Design For Media City Final

The time has come, and here is the final render of my city that I have been working on for the past four and a half weeks. I finished the lighting and did a lot of post-processing to add those final touches. Couldn't have done it with the help of my teachers and classmates! Without further ado, here it is!

 



(Click for larger image)

 

I want to continue this project on my own, making more details and fixing issues. But I think that this is a good stopping point for this project now that we are at the end of the semester!

Near-Final CityScape

2 days before the big deadline, and things are shaping up! Only a few things left to add, a final render to process, and some finishing touches until it is fully complete. I have finished the texturing of all the building and misc. objects, and I have also completely the lighting for the scene. I have decided to go for a dramatic sunrise lighting setup. I would have liked to add a lot more detail to the entire scene, and I still might in the future, but for now I am pleased with how it is coming along. So without further words, here is my result so far!

 

A City Is Born

Major update on the cityscape project that I am working on for my Design for Media class. I have finished modeling everything (with the exceptions of a few last minute details if the need arises) and have begun on the texturing. I have already textured the forest, but tweaks might still need to be done before it is complete.



 

 

The forest might need a bit of tweaking to get the edges around the city looking right, but for the most part I like where it is going.

 



 

The last image here marks the beginning of the texturing phase. As you can see, only the one building in the middle actually has some color. The plan is that by next week at this time, all the buildings in the city will be textured like this. We will see how that goes...

 

The City Is Taking Shape

We have now reached the halfway point of this project, and I have made great strides on my project. I have constructed a complete terrain for my landscape to reside in, and have finished all the roads and city blocks. I still want to add some trees and bushes to give the terrain some life, but that will happen a little bit later down the road (no pun intended).

 

I am also about halfway done with the buildings! I still have a lot of the smaller buildings and residential areas to complete (as well as older buildings, abandoned ones, etc.) , but that will all happen this week. After all this modeling is completed, the material and texturing stage comes next!

It's going to be a sprint to the finish, and honestly I don't know how it will turn out. No matter what happens though, I was able to learn a lot about managing a massive scene with tons of data! Here's hoping the result will reflect the work I put into it.

Did Someone Say Fire?

Been working on a ton of explosions through projects and just messing around and thought I would share it! I hope to have a lot more done soon, as I am finally starting to learn how to make realistic looking fire and smoke. So stay tuned for more in the future!

CityScape Update

Work begins on my cityscape. In the grand scope of things, only a small portion is done, but the foundations have been laid and things are only going to go faster from here on out!

 

 

 

 



(Click for high-res images)

I almost have these few city blocks finished (with the modeling that is), and then I will go into overdrive to get the rest of the city modeled. I want to spend most of my time on this part because it is going to be the tallest part of the skyline and the focal point of the city. These buildings will be the most detailed in the city.

Cityscape Preparation

Concept

The movie project has finally been completed and we are quickly moving into the next project! This project is whatever we want it to be! So, I am going to be ambitious and do a massive 3D scene of an entire city. This will be a very detailed scene complete with cars, people, light posts, everything. I have never tackled something this big, and thought it was about time to do so!

 

I am going to try and make it as realistic as possible, and as massive as possible in these short 5 weeks. Here are some images that I am going to use to keep my city as real as possible. I am not going to make an existing city, but make an entirely new one with buildings that are not actually in existence.

 


source website

 


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source website

 

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Schedule

For the schedule, this is about how things will look. It will be a fluid process (since I have never done something in 3d to this scale before), so these dates are not set in stone, but I want to try to stick to these dates as best I can.

 

November 27th: City Design and Layout Completed
December 6th: Texturing and Materials Finished
December 13th: Rendering and Final Compositing

Last Week Panic!

This marks the beginning of the last week of the project. Things are getting stressful, but I am confident that we will finish everything in time. The shooting is going well, and the fire is going..... alright. There are a lot of issues with the explosions that we have to resolve, and here's hoping we will find a way to fix them!



