Onwards and ...well onwards

I'm sitting here just doing the final stuff on the contract I've been working on for a client for a month.  Hopefully sometimes in the next couple of months I'll be able to show and go into detail about what I've been doing and what for.  So now it's back to hunting down freelance gigs and firstly having a bit of 'doodle time' for the next week as this jobs been full on long hours for a month now and it'll be nice to get some time back to 'have a life' again lol.

Yesterday I finally got the 5D Mk2 DSLR I've wanted for 2 years now, so also I'll have a bit of time to play around with that as well.  although its less for 'DSLR film making' and more for project related stuff.  (Although that's not to say I won't be testing out the video features lol).

I'm also REALLY looking forward to saving an archive copy of what I've done and then deleting the other 125gig of incremental saves lol.   So it's back to what passes for normal and enjoying not having to be within phone answering distance stuck at home.  

On my list of stuff 'To Do' is to do a Linux compile  / port of MudWalkerX and ReDucto, do some opening titles for a TV Show and try and get around to putting together stuff for my next demo reel, although as usual the biggest problem will be actually rendering it out on a single pc.  It's ironic that more people now have scenes I've came up with as part of the FXPHD classes I've gave in their reels than I do. but still...I've got to smile at that.

So now if you'll excuse me, I have a bit of speed sculpting I want to doodle on with....

Interview with CGPHD now up

Short blog this time as still in midde of working in the stuff for a company I cannot mention, on a thing I cannot hint at and as such can't say anything about that till its out. (Once it is I promise you it will be worth and ...and very hard to avoid lol).

LINK

A while back I was asked to give an interview with CGPHD which they have just put live on their site.    You can reach it at the link above.  ...and no I have not grown the beard back, they just used an old photo lol.

Busy as a Rabbit in the...oh shit I already used that title for a blog

I've just signed to do a months worth of work for a firm, I cannot tell you  which firm, what it is for, what type of thing it is, what my job will entail, what I am doing.  Almost sounds like I'm James Bond lol (and no that was not a clue as I canot give clues....I would be strung up if I did.)     For those of you who know this industry I'll be on a remote lockdown so I cannot utter a word of what I shall be doing until cleared whenever that may be.  So if the art side of the blog stuff gets a bit thin for a month that is why ;)


Wayne...

Sunday Night Doodle

Clicky for biggy version


Tongihts doodle...still trying to seehow far I can push anaomty before it falls apart.  This ones getting pretty damn close to that.  Mix of bull frog, human and something else.

Figure Extended Doodle

...yes you can click this image to make it bigger

Sort of an extended doodle that I've had in my head for a while but not had time to sculpt with sorting everything out for the ReDucxto and MudWalkerX releases.  I sort of see this one as a design rough that I could refine at a later date if I have the time and inclination.  The head you may remember is from a speed scupt a while back that I wanted to extend to this full figure piece.

Beta Testers Needed

OK I'm going to need a few beta testers as I'm halfway through an update that will remove the need to deactivate UAC on windows to get ReDucto from working for some people.  As there has been a few studios interested in using it  / testing to out and of course the last thing they want to be doing is disabling UAC & antivirus just for ReDucto I'm half way through an updated version to touch wood solve this.

Here the criteria I need:

1 - you must have a machine that has UAC enabled

2 - Have had UAC related issues with the ReDucto or MudWalker release

3 - You are running an anti virus as also going to try and crack the false positive thing as well.

if you want to test the update drop me an email at wayne@dashdotslash.net with "ReDucto Beta" in the subject line.

Also I'll be be starting working on posting both MudWalkerX and Reducto to linux in the next few days or so feel free if you want to beta test the linux versoin of either. ...and dont worry both will remain free.

