the colours of my creature to change color in a similar way, working through the colour wheel. The metallic look is something i would also like to achieve in my finished piece, all though i would like more bump in my textures which will add some extra dimensions to my creations (like Polynoid's Loom)

Below are some textures i am looking at incorporating to my final design...

all from CG Textures

The texture on the left has been given a displacement map, where as the texture on the right has been given a bump map generated on crazy bump. All though the texture on the left looks better ill probably use the texture to the right due to a reduced render time, and then add some hair for increased realism.

Below is a possible texture for my creatures eyes - created using a leather texture, and a u ramp as one of the colours... this sort of texture will really bring my creature to life...

Client Project...

2012-01-18T23:44:00.007Z

For my client project i am entering a competition for Swarovski. Inspired by the work of Polynoid, especially Loom i have decided to create something similar, but i would like to incorporate live action footage, which i have been filming over Christmas holidays (hopefully it will snow soon as that would be ideal for the Swarovski colour scheme of grey's and blues.)

I would like my creatures to open up and literally explode crystals, the contrast between the crystals and the creature will work well as a composition. Below are some drawings i have put together.

Photoshop mock up -

Recent modelling work... I have no idea how im going to rig the creature, i will probably use a biped / plugin for the main skeleton and soft IK's for the tentacles (similar to the bird creature i made)

I was thinking i could use the creature - if finished in time for one of my artefact's too, in a similar style to the BBC's Hippo ident, which featured full CG hippos swimming in a circle, it showed the audience what the BBC is capable of technically, and that its a forward thinking ahead of the time television network...

Work Experience at The Elf Factory...

2012-01-11T01:59:00.007Z

I have been having a really good time working at The Elf Factory / Astley Baker Davies. On Monday i was given the opportunity to wonder around the office and ask everyone questions, it was a little daunting at first but everyone was incredible friendly and happy to explain how they got where they are. I began talking to the design team, currently consisting of three people, they begin creating everything in Adobe Illustrator, they all have graphic design backgrounds. Everything created, goes into an asset library, which saves time, and increases productivity allowing for simple elements to re-designed. Right now the office is working on Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom, which has a similar artistic style to Peppa Pig. I also spent some time looking through the scripts, storyboards, leica, and sitting in on the animation team leader's briefs in which he instructed the different teams on what to look out for whilst animating.

The animation team, which is a group of about 10 all use software called Cel Action, which is primarily used for 2D animation, one of the lead animators talked me through the software, which can be best compared to a basic version of Adobe After Effects; a difference between Cel Action and After Effects is that parenting /attaching objects can be done much more simply in Cel Action. Unlike software like Maya and 3D Studio Max animation is less floaty, as the animator needs to key frame from frame to frame without the computer just predicting movements. The user interface of Cel Action looks like a Dope sheet, as most of the animators are used to 2D hand drawn animation, the interface to them is all most second nature. The timeline runs down the screen as opposed to across. The character rigs are really simple, they all work around pivot points, and the different variations of the character are different illustrator files which have been hand drawn. When i asked the animators what they thought of the software they all seemed pretty happy with it, claiming it was reliable and not over complicated, with a basic knowledge of animation and timing its pretty easy to pick up.

I spent Tuesday at sound recording in the Sound Company in London, two of the company directors were there, as well as the production assistant, who has been showing me the ropes. I really enjoyed watching all of the different characters come in and get into character, the script reading was really funny, due to various changes made in production some characters had to re- record lines for areas of the animation which had all ready been animated, this took slightly longer to get correct as timing was everything.

Tomorrow I'm going to sit in with the editing, which will be exciting to see as i have seen the sound all come together today. On Friday there is going to be an office screening of the episodes worked on this week which I'm really looking forward to...

http://www.astleybakerdavies.com/lk.html

Recently...

2012-01-06T14:10:00.003Z

I finally get to start my work experience at the Elf Factory on Monday. I am really looking forward to it, in preparation i have been watching some really fun animations, and brushing up on my After Effects skills. I have some great plug ins from Red Giant Software, which have allowed me to make some really nice particle simulations that react to sound... I have also been taking my new camera everywhere with me, photographing things allows me to gain a greater understanding of lighting, composition and balances, which are important in VFX. I have also have loads of footage which is waiting to be tracked and edited....

Red Bull off the Planet

2011-12-15T14:16:00.002Z

Interactive art show.. by Melbourne installation artist ENESS...

