The 3D Printer.....some assemble required

So ya during the trip to new york I got to see first hand a 3d printer for personal use. Even though this was the only thing somewhat similar to what I wanted to do, as a 3D modeler I thought this was a very cool idea. So basically these guys in New York created a compact size 3D printer that is kind of pricey right now at around $700 a pop, but expect the price to go down some. You do have to assemble it yourself which is kind of a pain especially when attaching the wires and motor to it. However the end result look really good in my opinion.

link to website will go here


Pics:
Video:

Color Comp

Here is what my Home page will pretty much look like. This is however not the final version I want to do so more to it and add some other parts to it. Also there will be motion in the back ground, smoke and gears turning. I also plan to animate my logo a little. I also have a little more things in the artwork pages and I like to get the video screen and other thing held up by something instead of just floating in the air.

Wireframes

These are my wireframes for my home page and my project page.

Home page:

trying to keep it with very few things on the page other then the demo reel because that is what I want them to see first. I may add my email under my name, also I'm still considering if I will hide the links to they roll over them with the mouse.


Project/art work Page:

This is the art work page where you will view the work, video, and/or sculpture if it has one. The bar on the side will be the thumbnails which when you scroll will be dropped on top/ or take away by a crane. The ones on the bottom will just disappear into the ground, there will also be a lever or crank that when clicked when show info on the piece and links to the video/image/or sculpture.

Finalized Logo, Colors, font

Color:

I couldn't get this images into Kuler so I'll show some images. I basically going for a steam punk look on my site so the colors will be different shades of brown, rust color reds, metal grays, light blacks, and a broze color. The reason I'm going this way is because I like the unique build tech which can have both a mess of tech and nature, like the spider bot below.

Fonts:
The fonts above I'm planning to use for my resume for sure, however I'm not sure if I want to go with a different font family for my site. I like these fonts cause there very solid and just some how seems to go with my 3D models.

Logos:
I have two logos I want to go with the first is my original box with my initals in it. The box is like a building box which is kind of what 3D modeling is building, theres also a modeling style that I use from time to time called box modeling. This is a quick render of what it kind of looks like the B's would be in wire frames.
The next was trying to go with my site which is gears and steampunk like thing with my initals on top, I also was playing on having them move. For a logo on paper it would just be the gears in black outline, with my intials in white.

The Creepy Cool Art of Alex CF

An artist by the name of Alex creates some very cool yet very creepy 3D art. His art deals with horrors and monsters, like vampires, Lycans (werewolf's), experimental creatures, monsters from other dimensions and so on. His art on it's own is great but in most descriptions he gives a back story, I'm not sure if he made them up himself or got it from someone else but those story's behind the piece really make the piece even more compeling. So if you have a curiosity of the wierd and creepy then vist his site and check it out.

A word of warning to all you who visit his site......you may not want to look as these alone.....you may never be seen again.....

The Art of Alex CF

Schematic

Home Page














This is the home page all that will be on here is my name, logo, links to other pages, and my demo reel.

content page














This page is for my work it will have a wide viewing area. The info on each piece will be hidden until an easy noticeable tab is clicked, showing the info about that piece. The bar of the very bottom is where u can select different images of videos. The scrolling bar in between the viewer and nav bar is a scrolling bar used to fast forward through video and when images are on it will scroll to show different angles, wire frames and more on that piece.

Site map

Site Map:

Content

These are the work I have to show as of now:

Death Race Car
date: November 08
Medium: Computer 3D
Process: Images, 3D Model

GroG Model
date: 2006
Medium: Computer 3D
Process: Sketch, Clay Model, 3D Model

BadAxe low poly model
date: October 08
Medium: Computer 3D
Process: Sketch, 3D Model

Broad legged Sword DotHack Weapon
date: February 05
Medium: Computer 3D
Process: Images, Model

I will add more as well as images when I get them.

Finalish concepts

Here is what I have as of now:

Fonts:






This is the font family I've like more then anything else. I still trying to work out a text for the information text. The main text gives the feel of solid mass that seems a little blocky, like hard surface model. The next shows the curviness of a model found in smooth surface models. The last is still a work in progress and I'm looking for some that is a combination of them both.