ReDucto & MudWalkerX Now Available for Download

MudWalkerX   ReDucto have both been made available for download and use free at the above link.  There are also some video help files on the site as well, although you are STRONGLY encouraged to read the help files as not everything is covered in the videos.

as well as what was in the promo video I have added some extra little features you were not expecting:

• ·         A interop between Mudbox and Zbrush
• ·         Zbrush users can now make full use of ReDucto (as can Maya, 3DsMax and Softimage Users)
• ·         video showing how to add any app with scripting or an SDK in about 2 very easy lines of code anyone can do.
• ·         A third totally different hybrid poly reduction algorithm of mine 'WeaponX'

MudWalker Features:

• Send back and forth to many supported applications (including scene update as well)
• 'NoQuarter' A Voxel grid based polygon reduction with 9 easy to use auto settings
• Export selected faces/parts of your models or all of them (This can be used for easy model to 3d print parts workflow)
• Take all models in scene to their lowest subdivision level
• Take all models in the scene to their highest subdivision level
• Create a complete Multi Application project file structure if you wish
• Easy to add unsupported applications
• Send to Mudbox & Export to ReDucto from Zbrush
• Start ReDucto out of the box from 3DsMax, Maya & Softimage
• 'WeaponX' hybrid polygon reduction (think of it as a hybrid of ReDucto and NoQuarter, with the speed of the latter and very nearly the quality of output of the former)

ReDucto Features:

• Unique Polygon Reduction Algorithm using its own AI that works out how best to reduce the polycount of your mesh created especially for digital sculpts. It gives better results that anything around currently.
• Intelligent hole filling capable of filling 'impossible holes' other apps will reject
• Industrial strength tri stripping and un-stripping
• Bake Ambient Occlusion and Normal map data direct to your mesh at vertex level
• Mesh merging of high polycount datasets
• Find and Fix problems in your mesh such as rogue vertex, non planar faces many, many more
• Face, edge and vertex optimisation to enable faster loading times
• 3 types of subdivision not found in most applications
• Customisable interface configurations
• ReDucto is a standalone separate application and as such is totally application agnostic

Some extras you get as well:

• A drag and drop file viewer with support for many file types for fast reviewing of models
• 'Mudbox Backup' This simple exe will back up every setting in all versions of Mudbox installed on your machine into one place for easy restoring should the preference files become corrupt. Brushes, materials, hotkeys...everything
• Save and restore all Mudbox settings in one click

All made available for free on the stipulation that I do not get any emails for tech support / requests for features / complaints you got abducted by aliens due to MudWalker or ReDucto. If you are a company please send me a courtesy email notifying you are using either ReDucto or MudWalkerX.  It will cost you nothing.

As many people requested it I had added a donate button on the psychocore.com site for those that want to, but there is no obligation to.
Enjoy

Wayne...

ReDucto and MudWalker X Have landed!

More Details can be found here: http://psychocore.com/index2.html

I don't make my apps and plug-ins available very often, but when I do people do seem to rather like them.  Back in early 2011 I stopped making everything available, lack of time to make them available and quash any remaining bugs that I could personally live with (but others would not) meant that everything stopped.  I pulled all remaining releases after the splash the initial version of MudWalker had made back in the day, and the even bigger splash the vector displacement shader for mental ray made.  As I explained back then it got to the stage where I was spending all my time answering tech support emails for what were free things I'd put out.  I write these things for me and I release things as either I have superseded them in my pipeline with another version or simply as a gift.  But in truth it's a side effect of making things for me that I personally need use of.  Nothing more.

Now as I did not get into art to be a tech support guy and want to remain being in art for art, releasing these means I cannot in all good conscience sell them.  The way I see it if your selling an app or plug-in you have to be prepared to act as tech support and give up a large chunk of your life.  Hence both MudWalker X and ReDucto are free to everyone with one small stipulation...no emails begging for tech support (unless you're a large firm), no emails or tweets begging for features to be added...nothing...nada...ziltch.  Any emails will get deleted unless you're a huge firm and prepared to pay for any changes or tech support.

ReDucto's 3d parts kit workflow is unique... there is currently nothing that does this even as remotely as stable or as easily (let alone fast...let's not forget that!).  The main ReDucto polygon reduction algorithm is unique and something I came up with myself years ago. no other app has this algorithm as I own it, I came up with it, I made it.  It gives superb results that are far and away better than everyone else's version of the simple quadratic collapse algorithm used by 90% of the industry.

There is so much more that's its impossible to cover in a single blog post.  back when MudWalker 1st landed years back it was the very 1st of its kind that PC users could actually use... It made a big splash and saw as a result a shit load of clones.  I still find it ironic that it had more app support in its 1st week than anything similar had in years.  This release dumps a lot of the old stuff and concentrates on newer features. (although I had made it easy to people to activate or deactivate the old features if they want them.)

It contains its own super fast polygon reduction algorithm that is totally different and totally separate from ReDucto, and probably the one feature I use more than anything the ability to jump all meshes in a scene to their highest or lowest subD level via a simple hot key.  The extras I'm sticking in with both MudWalker X and ReDucto are worth a look alone.    But its free and you can't argue with that.

They are both released via by own development banner 'Psycho Core'. Now Psycho Core is a software firm that is rather unique. It does not sell you anything, it does not want your money or your loyalty...it wants nothing and hopefully gives everything in return.  Downloads for both will be made available later this week once the help files and vids are done.   If you meet me at any point you can buy me a beer....  or hire me whichever is harder lol

Back Home

I had a great time over in Vancouver and apart from no one being able to find the adapter for the Cintiq (which sort of put a downer on any serious live sculpting for my 6 hour session..shame as I was really rareing to go) everything went fine.  Some of those there near the end got a small preview of something I have been working on over on the software side of things that the rest of you will see some time this week.  There were a host of excellent speakers, some of who I missed due to trying to track down some tablets for a headache due to the bloody hotel only having 2 sachets of coffee in each room per day! (I have that before breakfast lol).  So cue on killer caffeine headache for a lot of us lol.

About 5 or 10 mins before my Lecture

I met a lot of great people I'd not met before this trip and had a excellent time, all be it that I spent most of my free time holed up in my hotel room working on 'something'.  In fact all but the last day the extent of Vancouver I saw was MacDonald's and  various star bucks on Robson street.

The journey back home was a nightmare as on the plane form Calgary to London I was stuck next to no less than 6 screaming babies.  So sleep on plane = zero. Also my new phone went arse up and I had to try something I'd never tried before and knew sod all about...rooting my phone in the cafe in Heathrow terminal 5 while hardly able to stand after nearly 30 hours awake at that point.  By some miracle I managed it... although last plane was late and I ended up seriously zombiefied by the time I got back home.

Still...it was worth it.

The Day Shit Went Badly Wrong

you may detect more than  a wee bit of stress in my blog today.  Just thank your lucky stars your not in the same room as me running around like a headless chicken after a day when things have went from fine to 'absolute shit storm'.  As you'll have guessed if you have read previous blog posts I've got to pop over to Vancouver for 4 days or so to lecture at Anomaly (http://anomaly.cgmovement.com/).  I am due to leave the house about 6.30am on Thursday morning.  it is now 6.36pm on Tuesday so I have tonight and tomorrow to have everything ready before I walk out the door.

..and to think it was all going so well...   

I had  what I was going to cover all sorted and files ready for final round up  onto my external travel drives, I had my clothes all ready to iron and pack, nice lists made of every damn thing I need to take. 

Then today happened.  let me list just some of what has went wrong since I got up this morning:

A - 2 T drive with all files on goes boom and is unrecoverable (looks to be fried by dodgy power supply)

B- I end up going all the way to Durham to get money changed with the wrong damn card.... was so tired after long hours putting apps back into formatted and repaired laptop that I picked wrong one up)

C - Have had to Lend my wife Kat's big ext drive...if that blows up I may as well emigrate to Siberia!

D- Its going to be another 'cutting it way to fine' pack and sort out of files...which I was trying to avoid.

