Project Review: Laptop PC- Stock 3D Model 2007

 Here is the main shot of the generic laptop in a gun-metal plastic case.

 A close up detailing the stickers and USB  ports on the side along with the Blue-Ray DVD drive.

 A few lower resolution[ 960 x 540 DVD menu] renders of the Laptop model I designed and built out.

 A Polygon Mesh view showing the details built out in this laptop model.

 A close up of the USB port side of the laptop detailing the start button, speaker grills etc.

Project Review

Laptop PC- Stock 3D Model 2008

Client: The Cimarron Group.
Art Director: Myself.
Project Date: Summer 2007

While I ran the little 3D department of one, at The Cimarron Group, I built up a library of 3D assets for a variety of jobs that had come in, but I also anticipated what I might need, and more than once, I needed a generic laptop, so I built one out quickly for a few presentations.

I used in for Neurocomp Systems for the EEG meter design they used a typical laptop on the cart so I had this available for that render. I also used it for the WB Live website renders, to illustrate how to transfer data from an iPhone to a Laptop, though they ended up buying a Mac model instead. I also used it for some blue Ray menus for Sex Drive, for the Home Entertainment department as well. 

The model was built very quickly, as I was in between projects and fit it in. I rendered it in various materials for the differing jobs but it worked out well animated with the lid, as well as the lights etc. I plan a full quad version that I will re-design and sell in the future.

Having had 3 years of product design at Art Center certainly helps to get a quick generic product design that emulates what you would find in a real store, but still be generic enough not to stand out as a specific model of a Mac or Dell etc.

Virtual stock photography has the advantage, in that the corporate logos need not be covered up on a Laptop like this, you simple leave them off or make one up. 

This also saves money, in that you can buy the image outright without any added usage fees for added applications that a stock photo usually has go along with its use.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Virtual Magic Kingdom PART VII-Curvilinear Perspective Wrap-Frontierland

 Here is a scan of the clean Curvilinear Perspective Grid I made from North , East, South, and West vanishing points for these wraps.

 Here is the 38" wide Frontierland full HUB sketch I did back in the mid nineties.

 Here I overlay the grid over my sketch so you can see how I followed the base grid  for my drawing.

 Here is a close-up shot of the far LEFT of the sketch looking to the gate.

 The middle of the  wide sketch with the various old buildings.

 A close Up of the RIGHT side of the wrap with the Haunted Mansion there at the end on the hill.

Project Review: 

Virtual Magic Kingdom Video Game PART VII

Frontierland Curvilinear Perspective Sketches

Client: Disney Interactive
Art Director: Myself
Project Date: Summer 1996

This is my seventh post in my series on the Virtual Magic Kingdom [ VMK] project I did for Disney Interactive back in 1996, and with this post, I cover  third HUB perspective wrap that I , and this time I worked on a old muddy, rutted road with the town of Frontierland smack in the middle. You can view the rest of Frontierland here.

We put the Haunted Mansion on on end of the town, and the big Gate on the other that leads back to the HUB. You can also see this in my large overhead sketch here. A fun exercise to develop the overall look and be able to see it in 360 degrees as well.


I have taught fish-eye perspective using grids for years, it certainly helps you visualize a real dimensional space, as this sketch was then built out in 3D for the game in Alias Wavefront[ Pre-Maya days] by the talented 3D team.


You may review my earlier VMK posts in these link-a-dinks:

PART I
PART II
PART III
PART IV
PART V
PART VI

Cheers, THOM

Personal Project: Kitchen Rendering Design Tests 2008

 Here is the quad view top-sown shot with a bit of fish-eye on the lens to show the thin little space I designed out for this test.

 The same quad[ polygon view] view looking from the camera.

 My night lighting shot had blue lights outside that bledd the tone into the room with the warm glow from the counter top toaster-oven.

 My late afternoon shot had medium lighting

 My brightest noon shot with lots of orange bounce light added into the shot.

Personal Project:

Kitchen Rendering Design Tests 2008

While I was in-house at The Cimarron Group back in 2008, I had some down time , and I used this to practice my 3D skills to be a better artist, and I often took any opportunity given to me, to learn more in 3D and to practice, practice, practice!

I was doing Architectural tests at that point, as I had plenty of 3D logos to show off, so I wanted to fill in the Architectural Pre-Viz section of my work for Cimarron, with some additions to help sell this part of our company skills offered, so I designed a kitchen scene to test out a few things.

