Lee Greatorex Photo/3D blog

Very quick post showing the starts to a new project I'm working on. This is based on the current on demand workshop I bought from Zbrushworkshops. You can find the specific course here.

After a very quick play last week trying to get used to Maya again I managed to create a rough jacket and got it working in Zbrush (see below). I decided to start again from the start with a project in mind.

Base mesh done in Maya based on a quick tutorial found in the book 'Zbrush Digital Sculpting Human Anatomy' by Scott Spencer - You can find it on Amazon here

The book itself is great for learning how to sculpt anatomy (I have no real traditional training so learning as I go). Although it is based around using Zbrush the same sculpture lines /techniques still basically apply.

I just started working on the torso for a heroic/comic style character and kept proportions in mind.

Scene/model taken from the 3drender.com lighting challenges.
This is still a WIP - caustics not yet done and could do with a few more lights.

Render time (on my very slow laptop 2min5sec)

It produced these results which I kinda like, with some more tweaking I think it will be a pretty fun shader to use - it added 1 second to render time.

and after amb_occlusion pass + some colour balance/ noise in PS;


(model by Anthony Thomas)

These were from the Lighting and Rendering with Mental Ray course I went on last year. The course ran by Jeremy Birn (Lighting Artist, Pixar) was great for further study in to lighting/rendering with 3d packages (Maya used for these). I'm continuing studies in lighting by doing the 3D Lighting Challenges found here




I'd recommend the course for anyone interested in Lighting or Rendering, the basic techniques can be used in any package really and it teaches how to use lights well and more importantly efficiently (getting good results without necessarily the need for advanced rendering options like Global Illumination).

Further studies in particle work (Maya)



playblasts and render tests can be found here http://www.youtube.com/user/scutteh

Sculptris is currently a free to use 3d sculpting program (currently in Alpha stage). It is slightly more basic and raw compared to the big sculpting tools (mudbox/Zbrush) but it still has a great charm and excellent ease of use.

Here are a few tests done with it (using the default sphere as the starting point).

Above: test/wip work of a Magneto/ Raiden character (head would be covered with helmet)
Below: A goblin

Above: WIP of a Kingpin style character
Below: Test Render in Maya with bump and skin shader applied

I found the program really easy to use and a nice start for those not used to importing objects in to Maya for a render. (I used a modified version of MayaSSS Fast Skin Shader as a base for the skin with my texture painted colours as bump added to it, then a simple lighting rig for the images). The downside is it's quite a bit harder to get a refined model such as in zbrush and poly count can be quite high (although the reduce brush does an excellent job of lowering poly count).

This program is perfect for lunch time doodles at work or test ideas which can then be developed in more powerful software combinations. Give it a go!

This is progress from working through the flame section of the Maya Studio Projects: Dynamics book;

I'm kind of happy with it, still working through the burning building project while also working out how to utilise the skills learned in the book in to my own work, possible a character walking through a dungeon with a torth or similar.

Here's progress on the house section;


My laptop is on it's last legs so I'm not sure it will handle the higher res (currently the higher one seen at the bottom is at 80 - 90 and 70 compared to the books suggested 160+. I'll work out a proper ratio tomorrow and raise it accordingly from the low 40-50 and 30 suggested resulution values.

Just going through a few new dynamics books for Maya currently to learn more MEL scripting and Expressions. My first test is a of a plinian eruption. While the speed isn't correct here I'm quite happy with the result currently.



The animation itself runs too fast, simply as it was just a test to see if the plume went up in the air. Render time roughly 2 hours for 60 frames. the sequence was originally meant for PAL but I rendered the final animation at 15fps just so it was a little slower/more like how the full animation should be.

A little more face sketching.




Also been working on some Dynamics in Maya and will be buying 2 more books when I'm back from a short trip back home. Dynamics/particles is pretty much what I spent most of my final year doing and also enjoyed it the most throughout university.

Long time no post. I've been finishing the Lighting and Rendering in Mental Ray course. It's been really good and I've learned a lot of techniques and tips for not only making my lighting/rendering better but also more efficient. One of the most important things I've done to improve is to no longer just 'guess' lighting work. It may take a little longer at first to take time to set up your key lights etc but taking time on small changes instead of adding new lights to overwrite errors in the scene is worthwhile in the long run.

Since finishing the course I've been planning on how to use it, as well as starting a redesign for my website. I updated my current CV/Resume (which can be found to the right of this page). My new website will be easy to use and just have simple links to gallery, videos, CV and then the news can be updated from here.

Finally I've been dusting off Boujou and doing some motionmatching. As most starting 3d jobs within VFX/film require motionmatching skills I thought I'd pick it back up and start to test footage/ scenes to bring me up to scratch again (I last used it last year while at university).

Just a few more shots of the bike so far. I'm not too keen on the materials for the brakes currently but I'm just testing out lights and materials while I go do each step. Aiming to get started on the engine over the weekend and if I can put it on the bike for Monday.

Currently still working on the car as well as some traditional digital art.
Something that I've always been keen on trying is a motorbike and I'm going to be modelling one (not this tutorial one) for my showreel (for motionmatching).

So far here is the frame I've done;



Just did a quick render with some blinns and FG using a similar lighting rig to my old FYP setup. Basically using grids with lamberts on and FG instead of using lights then having image based lighting on (without actually using it for lighting, just reflections).

I came across a big problem after trying out the Approximation editor (Window>Rendering Editors>Mental Ray> Approximation Editor). Basically used to show your geometry as smoothed out (as if you are pressing 3) without the need to convert to a subd or smooth deformer.

Here's a bit more progress on the Car




As you can see I've nearly finished the base model. I'm going to be altering it and making space for the doors after it is done. I'm also currently working on the inner areas such as windosills and an area for the bonnet to rest. (For the rubber and metal Window fix they will be modelled separately so just added a little geometry so the body has no sharp edges).

After a few days off and on of modelling (I work full time so until my weekend I only have an hour or so a night) I decided to mirror the geometry and take a little test render. Here is the result.




For this I tried out the Mental Ray car shader. Usually I build my own shaders and materials but have heard good things about the shader. I think after some more tweaking it will look ok for the body at least. Also instead of creating my own environment sphere I tried the Mental Ray HDRI image based lighting option in the render settings. I think I prefer having control over my own environment/reflection map and I still prefer creating my own light setups.

I added a little negative light inside the body just so the emphasis was on the exterior for now.
Overall I'm generally happy so far but can't wait till I start adding the details to it to break up the model.

After the base model is done I'm going to do bonnet/boot then start working on windows, lights and doors.

Currently I'm modelling a car (Alpine Renault 1600 SC) in Maya. I'm doing this to get back in to the habit of modelling and having a manageable project I can do on my laptop (my is still not ready yet).

I gave up on the outdated tutorials for box looking cars as I wanted particularly to do this car. It has a little character and also has a lot of nice fluid lines and contours.

I'm poly modelling it from reference (2d blueprints and I made some reference curves to so I can flesh it out/ keep the contours).

This is the first attempt at modelling a car and I'm finding it quite challenging but fun. I'm currently getting the basic body down, then going to work on other parts such as bonnet, trunk and windows. After that I'll redo the door and add lights and bumpers. Finally I'll start working on the interior (a very simple chair , wheel, dashboard) as well as tyres/wheels.

Here's my work in progress so far;