Project Review: 300-[aka: Three- Hundred] Website 3D Shield renders 2006

 A tilted down front and center shot of the final shield prop I made for the 300 website launch.

 A true centered camera shot for the graphic version on the shield.

 A left side extreme angled view showing off the dimensionality of the shield. This was used as an interstitial screen sweep element.

 A High right side shot, and the final delivered image.

 Here is the final subdivided and displaced geometry for the shield. I was still learning the Quad Mesh function for Pro-Boolean so this ended up as triangles with a quick turn around.

 The base mesh with displace on.

A screen capture in 3DS max 2013 of the various elements used in creating the dirt shader using Darksim procedurals and various bitmaps.

Project Review

300-[aka: Three- Hundred]

Website 3D Shield renders 2006

Client: via The Cimarron Group.
Art Direction: Eric Person.
Project Date Fall 2006.

Many jobs I do 3D Illustration for are a full edge to 3D Illustrations like what I finished out for the first Night at the Museum. A full 3D background as the set hallway was both too narrow and to shallow so a virtual set allowed us to modify it to meet the clients needs.

This shield prop represents the other side of that spectrum where all is needed is a simple or small prop rendered out, and in the case of Frank Millers Three-Hundred[ 300], they wanted a 3D shield made for various areas online.

I built this so it could be displaced as the film prop was a rough item , hand made so I did what I had time for in the fast turn around to get close to what was needed. 

Also this was to be small, around 400 pixels wide, so I rendered it at 2X size [ 800 pixels wide] as the renders were fast at about 5 minutes even with the Darksim procedurals and Final Render dirt shaders which take more time to go, but deliver much better results. 

I usually will go 2X[cubed in surface area] in final render size if the client can afford it, as the file is bigger in case their client wants to see it larger, so they don't need to come back for more renders from me.

This was a 2 hour job, fast and typical for something like this. I delivered four renders at a modest 800 pixels width with an alpha channel [ 32 bit TGA file]so they could Flash-Animate them[ in 2D] and drop them into the various online pages needed.

A fun 1/4 day job and budget friendly.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review Launch City Part XII[Twelve] Launch City Redesign: Hotel Ten

This is the main interface for Launch City[ CD_ROM and Online] and the Hotel is front and center[ covered by the video board]

A ground level shot showing the whole building unobstructed. These original renders were small by today's standards, and is only 640 pixels wide.

A shot at the entryway, ready to use for our advertisers.

An overhead render with some gobo lights projecting the then current Launch.com logo.

Here are the wireframe/Ambient render showing the build from 13 years back.

A closer render showing a bit of the amphitheater and park right off the side.

 A closer render of the upper floor area with the roof top billboard.

The entryway wire frame render of Hotel Ten.
 

An overhead shows that I hid most of the city as it did not show in the shots and the renders were extensive as this scene had a million faces which back in 2000 was very heavy in scene size.

 Project Review
Launch City Part XII[Twelve]

Launch City Redesign: 
Hotel Ten

Client: Launch Media Inc.
Art Director: Myself
Project Date: 1999

This is my 12th posting on the redesign work I did back in Y2K on LAUNCH city for Launch.com. Once I had filled in and designed all main buildings I had a lot of filler space to fill between the 10 or so sponsored spaces , and today I look a bit close at one of these virtual buildings, called Hotel Ten.

Living in So-Cal you have to deal with  horrible traffic,and when I worked at Launch it was a 51 mile commute one way and in LA traffic terms in 2000, that was a 2 hour commute. So I often got caught up on the 10 Freeway just south of downtown LA, and there is a great old building right next to the freeway, and that became the main inspiration for this Hotel Ten as I called it.

The theory was we wanted to create a series of fun generic spaces we could sell off to advertisers as virtual real estate, a space in the city. We offered to virtually demolish a structure and re-build a new space if needed, or retrofit the exiting spaces as this one was created for. I then rendered out a set of shots of the building that we presented to clients. This was front and center of the load screen so the space had a higher rate than a background one.