I used appliances that I had built out for the Poseidon re-make's website virtual tour, and I grabbed those assets to fill in the design. I went for a cross design mix, between a clean European Modern look, with an Asian flair in the color texture and details. 

I designed, built and added in the sink bamboo mat, and matching trashcan, some Sushi blocks and chop-sticks, as well as a Sumi painting on the wall, all lit with the round lantern type of lights mimicking the paper lanterns, though done up in a nice ribbed glass. 

I used this time, to test speed in the GI engine I was using[ Final Render of course!], and I did night, mid-day, and an afternoon sun version of the space to see what the minimum settings that could be used, and still get an acceptable output would take on this 'generic' set. 

A HUGE part of the design process in advertising is rendertime. Those lacking experience forget to factor this in, and you could end up with a three day render for a project due by days end, so tests like these help me more accurately get a time frame for my clients, which is usually the first thing asked is how long will it take[ or how much $$$].

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: X-Men 2: Part II-Cerebro Door Icon Designs

A Cerebro Door Icon I designed that had a metal brushed front plate, with blue glass sandwiched in between, with some fasteners l holding it all together.
 

By far my personal favorite for the Cerebro Doors I did for X-men two, was this example, with a cast iron double base plate, and a machined top face.

I took the top brushed face and first level of casting from my 'fave up there', and created a "spherical" LOGO that would spin up for the AV and web usage[ my first intro into Motion Graphics]

Metal face with blue glass within with a floating negative space reading "X". A fun solve for X-men that ended up looking alot like what was finished for Fantastic 4 a few years past[ by another artist].

I had this one with 'pachinko' pinball balancing the four parts forming the X for X-men 2 Cerebro Doors that I designed.

 An X door on a rock wall split into two doors, with the lighting taken from the first films finished look at BLT


Project Review
X-Men 2: PART II
Cerebro Door Icon Designs

Client: 20th Century Fox Via BLT and Associates.
Art Director: Zack Ris
Date: Spring 2001

I had well over 200 logos I did for X-Men 2 from a decade back now, when I was an in-house 3D  Designer over at BLT and Associates, so today I have gathered up a set of my favorite Cerebro Door Icons that I did for the project to foucs on them in a better scale to view.

I love doing big metal superhero logos , and this part of the project was a blast to come up with some looks. I had a basic brushed metal look, established in the first film that I used as my spring-board, so I did some direct replicas in 3D, since the first film uses a 2D illustration for the big X, since it is not a real 3D asset.

I had a great amount of design room given to me on this[ BLT's strength!], to come up with some heavy metal, and iron looks for these icons. I did cast metal, brushed metals, lots of blue glass[ that eventually went to Fantastic 4]. A fun process and end product.

You can view PART I here or search the blog using X-Men to see my X-Men 3, and First Class stuff as well.


Cheers, THOM

Project Review: 21: Blue-Ray and DVD Menus-3D Animation + Illustrations

 A frame from the final HD Animation I did for the Blue-Ray DVD menus for Art Director Hesham Morsy at The Cimarron Group back in 08'

 Here is a 'Hero' shot of the Virtual Blackjack table I built for the project

 A Player POV[ Point of View] shot for a menu. I was ready to animate cards etc.

 The overhead move down to the table felt is seen here in the opening frame of a proposed Style Frame.

 A Dealer POV shot for the Blackjack game done for the presentation for, 21 the film back in 2008.

 Here is a shot if the blackjack table built fast and dirty with only the padded rail done in quads.

Project Review

21

Blue-Ray DVD Menus

Client: via The Cimarron Group.
Art Director: Hesham Morsy.
Project Date: April 2008.

Back in the fall of 2008, I was still in-house at The Cimarron group, and got to work with Hesham Morsy, on the Blue-Ray DVD menus with him as I did on, "So I Married an Axe Murderer" the prior year. I have worked on a a couple dozen projects with the AE[ After Effects] team on Home Entertainment over the years, always a pleasure.

For this project, I provided two parts; First a 3D animation sequence in HD of flying poker chips, cards, and Playing Card Icons of Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, and Spades, and Second a Blackjack table interface for the menu itself.

