Visual Development 1701

 This month, I learned how to use material nodes in Maya. I learned how nodes can be used alongside MILA materials to create very simple (such as the washers seen below), and very complex objects (such as the bottle seen below). Another important skill I learned is how to render in passes. Here I'll show you my finished scene and the passes I gave the renders in order for the image to be used to it's full potential in Nuke.

Here we have the IBL pass. Any and all lighting of the scene is coming from the Image Based Light I set up to encompasses my scene. It's rather dim, but gives off a generally useful light. It almost looks like night time.

Here we have the warm light pass. All light in this photo is coming from the little warm light I set up on the left side of the scene. Not too much intensity coming from this light either, but when used in Nuke, this scene could become quite warm. Reminds me of the glow of a candle.

And here we have the key light layer. The key light is the only light used in this pass, and is obviously the primary light in this scene as it illuminates much.

Put it together and what have you got? A rendered scene just for you.

In this image, we bring all three of the light passes together. Now if I were to take this project into Nuke, I could alter each pass individually to change the end result without taking the time to re-render anything in Maya. How great is that? Pretty dang great.

This month I did not have much excess time to experiment with my own projects, but I did manage to start an animation in which I began to use some of the lighting techniques I learned this month. I will definitely soon be implementing the UV mapping and detailing techniques used this month.

Project and Portfolio : 3DA

Project 01 / Pre Production

For this brief project we had to create the main poses of our character, and act out the actions for reference. Every time I animate I come to further appreciate reference, and how it makes animating simple actions that much easier. This project was a great example, and lesson, of creating and using practical reference. 

Project 02 / Milestone 1 

The first block in! I have the main poses taken care of. I explored switching between linear and stepped animation to see what felt right. I found that starting in stepped for the main poses and switching over to linear for the in-betweens is the best method for me.

Exercise 01 & 02 / Rolling Cube and Sphere

Who knew you could animate simple object movement with said object's attributes? I didn't. Now I do, and will definitely implement the idea into future works. I also dipped into the graph editor for the sphere roll. I appreciate having the opportunity to learn how to use the GE on simple projects before moving on to the real deals.

Extracting in ZBrush64

When you need to create a clothing article for your character, you don't want to go through the process of creating a new raw SubTool and shaping it to your figure, do you? One simple way of creating this new object that overlays your base figure is to extract geometry.

Start with your figure. Continue to create a masked area (hold down control, and paint the mask on) where you would like its clothing, or other area of eventual extraction, to appear.

Once you have the masked area ready, go over to your SubTool panel on the right side of ZBrush. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the SubTool panel and you will find a tab labeled "Extract".

As you can see, there are presets that ZBrush automatically loads into the program. The Smt (Smoothness of extract) bar is at 5 and the Thick (Thickness of extract) is at .02. This is what it looks like if you hit the Extract button with the standard settings.

Raising the Smt will create an extract that is a smoothed overcoat type object in relation to your base figure. The more smoothness, the less distinction in the extract.

Raising the Thick slider will create a larger extract with a thicker mass. If you raise it too high, it will start looking unpleasant, like the image below.

By this time you may have attempted to move your object around to look at the extract. But come to find out the extract disappears, doesn't it? That's because your "extract" is only a projection of an extract. In order to create the sculptable geometry, you need to click on the little Accept button. But before doing so, make sure your extract is what you want, because you will not be able to alter the thickness or smoothness after extraction.

And Viola! You now have a proper extraction. Go up to your SubTool menu and there will be a new SubTool with your new geometry in it (Mind you, there will still be a mask covering your old geometry and your new extract, and clearing those out is important).

Extracting objects is a very useful tool while working in ZBrush, and can save you heaps of time you would have previously spent shaping an object to fit your base model. Extracting can be used for clothing, facial features such as eyebrows, buttons, and endless other uses. Knowing how to use this tool to your advantage is a big step in learning how to model to your best in ZBrush.

Happy sculpting!

Compare and Contrast

When I originally viewed Picasso's piece I realized that it is very emotionally dark, and though I have an affinity for "darker" artwork, this particular situation doesn't work for me. One big difference between my creation and Picasso's original is the lighter mood (and lighter colors, for that matter) that is felt upon first glance. In regard to color difference, I switched the orange cat and blue back from the original to be a blue/grey cat and an orange back. From personal preference, characters with blue color schemes are more attractive then ones with orange schemes. Another difference in my piece is the lack of blood and drama, leaving the cause of the bird's death, and the intentions of the smiling cat, to the viewer's interpretation.

In regards to similarities between the two pieces, I think the most obvious are the arrangements of the two cats. While the original cat has a slightly unreadable stance due to the surrealism, my cat's pose is my mental interpretation of how Picasso's cat would appear as a natural cat. Another similarity is the 2-Dimension feature on both images; I added minimal highlights and shadows to my image, along with a higher detailed face, akin to Picasso's. When I saw the eyes of Picasso's cat, it brought about an image of the Cheshire Cat in my mind. I ran with the idea, and replaced Picasso's dead black bird with one of the Queen of Heart's dead flamingos. 

Work In Progress

Objective Critique

This painting, Cat Eating a Bird, was created by Pablo Picasso in both the style of cubism and surrealism. The main subject is the monster-like cat hunched over a bleeding bird, and the color scheme used consists of differing shades of blacks, whites, blues, oranges, and reds.

In his painting, Picasso uses line to create movement. This movement can be see in the cat's outlines and multiple stripes, leading us from the head to the bird and the rest of his body. The next element Pablo uses is color to create contrast. This is shown in the body of the mostly orange cat contrasting with the blue color of the sky. Blue and orange are complimentary colors and though diluted and faded the contrast still works nicely. The other element used is shape, and it creates the principle of emphasis. The odd shapes of the cat's eyes and teeth (along with their color, actually) prove to emphasize the cat's face quite well.

Subjective Critique

My initial reaction to this painting is to try and piece together what is happening. Because the shapes and body parts of the cat are so varied and not assembled like a normal cat, it takes me a moment to realize that it is, in-fact, a cat hunched over a bird.

The colors and textures used in the painting compliment each other, but are overly complicated and in my opinion, messy. The cat is disfigured with a back hump and back leg that could very easily belong to an additional creature hiding behind the cat. There are unnecessary black outlines where there should not be, in the middle of the back and face, and places where they are missing, such as the secondary hind leg and tail. The bloody waterfall between the cat's bloodless jaw and the bird is something that could either be redrawn to spill over the cat's jaw and into an appropriate, yet missing, hole in the bird's side, or be eliminated all together.

I think that a more naturalistic yet whimsical style would be a more attractive way in which to paint this image, versus this dark cubism/surrealism. I would also like to get a better idea of what the cat is standing on, is it a thin gate or a brick wall? A bit of reconstruction of the cat's back, legs, face, and the bird's body seems like a good place to start with changes.