As you can see, the final explosion is almost complete! I didn't render out all the frames just yet, but I will here in the next day or two.

There are just a few things left to add: debris coming out of the building and some small trails of smoke shooting out in all directions (that will be Will's addition I believe).

All that's left to fix is baking the final detail and fixing the shadow issues (and the background issues which I didn't have until just now...

We are almost done, and this is going to be an awesome result!

Explosion Update

 

William, Kevin, and I worked a lot on the explosion shot for Project Yoakam and got some good results.

 



 

Still have a long way to go, but for a preliminary shot things are going well. The final render will be about 3x more detailed than this one is.



 

Another shot we will be working on is the greenscreen shot with the puppet and Wallace. Going to add some smoke and fire into the shot to make it look more realistic! See more over at the CG/Post director's blog here!

Stay tuned for more! The final deadline is November 8th, so the fun begins now!!

Fire and Motion

Update on the Project Yoakam short film. Worrked a but more on the explosion, getting a better result now. Soon will pump the detail up a ton to get a better looking flame.



Also did some tests on the motion graphics part of the film. This is going to come at the end, after the explosion, so there is going to be some smoke lingering in the background. I think I went a little too light on the smoke, but that can be easily resolved. Also had a couple compression issues, but it is all minor things!

More R&D

I am in the CG/Post department of Project Yoakam and, since the bulk of my work doesn't begin till the video is shot, I have done some more testing with some fire. Explored some cartoony fire as well as some realistic explosions that would be coming out the side of Kinney Hall.





Have some issues with the particles hanging around too long giving the flashy fire effect. Thankfully that is an easy fix.

Also did some exploration in the motion graphics part of the short. I have never really done motion graphics before, so this is more of an experiment than a final design.



More work is sure to come! Till next time.

Flame Upgraded

I promised better flame, and here it is. Still could go better, but for R&D purposes, this is enough. Maybe in the future though...

Fire!

The project has commenced! I will be working as a CG artist for Project Yoakam. I believe we are going to be doing a lot of explosions, so I am doing some research on creating some realistic fire and smoke. I had to work through a lot of the settings till I found the few things that were making the smoke look cartoony, but I believe I have a handle on it now. Just note that this smoke isn't as realistic as it could be because I did not make them as high of a detail as I could (takes a lot of computing time). I was working fast, quick, and detail comes later!







I am rendering the last one with even more detail, but I wouldn't be able to make the midnight deadline. So check back to see the final video!

Design For Media Project Proposal

Welcome!

My project brief will be short and sweet. Basically, I want to do a project that encompasses all realms of the cinematic arts. Photo, 2D, 3D, VFX, cinematic studies; everything! My idea is to have a character, object, or whatever be doing something interesting (vague enough huh?). But during this video, the character/object will transform from 3D, to 2D, to pictures of characters/objects, to a cinematic video of him/it, and then to a VFX shot (not in that order) where he will take off with a jet pack. Who knows. The sky is the limit! Here is some inspiration I found and would love to incorporate these ideas. I want this project to be a big collaboration as well. So everyone's artistic talent will be put to use in every aspect of the creation project!









Since I want this to be a big collaborative project, I am not going to appoint myself as Director, and I am not nominating anyone for Art Director or Head of Editorial. I want this project to be something that touches everybody! I want to see people who are truly inspired to step up and show what they are made of.

Enjoy!

Object Morphing Animation

Second animation for Animation I is now completed. What do you think?



Morph Animation from Jacobsen Augenstein on Vimeo.

Lights to Night [Project Completed]

It's done! Presenting Lightbulbs over a Landscape. Not much to say about it except that I am pretty pleased with the result. It's a little slower that I would have liked, but it's just a massive file-size. What do you think?

Last Post Before The End

Here we go, last post before I finish the project. Doing some final quick tests to make sure I am actually able to pull this off. Then, it is off to the races!