I built out a fast and quick model of the Blackjack table game, as the budget was smaller, as they had been each year so 3D got squeezed out of production over time, but it was sure FUN while it lasted. I reused some stools from the Felini's Model I built for the owner of Cimarron, and the chip was a reuse as well, but the piece was scrapped, though the 3D animation transition I did, was rendered and put in the final.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Virtual Magic Kingdom PART VI-Curvilinear Perspective Wraps

 Here is the full 360 wrap for the Adventureland hub, near the Jungle Cruise for the Video Game we were developing back in the 90's at Disney Interactive.

I printed this out on the color xerox and made a cylinder that you could stand-up and view to get the feel for the space in 3D[ it worked great!], a 2D version of Quicktime VR from the era in sketch format!  Here is a 3D Mock-Up to Illustrate this technique

A close up on the RIGHT side of the wrap with the Pavilion in center.

A close Up of the LEFT side of the wrap with the Queue for the Jungle Cruise.


Disney Interactive: VMK
Virtual Magic Kingdom DVD Game
Curvilinear Perspective Wraps
 Part VI

Client: Disney Interactive
Art Director: Myself
Project Date: Summer 1996

This is my sixth post in my series on the Virtual Magic Kingdom [ VMK] project I did for Disney Interactive back in 1996, and with this post, I cover a second perspective wrap that I did for a full 360 view from one of the game "Nodes".

They wanted a single sketch that would help them visualize the view from a specific point in the hub at the Virtual Disneyland Park we were making for the Virtual Magic Kingdom game so I did a sketch for each land.

You will notice that the artwork uses the fish-eye perspective grids I based on M.C. Eschers study of this drawing method, so I developed it to the project. I even taught the team curvilinear perspective to follow the theme we had for this game. A very fun time I had there with a great team, and now that I am back doing work for WDI, I pass by the old building on a regular basis.

You may review my earlier VMK posts in these link-a-dinks:

PART I
PART II
PART III
PART IV
PART V

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: NEXT (2007): 3D Motion Graphics Design PART I

 Frame One of the final Finished Title treatment for the film NEXT from back in 2007.

 The final animation I provided to Tom Kositchotitana in Motion Graphics had 3D motion blur used on the 3K frames.

 An animated Gimbal move with the type letters rotating into the final position.

 Almost seated and final in about 1 second total for the move.

 The last frame with all seated and a slight flare near the 'X', in Next.

 Here we see a simple 3D heavy beveled type object in a mesh-view, but look closely, as I convert these simple items to an editable polygon , and then put a little bevel on all edges to catch mini highlights on a small face edge as a third read. This adds a lot to a simple object like this, as the lights will naturally animate on these little slivers well.

Project Review

NEXT (2007)

3D Motion Graphics Design  PART I

Client: Revolution Studios via The Cimarron Group.
Art Direction: Geoff Calnan, Tom Kositchotitana, and myself
Project Date: January 2007


Today I have posted up my first in a series on the 3D Animation Motion Graphics work I did for this film[ among others]. I primarily do print work, with well over 1000 3D logos done this last decade for Theatrical clients, but I have also finished to film nearly 85 final Motion Graphics pieces, like what is seen above and is in the final trailers as well.

I always work with an After Effects artist on Motion Graphics work, as I am a 3D Animator/3D Designer to them, and I provide the raw frames for their composite.

 I have worked with Tom K. for almost every Motion Graphics piece I have done[ 95%], and we always get this type of work finished on time and under budget whenever we have done the 'T-N-T**' production.[**Tom and Thom]

For today, this first part in this new series, we see a simple metal 3D logo with a heavy extrusion gimbaling into frame for a Title seat. I added the double edges on all sharp outer parts to get that little highlight running around the edges as well, something I often do to simple stuff like this.

It is FUN to create and deliver this stuff!

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: The Phantom 2040-PART 95: LXXXXV- Small Stuff Props

 A Coffee Pot I designed for The Phantom 2040, used in the Dorms and also re-used with the Maid B.I.O.T. here.

 A small compass, not sure who used this one it was unmarked, but it was a Phantom prop for sure.

 The Phantom used this cable rider for a few episodes, and it was a pick-up prop requested by the animators in Canada for the project I did this on-site while I was there visiting the vendor in 1991.

 Here is a small old styled pocket watch used by Graft when it was the flashback sequence.

