Over the past few weeks I’ve been trying new things in Maya and After Effects. These aren’t intended to be finished projects or even “studies” just exercise. So don’t be too critical. Just wanted to show off some new skills.

fur grass

water drop - earth 

Here’s the newest version…still not perfect, but I at least got a smokey look to the light.

New version:

Older version:

After seeing the Metal Gear Solid ads that Logan did, I was tired not knowing how how one would go about creating something like that.  The ending really impressed me so I thought I’d use it as inspiration to create something that was conceptually the same, but not really a duplicate.  I just wanted to figure out how to get light passing through a smoky area and make it look really rich rather than something that was done with plug-ins straight out of the box.  

It’s a little clunky, but it only took about an hour…so it could be polished up a bit if it were for something real.  In case you were wondering to get this look I used standard AE effects along with Particular and Shine.

It’s been nearly a month since I graduated.  Seeing as how GTA4 can only be played for so long before I get bored/pissed off; I figured I’d get to work learning new techniques and new software.  This is a start of a little project about conserving water once again…the same theme as my award winning project - the journey.

I’ve had my sights set on learning maya for the past couple of years and have finally come to grips with a node based system. Realflow is also another piece of software I had been poking around with since last semester.  However, I’ve learned quite a bit about it since originally opening it, only to immediately close it due to confusion. 

If you want to learn realflow and maya I recommend getting these tutorials from digital tutors:
Real flow and Maya integration

 Another picture and a video after the jump. (more…)

While working on my senior project about the customization of babies I started rigging up a fetus I found.  The animation rig went terribly wrong, however I did accidently make some high art out of it.  I’m thinking of making a series.   

silly putty fetus art

this one is half man half rabbit, or “mabbit” 

related project 

Over the past few years I’ve been playing around with 3d apps.  Playing is the key word. The first 3d program I started experimenting with was Bryce 3d…that will date me.  If that’s not enough of a throw back, then telling you I learned web animation using a program called Director, and using “Lingo” instead of actionscript should give you an idea of how long I’ve had my eyes glued to my monitor night after night.I’ll get to the point after the jump. (more…)

An earlier project I made this year was an interactive menu for a night club in Miami called “Sense“.  The idea was to create something that was interesting to use, fun and would get people talking.  A few weeks before that I saw surface, which was the inspiration for the project.  The menu I designed for Sense was just a concept presentation but I got really interested in multi-touch surfaces and start doing some research.  It turns out that building one of these things is easier than you’d think.    

For my senior project  I decided I was going to build one of these things so show off some of the interactive/motion work I’ve done over the past couple of years. Here’s the first images & video I’ve taken from my ghetto set up that I just got work a couple of weeks ago.  I’ve still got a long way to go to have a real functional version of this, but the tests so far have worked out.  

 Getting some good blobs as they say in the biz

I’m working on a motion piece that would theoretically be shown to immigrants and visitors who were coming to America for the first time.  I get annoyed quite a lot by people who are inconsiderate, and all around just don’t pay attention to their surroundings.

Anyway, the idea is that since americans usually have their heads completely up their asses, an outsider would need a guide on how to act while they were here to help them fit in.

This is in the REALLY early stages, i haven’t even gone back to correct things since I initially started these comps, so be gentle :)