Dynamics Part 15: Goal Weights

This is my outcome from the dynamic goal weights tutorial. 

Lighting & Rendering Part 2: Mental Ray Part 9 (Ambient Occlusion)

This is the outcome from the Ambient Occlusion tutorial.

Dynamics Part 14: Animated Instances

This is my outcome from the dynamic animated instances tutorial.

Adaptation B: Character Design Development 06 (3/4 view)

After the tutorial, the next step was to draw my character in a pose to further understand her shape in 3D and in order to do that, I had to take perspective into consideration.

Adaptation B: Character Design Development 05

I've used a previous drawing as my starting point and went on to develop it 

Adaptation B: Character Design Development 04

I continued working on the character and kept trying on the shapes and proportions.

For this set of drawings, I tried the base shapes and pushed it further, as per second image. It was an unsuccessful attempt as it's been pushed too far. I then continued working on back to the basic shape and I like how the turnout. I will work from that image to further improve it. These sketches has helped me get towards my character.

Pipeline 2: Shader FX in Maya 2015 (Shader FX Part 3: Lighting)

Here are the outcomes from the Shader FX Lighting tutorial.

Light Linking

Light Linking Shader Network

Fresnel Lighting_01

Fresnel Lighting_02

Environment Lighting

Pipeline 2: Shader FX in Maya 2015 (Shader FX Part 2- Displacement)

Here are the outcomes from the Shader FX Displacement tutorial.

Lava

Lava Shader Network

Dino

Dino Shader Network

Toadstool

Toadstool Shader Network

Pipeline 2: Shader FX in Maya 2015 (Shader FX Part 1- Intro to Shader FX Networks)

Here's the outcome from the Shader FX tutorial.

Dungeon Door Shader Network

Adaptation B: Character Design Development 03 (Understanding The Character's Shape/Volume)

As I struggle to understand how my character would be like and after talking to Alan about it, he showed how to draw from the very basics. I started of with the head and eventually working the body shape. I now find it easier to draw my character in a 3/4 view as it helps me understand the volume of it. I will continue working on the shapes, always keeping in mind the basics Disney/Mesopotamian Alphabet shapes. 

Adaptation B: Character Design Development 02 (Shape Exploration)

From my initial design, I tried exploring with different shapes of the body. Both the base and historical shape of the character has been taken into consideration. Design B has an existing masculinity which I am not after as this character is kind, motherly and would be more feminine. Hence, The original design along with Design A and C still sticks to those characteristics.

Adaptation B: Character Design Development 01

I looked further into the description of how Ishtar is dressed and I kept the accessories as simple as possible, using only existing designs and patterns.

As for the crown, I used the temple architecture. The Eight pointed necklace uses one of the Mesopotamian alphabets and as for the bracelets, it uses the patterns from the temple.

Dynamics Part 13: Instance Rotations

This is my outcome from the dynamic instance rotations tutorial.

Adaptation B: Character Design Development

When designing the character, I had to take into consideration the character's personality which in this case she is kind, motherly and caring. My previous design was a bit rigid so I added curves and hunchback to the character but still maintaining the base shape of using the Mesopotamian alphabets.

@Alan Adaptation B: Designing the Character

After the tutorial, I looked again at my character design. Since my project will be a combination of Graphic Design /2D/3D character, I went back to construct it with basic shapes- 4 heads high and used the Mesopotamian alphabets for the head/body and as for the hair, I adapted the shape of the tool that is used at that time period.

Lighting & Rendering Part 2: Mental Ray Part 8 (Displacement Maps)

These are the outcomes from the Displacement Map tutorial.

From Mudbox

Mental Ray Approximation Editor created 

Displacement Map

Vector Displacement Map

Final Rendered Image

Toadstool Vector Displacement Map

Displacement Map Bounding Box (1.5 by 1.5 by 1.5)

Displacement Map Bounding Box (3 by 3 by 3) 

Final Rendered Image of Toadstool

Adaptation B: Design Inspirations

To develop my design of my character, I looked further into Mesopotamian art for inspiration. Also, I looked into the characters from the animated film Book of Life(2014).  The character, La Muerte, was highly stylized and I really liked how her face has been designed. Carlos Sanchez also has some designs engraved on his face and I believe that I could also adapt this for my own character design of Ishtar as Mesopotamian art has a lot of scriptures I could use.

Adaptation B: Design Developments

With the information I have gathered from my research and looking at several influences including the animated movie Book of Life, I came up with different face shapes of Ishtar.

Also, from the description of the accessories/costumes that she has on her, I came up with the following designs.

Adaptation Film Programme: Sita Sings The Blues (2008)

Figure 1: Movie Poster  [Still Image]

Sita Sings the Blues (2008) was an independent project written, directed, produced and animated by American cartoonist, Nina Paley. It took about 5 years to produce this film as it was Paley’s first feature film. This animated film was a success as it clinched several prestigious awards which includes Best Animated Feature at Ottawa International Animation Festival and Jury’s Special Prize at Festival MONSTRA. This film was released for free to download in early March 2009.

Sita Sings the Blues (2008) was divided into having two plots where one was an adaptation of Sanskrit epic poem called the Ramayana. The prince (Rama) was exiled from the kingdom by his father for 14 years. Sita, a devoted wife of Rama, was determined to accompany her husband into the woods despite knowing the dangers that lies ahead. The second plot was based upon Paley’s life, a contemporary parallel to the film. Her husband was offered a 6 months contract in India of which he accepted. The latter plot was the American version of the story of Rama and Sita.

Three friends who discusses about the story of Prince Rama and Sita narrated the film and as it was a tale passed on from one generation to the next, the details the narrators knew about it varied. Additionally, since the setting was in India, the film has followed Bollywood’s style of directing with songs and intermission included in them. In terms of art direction, this film uses multiple styles, which captures the audience attention at every scene. Specks of humor from the narrators contribute to the joy in watching this film. Overall, I do recommend this film as culture, romance and stylistic piece of work make up this film.

List of Illustration: 

Figure 1 Sita Sings The Blues (2008) [Poster] at http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81eAhRldMCL._SL1500_.jpg (Accessed on 17 February 2015)

Autodesk Mudbox Lesson 4: Blendshapes

For today's mudbox lesson, we were taught to do basic head sculpting in Mudbox and paint some texture to the model. After that, we brought it into Maya and did the blendshapes.

Mudbox Model

Blendshapes in Maya

Dynamics Part 12: Instancing Objects

This is my outcome from the dynamic instancing objects tutorial.

Adaptation B: Ishtar Exploration Design Development

From the Mesopotamian characters to the tools they used to build the goddess, I have adapted the shapes and inspire me to come up with silhouettes of the my character's body shape and face.

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Silhouettes of Ishtar

Additionally, after the screening of Sita Sings The Blues, I have looked into those kind of character drawings; simple yet it adapts the body shape from the Indian culture. So that's what I've done. I looked into the Mesopotamian culture to give me a start to the designs.

Simple facial features