Even more cathedral WIP

Before

'After' (hint: the person is real)

Copywrite FXPHD All rights reserved

No I have not finished the cathedral yet before you ask. Mainly as due to finishing the videos before the break on the FXPHD course I'm giving on advanced environment modelling early I had 2 weeks off before I needed to do the next one. Plus as the last session was a gargoyle that was a winged lion (and I've already done enough lions this year) I skipped posting that one.

So the next 3 weeks I have to texture every item in the cathedral model at least 3 times, so I have different texture sets I can swap out for different elements (trust me this does save time later !) I then have to set the final shaders lighting and render up in 3d max using Metal Ray and then do the whole materials, lights and final render setup in Maya using Renderman. So it'll be a busy 3 weeks for me. At the momnt this is a test using only normal maps although final renderman versin will be packed to the gills with displacement

But that won't be the end of the cathedral once the course finishes as I'll keep going right up till the hand over deadline improving it as I go. What you see above is some of the elements textured so far using 1 of the 3 textures sets I'm on creating. Shaders are stand-ins.

For shits and giggles I set up the render as if it was a real practical set on a chroma rig....yes I do have a weird sense of humour, but as the kids have just went back to school from their 7 bloody week holiday I'm probably not the only parent a bit odd at the moment lol. I also comped in the character from the series of shots its from

I have a feeling the final animation with the chroma footage may turn out pretty ok. Uv mapping every damn element in the cathedral has not been fun....and if I ever see UV mapping again for a week it'll be too soon.

Also for those interested:


I'm offloading some more camera gear on ebay that I don't need for those interested:

Manfrotto modosteady http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/330610960634?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

canon 100-300mm lens EF 4.5-5.6 lens: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/330610961867?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Konig tripod head: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/330610962900?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

Sculpting a Feng concept and going crazy due to kids holidays

As a freelance guy working from home most times and a parent, the kids school summer holidays are always a combination of walking barefoot through hell and a trip to Disneyland wrapped up in a wrapping paper of overwork and too many long hours. (Although being busy trips anywhere are out of the question unfortunately.) While I love my kids to bits, the idea of my 6 year old son Kane being off school for nearly 7 fucking weeks still terrified the life out of me, as I also have to get work done as well as be 'daddy' 24 7. Now when I was a kid it was 6 weeks, so I can only assume that teachers are taking the piss with the extra week lol. Thankfully though the school holidays are almost over.

It's been a busy one this year as I've been pulling very long hours and doing more stuff than may be immediately apparent. At the core of this is the FXPHD advanced environment modelling course I've been teaching. As all kids around where I live are off school as well (obviously) this means recording anything during daylight hours is a no go unless people want a soundtrack accompanying it that sounds like a kiddie riot. So lots of being awake till 4am and then up at 7am with the kids. This is not the best way to live trust me. It takes its toll and I can be a bad tempered old bastard at the best of times lol.

I also found time to do some stuff just for me. In fact I did something I very rarely do which is sculpt from another artists concept art. It was from some art by Feng Zhu (if you don't know who Feng is....you should). Some of the characters on the sheet of concepts he'd posted 'jumped out at me'. Without asking, or even thinking I felt compelled to sculpt at least one of them.....so I did. Now this is very naughty as your supposed to ask people before you do a 3d version of their 2d work... but when I've driven...I'm driven. I explained this to Feng and showed him the results and he liked it and was cool with me sharing it.

I do intend on texturing this when time allows and taking it to a final render stage, but I've got much on my plate at the moment that I'll have to wait for a gap. Apart from changing the tentacles it's all Feng's design and I can take no credit for it whatsoever. All I did was bring it into 3 dimensions. I've been a lover of his work from long before I did 3d professionally and it was nice to work with some a good bit of concept art by undoubtedly one of the great master concept artists of our time.

Well I've just spent all day uploading week 6's videos for the FXPHD course and am giving myself until Monday before starting on the next one. (Which is damaging the entire cathedral stone work in a sympathetic way ...in other words not making it look like it's been through the battle of the Somme, the battle of Leningrad combined like we usually do as digital sculptors for portfolio pieces to make them 'look cool' lol).

