Oculus Rift + Medium
Picked up the Oculus Rift CV1 to get into some VR sculpting and maybe pick up some contracts developing. Day two with the sculpting app and I'm slowly getting used to it. Really fun but also very frustrating to those who are used to a more feature rich experience like zbrush.
3d printing for full color (Stimpy)
When I prep a model for 3d printing I usually have to wait for the web app at shapeways checks it for problems then fix any "thin wall" errors that are found. Sometimes I have to re upload and fix things several times in a row taking at least 20 minutes to upload and run the check each time. Sometimes I'll fix one problem and accidentally cause another.
3d printing can be fairly complex.
Note: Full color 3d printing has far more requirements than most other materials as it uses a fragile material that ink can be applied to the outside of.
Art Podcast/Vlog
Thinking about starting a podcast/art vlog...basic concept is I sculpt something from a comic book, movie, video game, or film. I record the process and create a video of the sculpting and painting, and I play an interview over top of the video that I previously recorded with someone close to whatever project the toy sculpt is based on. I've spent a lot of years hanging at comic cons and film conventions chatting with actors and creators about their stuff partially to network and find freelance opportunities but also because I'm a big fan of anyone that takes the time to create something new to add to the world and I like hearing people talk about it. Maybe we'll talk bout the toy and what if anything it'll be used for, maybe about the development of the project it's based on, any upcoming releases of expansions for a game or chapters of a book or issues of a comic or a new set a comedian is working on or album a band is about to release etc etc...a lot of room to move around in I think
This isn't the first time I've posted about this but I'm getting a lot closer to being able to start something.
Qubicle modeling software
So I'm trying to work on a project where the models have to look like they're made out of cubes and was doing it manually when I decided to look up if someone had made software or plugins to speed up the process and I found Qubicle, a "Voxel" editor.
Looks promising! This is for a project I might not get but I'm staying positive and if I get it I'll use the heck out of this thing. Exports video and images as well. Pretty neat!
http://www.minddesk.com/index.php
Python Scripting for Maya
I MIIIiiiight create a page on here just to gather cool scripts I find for maya so I can find them later...
So I was running into an issue with a scene where I built the UVs for a whole stack of stuff and placed them in a scene, and then I needed to change the UVs but only for a handful of them but it was a pain to go in and transfer them from one to another over and over so I looked online for a Python script that could do it for me automatically and lo and behold someone had indeed written such a thing.
Just click on the object with the "Correct" UVs, select everything else, then punch that script and blammo! Work done, now go have yourself a sammich.
Huge thanks to nestorprado on tumblr for figuring that out so my lazy butt didn't have to go back to Python 101 to figure it out from scratch.
http://nestorprado.tumblr.com/post/30271496202/multiple-uvs-maya
“import maya.cmds as cm
#grab all the selected objects
selectedObjects = cm.ls(sl=True)
#save first one into variable
#pop first one out of the selected objects list
driver = selectedObjects.pop(0)
#for each object in the selected objects list
for object in selectedObjects:
cm.select([driver,object])
#transfer attributes
cm.transferAttributes(sampleSpace=4,transferUVs=2, transferColors=2 )”
Pixly for Android
I recently started getting requests for pixel art which I'm more than happy to do but as my schedule has been hectic with the new job I was mostly sketching things out in a notebook and then waiting till I was home and awake to crack open photoshop. Since my day job is as an overnight security guard I sometimes have down time where I'm not really doing anything so when I found this app it breathed new life into my old nexus 7 tablet which had been gathering dust for a year.
The fact that this app is free is amazing as it can do anything I use photoshop for pixel art wise albeit with 1 or more steps to achieve the same goal at times. It has ads but only when you save and they're just stationary images not videos. If you donate any amount via the donate button the ads go away. Since I do pixel art meant for print I usually have to go through a few steps to turn my drawings into vector paths in illustrator but Pixly does that for me and a bit more efficiently as I don't have to fiddle with any settings or remove excess pixels or anything like that.
I highly highly highly recommend this app if you own an android device and I really hope they make a PC + Mac versions.
Check it out!
http://pixly.meltinglogic.com/
Image Comics action figures
Ever since I was a kid I was drawn to Todd McFarlane's work. I loved everything he did from Spawn to Spiderman, so when he started developing action figures I of course wanted to emulate him and start sculpting too. I later found out it wasn't just Todd but Greg Capullo's work I was drawn to as well but at that point it didn't matter, I had already taken the inspiration I needed to become an artist/sculptor.
All of that leading up to meeting an Image artist (Kyle Strahm) years later and being asked to develop action figures for his series at Image has been a wild ride.
So far I've just been involved in developing prototypes and rendering them as variant covers for comic books but I hope to start developing them soon with actual packaging and card art. Really looking forward to it.
Looking forward to seeing where this career path I've set out on will lead me next.
Proto Build Bar
Alright so some life updates, I was laid off from my day job a few months ago and started heavily focusing on freelance sculpting. After a particularly rough month I was invited to a going away party for an old classmate of mine and I decided I could use the distraction so I went. While I was at the bar they chose for this event I met one of my classmate's old friends and after casually mentioning that I own a high resolution 3d printer, her date tells me that he helps run a 3d print shop near where I live called "Proto Build Bar", that it's a new business concept combining coffee shop, bar, 3d printing, and electronics, and I should stop by some time and see him.
So after a month of back and forth I ended up relocating my printer to his shop and doing a handful of projects for his boss. If you're in Dayton Ohio some time you really should stop by and check out Proto Build Bar, it's a really fascinating concept and if you like 3d printing even a little bit you'll have fun. There's even an oversized crane game they built there that's roughly 12 feet wide.
Pictured here is one of the projects I'm working on for them, a crackable 3d printed heart shape with a built in seem that you place things inside half way through the 3d print and allow it to finish printing sealing the item inside.
Winston and Ray don't seem impressed...
Buddha Fett
I've been doing periodic work at a 3d printing shop up the road and they have a large format 3d printer that can print up to 18 inches and seeing as it's Star Wars fever out there I decided to hobble together a Star Wars themed statue to print on the big printer.
The shop is called Proto Build Bar here in Dayton and I really hope to work with these guys a lot more in the future. If you're in town come check it out! Beer, booze, soldering stations, 3d printers, zbrush, GIANT CRANE GAME! :)
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Spread Flyer
Some quick creature sculpting for something...
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Joe Batter
Main character in a story I'm working on.
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The Night Watchman
Amnesiac ghostly defender of the night! The Night Watchman is the main character of the comic series by the same name by SoWhat? Press.
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Full color 3d printing
Found this tutorial for prepping 3d models for full color awhile back and wanted to make sure I saved it here. Very good.
http://www.gabrielemaiocco.com/color_sandstone_3d_print_tutorial/
My first tattoo
Since the variant covers I've designed for Spread (not pictured here) have done so well I remembered a bet I made with myself as a child...if I ever get to work as an artist on a national entertainment project (video games, comics) that I'd consider getting a tattoo...well here it is...