E-Oh and having to copy /transfer terabytes of data over to make enough room on my smaller travelling ext drives for all the files I need! 

So now I have to copy so many files its ridiculous over to my bigger external drives from the smaller ones I was using to store old projects and videos I've recorded to make space.  I've also had to delete my own personal HD copies of all the QuickStart videos and every DVD I've ever recorded.  This is going to take well into the early hours to make enough space to ram as much of my files as I can onto them. So while my lecture is easy to re-sort out the files for, the 6 hour sculpting demo is sort of in the lap of whatever passes for gods in this dimension of ours.  Somewhere in all this I have to find time to do my final warm up sculpts as once I am in Vancouver I won't  have sculpted for 3 days (Thursday, Friday and till 6pm when the sculpting bit starts on Saturday).

My dad always says that its times like this when the shit is hitting several fans at once..that sort the men from the boys.  So I'll manage as I always do, yes probably a bit higher on the stress scale than usual, but I'll manage because that's what I do.  I'm an artist, I make art and no bloody stupid wall of stress is going to stop that. Although 1st thing I intend to do in Vancouver once unpacked etc on Wednesday afternoon is head out somewhere for a drinkies that night...I'll deserve it.  So if you live round the Robson street area of Vancouver on Wednesday night, do not be surprised to see a slightly jolly fat English bloke wandering round smiling. :)

Anomaly: Zero to Complete Still in 60 mins

I normally leave people wondering what I'm going to do for my lectures, often I just give the vaguest of hints in advance.  I'm breaking it this time   I'm going to recreate this image from the top down on 60 mins from start to end. 

 I'll be doing it for my lecture at Anomaly on Saturday 28th April in Vancouver. My mateDanny John Jules has give me permission to use the bike model I made for his upcoming  film 'Bucky'. The model fitted the scene perfectly and added a somewhat dark overtone to a otherwise cheerful scene.   (The image is entitled 'Missing'.... )

 This is my 'rough' version to tweak placements / ideas etc.   After my lecture I'll be sculpting and demoing from 6pm till just before midnight.  So for those going I'll see you there.

Anomaly :: Vancouver 28th April

Its time for some Anomaly pimpage as I promised them I would. :)

The image they used of mine must be 4Yr old and makes me shudder to look at it lol

I'll be at Anomaly in Vancouver on the Sat 28th April (next weekend to you and me). The other artists lecturing are easily worth the price of admission on their own....each. So if you in the Vancouver area it's well worth a pop over. I'll be lecturing on 3D digital environment stuff and then doing a 6 hour demo afterwards on the main floor (....that's gonna be interesting to do as not exactly a quiet environment to work in.) I'll be in Vancouver between the 26th and 30th so there for a few days should any peeps I know what to catch up.

If you're a 2D person then you'll be in heaven, if you're a 3d guys as well then it'll be bliss. I'm going to try and make a couple of the lectures by some of the others myself. That's if I can fit them in around the 6 hour of demos I'm doing , the inevitable jetlag and providing the rooms aren't full of paying people (as once the tickets are sold...that's it no more.)

I'm not even going to try and give you a big sell about what each person does as chances are you already know...and if you don't know then it's about time you learned about them;)

Here's the list of artists lecturing and demoing:

Andrew Domachowski

Charles Guan

Chris Bourassa

Craig Mullins

Daniel Dociu

Daryl Mandryk

Jason Stokes

Jelmer Boskma

Jon Schindehette (Wizards of the coast)

Luke Wakeford (Digital Domain)

Matthew Barrett

Mihai Anghelescu (Electronic Arts)

Mikko Kinnunen, (microsoft studios)

Paul Richards

Steven Chen

Terryl Whitlatch

Thomas Scholes

Tim Mack

Vinod Rams

Xin Wang (Blizzard)

Sunday Warm-Up 2

Sargent Tarkels...not many people sculpt him now do they? lol

I do all sorts of sculpts just for me that never ever see the light of day. I suppose in this case it could be classfied as 'fan art' sort of loosely as its based on the concept sketch for Sargent Tarkels...the 'other' gungan in episode one of star wars. As Terryl Whitlach is also a lecturer at Anomaly in a couple of weeks time in Vancouver, so when I saw her post the concept for this on her facebook page, it seemed the ideal thing to do as a warm up sculpt.