Lyon Festival of Lights

2011-12-15T13:01:00.003Z

Urban Flipper

Transe Nocturne

I am defiantly going next year... "the Lyon Festival of Lights he Festival of Light highlights the town's architectural heritage, its rivers and its main monuments through a combination of fantastic scenes making use of lighting, video and audio attractions.
The continuous lighting and video effects, visual arts and creative audio features combine to help you discover the town as you have never seen it before." http://www.en.lyon-france.com/Highlights/Archives/The-Festival-of-Light,-2011

http://www.fetedeslumieres.lyon.fr/EN_1

3D Projection Mapping..

2011-12-13T00:26:00.003Z

I have FINALLY purchased a Canon 600D camera, which i am going to use with a projector.. this will allow me to capture, pixel by pixel, what the projector “sees”. I will be using a special scanner function, which works with MadMapper and Modul8... My only problem is now i need a projector... the tutorial i plan on following is http://www.madmapper.com/madmapper-spacial-scanner-tutorial/ I think this will be the best place to start on my 3D projection mapping journey, MadMapper has respect within industry as its fairly user friendly, all though it is just mapping software. I found a useful blog where i have been getting a lot of information from too... Whilst i try my hardest to get hold of a projector... i'm going to make use of my new camera by filming some live action footage, which i can later composite with some 3D animations i have been working on....

Visuals

2011-12-07T12:47:00.003Z

One of my animations is going to be used in some visuals tonight at MarketBar for Surface. Below are some frames of what ive done...

Mathias Gmachl

2011-12-07T10:22:00.003Z

TED 2010

2011-12-06T21:37:00.000Z

5 images

2011-11-24T01:11:00.006Z

I have been working on the pieces below as one of my 5 images, i would still like to add some more text and 3d elements. I have created everything in Maya and composited it in photoshop, i would like this piece to represent a skill of mine, i was going with dynamic. I think i will try to produce something different tomorrow as im not completely happy.. perhaps just stick with 3d software

Digital Self Portrait 2

2011-11-22T20:31:00.001Z

The second digital self portrait..I have used less colour in this and tried to think about negative space more...

Camera Track Test

2011-11-22T02:37:00.002Z

Digital Self Potrait

2011-11-22T02:12:00.002Z

I am applying to a MA that requires me to produce a digital self portrait using photoshop. It still needs some work but this is what i have come up with so far...

Inspiration

2011-11-21T14:43:00.005Z

I have recently been looking through various 3d magasines to get some inspiration on where i would like to take my work, the piece below is by Kamil Solminski and appeared in issue 33 of 3d artist, i would like to try something similar with my camera tracked shots. I like the idea of combining organic forms with real world backgrounds.

The piece below is by Zeitguised, and it was in this weeks (Christmas 2011) edition of 3d world, i would also like to experiment with dynamics and abstract shapes.

The work below was also in the Christmas edition of 3d world, it is by PepperMelon, for MTV. I have been looking closely at MTV's work for my research project. They have used Boujou for camera tracking, and they have called it an essential piece of software for integrating their characters into the scene.

The work i have selected all has a similar style, with a realistic background, and CG elements. I would like to also create something utilising similar techniques..

Recent work..

2011-11-15T14:00:00.002Z

I have also just animated this plant/tentacle.. i hope to use a similar method to use the same technique on text which i will composite into my scene below...

Boujou and Matchmover

2011-11-15T13:56:00.002Z

Some recent camera tracking i have been working on, i found that Boujou gave me more precise tracks, but this could just be due to the footage. I had some problems importing my Mov. files into Maya, it took me about two days to realise that the MOV. file needed to be converted into numbered stills... But here it is.. my first camera track

Who am i?

2011-11-11T00:55:00.004Z

After todays lecture i was thinking of ways to best represent myself. The most obvious answer to me was my CV, this is the first thing any employer will see. I have been meaning to make a creative CV for a while... this is what i have come up with...

Motion Blur : OneDotZero

2011-11-10T16:56:00.003Z

I have watched all three Motion Blur Dvd's from the library, i found some really nice work, in a similar style to what i would like my exhibition pieces to look like. Compositing, and organic models are two elements i would like to defiantly like to include. Below are some the videos that have really stood out to me, there are also some with nice ident design, which is useful in writing my Research project...What surprised me is that the DVD was made in 2004, yet the work still looks new

Lynnfox Hayling : FC Kahuna

Timo Schadedel, London Details

By XMas an art collective from South Africa

Fake - Timo Schaedel - really nice compositing

Match moving..

