Confusion...

...is very annoying.

Recently I handed in an assignment in which we had to create a sculpt, based on a comicbook character.

the final piece had to contain high resolution sculpts of the model with a neutral facial expression and a range of facial expression, to be used in a facial rig.

We were never taught how to rig something, so the facial rig failed. However, the sculpt itself was fairly decent. As such, I was counting on a fairly high grade.

It ended up getting a 6 out of 10. And I have no idea why, as no feedback has yet been given. The teachers @ uni are great, but sometimes they just cant teach. Or be teachers.

Why so...

...Early? :(

exams...

that's why.

no sleep...

...and other funs things my brain does.

when i cant sleep, my brains makes all these weird connections between completely unrelated subjects. it's funny and odd at the same time, because i'm aware of how strange these connections are, whilst they happen. other fun things are of course hallucinations :)

when i'm very sleepy and tired, but for whatever reason i cant sleep, i'll start seeing and hearing things. figures in reflections, sounds from games i play, voices, explosions. whatever my brains feels the need to produce. and again, i'm aware of the fact that i'm hallucinating, which makes it a very interesting situation.
i've never been freaked out by any of these hallucinations, because i know what they are.

the only time i was freaked out by something my brain did, was when i was really sick, a few years ago. i've had a fever for a few days. a high fever. as in, i was on the verge of having to be rushed to hospital. after a few days of this fever, my brain suddenly decided to shut down vision-support temporarily.

in other words, i suddenly went blind. from one second to the next, i couldnt see. the good thing was, it lasted all but 5 seconds, probably a lot less. it still scared the crap out of me though.

right, i'll try and get some sleep now. probably wont work. we'll see.

So...

yeah...

at the moment i have nothing to talk about. except deadlines.

deadlines, while i appreciate the need for them, suck big hairy donkey balls.
especially when you have to make blendshapes and morphtargets and facialrigs without having been shown HOW.

that's where i am at right now. i need to make this stuff, but i only have the vaguest idea of how to actually do it. it's very annoying.

you know what else is annoying? the kids that live in the house behind my room. sometimes, i wish i could just yell at them and scream for them to shut the fuck up, without being regarded as an asshole.

kids suck, imho. they creep me out. i dont like them. shouldnt the little fuckers be in school or something? instead of sounding like retarded donkeys fucking?
no really, that's what these kids sound like. :S

ugh...

well, back to drawing. i need to draw an environment. joy. i've never done that before in my life. at least, not on the level they expect of me :(

Something...

...to make me feel better.

been having a wicked bout of hay fever this weekend. not as bad as they can get, but bad enough

i dont know how or why, but for some reason my antihistamine doesn't always work. almost as if the stuff that causes my allergies collect and reach a critical mass.
and BAM, i'm sick. usually i'll be sick for about a week. this time it was only 2 days. but still, it blows big hairy donkeyballs.
another great thing that evey bit of physical conditioning and stamina that i built up, has gone POOF...

which also blows.

but if that's the biggest problem i have right now, i guess i dont have a lot to whine about.

first world problems, i suppose.

Laptops...

...dont last forever.

Sometimes they need a fresh coating of windows. so today i'll be spending a good while reinstalling my laptop.

should be loads of fun :S

Concept art...

...is one of the new classes this year. That sounds really cool, right? It is, but...
we're supposed to draw something more then just a pretty picture. We need to convey a feeling, a mood. The final drawing has to be able to function like a pitch for a story, a movie, etc.

The problem is, I've never done something like that before. I have no idea how to do that and I am stuck. I just can't get a good idea. Nothing seems to fit.

Very annoying. Stupid brain....

Anatomy...

...is pretty damn complex.

But also really very fascinating.

We just started a new year at IGAD and one of my courses is human anatomy. We basically need to learn all of the bones and most of the muscles that humans have, in order to accurately portrait and animate a human.

The main project of this course is to re-create a piece of the human body, using nurbs and polygons. That should be interesting.  

Hardrives...

...do die.

A couple of weeks ago, one of my harddrives died on me. Apparently, yesterday another one did the same. Windows didn't crash or anything, but a program did and would not be killed.

This morning, I start my computer and want to open some files, only to notice I'm missing a harddrive.
Seems like I need to start replacing them ASAP, since they are all more or less the same age... :S 

Weird lyrics...

...and finally understanding them.

I'm pretty sure most everyone knows the song  "Fell in love with an alien".

And I wonder how many people thought: "why the hell would he fall in love with an extraterrestrial?"

It took me several years to get to a level of English understanding to understand what the freakin song was really about and that it WASNT in any way related to sci-fi...

Texturing...

...and resulting render.

I just finished my texturing assignment for this block. The model I textured was a model I created for the 3D modelling class we has last block.

The car is a Shelby Mustang GT350 H from 1966. The model itself is pretty low res. It only contains 3900 triangles in all, so that's pretty descent. It has 1 2048 texturemap, with several shaders like bump and specular mapping.

While nothing too exciting, I am pleased with the final result. It looks like I intended, which is always a good thing for an artist. I wanted the car to look as if it were in good condition and had been taken on a road-trip along Route 66.
Sadly, I lacked time to make a Route 66-sign. Still, it looks like a car that's been driving along a desert road :)

Enjoy the render.

New toys...

...part Two.

I did a quick test between max 2010 and max 2012 using one of my files. the file in question was that of Slackman, a superhero I created.

The difference in frames per second was pretty damn impressive.
In max 2010 the scene, with roughly 3 million triangles on screen, ran at 1 to 1.5 fps. With the inbuild optimisation feature that max has(replaces models with bounding boxes when navigating the scene).

The new max ran the scene at 20 to 30 fps, without replacing the model.
That's a performance increase of 2000% !!!
...

Ok, I know it doesn't work like that, but still. An increase from 1 to 20 fps is pretty damn impressive.

New toys...

...are sweet.

Well, it's not exactly a toy. It's the new Mudbox and 3DS Max and Maya Combo. the are all setup so they are more or less integrated.

The most awesome new tool: bones in mudbox. you can either import them from a .FBX-file or place them directly in Mudbox. These bones allow you to (obviously) pose models in Mudbox, allowing you to sculpt dramatic poses with much greater ease.

Another great feature is the option to export and import files on the fly between mudbox and maya/max. That should cut down on production times :).

The bones work surprisingly well. looking forward to playing with them some more.

I also installed Max 2012. It's supposed to have MASSIVE performance increases, but so far, I haven't noticed any staggering improvements. this could very well be due to crappy hardware on my end. Most of my gear is about 4 to 5 years old.

In short, I am highly impressed with the new features in Mudbox and I can't wait to start trying out some of them more throughly. 

Coffee...

...is highly important. not only does it provide me with fuel (thats what nerds do, we convert caffiene into energy and general goodness), it's also a nice way to wake up.

no, not because of the caffiene, sadly. that shit dont work on me no more or very little. so sad..:(

BUT, i do get some early morning sugar AND hmm-coffeh-taste :D

so yeah, there is that.

well, back to mah coffeh :D

Karma...

it does not exist. How do I know this? Simple: I saved a young bird yesterday, but I still get a massive hay fever episode :S

So this day has been about headaches. Both physical and conceptually.

Now though, I plan on eating. I'm all out of babies and souls, so I'll have me some Italian.


His name is Carlo....

So what's next?

i've reached most of my deadlines for this block. i have no idea as to my grades yet, so i'll share that later on.

for now, i can't wait to do something cool and interesting. i really want to do some character art. so my next project is going to be a character. i want to complete it in 2 weeks or so.

wish me luck

Deadlines: Part 2.

The great thing about deadlines is when equipment decides to die. Literary, in this case. I had intended of having a massive texturing marathon. I was in the zone, ready for battle. Feeling solid, powerful and skillful.

I was ready.

And then my computer died. To be more specific, my C-drive. So now, I can't access my files, I can't work and....

...

Blargh.

Deadlines, I still hate them and the feeling is mutual.

Deadlines...

...are things I do not like.

Especially when I have to do an assignment about a subject I do not care for.

Namely, architecture and rendering.

I know why we get the assignments and I know it's good for me to learn to reach deadlines, but I just dont like these kinds of assignments.

