Autodesk certified

Earlier this month, Autodesk held their Open Doors events throughout the globe. During this event, they offer completely free software exams, which if you pass receive an Autodesk Certification.

This was a great opportunity to measure my technical knowledge and get a better picture of where I am at right now with 3D Studio Max.

I`ve decided to take 3 exams, 3DSMax Associate's, Models to Motion Professional and Professional.

These three exams tested me in every way possible regarding this software. From basic user interface questions, to the purpose and function of all the different animation Solvers, right down to the Composite software with which 3DSMax ships.

Here are the scores and the Certificates I've managed to get:

Associate

Models to Motion - Professional

Professional

These certificates are held in high regard by recruiters and it shows commitment to your work. Now, I have a document proving my technical skills, it's not just my word. Although, what's most important in this industry is the portfolio, having such certificates never hurts.

This was also a good occasion to network with other people and I did make a few acquaintances.

Color theory tests

In order to further my understanding on how color affects the perception of my environmental work, I started studying the book "The Color Start" by Johannes Itten.

The book goes into the fundamental basics and characteristics of each color and its affect on the viewer.
For example, some colors stir different emotions and feelings like anxiety, relaxation or danger.

Green color conjures feelings of balance, relaxation, harmony. On the opposite side, the colors of amber (yellow, orange, red) stimulate nervousness, unsettled and mixed emotions.

To put these theories to the test, I`ve decided to change the color palette of some of my earlier work.
The still images I have created in the past had specific color palettes to convey a desired mood.

I`ve decided to fundamentally alter their colors to achieve all sorts of different atmospheres and moods.

Haunted House - original image:

The original image has a cool, horror kind of feel to it. I`ve aimed for a picture with a sense of mystery and danger.

Changed:

I've tried bringing warm colors of red, yellow and orangy colors to create a calmer atmosphere.	I play around mostly with the shades of green. Green brings a sense of relaxation to the image.
This one is similar to the first version, but I wanted to experiment on how contrast affects the final outcome.	Shades of violet stimulates the viewer, conjuring imagination and bringing a sense of beauty to the image.

Old House - original image:

Colors used here are warm and soft. The aim was to create a pleasant
environment, presenting a sunny day in a rustic house.

Changed:

It is really fantastic how you can change the entire mood of an image by just adjusting the color palette. The version where I have mainly used red tones create a completely different sensation to the one where mostly bright blues play part.

Telegraph - Original image:

Tried to simulate an interior scene with a fairly sunny day outside.
There is a balance between light grey colors and orangy, brown shades
of the furniture. I have added a hint of deep red to the pen to break up
the dull orange colors a bit and add further contrast.

Changed:

Again, totally different perceptions of the image because of the color change.

I will definitely benefit from this new knowledge and will play closer attention to the colors right from the planning stage.
I will alter my workflow and implement a thorough color research to define a specific color palette before starting to delve into the technical stages. I feel this will grant me a better understanding on what I am actually creating and will bring me more confidence and control over my work.

Freelance work - Photoshop

I`ve received an offer that I could take on due to my Generalist skills.

The client provided photographs of various arm watches. These watches were shot at a certain angle and the request was to recreate them from a perfect front view.
At first it did not seem like a huge task, but the quality needed was very high, so I couldn`t just use the Transformation tools to re-orient the watches as the interior had to be perfectly aligned as well.

Here are some the reference provided (I had to re-create a total of 6 watches, I`m going to show 3 of these):

Watch nr. 1:

Watch nr. 2:

Watch nr. 3:

The final pictures I need to create need to be completely front facing and as the viewer shifts between the different version of a model, everything has to be consistent. If I scroll through the reference images sent, I can see that for example the interior part keep moving around. This is because it is not aligned properly.

The colors of the handles and numerous other elements change as well, so a basic color adjustment would not do the job.

I had to completely redraw the interior of the watches, piece by piece in order to have full control over them.
I took one version, rebuild it and then change its colors afterwards to re-create the grey and yellow version of it.

The sent images did not have an alpha, so the background color was blended together with the watch. I had to separate the background and make it transparent. The images will be used on a website and have to let its design visible around the watch.