2011-11-09T16:41:00.006Z

Today i went to some derelict places to film things i can match move. I have also installed Boujou and started camera tracking some footage.. Im feeling inspired after watching so many good examples of composited television indents..

Research Project

2011-11-09T13:42:00.004Z

Just about to go to a warehouse to film some action shots for me to composite, i have also planned on filming a sink, and have 3d animated characters come out of it, i designed some characters this summer in Italy that i am looking forward to using!

Antoine Bardou-Jacquet, is descendant of Jeffrey Shaw’s installation 1988 Legible City. Great example of moving image.

Alex Gopher - The Child

DVNO Justice directed by Machine Molle, So-Me and Yorgo Tloupas

The video shows song lyrics as animated logos from the 80s: 20th Century Fox, HBO,
CBS, Universal, Sega etc…"Basically it samples a decade’s worth of motion graphics and compresses the experience into several minutes." Digital Poetry as Ontological Probe, Thesis by William David (Jhave) Johnston

5 Artefacts...

2011-11-08T20:07:00.004Z

I have been attempting some basic match moving with Composite and Maya, i would like my 5 artefacts to incorporate real world and 3d. I would eventually like to go into VFX and this seems the best way to get started, so far i have been following some tutorials from digital tutors. I would like to film some more outdoors, i have also installed Rolling Shutter by the Foundry, who make Nuke, to help me combat camera shake....

National Geographic Infographic

2011-11-04T01:52:00.002Z

Really nice inforgrphic from the National Geographic .. Just downloaded Nuke as i would really like to experiment with compositing for my exhibition piece..

Start Up Factory

2011-11-02T00:54:00.002Z

I finally finished my Start Up Factory Report and whilst looking for examples of 3d projection mapping at the moment i found about the worlds first ever user generated 3d mapping event. The event was for Wrigley's 5 Chewing Gum, it took place in South Africa. Users are able to create their own projections, with music by French electronic Dj, Etienne De Crecy. This is what i believe is the future of 3d projection mapping, audiences being able to interact and to take part in the free art form.

http://www.5gum.co.za/

Surface Nottingham

2011-11-01T20:55:00.006Z

The roots animation i made for my alumni project are currently being edited by Jess Howell into visuals which will be projected in Market Bar tomorrow night for Surface Nottingham...

Surface visuals from jess howell on Vimeo.

Simulated Client Project Rationale

2011-10-27T13:34:00.002+01:00

Project Rationale

Overall i am really happy with how my project went, i finished my main animation early which left me time to work on another three small animations, which i much prefer to my original idea. I feel by making these three smaller animations i have learnt the importance of keeping a design simple, and concise. I have been doing research for my research project and i have read up a lot about moving image and composition, the work of Saul Bass really inspired me to think about composition and font choice. By using the slogan keep your family roots growing, it opened up the window to alot of design opportunities in my mind.

My time keeping was adequate with this project, this is something i have struggled with in all my other university projects. In my main animation i think the quality could be better, i used 3d studio max and i had problems rendering out still’s so my only option was to render it as an avi file. I then moved over to Maya for my root animations which are much higher quality, and i found it much more simple to use. I did install Real flow, and i have been experimenting with it, i initially wanted to make an animation using it but it takes far too long to render for a three week project, and is far too complex to master in a week. For my three root animations i used a brush tool stamp to create the root, then animated it along a CV curve, i used 4 different coloured lights. I edited everything in Premier Pro and used some After Effects. In hindsight i would probably should have executed the growing root animation idea earlier, leaving me more time to develop the idea completely. My animations do appeal to a wide audience which is what i wanted to achieve, they are short and have a simple easily read message. I do feel that with having three shorter animations they can be used well on the end of an email to the Alumni members, or on the side of a website. After creating the roots animation my friends who have a night in Nottingham have asked if they can use it as a visual, to be projected behind the bar which has opened another door for me as i am really interested in combing music and sound.

Life Drawing

2011-10-26T14:38:00.005+01:00

Yesterday evening i went to life drawing, some of the masters courses i am looking to apply to require this in your portfolio. I havant been to a life drawing class since i was on my art foundation and i found it really difficult to get my confidence back, i will try my best to continue going as i really need to work on understanding form.

