@Mospheric

Finished the 3d model of the Rocketeer helmet! These are...

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 00:22:52 -0600

Finished the 3d model of the Rocketeer helmet! These are presented real time from within UDK. A little less than 1800 triangles with 1024 diffuse, normal, spec maps.

Retro Sci-fi and Rocketeer

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:05:38 -0600

So I’ve basically gotten all I want to get out of my previous zombie UDK project. I’ve been milling on it too long and needed to branch out and get portfolio pieces underway. I’ll finish with some nice renders of my scene and officially put the lid on that project.

Starting the new year, the retro sci-fi style suddenly made a mark on me. You know what I’m talking about. Basically what people in the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s imagined the future would look like. These designs featured lots of bold and exaggerated shapes. It’s probably the same reason why I think the 1971 Stingray Corvette is one of the most interesting looking cars. The organic, smooth shapes add to the silhouette of the vehicle.

After thinking about this style, the first pieces of tech that flashed into my mind was the helmet and jetpack from The Rocketeer. So here is my WIP of the helmet from The Rocketeer. I have finished the high poly and plan on starting the low poly soon. I’ll post the finished helmet once it’s done and start work on the jetpack soon after!

Zombie Visual Concept

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:57:52 -0600

So for the past several weeks, I’ve been learning UDK as much as possible while creating an environment of a concept that has been rattling around in my mind. It all stems from the question “What does the world look like to a zombie?”

My idea is that the world is a calm, serene place for a zombie. It’s simple. They want brains and that is their only motivation. Since that is their goal, I think that the world would lack detail and clarity. The only object with detail would be the glowing brain. Of course this would help draw their attention to it.

This is still a WIP, but here are some screenshots of my progress. I hope to add more once more on the environment is finished. I’ve learned so much about UDK already, and that’s good for a solid foundation. There is still much more to learn.

Bluey Icons

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:44:37 -0600

Occasionally I get the urge to do actual graphic design. It’s few and far between, but I like how these icons turned out. The home screen isn’t mine because I’m not sure how to easily take a screenshot with an android phone. So I just superimposed my icons on a blank home screen.

I’ve been enjoying dark backgrounds with light text/icons lately. The Tron-ish style also appeals to me. So I combined my current interests into these icons. Just wanted to share how they turned out (even though they were really simple to do).

I know that I shouldn’t let these little distractions take me away from my UDK scene, but sometimes it’s good to get an idea out of your system.

Driving through the night, heading back home. Quick sketch of...

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 23:29:48 -0600

Driving through the night, heading back home. Quick sketch of the road before me.

Finished up some more head shots. Eventually I’d like to...

Sun, 27 Nov 2011 00:34:56 -0600

Finished up some more head shots. Eventually I’d like to get the awesome Rokinon 85mm lens for taking better portraits. The Nikon 35mm prime is nice, though I worry that features are too distorted. (I usually stay a few feet back and crop closer to hopefully negate the wide lens).

For some reason, I always have weird creature ideas in my head....

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 00:01:00 -0600

For some reason, I always have weird creature ideas in my head. So I’ll try to do some quick concepts whenever they pop up. Plus it gives me sketching practice as I try to increase my speed.

Restoring a Photograph

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:19:00 -0600

So I’ve been spending my free time tackling this recently. It’s an old photograph that my grandma gave me to restore. It has my grandpa in it and the other members of the military group he was in.

As you can see, the photo was not in the best condition originally. It was kept folded up in a duffel bag that my grandpa carried around. Usually my first steps to restoring a photograph involve color correcting. Old photos tend to fade, distort in color, and age in a variety of ways. I try to correct for the improper color so I can “peel” back the layers of time to get a better visual to the original condition.

Once I bring some of the original color back into the photo, I continue by doing a light once-over to take out minor imperfections. This can be dirt, hair, small scratches, or random dots that appear. This step is probably the easiest but also the most mind-numbing. I usually stick to the healing brush, though tend to wander into the clone brush at times. Once this step is done, I can really see the breadth of what I’m about to undertake.

All that I’m left with now are the large tears and major blemishes. For this image, there were a few people who had parts of the photo peeled off to expose some of the paper underneath. This made it difficult because there was barely a base to go back to for reference. Having a Wacom tablet really makes this process faster. It involved more creating than what I’m usually used to when restoring a photo.

After painting in the lost details, I simply recreated the background layer and did some final, minor color corrections. All that’s left is to print it out and see how well I did. I’m sure my grandma will be happy with the results and chalk it up to some magic power I possess.

I went to the wedding of James and Vanessa a couple months ago...

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 07:52:00 -0600

I went to the wedding of James and Vanessa a couple months ago and just got around to editing the footage. I really enjoy these quick, small videos. I feel like the emotions/feel I wanted to get across come out better this way. Mostly it was an exercise is creating tighter, faster edits with the music. Also I enjoy cutting video together when the music is already in my head. I was thinking about how I wanted to edit this for a couple weeks until I heard this song. Then I finished the whole thing in two nights. Sometimes you just have to wait until the pieces all come together.

Even though I posted about this before, the video was taken down...

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 23:47:50 -0500

Even though I posted about this before, the video was taken down to have Foley and new music inserted. The short was scored by Blake Robinson, and his youtube channel has much more music for your ears. Again, this was shot as test footage, and cleaned up to make this little short. Enjoy!

I love some of the characteristics that were hit upon that makes...

Wed, 26 Oct 2011 22:44:20 -0500

I love some of the characteristics that were hit upon that makes video games stand out from most other artwork. Especially the discussion of forced interaction with an audience and how it reinforces the narrative. I’ve always enjoyed street art and installations for this same reason. To be able to engage with the audience in their environment creates a compelling experience.

Vangough Music Video

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 23:08:00 -0500

Hello all out there! I’m sort of posting things in reverse, but that’s because newer projects are finishing faster than older projects. This is a video by Vangough that I worked on around February with director Gabe Miller. Since their new album was being released in the fall, the video was delayed to coincide with the release to better promote the band. During the shoot, I was simply a helping hand on set. I worked the crane for a few shots and helped haul equipment to and from locations. I did not help out as much as I wanted to on set, mostly due to the fact that in a lot of the shots, I was the fourth rabbit (not all the band member’s schedule happened to line up).

It was a fun shoot, and I think it only took 2 days to complete. I believe this was the first video I worked on that I did not do set photography. It just goes to show you that everyone starts from somewhere. Without helping out on these smaller sets, I would not have been able to be director of photography on later projects. Nothing is ever handed to you. Start small and work on up by being easy to work with, ambitious, and willing to absorb all the info you can. I hope to take these lessons that I learned from film sets and apply them to all things game development. Look forward to more posts on what I am working on!

Ninja Gaiden Series Teaser #2

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 08:50:00 -0500

Hello all! I’ve been so busy, so I’ll be making quick updates in the next few days. First off that at the end of summer, I’ve decided that I needed to narrow down the focus of my projects strictly to game development. So there should be more of that and less videos in the next coming weeks. I’ve made a lot of progress already and will share my ideas soon.

The Ninja Gaiden short film has now turned into a three part Youtube series! While I’m officially done with the project, there are still a few more weekends of shooting to gather the final shots. It is already looking amazing, and I hope that the first episode is out soon! If you think this will be an awesome series, please share! We put a lot of hard work in over a very hot and grueling summer. In the end, we will have an awesome series that really captures the Ninja Gaiden feel.

The only reason this teaser would not pump you up for the project is because there is a ninja behind you that has killed you, and you did not even realize it.

Ninja Gaiden Fan Film Teaser

Thu, 01 Sep 2011 12:59:00 -0500

Hello all! I have almost finished doing a ton of video work over the summer. One project is still pretty much under wraps until it’s finished or a trailer is released. So before I can talk about that one, take a look at this fan film that director Gabe Miller and I have been shooting.

