Movie Schlubs Logo

I worked on a logo for my friend's podcast.  Come check out his podcast, Movie Schlubs if you enjoy movies.

 You can listen to them on their site, Stitcher, PodOmatic, and defiantly iTunes You can also follow them on Twitter and Facebook!

Check out my process of developing it!

A history lesson

I found my original storyboard that I did for The Men's Room, still in the sketch phase. I think I remember the original story was inspired by a humor book I read a while ago, possibly Maddox or some other men's humor book. I did the colored version of the storyboard in Flash, which I lost the original files to. I was originally going to do the entire animation in Flash, but due to the lack of 2D classes and time, I kinda had to make the sacrifice. The animation mostly stays true to the board though I made some changes that I think made it better. 

Looking back, I think I made a smart move doing this in 3D. I know as much as I can know about Flash that's not coding, but there are still things in 3DSMax which I still have no idea you could do, and when you learn about them it's one of those,"If I learned this a week ago I wouldn't have to waste all of this time!" I don't want to quit the 3D, honestly, I just wish the frustrating stuff was less frustrating, but of course, this is just me whining again. I do want to become better at being an artist as I still feel I haven't decided whether I want to be a cartoonist or an artist. The only thing I can really do for myself really is to keep doing projects and improve on them through each one.

Next Project to get done: Defiantly Chrono Cream!

Old Life Drawings

I found some old life drawing work that I have done two years ago so I thought I'd share with you all.

 Here are some fro the first time I've ever been to a Life Drawing class.

Cube Bros. Storyboard

Storyboard for my Cube Bros. animation that I did last year for school. Because of the lack of time, I didn't get as much as I wanted in the final piece.

Chess Fight Storyboard

The storyboard I did last month for my Chess Fight animation.

Barbarian Portrait

A 50 minute sketch of a barbarian head done in MyPaint.

You can see a video of me creating this here

Clay Scupture

I was required to create a 3D rendition of my character for class I had the choice to make it in 3DSMax but since I'm at odds with that damn program I took a route a friend recommended, to make it in clay.

Here is my grueling journey:

I made a three dimensional stick figure to create my foundation then I stuffed that thing with foil! Lots of foil! Almost a whole pack! 

I'm exaggerating...

Next I finished up the foiling on the tail and begun to place my clay. It was a long, dirty, process of stretching clay, sticking it to places the foil would unwrap, adjusting the leg positions to distribute balance and smoothing bumps. Then I ran out of clay and I flipped out like a seven year old. 

A shopping trip later, I continued on my little journey. I reworked the arms so there would be room for hands and added in some smaller detail with nose, the fingers and the button on his overalls. I finished up with some more tweaks and stopped myself before I changed too many things and ruined it. I wish I could have found a way to get his tiny legs to stand him up but having "Wind Waker" proportions is a whole different kettle of fish. So I'm totally fine with my work here.

Here's the sketches of the twins for a bit of comparison.

I may do this again sometime.

How to model a Small Table in 3DSMax 2011

I was asked by very kind folks to give a little tutorial for modeling in 3DSMax 2011. Hopefully, this little lesson will help you get over the daunting task of getting started with 3DSMax or establishing some kind of workflow.

1) Create a Box using the Geometry Tab to the right of your windows.

2) As Pictured: In the Modify Tab under Parameters,

Have the Measurements and Segments be as the following:

Length: 80.0

Width:80.0

Height:10.0

Length Segs: 8

Width Segs: 8

Height Segs: 1

(Note: Make Sure you are in Wireframe Mode by pressings F4.That way you can see the segments)

3) Select the Object Right Click to gain a drop down menu. 

In there got to Convert To > Convert to Editable Poly

5) Go back to the Modify Tab... 

 and you'll notice it's changed.

Click the Editable Poly drop down menu to reveal the list that contains aspects of the object you can edit:

i)Vertex:  Individual points in the object can be manipulated to make smaller more detailed changes. The default settings has vertices shown as small blue dots in the corners of polygons

ii) Edges: The white lines in the object (shown with the Wireframe.) They mark where the squares (and in turn, the polygons) are. It is advised that to manipulate the entire line going through the object if you wish to modify them.

iii) Border: When there are gaps between polygons in objects, you can select all connected edges of the border. Note that Borders can only be selected when there are missing polygons that are able to be closed.

iv) Polygon: Allows you to select the polygons of the object. Individual squares can me selected to be modified extruded and such to change up the object.

v) Element: Select the entire object. When you have models with mutiple object in it this is really helpful.

With that being said...

6) In the Modify tab, choose Polygon and select the polygons as following:

Under Edit Poly

Click the small window button next to the Extrude button

Not the button itself, but the window button next to it.

A small window will pop up near your polygons where you can have more control over the extrude

Extrude the polygons to about 20 units.

(Note: don't forget to hit the check mark to confirm your change)

7) Repeat step 5 to extrude the table legs

Now for the tougher more advanced techniques...

8) Select Edge from the Modify menu to select the edges of each leg as pictured

Under Edit Edges (The same spot where Edit Poly would be) click the small window next to the Connect button just as you did with the Extrude button.

Change the number of segments to 2

(On a totally optional note, you can also change the Pinch to -40. It will save you a lot of headache later)

At the top of your window use the Select and Move tool, select the all lines surrounding the all the legs

Move the lines along the Vertical Z axis (the blue arrow) to adjust where the segments will be.

9) Select the Polygon Modifier again and use it to select the inside polygon of the legs

and delete them

Now to pile it on...

10) With the Edge Modifier selected, select the edges

of the leg gaps as so:

And under the Edit Edges (same place as Edit Polygons), Click the window next to the Bridge button, to "bridge" the space between the edges.

(Note: You can only bridge gaps where edges can connect. Any attempt to do otherwise will be met with disastrous results.)

Repeat this for all the legs until they are all connected

11) Use the Border Modifier to select the border of the missing top

 and click the cap button under Edit Border (you remember where it is)

Repeat this step for the bottom piece

Yes! You've modeled a simple end table! But When's the last time you've seen a table that was upside down? You'll need to fix that.

Use the Select and Rotate tool from the top of the window

 

And flip the object using the Circular axis, specifically the X-Axis (green) or the Y-Axis (Red) to bring the table upright

And there you have it! You know the barebones basics of modeling in 3DSMax 2011! One of these days, I'll also to a post about how to texture or animate but not now. 

If you have any questions feel feel to commet or message me and I'm sure I can help you out!