TempleBuilding

For the Maya session, we were shown our final assignment of the term in Maya:

To build a temple as similar as possible to this (applying the workflow and all the tools that were shown to us during the lessons):

After a couple of hours of working on it in class: this is the point at which it sits:

Some different parts that compose the model

The first half-level (that will then be mirrored at the end)

Once back at home I finished modelling the front:

Then, after doing the central part and mirroring the whole thing, this is the result:

Also, after that, I tried texturing, which went well until i tried to do the central building.

DwarvesAndElves

Today we were introduced to the world of proportions:

And to experiment with it and bend the rules a bit we have to make a dwarf and an elf which, rather than being the number of heads represented in the image above, are four and nine head tall.

"Just Keep Swimming"

Following our Maya lesson on the turret rigging and animation we were assigned as homework a tutorial chapter on Lynda.com

The object of it was to learn how to create bones and animate with them.

To do that we used our fish friend;

After creating the skeleton for the fish using the joint tool and applying it to the mesh with a smooth bind...

..(and making some minor adjustments with the Paint Skin Weights tool)...

 ... it becomes quite "easy" to animate a model:

The End Of The Turret

Utilizing our turret once again, we are shown how to animate and rig in Maya.

First of all, once we have our turret modelled, we have to group the parts of the turret:

and then constrain most of their movements (shown in the image below, inside the blue square). 

The greyed out options are the frozen ones that cannot be modified, whilst the red options are the ones that were left free to be modified:

Also, in the red box, is the time line where, by setting key frames (the small red lines) we are able to create the animation:

(the idea was to make it look like the turret is an anti-air post and is shooting down planes)

Tanks!!

"How to make perspective fun" Lesson 1:

Make tanks (or armoured vehicle, so TANKS)!

So that's our assignment for this week.

For the mood board I'll be using Pinterest as usual (click on the image for link):

Here's a few scans from my sketches:

And this is my final shaded idea, which, even though I was really enthusiast of doing the tanks, turned out to be an armored rhino:

PS: the tiny blob on the left side on the bottom is human size reference.

Insectoid

We were given the assignment to create an insectoid character.

As usual I created a moodboard with rinsect references and other insectoid characters for which I used Pinterest (click on image to view):

The main inspiration out of the insects i saw was the one above. In particular i liked the wings and the arms. I tried different approaches in my sketches and then decided on my final one.

The idea was to create an insectoid alien Overlord with a dominating appearance ready to command and conquer.

I liked the idea of having many many many legs and arms but then wings are also cool, so after a few seconds of indecision I decided that a dominating overlord should have all the qualities of their insecty subjects:

And this is my final one:

Trying Speedrawing (And Failing)

For today's session we had a try at speed painting on Photoshop.

For that we were given an already finished piece, for which i dont have a digital version at the moment (but hopefully i won't need too because mine will look as good)

To do that Steve gave us some tips on how to use layers better and quicker, even though tedious.

This is what I managed to do in two hours (with a technical problem in the middle) which was the given time to finish it.

It's obviously not the same as the piece they gave us but you get the picture.

Maybe, if I get the time, I'll try and finish it in the near future.

PS: this is the original image:

SCAaAaArY!

For next session we had to come up with a scary creature design (for Halloween) so as per usual i started with a mood board, for which i decided to try out Pinterest (and if you click on the image it will link you to it).

The design below is one I found while researching and horridly adore so, when i went to start brainstorming some ideas, this silhouette strongly influenced the process.

After brainstorming a bit, this was going  to be my final idea (were-rabbit which produces an illusion fog which makes him look like a cute bunny):

but then decided to go for a different idea which i found funnier: