Week 6 - Spring Break

Hello!  Week 6 is over and was a bit less stressful because it was Spring Break!  NO CLASSES!  Fortunately the school was open 'till 5pm everyday so I did get a chance to pump out some work on the old Audi R8.  So far I think it’s looking good but I have a few more things to work on before I pat myself on the back.  For now I will just hug myself in a warm embrace.  I'm so soft.  Alrighty, check out my sweet car!

Because the school was only open until 5pm I was able to spend some wonderful time with my classmates!  I got to try some Korean BBQ which was a new experience but a wonderful experience.  I learned that I have no idea how to use chopsticks and that some creatures probably shouldn't be turned into food.  I'm lookin at you squid!  The next day a few of us got together for a bit of a house party.  Thank you very much to the man with the house!

This week was also an excellent week because I had the opportunity to go on a tour of the EA Games studio in Burnaby!  After seeing this place if my motivation wasn't at the top already it certainly is now!  I can't really portray how amazing this was without talking to you face to face.  This blog would go on and on and everyone would eventually leave.  I got to meet some amazingly nice people and see some really cool work as well as a bathroom that had a TV above each urinal.  Yeah, it is that amazing!  Thank you very much to my Uncle for taking the time!

So that was my week!  I also got to go see "Sucker Punch" yesterday which was a crazy, cool movie.  Story was a little back and forth but I advise you to go to it to see the amazing CG and really, it’s got 5 good lookin ladies wielding swords and guns while killing a nice variety of enemies.  Hard to go wrong.  So, Vancouver has EA!  6-0 Saskatchewan.........your move.

Week 5 - Burn Rubber

I see you have come back for more of my shameless compliments.  Well don’t hold your breath you wonderful human being because I am not going to indulge your ego any longer!  Alrighty, now pan your beautiful eyes from left to right to read how week 5 went!  Week 5, where has the time gone?  It was a light work week mainly because our car project took over, so technically it wasn’t that light.

This week in Modeling 100 we received a lesson in car modeling.  Joe drove his technique into our brains and we took off!  From 0 to 60 in……….well I am not done yet so I will have to get back to you on that one but I do have some sweet screens of the car I will probably never own.  Much too impractical for my taste.  The car has caused me a few frustrations but I enjoy being struck by a challenge.  It was nice to put my mind in problem solving mode to figure out how best to approach the problems.  Check out my wheels!

My sack is done!  You all want to seem my sack, my classically drawn sack in all its glory?  It’s a nice sack.  You can wait all your life to see a better one but you will always think back to my wondrous sack.  Ok, well it’s missing the boxes but I will get them in there.  Enjoy my sack!

Do you like to walk?  I walk to and from school every day so it has grown on me, plus it’s free.  I call that student walking.  Walking is something you do and see every day.  It’s different from person to person but there is always one thing about walking that will stay consistent.  It’s a pain in the arse to make a 3D model walk realistically.  Now I haven’t done much animation so that plays a big factor but man, I certainly have to work hard to do it right.  I took a little screenshot of my fancy walkin’ bot for your enjoyment.

In Production 100 this week we explored camera movements.  We were tasked with framing up a few different shots in a pre-made scene.  You want a proper close-up?  I got yah!

My barrel for DIM 100 has been bumped and speculared and framed in a lovely production sheet.  BASK IN ITS GLORY!

Last for the week was Life Drawing.  We focused on faces.  Started with a base and went from there.  I haven’t done much drawing of faces so this didn’t start real well but I was able to use the whole class to just focus on getting the base as right as possible.

Done!  This week was a fun week in general.  On Thursday night a group of us from all semesters went and had some green beer at a place called Taylors Crossing.  Got to try out the city bus!  Not a huge fan but when the bus pulled up for pickup at the Quay the driver left the bus while we all got on.  I was encouraged not to bother with paying so I got a free bus ride!  Hopefully I don’t get arrested cause if so I will bring everyone else on that bus down with me.  Friday was a big day for the school as a whole.  It was the TTTC Friday Challenge!  Teams of 6 were formed and were pitted against each other in a fight to survive.  We were sent out into the mountains and the team that came back alive were victorious!  I only had to push a few people off a cliff so it wasn’t a really difficult win.  I hope you have realized that I was making that up and if not you can continue to believe that I did what I needed to do.  Our real challenges were as follows:

RC Car Balloon Race – Each team picked 2 drivers and a mini tournament commenced where each vehicle was equipped with a needle and had to pop all of the other teams balloons.  Thanks to our wicked drivers for coming out on top!

Pizza Eating Contest – Do I really need to describe this one?  Unfortunately we lost this challenge but it was fun to watch our teammate struggle with shoving pizza in his mouth.

Blind Dressing – 1 member of our team had to undress another member of our team while blindfolded.  And no, they didn’t undress from their actual clothes, they put on additional clothes for this challenge.  We got second place in this event.

Orange Leggings – I participated in this event.  An orange is placed in a pair of leggings and then tied around my waist.  I needed to swing the orange between my legs to knock a ball around the room and then back to the finish.  Victory was mine!

Balloon Juggle – Pretty self-explanatory.  2 players at a time needed to see who could keep 2 balloons in the air the longest.  We placed second in this challenge.

In the end Team Success, that was us, came out on top as champions!  I want to thank all the members of Team Success for their dedication and kick-assery.  We are the champions!  On Friday we were also graced with the presence of Bryan Gillingham who is a Lead Animator who has worked at Blizzard on World of Warcraft.  He gave us a wonderful first-hand look at the gaming industry and then answered a ton of questions.  He also showed us some of his work on a Hulk game as well as a Star Wars game and of course, World of Warcraft.  A really nice guy who had some great advice.  Thanks Bryan for taking the time!

So that was week 5!  A very fun week.  I want to thank Think Tank for giving us all a break by hosting a Friday Challenge and inviting Bryan in to talk to us.  Week 6 is Spring Break!  No classes this week and the school is open only from 8:30am – 5:00pm.  All time to work on my car!  So, Vancouver has a crap load of game companies and Saskatchewan has none.  Van 5, Sask 0.  Sorry mom! lol

Week 4 - Put it into Gear

Hello again!  It is so good to see you.  You’re looking excellent.  Now that I have kissed your arse hopefully you will come back.  Week 4 is finito and unfortunately the weeks seem to be getting faster!  I still manage to get my assignments done on the same day as they are given but I have a feeling that that will change next week when we start our car in Modeling 100.  Alright, on to what you have all been waiting for…………….all my wonderful work from this past week!  I’m so modest.

Modeling 100 brought us a wonderful technique using instances to help us create the rims we will use with our vehicles.  With a little math involved we were able to create one spoke of our rim and rotate it around equally to create the full thing.  We sub-divided our rims 3 times to smooth them out.  After the rim we needed to create the tire tread.  Another cool technique was used for this.  We created one small portion of the tread and then duplicated it.  After the merge we used the bend tool to wrap the tread around and merge the edges.  Tire and Rim done!  Check it out.  I used a pre-set shader to make the second one blacked out.  It’s how I roll!

In Classical Animation 100 we went over the pencil tests of our sacks and continued to work on our final product.  I would like to think I am finished but I don’t think that’s the case.  Not as refined as it should be I think but I have to wait to see what Brett thinks when we have class again next week.  We are starting work in Flash too so hopefully the old knowledge I have of flash comes back quick.

3D Animation had us finish up our Robot at the Bar animation.  I went with something simple but the render out would have been too big of a file so you get a screenshot of my classy robot.  We had to use constraints to pin the hand to the bar and then the glass to the hand.  Just had to turn the constraint off and key frame it so he could put the glass back down.

YES!  We have finally begun to learn the most fun part of all 3D!  Laying out UVs!  I know it is hard to judge sarcasm through text but I can promise you, that was sarcasm.  In XSI this week we learned how to flatten out our models, in a way, to prepare them for textures.  If I could get someone to lay out my UVs for every project I would pay them handsomely in high-fives and encouragement.  I am a student after all.  Laying out UVs usually slows down my entire workflow.  Hopefully I can learn some new tricks to speed it all up because what I have been doing for the past 3 years hasn’t got much faster.  Our first UV task was to skin the man below.  Nothing like skinning a man and spreading him out to paint all over him!

Thursday started off with Scott and Production 100.  We went over some different renderers, popular game engines and rendering tools such as Global Illumination, Final Gathering and Environment Rendering.  I have used Final Gathering before but have not touched on the other two.  Interesting tools but I find with stuff like this, it would be better to just be told which is best and to stick with it but each are used at certain times.  We also went over volumes such as fog.  I haven’t used volumes much but it was good to see what kind of results you can get.  No assignments, just straight up knowledge!

In our DIM 100 class we went over our lit scenes and started our texturing journey.  We got a wonderful lesson on how to get certain effects from certain brushes to make our textures stand out.  We had the challenge of texturing a metal barrel.  I’ve done a lot of texturing so it was nice to see confirmation that what I have been doing is how it’s actually done.  Here is my finished lit scene and my barrel texture so far.  I will be finishing it tomorrow.

Last up for the week was our Friday morning Life Drawing class.  We had a nude, female model and we did some more gesture drawings as well as some more torso drawings.  We also did a few negative-space drawing which it how I basically draw.  I usually estimate the length of a line and then use it to measure where other lines connect and cross.  My drawings all start as outlines of what I am drawing and then I fill it all in, so these were easier for me.  We had lots of time as well so there was no pressure to produce so to speak.  Our homework is to draw five hand poses and then five more but with some creative changes.  Let’s hope I am creative enough!

So that was the week!  Quick but productive.  I was able to go see Rango with some classmates on Saturday and took the seabus as well as the skytrain!  Crazy sci-fi modes of transportation.  It was like I was on a different planet.  The seabus was pretty cool as I am very used to boating, but not on a boat that can carry 200 people, or something close to that.  The skytrain made me a bit uneasy with all the deceleration and acceleration while the tunnel walls flew by me but I can handle it.  Public transit isn’t so bad I guess.  Not sure about city buses yet though.  Oh, I also got to sample the tiki-style bar that’s attached to the school for the birthday of one of the girls in the second semester class.  A bit expensive and the drinks weren’t the manliest I’ve seen but it was still good.

So, Vancouver has this wonderful mode of transportation called the Seabus!  Put in on the board!  Vancouver 4, Saskatchewan 0.

Damn that was long.  if you are like me you probably read that and went, "damn that was long!"  Please come back, don't you remember how excellent I said you looked.  Yeah, you do.

Week 3 - Getting Deeper

Week 3!!!!  It is over, but it wasn’t too bad.  I finished my environment on Monday so the rest of the week was a little slack.  The lessons are getting more in depth now and we are really close to the meat and potatoes of what XSI has to offer.  I also found some time to watch a movie while I did some work.  I decided I would check out “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”.  It was a pretty good movie.  I didn’t expect much but I was surprised at how cool it turned out to be.  I shall recommend it.  Alrighty, on to what I did during week 3!

In Modeling 100 Joe taught us some new tools to make our modeling move along faster while looking more interesting.  The rest of the class was used to work on our environments as well as a side project to take a premade character and change him to make him look a little more custom.  I went with a Deadpool theme for mine.  Deadpool is awesome.  So here is my finished Interior Environment.  My apologies for the lighting.  Still tryin to figure out XSI's system.

And here is my wonderful friend, Deadpool!  We are going to rig him eventually.

Next was our Classical Animation 100 class where we started a new animation!  Now I’m not immature as I am sure most people would tell you, but this week we had to animate a sack.  Now our first sack is a rough animation to plan for our awesome, end sack.  My sack is amazing so far and some in the class would say that their sack is better than mine but I would have to disagree.  My sack is a perfect size and it moves and bounces very smoothly.  So without further ado, here is an animation of my sack!  We have 2 weeks to do it so this first week was the rough sketch.

After Classical animation we have 3D Animation 100 with Scott as usual.  This week was the beginning of another 2 week project.  We have our friendly robot character who is all pre rigged and he is standing at a bar.  On this bar is a glass.  Our job was to make Mr. Robot reach out and grab that glass using constraints and parenting.  Very cool lesson, it hasn’t changed my mind about what I want to do or anything but it did loosen me up a bit towards animation.

 I went with a very classy way of picking up the glass.  I'm like that.

In XSI 100 this week we went over our screen shots of the materials we used in our environments.  We only had to do a couple using clusters so here we are!  I found the materials very easy to use and manipulate because of the similarities between Maya and XSI but that similar theme didn't last.

The lesson was about texturing using projections in XSI.  It wasn’t difficult but it was different enough from Maya that I had to block out what I do in Maya so that I didn’t mix the two programs.  It went well enough but XSI seems to be a bit buggy when it comes to textures.  Not bad though!

Next was Production 100 with Scott where we worked on some new lighting techniques.  Our assignment was to light an attic style room with a point light that represented the sun and then two area lights that add some spec to the floor under two windows.  Easy enough but still very useful for a guy who wants to do environments.  I’ve never been very dynamic with my lighting so these are good tricks.  We finish lighting the attic this coming week.

After Production 100 is Digital Imaging 100.  We went over our creepy Frankenstein dudes and got some advice on how to better blend our pictures and how to add proper shadows too.  The latter was very important as our next project is to light a 3D screenshot in photoshop using some clever mask layers.  I am not done, but I soon will be!  Check out what I have.

We started with this.

And so far I have this.

Last but not least was our Life Drawing 100 class.  We had another nude, male model and we practiced more of the same techniques as we did in other classes.  It would seem my proportions are getting a little better but there is still no way I am putting any of it online.  Just imagine that it is really good, that’s what I do!  The class seems to be getting a little more loose which makes for a much more fun and relaxed atmosphere in a class that should be relaxing. 

So that was the week!  On Monday I actually had plans so that brought the weekend to a close and explains why I am posting this today and not yesterday.  Once I get my time machine working I can rectify these problems.  Next week we are starting our car models in Modeling 100 so that will be cool.  I promised my dad I would bust out a real nice one for him to print out.  Alright, that’s it!  I will leave you with a picture of the car I will be modeling as well as another reason why Vancouver is better than Saskatchewan.  I can see the ocean and mountains at the same time!  Its almost not fair.  Vancouver 3, Saskatchewan 0.

Week 2 - The Work Begins

Hello Again!  Week 2 has come and gone and I have some wonderful updates.  There, that should draw you in enough to read everything I type.  It has been a good, but fast week.  It would seem to always be the case when a bigger project is given but at least it was a busy and productive week.  Time flies when something is due!

We started the week off strong on Tuesday in Modeling 100 with Joe.  Learned some more valuable XSI tricks and started on our journey to create an interior environment.  Something I am familiar with but with a bit of a difference for me.  We can use as many polygons as we wish!  No need to worry about keeping the mesh clean or anything like that, just an exercise to learn to model hard surfaces in XSI.  Even with the no restrictions restriction, I wasn’t able to bring myself to go as crazy as I could have.  The assignment isn’t due until week 4 so I still have plenty of time.  Here are a couple screens of what I currently have.  I deviated quite a bit from the concept I found but when given freedom, take it.