I have many posts covering the various locations that we sold off as virtual real estate to advertisers, with all the links below to my prior postings, and look for more posts in the future as well.

Cheers, THOM

To view PART I on Launch City you can go here.

To view PART II -The Hang PART II, go here.

To view PART III for the Train Station "Twitch" look here.

To view PART-IV- The Dockside Diner, then look here.

To view PART V- Intel sponsored Pentium 4 spaces, you can click here.

To view PART VI [ the sub!] go here. 

To view PART VII-The Vault, go here.

To view PART VIII-Target-Jukebox Twitch, go here. 

To view PART IX-The main City build, go here.

To view PART X-The Streamliner Train Car, you can go here.

To view PART XI-The Gothic Vault Listening Room is here.

Project Review Launch City Part XI[Eleven] Launch City Redesign: The Vibe[vibreaker] Music Room

 The First round design was a conglomeration with Retro parts mixed in with vintage Iron Victorian frames holding PC's and digital equipment.

 Here is an ambient render from the Launch City redesign with the camera pulled back to reveal the Tech Tree sitting in the center of this Gothic Attic.

 Each workstation had various apparatus that was needed including payment, music, storage, volume etc that flanked the screen.

 A close up shot of the little details that make up a single piece in the scene. I have block off plates in the switch panels to mix it up a bit and make it feel  more built from what was at hand, rather than full custom.

 The final revised version was a whole lot more Gothic for the room, with a very simple iMac-ish single bubble design PC sitting on an old Gothic Table.

 The ambient render shows the basic parts built out for this scene for Launch.com

 This Close-up shows workstations in the background area of the final Vibreaker virtual set.

 Project Review
Launch City Part XI[Eleven]

Launch City Redesign: 
The Vibe [Vibreaker ] Music Room

Client: Launch Media Inc.
Art Director: Myself
Project Date: 1999

This is my 11th posting on the redesign work I did back in Y2K on LAUNCH city for Launch.com, and we look toady at the Vibe, or what became the VibeBreaker Gothic Cathedral center stage in the city.

Launch was known for it's at the time revolutionary Music portal to play internet radio that learns and plays what you like based on your selections, so they wanted a location in Launch City where they could introduce the player App within the CD ROM-zine, so we picked this location.

Originally  went full Gothic as I was hired from for my Theme Park Experience and they wanted to fully "Theme" every location virtually in the city, and the Gothic Cathedral was a perfect location for this. I built out an interior set of the upper room and outfitted it with a steam-punk PC music compute tower in the center of the room. For the screen close up I utilized Old School and New tech with toggle switch panels for the 60's CD ROM players from the 90's etc.

As time went on, they simplified the interface to be 100% on screen so all PC parts were scrubbed from the room, and it was a bit bland, so I embellished the Gothic details out to a much higher level  for the final, with more trim in the windows and frames, as well as adding in Gothic furnishings to hold the modern tube screen interface we would zoom into.

I have many posts covering the various locations that we sold off as virtual real estate to advertisers, with all the links below to my prior postings.

Cheers, THOM

To view PART I on Launch City you can go here.

To view PART II -The Hang PART II, go here.

To view PART III for the Train Station "Twitch" look here.

To view PART-IV- The Dockside Diner, then look here.

To view PART V- Intel sponsored Pentium 4 spaces, you can click here.

To view PART VI [ the sub!] go here. 

To view PART VII-The Vault, go here.

To view PART VIII-Target-Jukebox Twitch, go here. 

To view PART IX-The main City build, go here.

To view PART X-The Streamliner Train Car, you can go here.

Project Review Launch City Part X[Ten] Launch City Redesign: Retro Streamliner Train Design

Here is the final screen render from 2000 that I designed and built out in 3D directly that showcases the streamliner styled polished metal train car.

An alternate shot with the Launch.com Streamlined Train moving out with a second line bringing up the rear.