I have changed a few minor things here and there, I played around with the idea that the older a gungan got the longer and more droopy his snout would get....why...well why not? Plus its not as if everyone and his dog has done a version of this unlike just about every other star wars creature lol.

Now normally I dont post stuff based on other artists work or thing from films / comics I may sculpt as wamr ups because as a rule I try to make sure to ask for permission and suddenly then it gets all serious and stops being a fun warm up sculpt. (Thus negating the whole idea of a fun warm up)

If I had time I'd clean this up a fair old bit as its more than a tad rough to my eyes ..... but as a warm up...it'll do.

If you want to find out or details of the line up of lectures for Anomaly 2012 then visit the link below. I'll be doing a 1 hour lecture and demo on a certain type of photoreal environment and then a 6 hour demo on the creature / sculpting side the same day. (Where you can come and have a chat, ask questions, tell me how much you hate my accent etc...although all assasinations attepts must be from 11-11.30pm only I am told LOL :) )

For more information on Anomaly 2012 Click Here

Warming back up for creatures

Its been quite a while since I did any creatures, so with the cathedral shots out of the way its time for a bit of playtime and back to a few creatures.... so doing a few warm up sculpts to get back into the groove over the next week or two.

Cathedral : DONE!!

Finally it's done! There's a polycount in the tens of millions and brought not one but 2 PC's to their knees and me to the edge of insanity over the last 2 weeks of it. I've had dying machines to contend with, epic powercuts, both kids at home for 2 months due to crazy stuff by the local education authority who seem to see a simple move of schools as worthy of international debate...but I digress. The bottom line is its done.

Although modelling, texturing, lighting and rendering out the shots for both the Durham cathedral interior from last year and the exterior this year have been fun, I'd a little glad to be able to move onto something organic for a while. The above shot is a style frame from the actual shot done as part of the MOD302 class that's just wound up after 10 weeks spread over 3 months. Things can and do change before final composite although that could take quite a while before I see it. (The stuff from MOD 301 finished last October has only just came into my hands ..and there are still a few shots not rendered out and composited yet.) I'm sort of hoping I'm not the last dude to have it rendered out as be sort of a bitch if the guy who created it does not get to put it on a reel till after everyone else lol.

EDIT: Here's a quick reel of some of the shots I have got a hold of from MOD301 so far.

So no more Norman architecture for a while for Wayney boy! Its been full on 18 hours minimum a day the last few weeks and for most of this year in fact. So in one way its nice to have some more 'me' time and time for the wife and kids.

Its back to organics for a while and prepping for Anomaly in Vancouver for my lecture and demo at the end of this month. I can promise something special as you do not go to what could be called the 3d sculpting capital of the world unprepared ;) Not only is there the lecture but also 6 hours where I'll be demoing and available for questions and practical stuff as well.

I've not made an antique kids bike before to original specs...groovy.

Also I just did a quick logo for Danny John Jules film 'Bucky'. Very fast turnaround on this pone as a favour to Danny. I'd urge you to donate if you can as I'm probably one of the few people to have even a rough overview of what it's about (Danny has been purposely keeping it very secret). I can say it's going to be damn good.... I normally don't pimp other peoples stuff in my blog, but :

A - I count Danny as a mate

B - Its a very cool idea and story line

C - If I didn't he might get the thumbscrews out again...lol

So here is the LINK

So it's back to organics for me for a while so next week or so I'll be getting back up to speed after a year of mostly environment stuff. Expect monsters, expect creatures as it's been a bloody age since I did any. So no more banging on about the cathedral unless its to show you animated comped shots ;) ...mainly as of right now...my books are empty so back to freelance work searching for me.