Simulated Client Project

2011-10-24T22:37:00.012+01:00

I have finished three short animations, they are not the main animation that i have been working on. After showing my friends the roots growing they have said they would like to use it for visuals at their night, Surface Nottingham at Market bar. I will need to make the sequences longer, but i am really excited about this opportunity, especially as my work will be projected, which is something i am really interested in. Some inspiration for my root's idea was from these photographs by Nedko Bucev on Saatchi online. http://www.saatchionline.com/art/Photography-Color-Roots/297587/148458/view

Just editing my final animation together today..

Simulated Client Project

2011-10-23T12:51:00.015+01:00

Some Initial sketches of the roots i wanted to create.

After some feedback from my tutor on my idea i was advised to incorporate the Alumni logo with my theme, i decided to make grass grow out of it, with the caption help us to keep your family tree growing. I have some test renders of the image below, unfortunately there not high enough quality so i will have to re-render what i have.

I have also began making some growing roots which will be used as a separate 10 second animation, to illustrate the 'help us to keep your family tree growing' message i have chosen to go with. Below are some still images of what i have been working on, i think the composition of the shot allows for room for text, and while i have been reading up on motion graphics for my research project i have become more aware of this.

Context 3 - Start up factory

2011-10-19T00:11:00.006+01:00

Earlier this summer i teamed up with a friend of mine in photography (Jess Howell) and we began making stop motion videos under the creative name fwd motion. We designed a logo which i even got to animate, we were then offered to film the Amsterdam street art festival. This was a great opportunity, we got to see how the art world really works, spending the day's filming live art and interviewing street artists, in the evening we spent most of our time in the art gallery getting to know the artists. I would really like to progress further with this idea, working closely with other people with similar creative interests. My ideal company would be one just like this, that perhaps offers photographic, and animation services to companies, and of course some sort of projection service that allows live art and animations to be projected in different venues, this will be an entrepreneurial approach as projecting seems to be an area that is vastly growing in popularity among advertisers, i would like to bring this experience into the artistic world, perhaps a way to make this more vastly available for artists is offering cheaper prices then my competitors. By collaborating with street artists i would like to try to take some of the anonymity away from the street art industry, due to legal projections people will be able to watch the artistic process, engaging them and creating a truly interactive experience. Guerilla Projection, the thinking man's graffiti.

Fwd MTN Stop MTN from JESS HOWELL on Vimeo.

Alumni project

2011-10-18T14:18:00.009+01:00

After changing my mind countless amounts of times i have finally decided im going to make a animation with three trees. I will use 3d text and have a caption saying did you know one in three people will be diagnosed with cancer, at this point the leaves will fall off one of the trees, then i will animate grass coming out of the alumni logo, and have a caption along the lines of give now to save your family tree. Here are some test renders of what i have been working on -

Here are some of my initial ideas-

I have also been working on animating grass growing out of the alumni logo, this is what i have so far, i think i need to produce something in the middle with more light and less grass.

Research Project

2011-10-10T16:52:00.004+01:00

I have decided to write my Research project on Ident and television branding. I would like to particularly concentrate on exploring animated idents in a composited environment. I will touch on motion graphics in my research. I have just looked at a creative review article about Mtv Idents, http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2010/march/separate-styles-for-separate-mtv-channel-idents, i just found some work by a graphic designer called Dines, his 2d images are really well designed, and i want to take inspiration from the allmost cloth like elements in his design.

I have just installed real flow, and i plan on experimenting with fluid and dynamics simulations in the constraints of text. In the latest version of 3d Artist there is some similar work by Hussain Almossawi. I have also found a useful blog that covers the history of idents, this should help with preliminary research.

Samsung 3d

2011-10-09T19:45:00.003+01:00

Entering the Stronghold

2011-10-08T23:34:00.004+01:00

I would love to create something like this for my final exhibition project, and possibly combine text with it. - watch in hd.

Laser Tagging

2011-10-07T03:36:00.002+01:00

http://graffitiresearchlab.com/projects/laser-tag/#video

Typography

2011-10-06T00:59:00.005+01:00

I have always been interested in typography, and after seeing this video i am once again intrigued with the area. I love the animation over the sea at 3 minutes, i really like the use of cloth, and tentacles, something is spent the summer learning how to make, rig and animate well. I feel as if i worked really hard on maya skills and i dont want to let what i learnt go to waste by just sticking to using after effects for visuals. Perhaps i could combine some after effects background visuals with 3d typography.

Umeric 'Until Now' 2010. from Umeric on Vimeo.

