In Unity!

FINALLY getting things into Unity! Finished up the textures I needed, made some on the fly, and threw it all in!

Spooky Graveyards n' Stuff!

Working on the more prominent assets of the level. Hopefully I can get an alpha done in the next 2 weeks.

Update!

Been working my ass off. There's more than this, will post on Monday when I get to the studio for more images.

3D'd Texture Test!

Sometimes textures look great, looking flat and perpendicular to your face. However, in the 3D realm of games and animation, it could look way different when tiled, lit lowly, and viewed from a different angle other than head-on in Photoshop's window. So far, I'm very pleased with what I have done. I've grown much in putting more and more dimension into my handpainted textures, adding more darks and lights to make it feel like there really is depth to it, starting from the brick walls back in May, to the summertime stone floor tile, to the wood that I've started and finished yesterday. And I hope to grow so much more with this. My next challenge: metal! Hope it turns out well when I get to it!

OMG Morning Wood!

For the longest time I've had nothing but complete and total trouble (though not as much as typing on this stupid Apple keyboard with the flat keys in the animation studio here at Rio Hondo College) with creating a decent wood texture, be it a photo-collage, or hand made. But within the first two hours of class I managed to start and bring something that looks this good from where I was to near completion. I think I'm finally breaking through the blocks that have been holding me back. Things are going nowhere but upward from this point onward.

Texture Updates!

Concepts

STONEWALLED

Semester's over, but I'm still working my ass off. My latest textural endeavour is this nice little quad-tiled stone wall/flooring.

All In All...

...you're just another brick in the wall. -Pink Floyd

Working on the brick texture for my new project, going for a more handpainted/Blizzard style of texturing. Personally, I think it's going along great.

Next semester's plans

Sitting here in C++ programming, and drawing concept art for my next project. The ship is starting to get a little stagnant for me, and I solely blame myself for getting way too ambitious before I knew what I was able to actually do. By the time I was able to start even texturing, I found that everything was pretty much done WRONG. Had I made my interior stuctures in square faces, I'd probably be done! So anyway, I'm going to see this project through to the end, just as I had with my little tiki hut. I have gone a far way and many respects, but I still have to go further. So next semester, I'm working with a friend of mine who has been working on an excellent midieval/fnatasy character, and I am going to be building an environment for him. I've attained quite a collection of reference images already this morning, and have buckled down on making concept drawings. this one won't be as ambitious in terms of scale, but it will all be focued on making a good cohesive environment, with efficient modelling, and excellent texures. Plus the fact that it will be a collaborative effort, it will be a plus for the both of us when we get our portfolios shown to major studios. As soon as I get some good drawings done, and I get home from my other soon-to-be previous engagements, there will be some concept art postings.

OMG UPDATE!

Been working pretty hard these past few weeks getting the spaceship completed. I still have an array of textures to make, apply them, and put it all into the engine. As well, I had to step up my job hunt, which paid off, as I will now be working come May. Anyway, here are the screenshots straight from the Unity engine:

Another WIP

Because I can't have enough work on my hands, right? I'm already working on the spaceship, the Imagine Cup game, the Zombie Cab, and a texture package. And now this flying jet car thing. Personally, I like the results so far, a lot of it is looking very smooth, and hopefully, it'll keep up like that all the way through.

Bah.

Well, it looks like I'm not going to D.C. after all. Everyone tried to help and pull some strings for me, but it wasn't enough. So I'm going to be continuing work on it from the sidelines, and sending it all in from here on the West Coast on over to the dev team while they're in D.C.

Ah well. There's always 2011.

BUY MY MODELS!!!!

In an effort to work myself harder on improving my work (and earn some much-needed money), I've decided to put my better models up for sale over at turbosquid.com!

BUY MY STUFF!!!
http://www.turbosquid.com/Search/Artists/AmarantusDesign

WIP Updates

Because some of the rendering I showed in a previous post weren't really up to date, I've decided to post the most up-to-date shots of my work.

The atomic generator's tesla coils have their texture complete and applied, now, as well as the support beams that will be used throughout the ship. I'm very satisfied with how the brushed metal came out on the orb at the end of the coil. Looks absolutely brilliant!