This is very good Photoshop practice for me. I`ve bumped into quite a lot of issues and had to rethink my workflow. For my environmental work, I use Photoshop a lot of texture painting and post-production work. Becoming more familiar and fluent with the software makes texturing all the more easier and allow me to focus on applying the theories of color, tone, shade rather than being limited technically.

The workflow was pretty much the same with all of the watches: redrawing the necessary elements with the Pen tool mostly and using the guides to match things up perfectly.

The task proved not being as simple as just making the watches front facing. The client, almost on a pixel level, spotted every little irregularity. If there was a slight reflection somewhere, I had to go in and remove it, or if the texture had a bit of different shading in a certain area, that had to be removed as well.
It was a lot of retouching as well, and I was debating whether to rebuild the objects in 3DSMax to get a perfect, clean control over everything.
In the end, that did not seem like the most efficient way to go about the project, so I remained with Photoshop and retouched every little element.
It is a good learning process as you become aware of what to usually look out for when working for a client. There usually are no shortcuts, you have to do things properly and very professionally.

I had one week to finish the job and just like with the Jewelry one , I kept updating the client frequently and asking for feedback so I know I am on the right track and they feel that their project is in "good hands".

I've met the deadline, client was happy and I've already managed to build some credibility for further possible assignments.

Here are some of the final images:

Watch nr.1 - finished:

Watch nr. 2 - finished:

Watch nr. 3 - finished:

Perspective drawing

I have acquired the book Basic Perspective Drawing - A Visual Approach by John Montague. This was to further my studies in understanding perspective and how it is perceived by the viewer. This will help me better understand the rules of space and give me a better idea on what kind of camera angles I should use in my work.

Camera angles can make all the difference when it comes to visualizing. A very boring, straight on camera angle can kill off even the most beautiful scene. One must thrive to use very interesting, artistic angles to keep the viewer engaged and feel as if they are watching something new, not copied. Camera angles can give that hint of uniqueness to your work.

Finishing the asset

I`ve continued using the same technique on all of the different elements. Clay Tubes + Blob + Flatten and a bit of hPolish here and there. The aim was to create detail in a logical manner. I`ve tried to imagine the story of this piece of architecture.. how it might have started aging, what might have been the causes etc. For example: if a brick has a huge chipped off part on its lower side then you should continue or add some destruction in the upper area, as a continuation to the brick below it. Anything that caused the upper bricks destruction surely did not stop where the brick ends and continues on the one below it.

I had to be aware of the maximum polygon limit which still provides decent frame-rates. That threshold for my computer is around 20 million. To really get all those cracks in there, I`ve calculated that one asset should not go over 1 million as I have 20 elements. Exception can be those surfaces which are bigger, thus more important for the final image.

After the high poly model was done, I created a low-poly version with the Decimation Master plugin, found within ZBrush. It's a very powerful tool as you can convert your high poly mesh to a low poly one on the fly. It also allows you to set a specific triangle count, so you don't have to tweak it a lot after the fact.

Next step was to unwrap the low poly model.
I`ve loaded the low poly version into Headus UV Layout. Whenever I have a bit more complex model to unwrap, I use Headus for it, because the workflow of it is very fast. The relaxing algorithms it uses are just way ahead of that of 3DSMax or Maya. Unwrapping actually took no more than 10 minutes, whereas it easily would have taken up to an hour in Max.

I`ve took the low-poly mesh into 3DSMax to fix the topology up a bit.
I removed several edges that had no effect on the silhouette of the object whatsoever. The surface details will be dealt with by the normal and the color maps, so there is really no need for geometry there, except for some bigger cracks.
I`ve ajusted the smoothign groups again, because the unwrapping process for some reason smooths out the entire mesh as a whole, which gives very bad results. I`m sure it is the settings in Headus which is doing this, I will have to look into it.

Texturing was done with the help of XNormal, Photoshop and nDO2. I`ve baked the information from the high poly onto the low one in XNormal and then took those maps inside Photoshop. In Photoshop I`ve loaded up nDO 2 and generated several maps (e.g. cavity map) to further bring the small color details to life.

For the final render I`ve used a somewhat low angle camera shot to try and give the impression that this is a big object. Looking up on something gives that feeling of it's quite big... or at least not small :) .

Here is the final image: