Josh Morgan Next Gen Blog

This week we have been learning how to sculpt a head from a sphere in mudbox, starting with just the basic head shape then moving onto sculpting out the eyes, nose mouth and ears. We then would sculpt out the neck from the head keeping it all one object. We also had a look at a presentation by Blizzard Entertainment showing how they did their modeling using Zbrush. Video from Pixologic

So this is the second week of our 9 week modeling challenge in which I have started modeling my collection of vases and managed to get one finished modeling and ready to be UV unwrapped.  The vase I have modeled so far is based a lot on an already existing vase in which I have used the shape of the vase for my model but for the actual texture I want to be different from the actual vases but I want to add an imprint on each of my vases as like a company logo sort of thing. So far I think I am keeping up with the task and keeping on time with the task considering I have time at home I can continue on with these vases. I do think that I need to get a bit faster when I am modeling but I am enjoying it and I believe I should be able to get it done on time.

So today we learnt to do some image stabilization with a video as well as some motion tracking using the effects part of after effects. I believe it came out pretty good we also had an image of a fish imported onto the video that we use as the as the main point of the motion tracking. The next composition we did was to add a fish image onto the side of the college and do some two point motion tracking.

Today I we were given a task of creating one of the best models we can make, we have a total of 9 in college weeks to finish these models. So our first lesson we have spent on research and planning and for the rest of the first week I am looking to get some concept sketches and planning of how I am going to go through the process of creating these models. So my idea for this is do recreate some modern surface vases which have a very angular look to them and for this I want an engraving put onto it of a logo however as of this moment I don't exactly have the logo set out yet as I don't know if I am creating my own logo yet or not. I would like to do multiple vases as part of an environment so I am looking t make a nice glass tabletop and have these vases put on top with some lighting pointing at an angle for them to cast a shadow of the back of the table. Programs I will be using for this will be Maya/3DS Max, Photoshop & Mudbox Examples of the Vases:

So today I have been using Mudbox to sculpt a character. The character itself is a turtle with its shell on. So to start off I decided to work on his skin first and within this I was using two main tools the first being the imprint tool and the second being the smooth tool. I started off with a stamp that comes with Mudbox and I would just stamp the area I needed to give it a bumpy area on the skin. I would then smooth off the more harsh areas so it doesn't have any major jagged lines on it. After doing this for a while I started to notice that it was giving off quite a stone texture to the skin which I started to like after a while. However when it came to the feet I changed it up a little as I smoothed the toes a lot more than the other parts of the body which makes them stand out more and when it comes to texturing this guy I can add more detail to it by changing some of the colours around. Next I started on sculpting on the shell which I made look very unique as I made some v...

Bump Maps A Bump map is an older type of map that create fake detail by giving an illusion of depth on the surface of a model using a very simple lighting trick. You don't get any additional resolution added to a model as a result of bump mapping. Bump maps are typically greyscale images that are limited to 8-bits of colour information. This tells the 3D software whether it is up or down. Bump maps are great for creating tiny details on a model such as wrinkles on skin and because the detail they create is fake the silhouette of the geometry that the bump map is applied to will always be unaffected by the map. Normal Maps Normal maps can be referred to as a newer better type of bump map, as with bump maps what you need to know is that the detail they create is fake and there is no additional resolution added to the geometry. A normal map creates the illusion of depth detail on the surface like a bump map however it does it differently. A normal map uses RGB information that ...

So today I did my first attempt at UV unwrapping a character model in Maya. Usually before today I hate UV unwrapping anything I could never get the hang of it at all however now it seems I quite enjoy it the ways that Matt has shown us to UV unwrap has made a lot more sense to me and allowed me to have some sort of fun in UV unwrapping and to be honest its kind of brought my confidence up in UV unwrapping and texturing as when I was learning to UV unwrap in 3DS Max I found it way too confusing and complicated where as when I have learnt to UV unwrap in Maya today it has stuck in my head a lot more and it feels a lot simpler compared to 3ds Max. I am happy to say that I think I might move over to Maya rather than 3ds Max as a lot of the tools and just general use of Maya is simpler and stuck to my head more than 3ds Max.