We planned for the end result to be a live-action trailer about the story from the original game Ninja Gaiden. While filming the necessary scenes and fights, Gabe decided early on to go ahead and film those scenes in their entirety. So the expected end result now is to have a short film that we may release onto the masses if the actual trailer gains some popularity.

We have one more day of shooting with a few pick-up shots needed. After that, all the hard work is left to Gabe to create the visual effects, edit, color grade, and release it! I’m excited about the short, and I’m not just saying that because I shot 90% of the video :) I think it looks great and captures the feel of Ninja Gaiden!

Hopefully fans of the original game will appreciate our hard work (shot mostly in 100+ degree heat!). Once the trailer is finished, I will post it here! Thanks for checking it out!

Head Shots

Thu, 11 Aug 2011 20:45:00 -0500

So since I’ve been working in local film projects in the last couple years, I took it upon myself to go outside my norm and try something new. I wasn’t exactly comfortable with taking portraits/head shots for people to use, but I’m glad I did it.

I really prefer environments or capturing those objects that people never paid attention to. Actually dealing with people head on is a situation I usually don’t find myself. I knew it was going to be challenging, but I cannot turn my back on an opportunity to grow as an individual. The most difficult part was giving people instruction. I’m not used to guiding my subject into the proper position for the photo. Partly is because of my distaste of posed photographs. I prefer a natural situation that lends itself to a little moment caught in an image. I think I did well for my first crop of head shots. These were some of the best in the series and hopefully bring in some work from local actors.

I’m charging relatively cheap at $65 to not scare away students from this opportunity. Most professionals charge nearly $300 or more! At that range, most of the inexperienced actors do not get proper head shots, perhaps even costing them the role in a film. Since I’m fairly new to this side gig, I want to be fair but professional to all.

Even though these first sessions were a completely new experience to me, I definitely see the value of posed photography. To be able to bring out a look or emotion through direction is a skill. I no longer look down at posed photographs, but I still do not prefer it. Despite this, I do want to get better and more comfortable with portraits and interacting with the subjects themselves. It was a great experience. I feel more comfortable with portraiture than I ever have and look forward to my next session!

The Ninja Pain Train

Sat, 30 Jul 2011 08:04:00 -0500

So recently I have been trying my hand at more director of photography roles. This is the first official video where I am the guy behind the film camera. I helped to establish shots, angles, and some of the action. While this project was a fun shoot for an afternoon, it was all test footage for an upcoming project (involving Gabe, myself, and ninjas).

Director of photography is a fun role for me. Whenever someone describes an event or situation to me, I automatically envision the story in my head as a film. This comes in handy when reading novels also :D So the film that play out in my head is ultimately the film that I shoot. While the editing may change what I had in my head, it is up to the director to bring out his vision. On a similar note, it is up to me to not only inject my style into the filming, but to adhere to what the director wants to create. It’s a very collaborative process.

We actually shot this a few weeks ago in preparation of the short that we are currently filming. I was also 1st cameraman on another short film that was shot a couple weeks ago. Once these projects are edited and fed to the masses, I will post my thoughts on those here. For now, enjoy this fun video and leave any comments below!

Home Creations "Sand Castle"

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 07:50:00 -0500

I know I’m a bit late again with updates. It’s a good sign though! It means I’ve been busy with photography and short films. More posts should be coming soon about those. In the meantime, here is a batch of set photography I took while on the set of a Home Creations commercial. I worked with Vahid (Freestyle Productions) before, and he asked me to be a part of the crew.

I’ll keep this short. Being on set for this commercial was one of the best set experiences I’ve ever had. Everyone was great to work with and knew exactly what to do. There are several reasons for this. The primary reason was that a week before the shoot, Vahid took the actors and did a rehearsal at the location. He filmed it with this T2i and thus created a “rough draft” of the commercial. This allowed him to plan out shots that didn’t work, further understand the lighting setup, and develop a better awareness of what to do when it was production day.

