VEF2 - Project 1 and 2

I've had a few issues this month- first with my original maya file for project 1 corrupting then with houdini and project 2 refusing to work properly for much of the week

However, I was able to bounce back and get my renders out and my fire flowing!

Project 1

Setting a Cello Aflame! 

And my project 2 - 

A slight take on Ghost Rider

All in all i enjoy Visual effects - but I'm not that keen on Houdini. (At least not right now!) 

Art Test Attempt 1 - Close but not Quite -

I almost made it, but I just fell behind due to misinterpretation on my part as well as a very hectic schedule this month! I'm not too upset about it however: as they say, Rome wasn't built in a day.

However I have come a long way in terms of my modeling ability alone just from attempting this test. I'm thrilled I can watch my own progress like this, it makes me extremely excited about just how far I can go and what I can do. Practice, practice, practice!

As for the test, It was modeling a woman wearing a shawl in zBrush and retopoing it out in maya.

This is a close up shot of the model in high resolution in Zbrush. The folds for the shawl where enough to make me want to slam my head against the keyboard, but I learned how to take the geometry and essentially fold it over each other in order to give it that feeling of gravity and weight. It's still far, far from perfect, but I achieved a pretty decent idea of it. 

Annnd a quick front render of the model and the shawl - (note: the arm on the left is eventually going to be hidden under the shawl as if it was falling naturally at her side.) As far as a first time test I suppose I could have done worse, but I could also do a lot better. I'm excited to restart this project and log it's events next month!

A quick Side Shot

And a quick shot of the Retopoing process within Maya2015. Slow and arduous work, but also mildly therapeutic in a way. 

Overall I'm not super proud of myself, seeing as I have to give the test another go next month. However I learned a lot of valuable time saving skills and refined my style even more. Id call this month a super intensive practice session, and as far as practice goes this paid off handsomely! 

STE Group Project: Marble Machine

For the STE projects, we could either choose from creating a Marble Machine simulation or creating a basketball through a hoop simulation. The group I joined in choose to make a rigid body simulation with Houdini. We each created 2-3 objects in maya, and layed them out together in Houdini.

For the fist section of the machine we started the little marble out on top of a small and simple podium.

Using the pin constraint and attaching an RDB object node to the marble, we used the location of the pin to cause the marble to swing forward as if it was being pushed by something. All of these nodes can be found up in the toolbar under the rigid bodies tab.

For the second part of the machine, the marble rolls down the first slide, which we assigned a static node to in order to keep the marble from rolling straight through it.

After the marble ran down the first slide, it goes into a cylinder that has also been assigned to be a static object to allow the marble to interact with it realistically. So, it ran around the cylinder in smaller and smaller circles until it went down the middle of the cylinder.

Once the little marble goes down the center of the cylinder cone, it slides down the second slide like it did the first. Like the first slide, the second is also a static object in order for the slide to work realistically with the marble.

After making its way down the slide, the marble hits a simple paddle (also with a static node attached to it)  and the paddle and hits the top of the paddle propelling it forward and downwards. 

Above is The paddle on its way down to the next object we have layer out in the scene- a teeter-totter with another marble on the other end of it. (the teeter totter being a static object while the new marge is an RBD object in order for its motion to work.)

The last image if of the marble being flipped off of the totter and into the final prop- a basket for it to gently rest in for the end!

To conclude, a lot of obstacles caused this project to last a bit longer then we originally projected: including a lot of bounding box issues to overcome as well as the static geometry not allowing the marble to roll down it correctly. Troubleshooting and some very loud screeching at the computer allowed eventual victory! It was a great way to learn a bit more about the way the rigid body systems work in Houdini. It's a bit different then maya, so it was different learning about the ways to do the same thing in maya through Houdini tools. 

The members of this team included 

Kaycee Kendrick (  http://kayceekendrick.blogspot.com  )

Drew Kedra ( http://drewkedra.blogspot.com ) 

Emily Childrey (current blog)

CAN2 - Project 2 - SoundClip Progress!

For my final project in CAN2 this month, I have chosen a quote by Tim Curry for my sassy bugsy character to voice.

So far this is the latest play blast I have. By trying to  follow the rules of anticipation and of overlapping action, I am trying to create a believable voice-sync for my character for this final project. I've learned a lot this month in a super small amount of time- and being able to utilize what I now know is exciting, and fun to boot!

Various Work - October 2014

Some various digital work of mine lately,  It's been a bit busy so I haven't been able to doodle much aside from thumbnail sketching for CAN2 - Which is good practice for storyboarding!

Some fan art thrown into here, featuring Jinx from LoL and Madame Leota from the Haunted Mansion.

DRAGONS NOW. A speed sculpt I did about 3 weeks ago and a doodle of Spyro, I loved those games! Still do!

As of now I'm currently in CAN2 and STE at Fullsail University: doing moderately well considering how tired I am! It's long hours and hard work, but it's fun and engaging.

Can 2 - Various Works

This month my classes consist of CAN2, as well as STE (Software Technology). I'm enjoying myself in both classes, even when it gets hard. The month has been dotted with 7am trips to Wawa for coffee, and my classmates taking naps in various awkward places: the product of some intense 5AM labs. However it's been fun so far, and I wouldn't change the experience in any way if I was given the chance.

I have some preproduction and final results i'd love to share on here, such as 

All of these are from our first project in CAN2 - The pantomime. Using only movement and the principles of animation to create a small story and a simple character. Super fun, and i've been learning a lot! (Even if it's through me just making a lot of mistakes.) 

Visual Effects - Final Renders

I've chosen to share the Final render, Cool light and Warm light renders of my final project for Visual Development. I enjoyed this month very much, and Learned a lot about Mia Material passes, caustics, and overall lighting in mayas hyper shade. It was a very interesting month, and I learned quite a bit. 

Continuing Zbrush Shenanigans

I've been working on more brush shenanigans-  this time trying to find a good personal workflow for hair! zspheres and curve tubes help a LOT with this!

I hope to get more practice in during the weekends, and during down time after class this month! 

CAN1- Final Walkcycle animation

My final for CAN1 this month- Bugsy the bugs walk cycle and turn around. It was very different to animate this guy, but I learned a huge amount about the graph editor, and counter animating. 

VEF1 Final Project: Soft Bodies

The last project in VEF1 this August was a soft-bodies simulation. For mine, I created cubes of jello falling, and bouncing/jiggling with moderately realistic jello/soft-body physics.

Rendered in MAYA2014 - Models and Simulation by Emily Childrey - Music by Jessie Rose. 

CAN1- Final Project and Image Uploads

Emily Childrey - CAN1 - August 2014


Project one - Eggy Walk Cycle:

Both of these play blasts were part of my final turn in for CAN1, project 1. A basic walk cycle and an attempted turn-around. 

CAN1 - Poses Preproduction

CAN1 - PreProduction Drawings

For CAN1- we had to use pre-production style storyboarding to create thumbnail sketches and final boards to create ideas for our strong poses assignment.

This assignment was good for working on our quick sketch, storyboard, and posing skills as well as making sure you have a good plan before animating anything in your scene.

VEF1 - Project 1: Rigid Bodies Overveiw and Finalized render

Project: Rigid and Passive Bodies in Maya2014

For this project in VEF1, August 2014, we had to use Mayas Rigid Bodies system to create a working Rube Goldberg machine inside of the project. We also themed it, and rendered it out. The tools for the project we used included constraints such as Pin, Nail, hinge, and springs. The fields I used most were gravity, and uniform. I did some extra research on the hinge constraints and the gravity field in order to make my animation look more realistic.