This is incredible..

2011-10-06T00:49:00.002+01:00

Tron Legacy : Aerosol Mural from End of the line on Vimeo.

Integrated Visions Productions LCC.

2011-10-05T19:37:00.003+01:00

I just found the company Integrated Visions Productions, based in Brooklyn NY and Atlanta GA. They are a multimedia design lab, and their focus is on creating content for 3d mapping. This is a area i would really like to get into, earlier this summer i blogged about the work of Amon Tobin, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWai4UZ0OqI he has mapped on a purpose made sculpture.

Integrated Visions Projection Mapping (Stationary View), 08-09-10 from Integrated Visions Productions on Vimeo.

"Portal": 3D Projection Mapped Sculpture from Integrated Visions Productions on Vimeo.

Video Feedback

2011-10-05T17:50:00.004+01:00

Video feedback is created when a camera is pointed at its own monitor, it is a natural process. I just found a really cool blog that explains how to go about the processhttp://members.tripod.com/professor_tom/galleries/video/index.html

The blog also has a section on some really nice fractals, i have been looking at software i want to start getting to grips with, and last night i ordered three books which all outline how to make affective visuals. I am also thinking about my assimilated client project, I may have a voice over with facts about cancer research and a very compelling visual, possibly made in after effects.

David Engstrom

PRP Ideas.

2011-09-28T13:54:00.008+01:00

After research for the past few weeks i have decided that i am really interested in writing about mathematical visualisation, paying particularly interest to Mandlebulb, which was constructed by originally by Benoit Mendelbrot and then transformed to 3d by Daniel White and Paul Nylander at the end of 2009. They found the three dimensional equivalent to the two dimensional Mandelbrot set. When i first looked at Mandlebulb i thought of the Mandlebrot screen saver which often has a mesmerising effect. The 3D renderings were generated by applying an iterative algorithm to a sphere. I am defiantly no mathematician, but i have trawled through the internet and found some software that helps you to create Mandlebulb shape.

http://www.skytopia.com/project/fractal/mandelbulb.html

http://krzysztofmarczak.deviantart.com/

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/12/mandelbulb-gallery/

I also would like to work with projection mapping, i have some friends starting a night in Nottingham and i have been given the opporunity to create visuals. I have looked at using software called Max and Isadora. I plan on expierementing with after effects as much as possible over the next week.

http://vimeo.com/26827092

http://videomapping.tumblr.com/

Clients...

2011-09-26T20:30:00.004+01:00

I have two clients lined up that i would love to write about. The first client is Phil Davies, the creator of Peppa Pig. I am doing work experience in his company Astley Baker Davies. He has contributed to the British animation industry a lot by deciding not to outsorce work to animators in Asia which is often poor quality. He also ran Middlesex Polytechnics animation department in the late 1989s. They specialise in 2d animation, i am not too sure if this is the area i want to go into, but i intend to learn more about the industry and really make my mind up. http://www.astleybakerdavies.com/

My second client is George Snow, he taught me Maya this summer. He was a really good teacher and his work really inspires me. He has been working on a piece of work called APES, a 360 degree virtual panorama, he has used 10 different cameras which all project his work. He has used the software Isadora which keeps everything in sync, the output goes via a splitter to and each projector receives the appropriate movie. Each camera covers 36 degrees, and the compositing was done in shake. The work is inspired on a stadium that was never built by Alberti and architects Piranesi and Escher. Apes will be shown at the Gemeente Museum in Den Hagg, it is endorsed by the Escher Museum and the Vrije Academie in Den Hagg. I am pretty sure it will also be exhibited in London.

http://www.george-snow.com/

Animating

2011-09-23T18:54:00.002+01:00

I have began animating my bird character that i made earlier this summer. I am still using Maya for the animation, due to me making the bird with soft IK's in the tentacle's they bounce around without needing to be animated. So far i have about 3 seconds of animation, in which the bird is about to fly out of his nest and over the small town i made. I will upload it all shortly.