First off, I've been done architectural work for internship. That was almost 4 months of making buildings. Sure, gathering reference materials was fun (roadtrip.. :) ), but creating buildings is not something I enjoy.

The second thing is rendering. I understand we all need to know how materials work for Maya, but also for engines, like Unreal or CryEngine. But I'll bet using those will be a lot more fun. Why?

Hopefully, witin the next few weeks, I'll be able to post a tutorial about some of the stuff I've done and learned so far. That way this blog will be of greater value and I might learn some more interesting things about modelling in Maya, Nurbs and rendering.

For now, it's back to work.

Crunch-Time

It's that time of the semester again. Deadline are looming just beyond the horizon and time is running out quick.

For me and about 70 other IGAD-students, the time has come to start panicking , unless you're a programmer. Apparently, they can take things easy. Ratbastards.

I have just done about 3 days work in one night. I'm feeling pretty tired, just like most of my classmates, I imagine.

Should you be wondering what we've been up to at IGAD, I'll post a screenshot of the completed project later this week.

for now, I have some more work to do.

About me.

To start of with, I have Asperger's syndrome. It's a mild form of autism. It rarely affects me, expect I have difficulty reading people.

However, I think I might be suffering from some kind of bipolar disorder on top of that. I'm not sure, I'm not a doctor, but most of what I can find about it, fits.
From time to time, I'll have periods where I do a hell of a lot of work. And, like right now, I'l have periods where I just can't work. My brain freezes up. It's more then just not feeling like working. I literally can't think. My mind feels jumbled, chaotic. I can't focus or concentrate, I'm slightly depressed even.

And of course this happens one of those blargh-ish episodes strikes right before I need to hand in a lot of projects.

The morale of this story is...
If you think something's wrong with you, don't drag it out. Go find help. That's what I plan to do the next time I go home.

In the meantime, here's something to show you all how I feel.

So what is this blog for?

I'm glad you asked. This blog is here to serve an actual purpose. While I study at IGAD, I will learn many things. 

I plan on sharing some of the things I learn and provide (hopefuly) meaningful insights into game developing and general artsy stuff.

Why do I think that this is important? Because I see a lot of people who want to be in the game industry. most of them refuse to believe that it is a hell of a lot of work.

to give an example: at the beginning of this schoolyear, I fell and hurt my arm. Couldn't use it for about three weeks. Now, over half a year later, I'm still playing catchup.

So yeah, IGAD will keep you busy.

But in the end, it's all worth it.

I have already learned so much and I feel like I've barely begun. Granted, I have not learned a great deal about actual 3D modelling or texturing. I already knew a lot before I got into IGAD.

I have, however, learned a lot about English, Drawing, Ludology, Art and design theory and so much more. To be a good artist, requires you to know about whatever field you want to specialize in. Be it anatomy, industrial design, lighting, etc.

For those wanting to be great artists, you need to know so much more. and I have no idea what all of it is.

In conclusion:

Welcome to IGAD.

Here are three things, of which you may choose two:

1: Social life

2: Good grades

3: Sleep

So yeah...

I got myself a blog.

The reason for doing this, is pretty much to have somewhere to rant.

A little about me.

I am 26 years old. Currently attending the International Game Architecture and Design course at NHTV university at Breda, Holland.

I try to be an artist. I'm not sure when I'll be one, though.

So what else?

Well, I've been described as Big Buck Bunny. If you haven't seen it, shame on you, here's your chance to make up for it.

Yeah...

But it fits. I'm big, kind, just don't piss me off. I can kick you in the head while both of us are standing...no really, I can.

Mostly, I try to do my homework, work out and lose weight and enjoy life. Hell, it's short enough, might as well enjoy it while it lasts, right? Or at least until they create working bio-mechnical augmentations, human integrated nano-technology and finally figure out how to stop aging :)

So in a nutshell, I'm a nerd, transhumanist, athiest, techgeek, gamer, wannabe(martial) artist and overall a nice guy.

The one really big downside to being me is, is that I don't really "get" people. But i'll leave that for another blog.

Enjoy while it lasts(anything really) :D