As stated before, the computer and mainframe has been completed for quite some time. The large levers and analog gauges are textured and applied, completing the control console. The mainframe is pure image mapping. Tape spools and all slapped onto a cube, but still cleanly done nonetheless.

Current WIP: Zombie Cab

Between working on my class assignment, The first Imagine Cup Project and gearing up for what will hopefully be my second IC assignment (I couldn't find a way to log on to the US site, so I might be SOL--I'll find out in a few hours), I feel like I'm going to experience a severe case of burnout, if I don't have something to keep my mind busy. So, I decided to take on another little side project: building the Zombie Apocalypse Marathon Checker cab.

The progress is going well, and I'm currently working the hood. Hopefully when it's done, it'll look a lot like this:

Going to D.C. After All?

I'm posting this from my C++ programming class, and when I walked into the lab earlier, my professor approached me and asked me if I had received an email from Microsoft, regarding the Imagine Cup. I told yes, and that I was a bit saddened that I wouldn't be going with my dev team, and c'est la vie and all that. She then told me about how the team that I had done the splash page for was going to D.C., though, and that I might have a chance to go to the nationals after all.
Once this class ends, we have to figure out how to get me on to their team so I can go to D.C. for round 3, which is sometime in April.

Long Lost Rendering!

I was digging about the depths of my hard drive, and I came across this,one of my first complete 3D models ever made. Man, do I sure miss watching The Venture Bros. It's all King of the Hill and Family Guy, now. And it makes me a saaaaaaaaad 3D artist. :(

Some Space-y Stuffs.

So I've been pretty busy with this semester long assignment for my gaming environment design class. I've finally got something into the game engine (we're using Unity) and the little bit that I have somewhat polished was shown to an advisory board meeting of some professionals from Blizzard (art lead for Diablo III), Farsight(environment artist), and Sony Santa Monica(Environment art lead for God of War III), which I was really excited about. I was paired with a character designer who had made an excellent robot character, (seeing as my spaceship was the closest match) so many changes were made to my environment. Originally, I wanted to make everything in Russian, to give a sense of unfamiliarity, and to stir up some old Cold War/Space Race vibes, as well as everything being designed with a retro-futuristic/atompunk flair. So we have this vintage/modern clash going on here, which I think is pretty cool, and will make it much more interesting.



This is the current state of the generator room, sans walls to get a proper rendering. One of the biggest motifs I wanted to flaunt was the use of the Tesla coil. These things scream "mad science" and is a staple in a retro sci-fi theme. Case-in-point: Fallout 3 and Wolfenstein!





Granted, the coil wasn't too big of an implement in my original ray gun model:



The model has been abandoned anyway, as it was originally going to be used as an FPS implement.

Another big thing were the computers.



The computers are made in the old-fashioned UNIVAC style room fillers. Granted, this is a rather old rendering. The rest of the components are fully textured, as well as a mainframe model, which compliments this very nicely.

Imagine Cup

Awhile back in my C++ programming class, we were sucked into entering the Microsoft Imagine Cup (official site here), competing in embedded systems. However, I'm not exactly a coding logic-oriented person, and found little interest in competing in it. I found that there were other fields other than embedded systems, such as, well, game design. I talked to my professor about it and how I was majoring in game art & design. She practically flipped and told me about another team she was mentoring in Huntington Beach, that was in need of an artist (their original guy apparently flaked out or something, I'm not too sure on the details) and I agreed to join. The theme for the year's national competition was something along the lines of educational gaming. The team's subject was a rather grim one: infant mortality. So I was charged with making a simple house interior, with a crib, some toys, and a fridge. Just some of the more important things to focus on, as well as the GUI:

The texturing and GUI was developed with Photoshop and Illustrator, and modeled & rendered with Blender. Many of the other teams were quite impressed with the work, and I was asked to do a splash page by another team, whose project was oceanic pollution:


Despite our hard efforts, however, our team did not make it to round 3. Hopefully, we will get back together for 2011, as we do have much of the artwork and source code completed.

Serious Need to Update

I've neglected this thing for too long now. Been pretty busy with working on Red Orbit and looking for work and all that stuff. But within the next few days, there will be a flood of posts and images and all that.