[gallery]

The second picture I have there is different details on the light bulbs. The ones on the right are very low detailed, but when you have about 100,000 of them, it adds up... big time. More to come either tomorrow or Wednesday showing the final result!!

First Animation In The Bag

Completed my first ever 2D animation today in Animation 1 class. The object was to build anticipation in an object or character. Enjoy!

First 2D Animation from Dudebot13 on Vimeo.

On The Final Leg

Work continues on the menagerie project. More concepting has been done, and much progress has been made!

 



 

I have decided on light bulbs to be my objects. My concept is to have a field of lights in an actual grassy field. Like these:

 






 

There will be thousands of lights! The point of it is that these lights are not ordinary lights, but super efficient lights, and with the scene from nature, I think they will work together nicely.

 



 



Next week will be the final post and me inserting my light bulbs into the scene. It will be the finish product. So stay tuned!

Continuation of Menagerie Concept!

This is the second installment in my menagerie project. For this week, I will be delving a little more into the concept as a whole, got a few different artists that help me solidify my idea, and also begin to look at some colors. So, let's begin!

For my idea about animals, and the different ways that they can be represented, I looked at two different styles by two different people. The first, I look at a more of a cartoon representation of an animal, like in this image below:

(Click image to go to website)

The second representation I am looking at is a very realistic view of an animal. This is CG, but it was design to not look anything like CG. This is difficult to do, but the results are superb!

(Click to go to artist's website)

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For my second concept, I decided to go in a direction that more about objects than creatures. Seemingly inconspicuous objects that are entirely CG. Sometimes they are obvious that they are fake, other times you can tell which are which. In this first example, it is very hard to tell which flashlight is the CG element and which is the tangible flashlight. The one on the right is the CG flashlight by the way.

(Don't believe me? Click the image to find out for sure)

The next example isn't a perfect one, but it is another idea I am toying with. Basically it is the complete opposite of the previous image. This type of integration is very, rough, I guess you would say. It is obvious that they are inserting computer graphics into live action film. They aren't trying to hide it.These objects (and characters) are there, and there for a purpose.

(Click to go to website)

These are the colors and the inspiration that I wish to expound on a little bit further before diving really deep into the project. I am wanting to do something along these lines as this is what I wish to do for a career. Inserting CG elements into live action, whether it be animals or objects, subtly or obviously, is something I want to work at and become comfortable with. I believe that doing this project in depth, such as this, will help me with that.

More Inspiration!

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New Portfolio Page

Good News!

I have updated the blog to have a portfolio page with some (but not all) of my best work so far. It is most concerned with 3D and CG images, but soon there will be drawings, paintings, and other goodies to come along. When large influxes of images come along, I will be sure to make a post about it.

Enjoy!!

Menagerie Conception

For this week's homework in Design For Media, I am to start concepting a project. I chose to do a menagerie, which is a collection of objects or figures that are related by thee, color, and design. Honestly, after choosing this, I am having a very hard time figuring out a direction in which to take this. I am leaning towards maybe doing something with animals that are in a cartoon/animated style, but I am just having trouble finding some inspiration. I found an artist named Ivan Camilli (His Blog) and found an image in which I would like to explore:



I also found an image of an animal on Mark Christiansen's website (His Blog). I kind of want to combine these two styles into something new.



One way I might incorporate this into my field of choice is to make these CG objects and infuse them into a real-life image. That is one thing I have dabbled in but never fully accomplished.

The other way I am approaching this is to take use objects, instead of animals. Random objects that still have things in common. One1more2time3 has some good examples of what I am trying to accomplish on his blog.



With that being said, here are some preliminary sketches of the type of things I want to focus on in this project:

New Birth!

First post of the new blog! I should leave this post just looking empty here, so here's an awesome photo of me making this awesome site!



I should really clean off my desk, but, as Einstein said: “If a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, of what, then, is an empty desk a sign?” So just to prove my desk is cluttered and applies to this quote, here's a close up. Enjoy!