Phantom 2040-PART LXXXXV[95th]

Small Stuff Prop Design Drawings

Client: Hearst Animation Productions.
Art Director: Myself.
Project Date Spring 1993.

This is my 95th post for The Phantom 2040 from in the early ninety's, and today I have posted a few small props that I did for the show as a quick post.

When you do a futuristic setting everything see needs to be addressed in design. Characters and the overall world come first, but this world then needs to be filled in.

I had to design anything seen, or especially touched, used or referenced by and character in the story, but I also needed to fill up areas so I designed literally hundreds of these little bad boys to fill the world of METROPIA!

Are you a FAN of The Phantom 2040, and on FACEBOOK, there is a group  here.

There is a TAG on the list to the RIGHT for other Phantom 2o4o entry's, but you can click this as well.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: Twilight Logos PART IV: 3D Logos for Eclipse, the third film

Round 1 was almost final for Twilight Eclipse, I just adjusted the texture mapping a bit and we were done.

Here is the final 3D Logo I did for Eclipse the third film in the Twilight series back in 2009.

Here is a quad poly view showing the scene layout with the 3D welds re-sued for each film.

This is a combo Ambient render and screen capture showing the lighting set-up for the aura around the full moon eclipse.

The texture map breakdown shows the procedural base material with the supplied texture map from the Art Director, Joseph Stamper.

Twilight Logos PART IV

TWILIGHT ECLIPSE PART III
3D Logos and Illustrations for Print Advertising

Client: Summit entertainment via The Cimarron Group.
Art Directors(s): Calvin Sumler, Joseph Stamper, and Chris A. Hawkins.
Project Date: Winter 2010.

I had the great privilege of working on all four Twilight ad campaigns, and today I post the work I did for the finished 3D Logo for the third film Eclipse done back in 2009, A bit out of order as I have posted the others already here so you can search using the Google toolbar up top on the LEFT..

Early in the series I had the room to experiment more with the look and feel of the logo, and we did a whole lot more variation and 3D sculpting, but as we moved forward they wanted a simple extruded logo so that is what I did.

On this third film in the series, I only did two versions of the logo for Joseph, and the only change was the scale of the texture map used, was made ultra small for a fine detailed look. The main 'gag" so to speak was the full eclipse of the "dot" in the letter I. I back lit the 3D scene with 3 different volumetric lights to get the aura feel correct around the moon. I also combines a Procedural texture and photographic color to achieve the look needed for this third round.

You can view PART I for the first film here.

You can view PART II for New Moon here.

You can view my 3rd post for Breaking Dawn HERE.

Cheers, THOM

Project Review: DOOM the Film 2005

 The simple straight on shot of the 3D Doom Logo for the 2005 film, done in December 2004 while at The Cimarron Group.

 Here is the top logo with a lowered camera and a small 2% lens curve[ fish-eye] added using Final Render.

 A severely rusted out[ bottom of the Sea] look to this DOOM logo I did.

 First of these three Orange HOT glowing glass variations on the Doom Logo for the film from 2004.

 I used procedural cracks in this version of the glass using the Simbiont Plug-In.

 A glass logo with a brushed metal plate top face was standard fare for Motion Graphics Jobs during my time there so we hit that here to in warm tones[ gold aluminum on orange glass base.

Also this has 25% curve used to distort the lens, a great feature built-into Final Render.

 Here you can see the simple two part model I built as geometry, that I curved the back of the extrusion so the edges would drop back farther and lower than the center for all final views.

DOOM the Film 2005

Client: Universal Pictures via The Cimarron Group.
Art Direction: Chad Robertson
Project Date: December 2004

I had a one day gig working on a 3D title treatment for the film adaption of the famous video game Doom, back in 2004 while I was still and in-house department at The Cimarron Group out of Hollywood , CA. 

I worked with Chad Robertson on this job, and Chad and I have done work both prior to Cimarron, at BLT, and after Cimarron through Ignition Print, I always enjoy working with painters like Chad, they inspire me.

The logo design itself, was locked from the game era products, and they wanted to see a few 3D versions as a test, so I provided about a dozen examples to the Print Department there at Cimarron. Orange Glass was a big theme and aged metals, so most were in this family of textures as delivered.

A fun project that did not finish however for us, but as always as a Concept Designer, most of what we do is conceptual and not finished anyhow, but we learn though the process we do in creating these things and get faster and better as designers.

Cheers, THOM