Day 49: Skateboard

Day 49.  Nearly up to day 50!! woop!  Also skateboard trucks are kinda tricky :p

Day 49: Cutlass

Day 49.  Yay for more cool pirate things!

Day 48: Flintlock Pistol 02

Day 48.  A very cool pistol! I really enjoyed finishing the hammers and powder trays.  Definitely thinking of building this one in a cartoon style!! but back to sculpting, homework is due on Saturday!

Day 47: Flintlock Pistol

Day 47.  I was hoping to finish this one in one go but just ran out of time and I still have to build the hammers.  So this is gonna be a 2 parter :)  I really like the look of these old revolving flintlock pistols.  I have seen a very cool low poly, cartoon style, steam punk version of this pistol which I might build in the future!  Much like when working on the cannon, I have learnt a lot about how one of these pistols is put together and where the key geometry is that you could exaggerate when approaching this form with a cartoon twist.

Day 46: Crates n Barrels

Day 46.  Back to basics a little with today's modeling.  A barrel was actually one of the first things I was taught to model :)  This type of barrel however is a little more complex as it was actually built with individual planks like a real one would be.  I quite like the effect and the data could easily be projected onto a low poly version through normal mapping but still retain the higher rez detail.

Day 45: Brass Compass

Day 45.  This one was pretty simple except for the hinge topology.  Would be really fun to make a more interesting texture for the compass metal, give it a bit of weathering and an actual NSEW base but that will be for another day.

Day 44: Vintage Block

Day 44.  This one was pretty fun ultimately its just a few simple shapes but when they all get put together the result is pretty cool.

Digital Sculpting Week 2

Week 2.  I am loving this course.  Our assignment for this week was to take what we had learnt from our bust sculpts and, using Dynamesh, build some full body characters.  I am very happy with what I managed to complete for this week but there were still a few areas that were tricky!  I really didn't think I could get the Tyrant Guard done in only a couple of days since I started him on Thursday but I just about managed it uploading my homework about 2 hours before the class started :p He was particularly fun to work on though because I have actually put together and painted one of these Warhammer 40K models myself.  Maybe in the future I can design some cool original Tyranid or (when I learn clothes) Skaven characters :D
The Beholdress was well received everyone got a bit of a laugh from it, which was really nice :) and during the class I was taught how to make a type of mesh brush that would build an eye stalk in one go rather than building it as separate geometry which was a really cool lesson!  Scott has suggested that the eye stalk creation might be used in his Gnomon teaching dvd so wow :D
I can't wait to get started on next weeks assignment.  We are going back to bust sculpts but this time we start from a simple human mesh instead of a sphere.  The assignment leaves a large potential for creativity so I hope I can come up with something cool! :)

Day 43: More Pirate Booty

Day 43.  So carrying on with my pirate chest :)  I froze the coins in a nice pose and added a few more filler coins for the image then built the padlock.  The render quality is all thanks to Jen :)  Would have been nice to UV the chest and add a wood texture... Maybe in the future.

Day 42: PirateDynamics

Day 42.  So before I moved onto build a cool padlock I wanted to fill yesterdays pirate chest with a load of loot!!  So I spent my modelling hour learning about dynamic objects and containers.  It almost killed my computer calculating the collisions between all these coins but the end result is pretty cool.  Tomorrow I might scrub through the timeline and grab a frame where all the coins look like they have settled in the chest and freeze it as a model.

Day 41: Pirate Chest

Day 41.  Back to my hour projects :)

Day 40: Cannon UV Complete

Day 40.  Ok I have finished UV'ing the cannon phew... just some texture painting next.  But for a little while I will go back to modelling and come back to painting this cannon after I have learnt a little more about texture painting in Zbrush.

Day 39: Still UV'ing

Day 39.  Maya crashed on me noo.. lost about 40 minutes of work but in the grand scheme that's really not too much.  So UV'ing... I am getting up to the speed I was at with 3DS Max but I was sooooo reliant on Pelt Mapping (Max only) that it took me a while to get back to that speed with Maya's tools.  A few more pieces to go then I can start painting.  I am also nearly finished with my first full body sculpt for my Gnomon homework :).  Hopefully I will finish 2 or maybe at a push 3 for Saturday's class! wish me luck!

Day 39: Uv'ing

Day 39.  Ok so the next few days are gonna be pretty boring. UV'ing is a pretty long process.  So far I have only finished the belt which was a pretty tricky one but a lot of my other elements are repeated so once I build good UV's for those I can just copy paste them :).  I got some good advice from a fellow modeler saying the back of the cannon was a little busy with all the panels of wood.  I think this will become easier to understand when the cannon is textured but I do agree it was pretty busy.  I have removed one of the wood panels and tweaked the surrounding ones to fill the gap.  The change is subtle but when I tested it out with some Maya basic colors and I'm pretty happy with the change.  So tomorrow more UV'ing... yay :p

Day 38 & 39: Stylised Cannon

Day 38/39.  So after building my realistic cannon I really wanted to spend a few days playing around with concepts and make a start on a portfolio piece.  This project is probably some of my best work and I'm quite impressed with how much the daily practice has payed off.  The modeling stage is complete next will be UVing and then I will build some painterly textures for the cannon.
The idea behind this piece was that a group of pirates had crashed on a remote island and had decided to move inland so they grab what pieces of their ship have washed up and nailed and lashed it all together into a makeshift cannon rig.  Honestly I think if you were to actually shoot this cannon the whole buggy would collapse but you would get one good shot off :p

Day 37: Cannon Completed

Day 37.  Completed Cannon Project :)  I really enjoyed working on this model.  I might go onto build a low poly stylized cannon now that I know a little bit more about how it all goes together in real life.

