(500) Words of Something

Reflective writing, the first 500 words for submission complete with essay plan.

Round 3

CAD For Fraser Round 2

Second round of drawings. I would of love to have done more variations etc by now. Sadly AutoCAD on a Mac is even slower than I expected so may have to hold off until I can get access to a better machine. In the mean time....

UP Maps

Here is one of the sixteen maps of the external model as an example of UV maps. Realised that I'm going have to re-model parts of the internal model however due to some file corruption issues so the texturing process will be set back a day or two but at this point it shouldn't be too much of an issue...

Model of Reflective Writing

In anticipation of our assignment for reflective practice this semester we were asked to create our own model of for reflective writing. Below is my current response. Less of a mind map more of a post-it arrangement it is based on both the Gibbs and the Atkins-Murphy model, information on which can be found at the useful websites below. . .

http://www.careers.salford.ac.uk/cms/resources/uploads/File/Reflective%20Writing.pdf
http://www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/writing/education/reflective-writing/4.xml
http://www.arts.ac.uk/cetl/visual-directions/flash/reflective/flash_reflective_textversion.htm
http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Reflection

Playblast Maps

Version 1.0 of the Uv Maps is complete. I have had fun doing it but really have no idea if its correct, I suspect it probably needs to be changed so watch this space. Excuse the playblast, Maya on my laptop was being temperamental...

Gothic Edinburgh For Lucy - Variation 02

Next ones will be more townhouse/ tenements but a little bit of Baronial is always fine. Also I've spent some time setting up my line-weights/ CAD layers now which is a big but useful job and make it far easier and quicker to draw in the future. 

CAD Drawings For Fraser

Im in a collaborative CAD mode. First attempt at a series of what will eventually be six drawings for Fraser Murdoch to be used within his fourth year graduation animation My City. Its into the final months for them so good luck! To check out Fraser's project so far please go here: http://mycitydoj.blogspot.com/ . 

Gothic Edinburgh For Lucy - Building Variation 01

Lucy Tiere a part time animator in my class has asked me to draw some CAD drawings for potential use as turnarounds for her film which will be modelled in Maya. Based on a more gothic version of Edinburgh the first plan is to make about 7 variations of different buildings whose features can be mixed and matched creating the illusion of more buildings. Lucy backgrounds are ultimately in black and white and will eventually be textured via Maya UV maps in a gothicy-watercolour way. This is my first attempt at drawing one on CAD so hopefully it will be of some use......

UV Map Plan Of Action

After watching and then doing many tutorials on digital tutors today on UV mapping I've tried to work out a logical series of commands for mapping Waverley. Below is my initial notes and plan of action. One on textures will follow soon. I have to say I do enjoy UV mapping its time-consuming and often tricky but logical. Roll on texturing...

Script 2.0

Storyboard 2.0

Animatics and Mill Visits

New animatic. Still very rough around the edges but the feel for it is there. Some of the 3d shots were taken quickly in order to get them ready for presenting to the mill this morning but overall it feels like it is coming together slowly.

Presenting to members of the mill this morning was exciting, got some really useful feedback regarding which shots were the strongest/ weakest and advice on how to use textures and lighting to give the film a stronger feel. Really starting to get excited about this project and can't wait to begin the texture process...

Animatic 2.0 on Vimeo link here. 


Pointers from The Mill:

- Pare camera moves back, keep it simple
- After the train or curves shot go for the big reveal
- Strongest shot is the one looking through the window, Weakest is the initial pan up.
- Adding a balustrade or high level walkways and moving the camera to a high corner will help to achieve the sense of scale/ depth I'm looking for with regards to the Internal Shot
- Keep materials real and simple, use photographs as much as possible
- Consider carefully which rendering program to use, eg. Mental Ray or Vray will assist the rendering and lighting process a great deal for it seems light and texture should drive the project.

I wholeheartedly agree. 

Inside The Belly Of The Beast

Internal model has been modelled out loosely. There will be twelve more units added to each side along the length of it, copied from the four which have been modelled but the model needs to be checked first before I go ahead copying corrupt geometry. Can't wait to get a camera moving through it when its done, plus once the train has been modelled the whole shot will be much more dynamic.


As the Futurists never built anything nor even sketch how their architectural visions would appear from the inside I had to draw on other sources: namely Richard Rogers Llyods Building London , The Museo d'Orsay Paris and the Trucco's Fiat Lingotto Factory. The results are a nostalgic take on modernism which I feel tie in with the external appearance,form and scale of the external train station itself.


This current, basic model was created in Maya built up from 2D CAD drawings I designed based on the above references and the current external elevations...