Giacomo Turning

In the new age of 2015, wireframe rendering is still a bane, After 10GB of files and hours of mental ray contour rendering, good old playblast is the way to go. Of course it's not the best. but all other methods have their flaws too.

Also I have compiled a page for Giacomo on the projects page.

Giacomo 2.0

Some of you may recognize the model used for the 3D printing tests. The same model was reposed and some cleanup work was done. Concepted in ZBrush, retoped in Maya, rendered in Arnold.

Depending on your screen size, clicking on the image may make it smaller, if so click on the s1600 version.

Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris.

Some time back I helped out with Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris. Worked on the Ammit, a part croc,part lion, part hippo creature that gives chase. It was really enjoyable to work on her.

Trailer:

In game:

Giacomo featured!

The model I did was featured in this article.
http://finland.fi/Public/default.aspx?contentid=315660&nodeid=37605&culture=en-US

Prints!

Recently, I've been spending time on knowing more about 3D printing. Given the great opportunity by the good people at Aalto Fab lab, Charlie and Ali, the prints were made possible. The model is based off a design by Borja Montoro called Giacomo.

Makerbot print on the left and Form 1 on the right. The white print has been primed and sanded.

The first test was done using a fused deposition modeling (FDM) machine, a Makerbot and the 2nd, the Form 1, uses stereolithography(SLA). Both are currently price ranged and classified as a desktop printer.

Problem areas in the earlobe, moustache and chin.

The main learning was that different printing techniques required different ways of prepping your file. For both machines any slight overhangs with respect to the ground plane required supports. Hence the moustache, chin, ears in this case had problems printing. For the Makerbot, it preferred a closed model than a shelled one. The software for Makerbot generated its own honey comb internal structure and supports. Resolution was either at 0.15 or 0.10 mm

unsuccessful prints on the left of the amazing 14 cm one.

The form 1 also required supports, however the file was better shelled with a hole or hollow in the core. Also since resin cost more, it made sense to hollow the model and save on material. Automatic supports were generated for the main overall print and little supports were manually placed for the problematic overhanging areas like the collars and moustache. The resolution was at 0.05 mm.

form1 Print still on supports.

Currently, I'm still learning much about 3d printing and hope to update more on specific details.
Other 3D printing techniques that don't require supports were not available to me at the point of printing.
In short, it was important to know the final output and then use the printer/ printing technique that best support it.

Creature Exploration

Got myself lost in pinterest again and did some creature/alien explorations .and I've made a drawCrowd account.

Another Baba

Sketch of Yubaba or Zenibaba from Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away. The movie is one of the last few Ghibli studio films that takes place in an alternate universe. I wish more of these are made, very magical.

Baba yaga

Among the many things happening right now, here is a model of Baba yaga, designed by the amazing Cory Loftis. It's still super wip and I hope to post more updates on it.

On a side note, the images I posted were brighter than the original. here is the fix.
https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/blogger/N1zI6GC4zi0.

Razer BlackWidow Ultimate 2014

Epicness by Wenhao's team, they always make everything look cool. Worked on the models shown in this ad. and no this was not some adware scam Mr B.

WWMD

When drive crashes, Marcus makes generic man.

My drive crashed a while ago and data recovery centres quoted me 2.5-3K. I can't afford that. so yeah invest in a few hundred dollars in a couple of back up drives. If not, sculpt a head when it happens.

And a morph video to an old man just for fun.