Poked Studio

2011-09-23T18:46:00.003+01:00

I love the work below by Poked Studio, their 3d illusion work is really impressive and i would like to start working in their cartoon style. They seem to use really simple models with really good textures, over the summer i worked really hard on improving my knowledge of textures, i installed some good software that generates a bump map for you which has helped me get more depth out of my renders.

http://www.pokedstudio.com/bunny-forest-art.html

Street Art - Contemporary Prints from the V&A in Nottingham

2011-09-23T18:20:00.008+01:00

Last week i went to Nottingham Caste for the street art exhibition, consisting of Contemporary Prints from the V&A showcases established and emerging street artists, both British and international, including Banksy, D*Face, Eine, Miss Tic, Shepard Fairey and Swoon. The exhibition explores local artists, like Smallkid and GING. There was also work there by Sweet toof, a huge up and coming artist who was also at the Amsterdam Street Art festival (i was filming and interviewing artists there earlier this summer). It was really good to get some inspiration before third year begins.

Sweettoof

SmallKid and GING

http://www.mynottingham.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=14694

Rigged Bird!!

2011-08-11T10:57:00.002+01:00

And he has a cape..

2011-08-10T17:03:00.002+01:00

Bird Textured

2011-08-10T14:09:00.004+01:00

Now i need to rig him and his crown as i want to fully animate it...and give him a cape...

Im thinking ill probably stick to using Maya instead of 3d Studio Max when i go back to uni.

Tentacle Crown

2011-08-09T20:28:00.003+01:00

2011-08-08T13:08:00.000+01:00

2011-08-06T16:48:00.002+01:00

Scene without lights...

Throne for the bird, hand painted textures...

Environment with lights, having trouble loading up a HDR image for the background without my computer crashing.. but there will be slightly more light in the final animation..

And He's Rigged!

2011-08-06T16:11:00.002+01:00

Rigged my character finally. Not going to use him for anything particular as i am working on another character at the moment, but it was good practise. I had the idea of covering him in hair and making him dance.. perhaps this could be achieveable in the next few days..

Hair&Fur

2011-08-05T11:31:00.002+01:00

Sesame street inspired character i have just gone back, to experiment with fur. I am in the process of modelling a town, character, birds nest and throne for my new animation. Everything is going well and looking good.. i will upload some images in the next few days...

Animation Ideas...

2011-08-01T20:57:00.002+01:00

Dragon Finished

2011-08-01T19:36:00.001+01:00

Male Character

2011-07-29T12:50:00.002+01:00

About to start rigging this guy..

Hand

2011-07-28T12:04:00.005+01:00

About to attach it to a male character i have been working on, and then i will begin making a rig, on Maya...

.....

2011-07-25T16:18:00.003+01:00

I have decided I'm going to make the bird/tentacle guy above over the next 3 weeks and animate him... I have started planning how i will make him above... the final character will be a lot more detailed and i plan to hopefully use mudbox

More Maya...

2011-07-22T17:06:00.002+01:00

Maya - Z-brush - Roadkill - Day's 2 + 3

2011-07-21T14:42:00.007+01:00

Over the past 2 days i have been making this dragon with Maya, Z-brush and Roadkill for UVW unwrapping. I have nearly finished unwrapping my creature which has taken all day, i still need to tidy it up in maya and texture some more in z-brush.. I have also been modelling a human face and a human hand in Maya and z-brush.. 3 days in and i feel like i have done more work then i have all year.

At the end of term i was told to use Z-brush and mudbox and i am really enjoying the software, i have been using an incredible graphics tablet which has made the process more enjoyable. When i get back home i will definitely be purchasing one.

Maya - day 1

2011-07-19T00:38:00.006+01:00

Day one of Maya in Italy has been a total learning experience, after talking to people in industry i am slightly disappointed Maya was never covered in University, yes my 3d Studio Max experience has made is more simple for me to get to grips with the software but it has no where near made it more simple to understand. The menu's and even simple modifiers are under different menu's, and all have different names. The shortcuts are totally different which is really frustrating, as i keep on trying to use Max shortcuts. Tomorrow we will start character design which i am looking forward to, i have decided i would like to try to make the tree-man-bird guy i made in photoshop a few weeks ago in Maya. As you can probably see from above we spent most of today going over shortcuts and interface, i made a table, chair, mouse and monitor.. not my best work, but its in Maya, something which totally confused me until today. I started with the mouse tail thing and just went with my imagination I have 4 more weeks of intensive Maya training, im also thinking of going into particles and learning some Nuke to add to my portfolio. I had to show my showreel to professionals today which i found horrible, mainly because i know i rushed it and it is not my best work at all. My main goal from the next four weeks is to make a new showreel..and work on my modelling - espically organic - V-ray and Mudbox will both be taught. I have also decided that i'm most probably going to stick to Maya in 3rd year, mainly because its more logical then Max, the menu's make more sense (maybe not to me right now) but they will soon, and more employers and companies are looking for people trained in Maya... Right now from what i have read / heard Maya seems to be industry standard (possibly not in the games industy- but that not really for me) Hopefully i will have some fun characters to upload tomorrow...

Maya/Mudbox

2011-07-14T01:55:00.007+01:00

Useful Article - http://www.3dworldmag.com/2011/04/08/5-tips-to-get-started-in-digital-illustration/

I am going to Italy on Sunday for a month long course on Maya.. I have installed Maya and tried teaching myself, but it seems so different to 3d Studio Max i defiantly need some guidance. I also started modelling some things in Mudbox, i found this a lot more straight forward i have just about got to grips with some of the modelling tools, i love the way you can so freely sculpt, and make interesting indentations. Hopefully with some direction i will be able to produce something i can add to my showreel, as right now its not what i want it to be. Once i feel content with my showreel i plan on sending work to companies...

I have also been looking at doing a VFX course at Vancouver Film School once i finish uni, i have been in touch with them, and they recommended i learnt Maya for their course. They also advised me to start life drawing to add to my portfolio.

After Effects

2011-07-08T00:53:00.002+01:00

I am trying to teach myself how to become more familiar After Effects, whilst looking for tutorials online i found this video by Pierre Michel called Fireflower. Check it out.

>>FwdMtn

2011-07-03T19:40:00.003+01:00

Fwd MTN Stop MTN from FwdMotion on Vimeo.

I edited this, and Jess Howell took the photographs. Just finishing uploading all 10 tapes from the Sony1080i camera we borrowed from uni, now comes the task of editing 10 hours of footage from the Amsterdam Street Art festival.

Amsterdam Street Art

2011-06-29T14:27:00.007+01:00

I had a really good time whilst in Amsterdam, the event organizers, gallery owners and artists made us feel at home as soon as we got there, with a home cooked meal in the art gallery. We took a Sony HDV camera from Uni, and a Cannon 550D for photographs. I spent most of my time using the Sony camera, i was all ready familiar with it due to my first year but i have learnt a lot more this week. The artists were all exhibiting work at the Go Gallery and during the day they took upon the streets of amsterdam to promote their work in the best way they know. Whilst we were there the artists were given permission to paint on to the famous 'I am Amsterdam' 3d letters, filming this was an experience for me.

I spoke to an artist on the last day who was painting a robot on the giant wall (below), after speaking to him i discovered he works in the games industry, he also teaches art. He taught me a lot about understanding objects form's, he also wrote me a list of artists to start looking at. Another one of the artists owns his own graphic's design company in Barcelona, street art for him is a way for him to express himself freely, his work, digital and freehand was all incredibly inspirational, when interviewing him i discovered that he never really knows what he is drawing. Sweet Toof the artist i was most looking forward to seeing work looked even better in real life, everything he did was sold in gold elaborate frames which complimented the gold tooth in each painting.

Below are some images from asa, these are just phone pictures the final images should be up within two weeks -

MultiPlane Camera

2011-06-19T08:54:00.005+01:00

Incredible and inspiring video of the first MultiPlane Camera, invented by Walt Disney which gives a 3d effect to 2d flat surfaces.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d4-AUwkKAw&feature=player_embedded

More Photoshop..

2011-06-19T06:59:00.002+01:00

With the help of my graphic designer friend, Jess Caddick i produced this piece.

>>Fwdmotion

2011-06-18T02:31:00.004+01:00

Recent design work i have done...

Website Background

2011-06-17T21:34:00.003+01:00

Just edited my website's background, created using 3d S Max and Photoshop.

I also edited the futuristic world above...

Sweettoof

2011-06-17T19:34:00.005+01:00

One of the artists at the Amsterdam street arts festival is Sweettoof a british artist who's work i really like, he works with sculptures as well as paintings and digital prints. I am especially interested in how he has managed to work with a 3d medium and then transfer it onto a print. I would like to try to re create some of his sculptures digitally and experiment with their textures.

An example of some of his 3d work,

Totem Toof

Craft Spasm

Photoshop Tutorial

2011-06-17T18:40:00.005+01:00

I have been working on a Photoshop tutorial over the past few days i as haven't had the chance to use my PC yet, so i have no access to 3d Studio Max. Im happy with the finished result, and i would like to try combing what i have learnt from this tutorial with some of my existing 3d Stills. I have also been working on a stop motion for the fwd motion work i am doing. I will upload the new film soon. I also took the opportunity to re design my header, with what i learnt.

