Not that I’ve had any time to do anything. I’m running around like a headless chicken trying to get everything sorted for the big day. First Christmas with my Girlfriend and we’re doing it ourselves! Gulp!! I’ve made Christmas dinner before though, so it’s not a problem. I used to cook for a living at one point. What a change from cooking to Special Effects – I dunno which is more stressful though…

Well, I hope you all have a great Christmas and get all that you desire. I’m off to defrost the Turkey!

Don’t say I never give you anything. Here’s one of the pictures I took to put in the workbook, it’s not much but it appeals to me a great deal.

I’ve finally gotten round to sorting a Welsh website out for myself too www.creadigol.co.uk I got it sorted last month, but forgot to mention it in my previous entries. Anyhow, it’ll be an outlet for me to post things that I create so that I can share them with other like minded people from Wales. Who knows, it may lead to some work for me! I just need to find the time to get a new design sorted out for it.

I’ve got an idea in my head and I’ve put a sketch of it in the Workbook, but getting it done is another matter. Why does life seem so hectic at the moment? I’m in Bolton, in my room, trying to get things done, but all I can do is mess about with WordPress themes and getting distracted by other mundane things. This is not productivity!!

Anyhow, 3D work from last week scrapped due to shininess of objects. I’m also struggling to use Maya so I’m going to do it in Blender 3D. I’ve read through the assignment brief and it doesn’t mention that we have to use any particular software. I know that Maya is industry standard, but I’m just more comfortable with Blender. Don’t ask me why… Blender is harder to learn than Maya too.

I’m having a lot of problems trying to decide which is the best way of going about doing this project now. I’m such a worrier when it comes to things like this. I know I can do the work, it’s just finding inspiration to do it and render it out. Talking of rendering, I’ve made the decision that I’m going to render everything 3 times; Wireframe, solid and textured. That way I can blend them together in Adobe Premiere to show progression. This is the easiest way I can think of to make a showreel type thing.

Workbook wise it’s still getting filled in with random stuff that help me get motivated and inspired. I absolutely love doing the 3D once I get started and I love working on the workbook, but essays, reports and journals… pah, writing isn’t my thing anymore. It takes up too much of my precious time. Never mind, it’ll soon be Christmas. Talking of which, today is the 17th so I’m off home to Wales for the holidays. I might get inspired in the mountains and decide to do something completely different again!

So, the project is coming along slowly. I’ve made a start on doing the 3D elements but I’m not happy with them. They just look a bit plasticy to me. I dunno, maybe I’ll start again or mess about with some of the settings on the textures to see if I can get the shininess down. I’m not enjoying this process at all. I just can’t find the time to do everything that I need to be doing.

I’m saying this every week now, but hopefully next week the outlook will be a brighter one and I’ll have a good update for you. Must stay positive.

I don’t know what’s wrong with me to be honest. I just can’t get motivated to start on it. I know it’s bad, but I’ll get there. Hopefully these few weeks we’re getting off over Christmas will be the push I need to get it done. I’ve still got the rendering thing in the back of my head worrying me. Will there be enough time to get it all done?

Ahhh, of course there is, stop worrying and get on with it Jones!!

I’m not looking forward to doing all the rendering for this project at all. I know that rendering takes up a lot of time, and if I’m to do the showreel the way I want to do it, it means rendering the same scene more than once.

Oh well, hopefully by next week there’ll be something to actually write about.

I really enjoy getting assignments where you have the freedom to produce and create your own footage. It’s a way of gaining new skills and enhancing ones you already have.

Although it’s a video effects assignment, going out and filming the footage your going to use is a great experience even though it’s a long process for relatively short clips. Yesterday for instance, we spent 6 hours getting 30 seconds worth of film.

It’s all worth it though. The finished product will look great. Now it’s time to lock myself away and get on with editing footage together.

I’ve started a workbook. I guess it’s a way for me to brainstorm ideas and to figure out from where I want to take my influences from. Industrial machinery, household goods, mechanical tools and machinery and TV and Films.

Workbooks are a great way of keeping your ideas together but, I was thinking about how to show this workbook off online. I decided to create an online scrapbook that I can share on my Website. I’ll post the link at another time.

The online workbook will also help with networking as I can link videos to it. And, I have a YouTube and Vimeo channel setup ready to show off some of my work.

I’ve decided, if there is time, that I’m going to create a new theme for this website so that I can put what I want exactly where I want it. I’d like to add links to all these networking sites somewhere that’s easy to access. It’ll also show off my Web Design skills.

That’s it for now. More next week.

Wasting no time, I decided to get down to work with getting the project off the ground and have been busy researching and drawing some rough ideas of what I want the finished model to look like. As I said, I want it to be as detailed as possible, so I’m looking at technical drawings of industrial machinery to see if there is anything I can use to enhance the look of my model.

The thinking behind this is that it will make for a more detailed and more authentic looking model. If I can produce my own interpretation of a real piece of machinery then it will make for a better model overall.

I’ve been putting my sketches and initial research in to a workbook so that the progress of the project is in a linear order. I will at some point scan these in to the computer and post them on here, or on Flickr for all to see.

Trying to decide on the overall size of the model is an issue for me at the moment. I’m thinking that I want it to be big enough so that I can put all these fine details on to it, but I don’t want to make it so big that I have to reduce it’s size. Hopefully, by next week I’ll have sorted this little glitch out.

I’ve decided on creating a Star Wars inspired vehicle that will be modelled in a 3D Design package, probably Maya.

The plan is to create a detailed model that is as realistic as possible. The small details will play a huge part of the project. I’m hoping that I can get enough details in to the model as possible. Down to the rivets that hold it all together.

I’m going to texture the model to make it look weathered an battered as if it has seen a lot of hostile environments.

If there’s time left at the end of the modelling and texturing I’m hoping to composite the model in to a “real world” scene.

I’ll update this blog on the progress of the project, hopefully on a weekly basis. This will help me with keeping a journal too.