A full city shot from Issue #44 with the simpler trains in the city elevated on up on the center and left side of the panorama.

A Polygon render showing the build out of the Train car at a 3/4 side view.

An elevated shot of the nose of this streamlined train car.

A 3/4 back view of the Train from Launch City [1999-2000]

A side view showing the 'submarine' windows as the VW 21-23 window folks call them up on top as mini personal skylights.

This shot shows the rolled belly pan typical on all early Silver Stream and Airstream trailers.

 Project Review
Launch City Part X[Ten]

Launch City Redesign: Retro 'Streamliner' Train Design

Client: Launch Media Inc.
Art Director: Myself
Project Date: 1999

This is my 10th posting on the redesign work I did back in Y2K on LAUNCH city for Launch.com, and for today we look a bit in depth at the elevated trains that ran thru the virtual city.

Originally I did a very low poly simple train car that is seen int he center and right side of the city panoramic, and once we were done with all the sold virtual real estate spaces, we started to address the connections outside each location, and so I enhanced the design of the train car anticipating added space to sell off.

I built this quickly as I had about 3-4 Hrs total to do it, and this was prior to me learning 'SDS'=[Sub Division Surface] modeling, so this is an old school higher poly modeling style I did for fast deadlines.

As a Transportation Design Grad from ACCD[ FA 91'], I love old streamlined style, so this was a dream little design job for me to build out. I also am a huge Vintage Airstream fan so I had the shape language in my brain to get on it fast for this one day project space build out.

I have many posts covering the various locations that we sold off as virtual real estate to advertisers, with all the links below to my prior postings.

Cheers, THOM

To view PART I on Launch City you can go here.

To view PART II go here.

To view PART III for the Train Station "Twitch" look here.

To view PART-IV look here.

To view PART V- you can click here.

To view PART VI [ the sub!] go here. 

To view PART VII-The Vault, go here.

To view PART VIII-Target-Jukebox Twitch, go here. 

To view PART IX-The main City build, go here.

Online Emoticons 3D Design and 3D Animation PART II :The Bomb, and The Magic "Ocho"2007

 Here is the final TNT "Da' Bomb" Emoticon I designed, built, and animated in 3D for this mini Icon from back in 2007.

 Here is the Polygon wire-frame showing the subdivided 3D Build.

The Low Resolution view of the TNT stack.

 

 An exploded parts shot of the little build for this prop. A bit of "Toony" style added to the shapes.

The Final Render of the Magic "Ocho" fortune ball.

The smoothed mesh is a simple modified primitive.

The base Polygon Mesh[ No Subdivision Added]

 An exploded view of the three parts in this simple animated Icon.

Project Review

Online Emoticons 3D Design and 3D Animation

PART II :The Bomb, and The Magic "Ocho"2007

Client: Cimarron Interactive Division.
Art Direction: Scott Addison Clay.
Project Date: May 2007.

In this second part in my series of the quick work I had to create some 3D Emoticons for use on a clients custom built website, I will cover two more Icons I created and animated for the Interactive Division at The Cimarron Group from back in 2007 of a simple Magic Ocho Ball, and a little TNT bundle that blows up with cartoon flags.

I worked in Television animation for a number of years so I was familiar with creating toon styled characters, and these little quick 3D Icons were a fun project to use that skill set on again, as the bulk of my work at the time was 3D Logos and Photoreal 3D Illustrations, so a fun little animated object like these was a nice change up.

I delivered 60 frames of animation for each of the four Emoticons I designed and Animated in 3D for this little gig. Fun and fast!

You can look at PART I here.

                                Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Online Emoticons 3D Design and 3D Animation:PART I Chattering Teeth 2007

 The final 3D Design for the main Chattering Teeth Emoticon I did back in 07'

 The base model I made for this design I did all in 3D[ though I do sketch some]

 The subdivided 3D asset with smoothing added the the half of parts that are build as Quads.