Colors:


I'm still looking for other colors but one that will appear will be some gray tones, white, or black. I'm looking to add some color, not a very bright color but something to keep the viewers attention on the site.


Two Concepts:
1. Builder: basically it was an Idea to have a character repersent the site and keep things looking consistent. The site it self would have a mechcanic feel with metal, rust, copper, ect. The character I was thinking of was a cartoon bot, which would also go with the site look as well. Te main reason I like this idea was because since I'm learning flash and found some very cool portfolios that have a character throughout the site, it be a cool idea for interactivity and fun. I also thought up a good loading sequence for loading pages were the bot turns a crank and the loading percentage show going up above it, or something alone those lines.

2. Maya layout: This one was baisclly taking the layout of the program I use to create the models as a layout for the site it's self. Buttons that would be use to change to other projects, and if I could get a way to do a turn around in flash with the use of the mouse. The demo reel would appear in a window that repersents the render screen which can be close at any point.

what the program layout looks like:

concepts for my portfolio

Well for one I want to have some very fun interactivity on my site, I saw this portfolio site on Chelsey's blog and I found it fun and cool.

www.sir-patroclo.com
It was very entertaining even just just rolling over the buttons to hear the sound, it seem to be able to create a little music tone rolling over different button with the mouse. It maybe a little to kidding or fun for a 3D modeler but if I were to add my flash or animation at some point it be great to have something like that. Also it never hurts to have something fun even for a model portfolio.

www.cgmesh.com
The thing I like about his site besides it given me an example of a modeler site was that his demo reel was very easy to find on his page. However what I would like to do is I would have my demo reel on the front page or at least the page after the intro page. I like to use a similar screen shot set up as well, very easy to navigate but maybe I would add a way to view many angle of the same piece.

As for the actual look of the site for like colors and the like the only idea I had as of now is similar to those who have realworld looks. Like the site made to look like a desk top. I was thinking of doing something like that but with a Maya program on a computer screen.

concepts:

must have elements for portfolio

Here are some of my must have elements for my portfolio:
-demo reel
-contact info
-resume
-Bio (maybe)
-Individual Screens of work at different angles
-Video segments for each piece
-maybe some how to do stuff later on

Resume Updated

This is a updated version of my resume, a lot of the changes were trying to look for a good design. The logo is just a simple example of what I may want to use as a brand name. The lines that are throughout this is to represent modeling edges. Also I'm a little worried about what this will look like printed so I may change the colors as well.

More about my Work

The Work: GroG
This was a character that was going to be in an animated short film, set in a fantasy world. It was a group project where I worked with 3 others to produce the short. It was design by the team then I had to make a finalize sketch of it and model it for use in the animated short.

Here is the process I went through to get to the 3d modeled character. I first did a finalized sketch just to get a good visual idea of the creature. Also before I did that I had to study some things, since the head was taken to look like an elephant skull I had to look into what they look like from all angles and see how to work that into my character.

Next I did a sculpture of the creature in clay to get a 3d look of the creature, I added protruding spikes from its back to make it more creepy.I added chain cuffs as well to add that it may have been imprisoned once and escaped. However once I got to the actual 3D modeling of it in Maya I decided to change some things. first I got rid of the chain cuffs because they seem to interfere with the bend in the wrist when rigged. I also changed the mass in the middle of the character because it was to top heavy and unrealistic, also put a little more mass in the feet and legs to give it more stability.

Color schemes....possible

The first one I made was just a starting point of the basic most color scheme I could do. Most of my images have no color in them so it's going to be some what close to a gray scale scheme.

This one I made and kind of like cause although its still a lot like gray scale it's has a little bit of blue tone in it.

This has he same blue tone in it but with darker gray scale colors. Gives a more solid look to the whole scheme.

Well after 3 schemes of just grayish scale colors I wanted to add one with some color. Since I had a blue like tone I decided to add a blue color didn't want a vary rich in value blue so it wouldn't over power the other colors.