TED - Miwa Matreyek

2011-06-16T00:48:00.002+01:00

Miwa Matreyek, impressive work created using animation, projection and her own shadow. Click Here to watch.

Fwd Motion

2011-06-15T23:39:00.002+01:00

Animation for Fwd Motion, i created using 3d S Max and Premier Pro -

http://www.wix.com/annabellanau/portfolio#!recent-work

Amsterdam Street Art Festival

2011-06-15T01:26:00.003+01:00

I have decided to collaborate with a friend of mine on the Photography course at Nottingham Trent over the summer, we have been offered the opportunity to film at Amsterdam street art festival. I will be editing the videos/interviewing the artists about their work and artistic process. We have designed a logo, and we are currently working on a website design. I also will animate some sequences we can incorporate into our film, we plan on working with Adobe After Effects and 3d Studio Max and Premier Pro. We have also been making 3D letters that we plan to do a stop motion with on the streets of Amsterdam. I hope the festival will help inspire me to really broaden my imagination and try designing different things. Light painting issomething i have experimented with manually, i would like to try to do this with the aid of a computer.

Logo design -

2011-06-14T13:02:00.002+01:00

amon tobin really inspirational work

Updated Website...

2011-06-01T18:41:00.000+01:00

click here

Enjoy...

2011-06-01T13:17:00.002+01:00

Didnt want to upload it.... but here is is.. Finished Animation

500 Word Rationale

2011-05-27T03:31:00.001+01:00

I am happy with the final result of my project, I feel it has helped me to develop my 3d skills and confidence using 3d Studio Max. When we were given the project brief I was drawn to the matrix script, but after sketching some potential characters I decided to look elsewhere for inspiration. Whilst I was at home, I looked through children’s books and found an old copy of ‘Where The Wild Things are’ by Maurice Sendak. I instantly thought about the bedroom morphing scene, and how I could re-produce the scene digitally. This is probably my favourite frame in my animation; I spent a lot of time thinking about the bedroom scene. When it came to making it I had a lot of problems with the file size, due to the detail in the bedroom. The final outcome looks very different to my animatic, this is due to last minute changes I felt helped convey the storyline. I really enjoyed modelling organic shapes and characters, and over the summer I plan on learning how to use Mudbox so I can develop these skills.

If I could change anything about this project I would be more subjective and make decisions faster and then I would have had more time to spare at the end. Rendering took more time then I even predicted, this was due to the large file sizes, something I will work on in future projects. I also had some difficulties with rigging some of my creatures, due to their body shapes. And problems modelling my character, due to his shape and the way his shark suit deformed once he was skinned. If this had not taken me as long I would have spent more time modelling his face, which I am not completely satisfied with.

I came up with the idea of modelling my environment in an organic way after seeing work by Eugine Dranov in 3d World Magazine. The piece in particular (below), really helped me when it came to creating my environment. When modelling my characters and environment I made sure to refer to this piece. The seaweed I modelled with the moving eyeballs inside was inspired by Drandov’s work. The textures I used are more reflective, but I found that they worked best against my environment, especially in the night time shots. I particularly enjoyed experimenting with camera angles; this can be seen in the bedroom shot where I placed the camera outside the window looking in. The bedroom window was a constant reference in the original book, I wanted to keep this relatable to the actual story and I felt this shot was a modern take on the original illustration. I am happy with the bedroom-morphing scene, I would have liked to experiment with this scene more, but due to limited render time this was not possible. This project has left me looking forward to next year, as I have found out how many possibilities there are using a variety of different software.

So cool..

2011-05-26T01:09:00.002+01:00

www.neave.com/lab/misc/imagination.html

Over the summer i would like to produce a similar animation, using lights...

2011-05-26T00:23:00.001+01:00

Recent Renders..

2011-05-25T16:50:00.004+01:00

The shot of max climbing into the boat is probably my favorite still so far, which comes as a surprise to me. If i have time i will animate more of max climbing into the boat, and sailing. So far i have rendered about half of my three minute animation.. 50 hours(ish) until my deadline and im feeling confident(ish)...

Recent work..

2011-05-25T16:38:00.002+01:00

Work so far..

2011-05-24T23:17:00.003+01:00

Walk Cycle Tests

2011-05-17T23:17:00.002+01:00