 The Sombrero version was rendered at a higher angle to show off the hat more[ as directed].

 The base model with the hat addition included in this alternate concept.

 A fully smoothed out version of the model.

 Here is a Exploded view showcasing all the various parts I made in the creation of this little 3D Animated Character I designed in 2007 while at The Cimarron Group.

Project Review

Online Emoticons 3D Design and 3D Animation

PART I Chattering Teeth 2007

Client: Cimarron Interactive Division.
Art Direction: Scott Addison Clay.
Project Date: May 2007.

Back in 2007, I was still running my 3D Department of 1+ at The Cimarron Group providing 3D Design, 3D Modeling, and 3D Animation services to a full mix of advertising clients in Print, Web, and AV, and for today's posting, I am covering a project where I was tasked with creating some 3D Emoticons for an online project.

An "Emoticon" is an emotional animated Icon we see in e-mails with a little face, but taken to a much higher level to an actual 3D Character design. I was tasked with designed out four to five of these little gems that in final form were only 100 x 150 pixels in size[ a button], and would animate across the screen when you interacted with them.

Fist up in this series, is my PART I, covering the chattering teeth.

I did two versions, as they wanted one plain without a hat, and one with a hat, specifically a Sombrero. I created the base design in just under an hour and began to rig it for the animations and adjustments that would come. I built about half of the file as a subdivision model so I could increase the complexity if they did want it rendered or seen much bigger, but the micro final size of 150 pixels is so small it was not necessary to build it all that way, because as with all 3D jobs, the budget was micro so I had to create this much faster at the lower cost for them, so I went with a fast and dirty approach to the file.

As a 3D Designer trained in Industrial Design The "widget" or product in this case a cartoony styled set of chattering teeth is only the first part of my responsibility, as I must design it to fit the budget and parameters of the project and actually work for a paying client. That is something that goes well beyond a mere deadline on a piece of design or artwork, but the creation of a workable production line to create the 'wdiget' on time, on budget, and approved by the one paying for it.

Look for PART II in the future with a few more of these 3D Animated Emoticons.

                                Cheers, THOM

Project Review: SemoLogic-3D Logo Design Exploration 2006

  A concrete texture I built in Dark Tree as a Simbiont Procedural in 3DSmax used as a natural rock for this design pass.

 A self illuminated car-paint material was modified to glow and create the energy ball in the logo I created for the web.

 A warm version on an industrial concrete wall with a pumice procedural mixed in there too.

 A shader I modified from Rusty paint and use concrete in the paint channel[ a bit map] with procedurals for the rest.

 A lunar moon-like shader I modified to adjust the crater colors to fell like a dual layer material with a second inside peeking out thru the cracks.

 I mixed a few procedurals to create this look with pumice and scratches.

 A shot of the very simple scene. If I were to re-do this project today, I would do the objects all subdivision so I could displace the surface better as I do now on a regular basis.

Project Review

SemoLogic-3D Logo Design Exploration 2006

Client: Semo Logic via The Cimarron Group.
Art Direction: Eric Person.
Project Date: November 2006

When I was in-house at The Cimarron Group, I ran a little 3D Design Department that would meet the internal 3D needs of the various divisions in the company, and on many an occasion I worked with Eric Person up in the Online and then "Interactive division there.

I regularly did little project to be used in animations and logos for Eric,and for this client they wanted to do a full pass in 3D to see a natural rock like feel to the logos with a cinematic glow to spice up the brand. I obliged, and created this set of looks withe versions A thru F, for there review.

I use and build procedural shaders for natural looks as it is much better at dong a real 3D texture that goes thru the object so mapping is not needed. Procedural textures take longer to render as they are not 'pictures' applied to the mesh as with a regular bit-mapped [ JPG] image, but a mathematical formula using fractal design to create the algorithm to give the look a much more natural look. It is also built at render so it never pixelates as you move closer, it simply re-renders the texture higher and higher as you get closer and closer.

Cheers, THOM