I may also get some time to finish off / continue with a few things I'm working on, on the programming side with any luck. Fingers Crossed.

WIP: Cathedral Interior again

Very short post just to upload the latest updates of the Durham cathedral interior I'm using to teach peolpe advanced enviroment modelling for the course I'm giving for FXPHD. It's the 1st time I've had all the separate models in the scene. ...and no still nothing sculpted yet as I want it looking fine without it so that the sculpting is the icing on the cake. Before much longer I have the gargoyles and the textures and final lighting to do. (as this lighting is just a very rough stand in.)

Here's a couple of alternate shots..... although 80% of the detail isn't visible at this resolution to be honest.

A dick around for an hour or so......

Hour and a bit dick around in 3dmax

So.... as well as having my dad in hospital, who has now had his triple bypass and so far is doing very well ( big thanks to all those who sent their good wishes) and the FXPHD Durham cathedral interior I've also had time for some dick arounds. Either for use in some cases as set dressing that I'd not be able to cover as part of the course, or in the case of the one from tonight just as some relaxation for an hour or so in 3Dsmax. I have suddenly of late had an urge to do more environment modelling, and not just because of the FXPHD course I'm teaching, but because I find it amazingly relaxing and far less pressuring than creatures or people. Mainly as with a enviro model you either get it right or wrong.

Work in progress of altar screen

Another reason is it gets me out of sculpting everything and forces me to take a break from that for a short time(which always ends up producing better work in the long run). I do find poly modelling environments easy and so low stress, it's not usually something you want to do at 600 miles an hour and so I can stop, have a coffee, take the kids to the park or whatever and come back later. I don't have to 'catch the idea' before it fades in my head.

I also want to point out that this week is your last chance to join the current term at FXPHD, there are a LOT of amazing courses on offer...and mine lol. I know it can be a lot of money, but if you added up all the hours upon hours of tuition and availability to the tutors you get its a steal. (it'd cost a shit load more if it was DVD's for example! ) So far everyone on my course has had nothing but good things to say about it, which is always a plus point. So if you are serious about making this industry your career it's a very good option to consider.

Kit-bashed Pulpit dick around / test design

New DLSR and more Durham Cathedral stuff

I finally got a replacement for my stolen 550D back when I was at end user event (or more correctly on my way to end user event). After thinking long and hard I had narrowed it between a 60D, a &D, and a Lumix GH2. As theres not adapter for EOS lenses that works the way I wanted them to that doesn;t cost a small fortune I went for the 60D. The only reason I didn't got for the 7D was simply as it weighs a lot more. as I don't drive and hate carrying the weight of a small dead body around I went for the 60D. Why not the 5D mk2? Wel as its overdue the mk3 coming out it'd be folly to spend that much on a camera that could be outdated very fast. Plus there is a rash of other good cameras (inc the sony full frame one) due out very soon so I didn't really feel like taking a gamble.

As I'm not a fan of pixel peeping and chances of aything of mine ever being on a large projected screen are so close to zero that its thinking of it as zero it wasn't an issue to me. Although having the ability to do some good still was. I rarely use auto focus, or auto anything to be honest as it makes me feellike I know what the hell I'm doing. (Whether that be the actual case or not lol).

My dad has his triple bypass tomorrow morning so hopefully you'll all keep your fingers crossed. Its not as straight forward as it could be due to some existing health issues. Right now I'm trying not to think about it as I'd be a nervious wreck.


I did a bit of a dick around with the Durham cathedral model I'm doing for my FXPHD course I'm teaching this year, nothing major just basically to unwind, but for those interested you can see it above. Its a fair bit down the actual cathedral this time as I was getting sick of rendering long shots lol I still have the entire altar area to design as well yet.

WIP Durham Cathedral Interior

Modelling nearly done for nave, both wings and the modified altar area (as required by Mike Seymour who is art director for this), few more bits and pieces then its onto uv mapping, texturing and sculpting this. A very short blog entry today as my dad is in hospital for an emergancy heart operation so funnily enough blog posts aren't top of my adgenda today.

Durham Cathedral Interior : 'WIP 'Alternate version.

Here's a quick update to the Durham cathedral interior model that I'm covering the creation of for the FXPHD advanced interior modelling class I'm giving. This is the low res 'B' version that I'm working on in tandem. The idea behind a alternate version is that I am a bit freer to tweak things for the shot if need be.

This is the Nave only and accounts for only about 1/4 of the final model and the 'low res' is currently at 1.7 million in my 'B' version shown here. (There will also be a far higher res 'C' version if I can get it all to render lol.) This is all pre sculpting and lights at the moment are a simple stand in. Remember folks this is a work in progress (i.e. unfinished) and subject to some rather dramatic changes.


Also I have just stuck my PROSKAR anamorphic lens, complete with clamps and doipters up on ebay as I don't have a dslr at this time. This lens is a great example of the PROSKAR anamorphic lens and if your into dslr filming I strongly recommend looking at it (although I would say that woudn't I? lol). It also means you'll be able to get nearly a 4k wide image out of you DSLR ;)
It breaks my heart to have to sell it.

EBAY LINK

'Order 13' ... (or Outside the Comfort Zone)

The idea behind 'Order 13' is that the world of digital art and expecially 3D is seen by outsiders to be simply 'pressing a few buttons' and requiring little to no skill at all on our part. Now as the guys and girls at the sharp end we know this is utter rubbish, But it inspired the whole concept behind 'Order 13'.

The concept is a simple one, for one day you forget all about the app or apps you are comfortable with and probably know inside out and have used for ages and instead pick its polar opposite you dont use and do a piece in that instead. Now as I use a combo of Mudbox and 3D Max the opposites of those would be Zbrush and Maya. The idea is to not only sort of say to people who think all we do is press buttons ' hey we do do more than just press smegging buttons all day', but also to stretch ourselves outside of our nice warm comfort zones just a little and make life more uncomfortable for us.

It is the artist that creates the art, not the application.

So I thought I'd start off by putting my money where my mouth was and picking up an app that I haven't used on a project or for a personal piece since 2008...Zbrush. To compound matters I set myself the task of recreating the head of the Lion from the KMBA productions logo and animation I did. So I spent an hour on it and here it is. It meant for this piece changing the way I was used to sculpting to get it to look the way I wanted. Obviously it sort of goes without saying that you wouldn't want to do this for a production peice lol. But if I dont say it then someone no doubt willl take it as that being what I actually meant, so sorry for stating the bleeding obvious.


This does not mean I have changed apps...that is not the point of Order 13. I also realise judging on past times I've even mentioned zbrush that this is sort of taking a bit of a risk. As very small minority of the less glued together zb users seem to take a rather bizaar extreme exception to me even uttering the name lol. (I have had emails that'd make anyones hair curl over the years.....one day I'd love to publish the whole damn lot on a dedicated site. lol). But as I never tell anyone what apps they are allowed to use, you can guess what my view on other people attempting to tell me what to use or not use is. ;)

But I digress.... Which I admit I do have a habit of doing rather often. Give the idea behind 'Order 13' a go.... step outside that comfort zone and stretch ....or you could just forget all about it and stay in the confines of a nice comfortable place your in. To me, being an artist is never about being 'comfortable, but rather finding new and intersted ways to make myself uncomfortable and stretch myself. But granted thats not for everyone.

'What Remains'

Another of my many partly done sculpts brought to some semblance of completion last night. Render took an absolute age with all those final gather bounces to help it look nice.

The name does have a reason and meaning but its sort of private and I only mention it is because if I don't then some bugger will ask why its called that. Its breaks teh old creature /monster rule of making sure it looks at least something like something living or known facially. It doesn't. (Which is one of the reasons I originally mothballed it.)