Week 1 Zbrush Sculpting

So here are my first few sculpts for the Gnomon Digital Sculpting course.  The first assignment was to sculpt a few busts each starting from a polysphere.  I am pretty happy with how they are looking but there is still a loooooooong way to go :)  The hand in is for tomorrow so I will be getting some feedback on where I can start to improve, can't wait!!

Day 36: Pirate Cannon Part 1

Day 36.  This one will be another 2 parter.  I have finished the base for the cannon to sit in and tomorrow I will work on the actual cannon, and then all the minor details like rope, chains etc

Day 35: Bear Trap

Day 35.  Another fun little animation.

Day 34: Gumball Machine

Day 34. So this is what I worked on for most of yesterday while I waited for my car to get fixed.  I finished my usual 1hour model challenge and then loved the model so much I had to make a little animation!!

Day 33: Water Pump

Day 33.  I had to take my car into the shop today for some part recalls and therefore had no way to get home without paying for a taxi.  So I spent the day in Costas and Starbucks.  Since I didn't have my drawing tablet I just worked on Hard Surface Modeling.  I think the few people who walked by and glanced my computer were either confused or intrigued (i'm thinking based on how zoomed in I was on the model).  It was pretty fun to take my work somewhere new but I was very surprised none of the staff came over and tried to sell me another drink or something.  Anyway I also worked on a pretty cool mini project I will be releasing tomorrow :D

Day 32: Fire Hydrant

Day 32: Just ran out of time to complete the chain but the rest of the model came out pretty well.

Day 31: Crossbow

Day 31.  One month of modeling yay! This model was mostly bridge along curve or extrude along CV curve.  Despite this it still was a little tricky to get done in an hour! I feel like I am more confident in taking on slightly more complex projects which is great :)  Also started my sculpting homework today which is looking pretty cool! I will post up some screen grabs at the end of the week before my class!

Day 30: Coffee Grinder Complete

Day 30.  Yay I finished the coffee grinder!  I am pretty happy with this model and really glad I kept going and finished it.  My Gnomon course in digital sculpting starts in an hour! Really excited!!

Day 29: Vintage Coffee grinder 01

Day 29.  This will be my first 2 parter! I really liked the look of this cool vintage coffee grinder but I did expect it to be tricky to finish in just 1 hour.  So I'm going to finish it tomorrow :)

Day 28: Vintage Microphone

Day 28.  The picture of this just looked so cool on Pintrest I couldn't not model it!  Thanks to all my practicing with booleans etc I got this model done in 45 minutes :)  I wasn't expecting to see a payoff on this practicing so soon but I am feeling much more confident approaching new models.

Day 27: Crank Handle

Day 27.  Seems crazy thinking I have 27 of these models now... really doesn't feel that long since I started :)  Today's model was a fun little one but the crank wheel and handle junction was a little tricky.  I actually used the same technique with the wheels of my new project below.  

So I will be starting my Sculpting class with Gnomon on Saturday which will most likely take up alllll of my time! but I will try to keep doing my 1 model a day thing.  But in the mean time I am starting a larger modeling project to see if I have improved with all my practicing.  I'm modeling a Willys M38 Military Jeep.  I will try to keep this going while I do my sculpting class but the progress will likely be a lot slower after Saturday since I am not nearly as well versed with Zbrush as I am Maya or 3Ds Max.

Day 26: BattleKnife

Day 26.  I really enjoyed this model the overall form is pretty cool and the para cord wound up really bringing the model together.  I cheated a little with the cord which is actually a bunch of individual poly tubes rather than a combined mesh but with the time limit for this model I don't think there was a simple alternative.

12 Days of Christmas

Day 25: Drum

Day 25.  Made it to day 25 yay!! so for the 12th day I wanted to showcase all of my 12 days of Christmas models so my next post will have this drum shelf combined with the last 11 models :) Hope everyone has a great holiday!

Day 24: Fife

Day 24:  11 Pipers Piping.  A nice little project in which I got to practice my booleans a little.  I am much happier with this model compared to my last one and I'm really looking forward to starting some bigger projects when I start my Gnomon Course in under a week!!! yay!  Only one more day of the 12 days of Christmas left, 12 drummers drumming, then its back to grenades, pistols etc :)  The next day will also mark model number 25.  The little piece of advice that spurred me on to start this 1hour model a day thing was everyone has 50 terrible models in them so its best to get them out of your system as fast as possible.  So tomorrow may well be my half way point :)

Day 23: Ice King Crown

Day 23:  So for 10 lords a leaping I stretched the idea and went with the Ice Kings Crown from Adventure Time.  Since its a pretty cool symbol and a doable 1 hour model.  I have been watching the show recently and am really enjoying it!!  But while I was looking up reference for the crown I accidentally stumbled upon a very deep sub plot about the Ice Kings origin! so unexpected!! and to be honest pretty beautiful!
In terms of the model I moved onto the finer detail around the gems too soon and didn't spend long enough on the overall silhouette or find enough time to get the detail to work either.  I do want to come back to this some time and start again from scratch, maybe do a little work in Zbrush since I think it would be a better workflow for this item if combined with Maya.

Day22_Gramophone

Day 22:  Caught up phew :)  So 9 Ladies Dancing to a cool Gramophone :)  Jen gave me a little help with the horn which was the trickiest part.  I didn't get enough time to finish the needle but I'm pretty glad with getting as much done as I did in only 1 hour :)

Day 21_ Milk Jug

Day 21:  OK I missed a day but I'm gonna try an catch up!  So 8 maids a milking, a nice simple one which gave me plenty of time to work on the welding silhouette and more subtle shapes.  This does look like a simple project but even something as low detail as this could still hold up as a bigger modeling project, if you were to focus on reproducing realistic welding and texturing.