Next up was some good old classical animation with Brett.  I gave you a taste of my magical drawings brought to life last week and I intend to do the same this week!  Unfortunately you will have to wait until Monday to see what I have done.  I didn’t get a chance to re-record my animation after some changes but I will be able to get it going and post it on Monday.  I will make it an edit in this original post and keep it a surprise until then.  Don’t get your hopes up or anything.  I haven’t yet finished my first, full length, feature film.

Here we are!  The animation to end all animations!

Wednesday was an easy day.  A day of learning and simply applying.  We had Scott for 3D Animation 100 and Chad for XSI 100.  Scott got us bouncing a ball through a hoop in XSI and then posing Mr. Wile E. Coyote.  Simple exercises but we got to mess around with a rigged character so it was good, but only because we didn’t have to rig it.  Nothing to show here though.  Some simple poses with a character I didn’t make or rig isn’t a whole lot to brag about.  After Scott came Chad.  Chad gave us an excellent lesson on materials in XSI and then told us we were to apply some of these materials to our environment scene in Modeling 100.  I will be applying these on Monday as well as I wanted to have as much of my environment done before I went at it.

Thursday was a lesson in Production 100 with Scott and Digital Imaging 100 with Peter.  Scott gave us a lesson on lighting in XSI and Peter showed us how to make our own Frankenstein using bits and pieces of things we find on the internet.  ITS ALIVE!

Last class of the week is Life Drawing 100.  We had a nude, male model this week and I produced the same unfortunate drawings I did last week.  I have promised my mother that I will show her some of them but no one who reads this blog will ever see these insults to our wonderful models.

A good week!  It was nice to always have something to work on especially because it was something I am used to working on.  We managed to use the theatre room as well this week for a viewing of “Fight Club.”  Such a sweet movie.  Once Saturday night rolled around I was good to go for some serious gaming.  I busted out about 5 hours of Fallout 3 so I am still moving along in the wastelands.  Also, it would seem I have brought some Saskatchewan weather along with me.  Some major snow the last couple days so I am going to chalk another one up to Vancouver because I am sure that if I ever leave Vancouver, it won’t be fickle and try to get revenge on me!  Vancouver 2, Saskatchewan 0.

Week 1 - A League to Belong To

The first week of school has completed!  Like any good travel show knows, you skip the part of the travel that wouldn’t be very interesting and you get right onto the meat and potatoes even though my travel through the mountains was far more interesting than I had anticipated.  With the threat of avalanche, mountain goat, caribou, deer and semi I had a lot to keep my eye out for.  I will note though that the drive from Kamloops to Vancouver was like driving through a dream.  A beautiful 4 hour long end to a full 12 hour drive.  Now let’s never speak of this again.

As I said, the first week of school is done!  I have been oriented to the wonderful world of the Think Tank and I am a believer.  Monday was our orientation.  Scott Thompson (Owner), Joseph Bullock (Co-owner) and Angela Gielen (Knower of all things not art) gave us the rundown of how this school works and how it will work for you.  I could go on forever about how dedicated they are to their students success but I will just say this; If you work hard this is your chance to follow a dream while being backed by a superhero league of industry professionals who are there to make sure you gain the powers needed to land that sweet job you’ve always wanted.

Let me introduce you to the “Superhero League of Industry Pros” in order of class appearance.

First class we had was Modeling 100 with Joseph Bullock.  Joseph has the power of creation.  From his brain to his fingers to the computer, he can create, and teach you to create, worlds, characters and everything in between.  Of course he has more experience than just modeling but the League has chosen him to pass his knowledge on to the worlds next generation of superheroes.  So far he is a wonderful instructor and I look forward to learning more from him.  Joe’s first assignment to the “Semester One Heroes” was to give shape to an elephant while channelling the power of Softimage.  A low poly representation to get used to the tools and hot keys that Softimage has to offer.  I am partial to Maya but wielding all powers is much better than only using one.  It is fairly similar to Maya so if you have experience in Maya it will cross over.  I ended up modeling my Elephant along with a Brontosaurus and a Triceratops.  Triceratops didn’t end up how I wanted it but I will show off the other two.

For our next Superhero we have Brett Vanderkist.  He has the power to give life in the 2D realm as well as the power to travel back in time.  Classical Animation 100 and Flash Animation 100 is what he was chosen for.  He loves 2D animation and it shows.  His first lesson to us was a trip back in time when animation was done on a thing called “paper”.  A wonderful lesson indeed and out of it came the challenge of giving life to a rubber ball.  I have seen many videos of an old school pencil drawings coming to life but I found a certain satisfaction in being the one that gave it.  We each hand drew our bouncing ball on every odd frame and then captured our images with a webcam so that we could play them back in a program called Flipbook.  It is nice to know how easy we have it these days but I look forward to stepping back in time again to give my rubber ball even more life.  You will see what I mean next week.  Check out my bouncing ball video!  Make sure you have it on loop.

Next up is the essential Superman of the “Superhero League of Industry pros”.  Scott Thompson was next up to pass his knowledge on to our small band of up-and-comers.  Although I am not sure what his kryptonite may be, I did get a good understanding of all the things he has to offer and that is what matters.  Scott has had his hand in many different aspects of the industry and certainly knows what he is talking about.  He also has some awesome stories about the industry and what we can come to expect.  Scott is in charge of 3D Animation 100 and Production 100 in this first semester.  His first challenge to us was to slide a box down a ramp and into another box that was to tumble and fall and eventually come to a rest.  We were to use Softimage which I found easier to animate in then Maya was, but the last time I animated in Maya was in Maya 8.  It was an easy enough project when it came to simply animating the boxes but it was a bit harder to make them move realistically.  This video is really small but I didn’t want to wait 20 mins while it uploaded.  I think my powers of giving life in the 3D realm still need some work but it can only get better!

Our next hero is Chad Fox.  He has been chosen to pass his knowledge of Softimage on to us.  He has the power to see inside programs to help us better understand how they work.  I would be afraid to see what he could make a program of his choosing do……or would I?  Chad is a wonderful instructor and I look forward to learning all I can from him about Softimage.  My powers in it grow almost every day!

Next is Digital Imaging with our Photoshop hero Peter Hogan.  Photoshop has always been a fun program to use.   Peter has the power to manipulate reality and he is very good at passing that on while keeping it fun.  His first project to us was to create a fictional CD cover for fictional band.  He told us to go a bit crazy with it so here is a digital representation of my crazy.

Last but not least is Sarita Baker.  She is our Life Drawing 100 instructor.  She has the power to simulate real life in the blink of an eye.  She is a wonderful artist and I can only hope I learn enough to be able to simulate the simplest of life.  We had a female, nude model as our subject and we were to draw her in many different styles.  Squiggles, figure 8’s, scribbles, sharp curves and soft flowing lines were all represented.  Many different styles that I had a lot of trouble with.  I certainly do not have the speed or skill yet required to produce a drawing I would be proud of but I can hope that this class will get me there.

So that is it!  I also started a project of my own based off of some Mass Effect 2 concept art.  I wanted something to do if I got my projects done quickly enough.  We have Saturdays and Mondays as our work days and Sundays as our days of rest.  Superheroes in the making need time to adjust to our new found powers.  I enjoy the other young heroes in my class and I think this will be a good year.  The school atmosphere is amazing and all the instructors are dedicated to delivering a program that will benefit us beyond what I could imagine.  I want to quickly thank the Xaviers of this school, Scott and Joe.  I look forward to learning how to better use my powers.   Alright, more to come next week!

My leaving quip is that is has been positive temperatures every day since I have arrived in Vancouver.  My parents informed me that that hasn’t been the case back home.  That’s Vancouver 1, Saskatchewan zip.