Blogs - DeviantGerman

Well, life sure does get hectic in quite a short amount of time sometimes. Classes started back up after the Christmas break and dumped 4 full time classes on me. As far as what I've been up to:

- Currently packing up to relocate to Texas for a job opportunity, plenty of development houses there once I have my Bachelor's in hand, which is in a few months

- Classes, of course, have completely consumed my life, but I've had some things to show for it

- Currently in a 9 week dev cycle to produce a game for the Android OS in which I am Lead Designer and Art Director, primarily for smart phones, details will be available when allowed

Keep your eye out. I'm going to try to keep this place updated. For those that missed me, sorry for my absence. I know I've promised to help some of you with projects but these will have to be on hold until time permits. I may not have to work when I get to Texas so I'll have more time to concentrate on school and projects. Would be nice to actually be able to sleep again.

Update - October 16, 2011

Alright, so I know these updates are seeming pointless at the moment, but I've had so many things come onto my plate that I've had to take some time to figure things out. So finally, here's what I got going on and what I'm planning to do.

Projects

I'm currently helping with various projects as well as my own. I am currently helping with an MORPG style Mod for the source engine, a survival horror type game and Augustine, which if you don't know what that is check it out here: Indiedb.com . None of my modeling work is in game yet for Augustine but keep an eye out for my work soon.

As well I am continuing work on my Indie side-scroller developed in the Blender Game Engine. I have a concept finally that I'm happy with and the game has shifted from it's original intent to something entirely new. I am quite happy with the concept I've come up with and I should have the first batch of news and updates coming for that soon.

Video Tutorials

These will be coming soon. I have decided to wait a bit considering the speed with which Blender is being developed. Release candidate 2 for Blender 2.6 has recently hit and I'm now just waiting for the stable release of Blender 2.6 before I really start this project. Mainly because, hopefully, by then the new Cycles render engine will have full implementation, which will effect and add some of my tutorial ideas. I will be finally committing to a release schedule for that once the software is out there and stable.

4 Week Modeling Challenge

I'm not actually sure when this will resume. I didn't get a whole lot of responses for themes though I do have some in the hopper from a few people. So when these do resume I will at least have a themes to keep it going for a few challenges before I need some more theme ideas.

Thank you for visiting my page. I have decided it would be much easier for me in the long run to make an introductory blog post here and just keep it updated as I need be for new information. I'll save you the trivial details and get right to the meat and potatoes.

I have decided to start work on creating a series of video tutorials, with accompanying documentation tutorials, regarding 3d modeling, animation and texturing. I'm not sure exactly when the first will be released, but my plan is to start with a series based on character modeling from concept to final result. These video tutorials will be focused on the use of Blender as the main tool as it is the program I am most comfortable with and the one most people seem to struggle with getting acclimated to. So look forward to progress coming from that.

I also am contemplating creating a small personal repository for video game, or otherwise, assets for download. There would be a pricing structure in place but at a cost that I feel would be reasonable in comparison to most expansive paid model repositories. I am basically simply looking to create a bit of extra revenue with what spare time I have.

If you find this interesting or have an opinion or suggestion feel free to comment here and let me know, I would love to hear from the community regarding this possibility.

Finally, I run a challenge thread in which every 4 weeks I select a new topic to create models with. Within those 4 weeks I must create a new model each week, resulting in 4 models per topic. This first challenge came up a little short as I got a late start but if you'd like to keep an eye on current progress follow the link here: Moddb.com

Looking forward to upcoming updates on what I'm involved in or what I'm doing at the moment? Feel free to Watch me and Friend me, I accept nearly all invitations.

Alright, so it's been decided, after conversing with a few users, that I will be doing a series of video tutorials, which will have accompanying written tutorials, on the basics of modeling, unwrapping, texturing, animating, and exporting for video games. These will be covered in Blender 2.49, as well as updated for Blender 2.6 when it is released and stable, but the fundamentals are applicable to any other 3d program. I may even considering doing a few time-lapse sculpting videos as well.

Progress continues on my models. The base mesh for the space marine model is nearly finished and next I will be doing the high-poly armor modeling. Once everything is complete I will be doing a low-poly mesh with the information from the high-poly baked. My space fighter model is complete and I have moved on to texturing. If you want to keep up with current progress head over to my thread and check it out here: Moddb.com . As always, comments, crits and otherwise are welcome. If you are a modeler and decide you want to try your hand at showing some work off I am accepting of you posting your work there based on the monthly theme.

The weekly model for my monthly theme challenge is coming along. All progress is being shown in the thread here: Moddb.com . I didn't manage to grab any time yesterday to work on it but updated progress will be coming soon.

The Space Marine concept I drew up is being modeled as we speak. I've decided to try my hand for once at doing a real detailed high-poly model for the purpose of creating a low-poly version of it. Basically, I want a good show piece with the concept as well as testing to see how much detail I can pump into a 1,000 poly model from the high-poly.

Lastly, I'm thinking about doing some tutorials. I never noticed there was a tutorials section on each persons profile of tutorials they have submitted. So if there's anything you'd like to see a tutorial on regarding Blender, modeling, basic animation, Blender game engine stuff or just general 3d art and video game related questions let me know in the comments and I'll do my best to get to them. Until next update, see you all later.

Update -- August 15, 2011

New render uploaded to my monthly challenge. Final modeling update and now I'm moving on to texturing. Was running out of steam on details anyways. Stronger concept would have cut some time out of this project and left me happier with the modeling result, but it is the best space ship I've ever modeled. Something is better than nothing.

The forum thread for my monthly themed/weekly modeling challenge has been started. If you guys want to check it out you can find it here: Moddb.com

Each month will consist of a new theme, with enough interest, you guys will be choosing those monthly themes. Each week within that month I will have to finish a model to the best of my abilities: from concept, to model, to texture, light and render. Hopefully, by whatever time I decide to stop this self-imposed challenge, I will have quite a suite of models to include into my portfolio. And hopefully give you guys some neat models to look at.

Update -- August 12, 2011

Finished for the day, uploaded the render of the ship with some detail added. Tomorrow is another day.

Holy crap it's August!! Haha, I totally almost forgot about my weekly model project. Luckily, this is only the second week of August. I'm going to be starting the thread and posting my first update on Friday with any luck. I'll link it here for those of you paying attention when it's up. As a reminder, the first month is a subject chosen by me, and my plan is to do it on spaceships. I'll utilize the extra time I'll have tomorrow to do a few quick concept sketches in preparation. I'm glad I remembered this because I'm excited to pursue it.

I seem to be getting a few visits per day on page, which is a good thing, and I've had this idea swelling around in my head. I've decided that starting the month of August I'm going to be doing weekly models, this means drawing a concept, modeling, unwrapping and texturing 1 model every week. Each month is going to have its own theme. If I get enough people interested I'll allow you to vote on what my theme of the month will be. For August I'll be choosing my own theme however as I already have a few concepts drawn up for it.

So if you're interested in my modeling or just interested in whether I can accomplish this weekly goal feel free to friend me to keep an eye on my progress and vote for the themes. I'll be starting a thread in the 3D Modeling and Animating forum as well for this. I figure this will be a good way to add some meat onto the bones that is my working portfolio. See you in August.

It's been a long time since I've been active around here. Between an accident at work that took me out for awhile and an increased focus on my school work for necessary reasons (things get more involved in your last year of college) it has been hard having a true on-line presence. As many know the project Prime went into indefinite suspension for the time being but me and Mexi both agreed that when we have the time we'd like to pick back up and finish it. It was nice to see the community response and see the project become so popular. That's the kind of thing that us, as independent developers, both need in our portfolios and in our ego's to succeed in the industry.

Things are starting to wind down for me and my personal projects are almost done. They fit more into the IndieDB scene than the ModDB scene so I may end up posting them there, as well as looking into porting them over to the XNA engine for sale on XBox Live, which would be awesome for a little side money. I feel that once I'm to that point my involvement in the community around here will increase. I am going to try to post more updates on my work, especially modeling since that is my focus, around here so keep an eye out.

Hey guys, Nate "Midian" Voigt here posting my first bit of info. I am the concept artist, modeler, and animator for the project Prime, a Metroid-based mod for the Quake 1 engine. Within this blog I will be posting updates on model/art/animation progress as it comes along. Possibly even a few development diaries on my work. I look forward to seeing the community response to our little project and hope you all enjoy what I have to offer.

-- Midian