Because of this main reason, everyone was akin to a well-oiled machine. Directors knew when to hurry the production, electric knew where to set up the lights for the next shot, and actors had a clearer picture of their character roles. This lowered stress levels on set and made everyone great to work with. Freestyle Productions comes highly regarded by me. If ever given a chance to work with them, do yourself a favor.

Recursion Game

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 23:23:00 -0500

Towards beginning of the semester, my friend and then coworker Andrew approached me to create art for his masters thesis. His thesis was going to be presented in a game format that centered around the theme of recursion (a mathematics technique, thus used in programming).

He went on to describe this as a 2D “side-scrolling” game. The environment was to be predominantly mayan ruins, while the character was to be an exploring robot. The character was to navigate through the ruins based on open paths eventually leading to the treasure. The gameplay was suppose to mimic the process of recursion. I went to work on creating the mayan background using mostly hand painting techniques. I believe there was only one image of a rock texture that I used to break up the surface and add some random noise.

Even though I have yet to see the finalized version of the game, it was a fun, little side project for me. It gave me practice building an environment without much use of found textures. You can check out the finished environments below with the robot and treasure. (The interior of the temple was built in pieces so they could be assembled into differentiating paths).

New Orleans and Nikon

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 07:54:00 -0500

So I know that I have been gone… well I’ve been here but quite busy! So I’m going to try to post updates as soon as I can. Also these posts will be in order, but perhaps a couple months old XD. I’m hoping to make the posts smaller and less complex in order to convince myself that I need to get in gear and write more often. So here we go!

So after I received my new Nikon D7000, I had a couple weeks to get familiar with the camera before I visited New Orleans for five days. New Orleans is an amazing city and has been different from any other city that I have visited! It ceases to amaze me how much of the world I need to see while I still can. I truly wish the photos I took of New Orleans could express my thoughts and emotions about this city bursting with culture and atmosphere. Perhaps that’s why I still need to grow as a photographer and artist. I really want to capture my thoughts in artistic expression and disperse them from my being.

Even though I went during Mardi Gras, I still feel like I had a firm grasp on what the city has to offer. I only saw it peeking out through the parades, laughter, and debauchery, but I knew that it was so full of life that it could not contain itself from my eyes. The people were extremely friendly (even to tourists!) and the food was equally as pleasing. I do plan on returning sometime in the near future to embrace more of what New Orleans has to offer.

So I brought along my new Nikon D7000 to better understand the camera before the wedding I had to shoot. The camera performed exceptionally well! Unfortunately Nikon itself is still a new beast to me, therefore the photos are not quite up to snuff to my standards. Despite this, some of the more impressive feats of the camera involved its wide dynamic range. I was able to capture highlight and shadow detail unlike before. This truly brings out the textures that surround the city and people.

The Nikon D7000 has quick focusing and quite shutter clicks. It’s well made, and feels solid in my hands. So far I’m thoroughly pleased with my decision to switch to Nikon. While this small sample from New Orleans doesn’t show how much I’ve grown in the past two months with the camera, I can say that it can produce stunning results. I don’t know if I should even give the camera that much credit. Perhaps it is my own growth with photography but my photos have definitely raised a bar that I intend to keep raising.

My next posts will be extremely photo/video heavy, but I promise that I want to grow equally as much as an artist in the video game industry. I believe that I can better spread out my projects so that I can work on my 3D modeling at home. After all, improving one artistic skill/ability really helps the overall talent of that person.

Dodge Challenger Calendar

Wed, 04 May 2011 12:56:00 -0500

Here are the images from the calendar I took. I think they turned out very good! Printing was done by www.overnightprints.com. Also I’m posting this with the mobile app. This should help me post more frequently but with smaller updates!