Dusty Ink Particle Render (those aren't just random words)

Well I was going to post a tutorial on Mudbox texturing but I'll 'irrupt' all over the flow of mud from mudbox with an eruption from KRAKATOA!
... the volumetric particle renderererer...errr.

Not that I need to defend my use of lens flares... but... everyone else is doing it!

3DS Max; PFlow to FumeFx to Krakatoa.
Lat time you saw any of those on this blog I was filling a head with multicoloured particles, I've moved on a bit since then, I have a lot more control and feel comfortable executing my aims rather than just hoping for the best when I press one of the many Krakatoa UI buttons...which can sometimes go wrong...

Yep! They're full of circuit-boards, who knew!? 


4 Hours simulation
3 hours render
Soooo many particles that I couldn't show more than %20 of them in the viewport at any one time.
I liked the 'flow' of PFlow so I'm going to be exploring it's usefulness - going to be trying something with a higher viscosity for 'PAINT' the Film... probably something like... paint.

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Getting My Hands Dirty with Mudbox

Taking full advantage of Autodesk's wonderful free student licences, I've decided to familiarise myself with Mudbox.

3D digital sculpting and digital painting software gives you the freedom to create production-ready 3D digital artwork without worrying about the technical details.
-http://usa.autodesk.com  
So I’m going to be updating this post with periodic images of my first sculpt, a T-Rex.

First image:
Getting to grips with the 'Push' and 'Sculpt' brushes.
My graphics tablet won't work so this is all going to be mouse work.


I'm using this as an anatomy guide:
Q. doyouthinkhesaurus?
A. doyouthinkthat'sfunny?

Update 01: Found the 'Knife' and 'Pinch' tool; good for finer detail and sketching in shapes.
Shift-D to move up a subdivision level to add greater detail.

Not looking very T-Rex - will have to check some reference

Update 02: Decided to dial it back and get all the general shapes tied down using a whole host of references. I realised my initial enthusiasm for smaller details would produce a very messy, uneducated model. The main progression is in the legs where I've added much more definition. I have also reshaped the head, specifically he eye socket which was previously lost in the skull.

Update 03: Moving up a sub-div level I started laying in detail using the 'Spray' tool and continued carving using the 'Knife' adding wrinkles in the flesh at joints

More importantly...
I discovered the viewport filter!
'Matthew' learnt the 'apply filter' technique, it's super effective (...or super lazy)

Designed to give you a better feel for the sculpt as if in situ.. I'm using it to make these crude renders more palatable.
I think I'm calling him Rendersaurus-Rex

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HD Energy Clip

Lets pump some energy back into this blog:

The above video is a short motion test for a divine/otherworldly 'presence' to be featured in a short film produced in Bristol. I say 'motion test' because I am still working on look development, expect lots of lovely minutely differing concept images to follow.

This presence represents the agnosticism of the director in that it is never revealed to be either spiritual or extraterestrial.

Conceptually: an excerpt from e-mail to the director:
I think the overall shape is very important – we should be able to denote an intelligent design while keeping it ambiguous – I think this would apply nicely:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_geometry
 On top of that I think the energy emitted (be that light or some space bending element (distortion (similar to a heat wave))) could conform to patterns found in nature.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Snowflake_-_Microphotograph_by_artgeek.jpg
When you say ‘religious’ do you think of Christian iconography? I like the idea of something kaleidoscopic which could infer a more Buddist or Hindu origin i.e. Maṇḍalas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mandala
Personally I think my ‘big ball of energy’ was a bit of a copout –  it was mostly just me playing around without much forethought – I think the ‘perfect sphere’ is overdone in terms of representations of religious/alien presences.

Conceptual questions:
  • Has this Presence (I’m just going to call it that) travelled to Earth or is it appearing in the sky as if from nothing?
  • Are we implying that this Presence is responsible for the disappearances?
  • If Devine, could the light appear differently to each individual – i.e. is there a personal element – is the viewer (Rockford) seeing something personal to him? 
  • It is entirely missing the point but if you had to decided what is the light?
The pulse or beat of the energy – if it is massive then a slow, churning heart would likely sell it the scale. I think if the Presence has a definable structure then energy flowing at different speeds would denote a craft where as a consistent speed would be more suited to the pulse of a being or a cohesive ‘will’.
Less conceptual questions:
How big is it? Big enough to be seen from two very different locations.
How high in the sky?
Much less conceptual quesions:
Any and all camera/lens specs you can give me help me pre-empt any problems we might face further down the line. 

This video marks my first HD post to youtube... not the best user experience. After waiting 9 hours for upload (twice returning an error) the video then disappeared into the aether - so this happened:

Very difficult to write with ''privacy boxes" (...when you're trembling with rage!)

Nuclear, Solar, Zero Point, Geothermal, Kinetic, Electromagnetic!
That's every type of energy I can list in 22 seconds. See if you can beat me, it's such jolly good fun.


Shine on you crazy Blogosphere,

POSTED BY Matthew Wood
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