Blogs - JohnG80

in ^{number sixteen} i will talk a little about uv unwrapping. although tricky, with patience, it can be done with some very conventional tools in maya. one i found particularly useful was the unfold tool, and checking the use selected pin to unfold in your little submenu i call it, the menu that pops out like a properties panel, and then unfold it when you select a vert. also, today i have prepared a uv map today after i finished up modeling the sword further, completed the guard area which protects the wielders knuckles. a lot of time was spent referencing images online, other artwork, 3d or not, drawing, or real life, it all works out, and helps me out when i get back into maya. after i finish up the jester, code named Invarus, i will work on that swords map in photoshop and see what i get.
updates to follow in the days to come as i work on the jester

^{number fifteen}. dug into Maya today and started playing with the lattice, mirror, and curves. got very far with a sword just need a few more parts then un-map it. just some good practice on some tools before i get back on to the jester for Helios. uploading the wip to my images folder for anybody interested to check out, should have this finished tonight. will be working through and making good ground, everyday progress has been made, and i have been filling up my notebook with both sketches and notes on all the materials i am reading. even figured out a little math trick to getting topology right on 2d form for the human head based on the front view.... getting good at pointing the areas for the poles, and my conclusion with poles is this...used to maintain even distribution on a mesh for better results in mapping and animating... but it must be all quad polygons and never use tris if you plan on subdividing your mesh.
back to work...err play ^^
cheers!

^{number fourteen}. Today I havent done much but sketch out some loops in the topology of the human face...i wont bother to upload any pics of that, it was more so for me to get more comfortable with the loops in the mesh of the human face. i found a lot of pictures today on a thread outside of this forum, with a collection of head meshes which helped me to get a better idea of where these poles usually end up on the face.
for character models, i have come to learn a lot in many regards, and am very eager to finish the jester at whatever cost and finish it completely textured by Friday. learning how to break down the mesh so it does not "collapse" is another thing i have come to discover to be an issue for animators when deforming the mesh, so i will be sure to keep this in mind when modeling in the areas of the body that will animate.
much to show in the days to come as progress has been made in maya and getting my way around, have installed a few nifty plugins. am also getting well acquainted with the command locations and find myself placing the most used in my custom shelf, and for the most part, they are all modeling related.
will be posting a much more interesting update this week. All in all, i am very happy with my progress so far as it has been exactly two weeks since i have opened up Maya, making the transition from another 3D application. I am very pleased with this decision as i have learned very much and have become even more interested in maya and all the possibilities.
have a great week! cheers!
JohnG80

^{number thirteen}, time is precious. I am here checking in, and now I am out. Currently working on some very good stuff. Also, never knew that there was a character minimum to blog posts... did you? lol well i hope this is good enough, if so, see you on tomorrows blog with an update on progress... currently studying, applying newly learned techniques and tools.. the maya shelf is getting bigger =)

^{number twelve} has much to report on the topic of topology and the progress of the jester wip project named Invarus which is going along great considering I am having to learn Maya as I am used to other modeling programs... I also have never plane modeled, and finally, have never modeled a character that was to be rigged and animated. As I am, loving that challenge of making a great accomplishment with something of high interest in me. I took on this challenge recently, and in my spare time, have begun schooling myself up in taking my basement modeling, into professional modeling that can be used by game makers and programmers to animate and use in their games. I think that is awesome skill to be able to do this, and my goal is to do that and have a fun time while doing it, so far it has been a lot of input into old Johnny 5 Alive, but I sponge it all up and squeeze it out into the computer and hopefully into the screen. so far it i have been successful in my attempts, although some deadlines have been pushed back...

...the train is still on the tracks and gaining solid ground =)
cheers!

WIP Jester thread is here: Indiedb.com

^{number eleven}, hi poly ears are very challenging to do, and has held me back on my deadline to get the head finished. the rest is butter cake but i am ready to put the mouse up and kick back for the rest of the night. Check out what I have gotten so far on the jester head, once that is done, its smooth sailing.

getting into the double digits with the blog posts with ^{number ten} =) I have made a lot of progress on the jester model so far today and will be uploading a pic or two this evening. pics will be of the full head completed and prepped to a rough model of the torso. although i am not sure how i will approach this. i may keep in mind my edge count on the neck and keep it "on the 2's" ...maybe 16?... so i can block out the bottom part of the neck and block out the torso from there. will be keeping some screenshots of the process for future references.
If you haven't checked out my images tab under my profile yet, take a look and leave a comment on what you see if you have a minute. Feel free to send me a message and I will be sure to respond to it within one day.
Note: Recently looked into sprite creations and got a great idea of how to bang those babies out quick!
If your interested, send me a pm ^^
cheers!
JohnG80

^{number nine} and im a few minutes late on posting to the daily blog... was tidying up the jester before i posted a pic and blog as time slipped away as it usually does when one is having fun. and that has definitely been the case so far for this model. I will keep at work on it tonight as the hard parts of the head are done and nothing left but the dome piece and jester cap. will update its progress tomorrow.
cheers!
JohnG80

Happy Halloween !!! and Happy B-Day to me !!! ^{number eight} I love Halloween because of the most obvious reason, cake, candy, presents... which means new video games and all that stuff we require for absolute epic days of birth celebration activities all wrapped up around halloween. i have always been a fan of dracula, zombies, werewolves(teen wolf, lol) elvira! (to include the song =D ) etc... Going to snatch up many varities of candies with my wife and son tonight at premiere locations of high quality treats!

I posted up some pics of what I will be getting into tonight when we get home, and after much inspiration of trick or treaters wandring the neighborhoods and trails in between searching for that score of snickers and twix... ......goodness indeed!

HOLLA !!! WEEN!!!!
JohnG80

^{number seven} better late than never, so nothing much here to update just taking it easy today and studying up a bit on some pipeline tips and learning a little about softimage and zbrush to really get serious on character modeling. will have much to show in the next few days in this, til then just checking in.
cheers!