This is the last scheme and it is basicly the same as the last but I added a black to it for a more darker like scheme. The black maybe need to be a little lighter to make it work out a little more.

Categorization

Well for my sites categories I would have to consider if I'm going to be putting animation as well as modeling on it, however if just for models here is what my categories might be:
-Models-
-High Poly-
-Hard Surfaces-
-Smooth Surfaces-
-Low Poly-
-Hard Surfaces-
-Smooth Surfaces-

If I were to put animation on there and maybe my flash stuff it would be something like this:
-Models-
-High Poly-
-Hard Surfaces-
-Smooth Surfaces-
-Low Poly-
-Hard Surfaces-
-Smooth Surfaces-
-Animation-
-Flash-
-Maya-

Highlighted Work

The work I like to put into my portfolio:

The model of the car from the Movie Death Race, I think it came out best out of most of my work and unlike others look less time. Shows off that I can do quality work in a short period of time.

My GroG model, which is a model I created all the way through; also a good one o show my process. I have the finalized sketch I did, the Clay model I did and the 3D version as well.

My Game Character BadAxe, that way I could show I can do low polygon models as well, and texture a little. I believe I have drawings of this as well.

I would also Like to put some of the weapon models in as well since I don't have a lot of stuff model wise to work with.

If I can I like to put some of the animations I did as well, like my Cat With Ball short, or some stuff from animation 1.

My Work = Audience

Being a student and most of my work was made because it was what was asked of me from instructors I'm not sure if at the place they are now would call out to my target Audience, they seem to be very close to but still need some work. Depending on what I'm looking to do lets say get a job making 3D for games, I redo some of my low rez modeling stuff and work on the texture some. My car model could use a little more detail for realism as well as some texture. Also a good way to show off the way I modeled or the part that went into this is doing what I wrote about in another post using a take-apart. Basically taking the model and pulling certien parts up coser to view and maybe showing the mesh.

Target Audience

To find out all about my target audience I checked out two sites, I hadn't decided what I go for the 3D work for either games or movies so I checked out a site for both.

www.twoanimators.com
This is a very local animation studio founded in early 2001 and they work mostly in Flash they do very little in 3D, however we both would have very similar in the line of audience. They had clients from big companies, ad agencies and government organizations to small businesses and even other animation studios. They animated a 2D video from the song "The Monster is Loose" by Meat Loafs during his tour. The two main guys are Tom and Joe Costantini; they are the co-founders of the studio. They people at the studio seem very fun a laid back but still with some years under there belt. The work is wacky and fun and yet some is more serious and all of it is entertaining.

www.echelon-software.com
A game company in Queens New York are a pretty new company out in the industry. They are currently working with others on there own game called Black Powder|Red Earth. There Clients are more then likely under a NDA so instead I looked at some of the comments posted on a game review site which did a documentary on them. The people of course were mostly gamers, ones who look for great detail and look as close to real as can be.

Various Formats

Here is my list order of the various formats I would need to use for my portfolio.

Personal Website-This is a must for me well for any digital artist. It's a great place for those who get my name from other places to go and view and come back to when every they need to.

DVD- This would be the easiest way for me to take my portfolio around with me and bring to clients or anyone who can help me get a job.

CD's- This would be another option from the DVD and might be a little easier on the wallet.

Email- A little less professional but a quick, easy, and fast way to get out my resume.

Laptop- Good to carry around a lot of work and if I have a good enough laptop I can even bring my software with me to show ones who work in such programs themselves, however it still a little less professional then a DVD or CD.

Mini CD's- It didn't seem as if this kind of media applied to my work but if I could find a way to use it I would just to have the option.

Zip Disks- I don't see much need for these since no ones uses them any more.

self assessment checklist

1. Educational experience in my profession:
Certificate or Associate degree

2. Educational experience in a related or supporting profession:
Painting, Drawing, or other art fundamentals
Video and/or animation
Graphic design
3D modeling or rendering

3. Work experience withing a related or supporting profession:
none at the moment

4. I have software training in:
Photoshop and related imaging software
2D illustration program
Flash or other interation/animation program
Web design software
3D or animation programs
Video software