CGI | Sci-fi Art

I find there can be a certain beauty in science fiction art.  The greebly bits and the techy lines and glowy lights--sometimes it all conspires together without the artist's implicit consent to create something special.  I don't know where it comes from.

It's good when it happens, though.

UPDATE:




Dan

Been looking around for some material ideas, still.






Dan

Doing some material testing on a set for Plagarus, Part II.  Trying metallic materials.




Selecting materials is hard, considering this paint scheme has to work in two different rooms with different lighting schemes, and two very different characters with a wide variation of skin tones, yet still look cool.

New modelling work I've been doing for the film Nem Gate.

 
Modular corridor sets.  Client specifically asked if the corridor could be kept as modular as possible so that it can be possibly reused or set up differently, depending on the scene's requirements.


Conceptualizing some technical control consoles.  Modelling has gotten quick enough that I can concept out work in complex 3D in much shorter periods of time than it used to require.  Usually is good if you can give the client some choice in the matter.  Whichever isn't chosen, I will store in my own library so I can easily incorporate it into my own work.


Work still very much in progress on the scanning machine.  Notice the lack of supports for the scanner bars and the lack of symmetry on some parts.  Still work to be done.

Items which require interaction with real life people are extremely touchy and need to be done pretty much according to how the original plates were filmed.  This can be one of the most time consuming aspects of the process.

Dan

Scale comparison between the Palatine class SSC Adamant and the Sovereign class from Star Trek.

Sovereign Class model: Paul Trenkler

Palatine class model: Me

I finally reached the point where I can put my own work next to Trenkler's models without embarrassment.  Progress, I guess.

Dan

I guess the ol' project isn't quite as dead as I thought.  I recently received a phone call from an old client of mine, Seth Deming.  During the course of our discussion, he unknowingly (I think) gave me some encouragement to keep going on Plagarus, and I guess I took it to heart.  So, here is some extra work I've done.

Here is the run-down, nitty-gritty:

I was never pleased with the opening of Part 2 as it stood.  This was the main reason I never got around to posting it.  It was dreadful.  The audio quality (something persistently pointed out by the viewers for Part 1) was about as bad as it could be, yes, even worse than Part 1.  The voice acting was rushed and didn't have enough nuance and the scene involving the protagonist and the snake robot repair salesman, Ackla, was just not what I wanted it to be.  In fact, I consistently cringed in horror as I watched it and often skipped it because I couldn't bring myself to endure the spectre of its very existence.  I could never bring myself to the inevitable embarrassment of having to upload such a piece in its current state.

So I've decided to bite the bullet and redesign the set and completely redo the entire opening scene of Part 2.

Here is some progress on Ackla's apartment set, about a day's work so far:




The challenge with designing sets for this particular movie is that the protagonist, Lethgoshis, is almost 8 feet tall, whereas the rest of the characters are about average human height. This presents challenges in designing the sets, as many of the doorways have to be big enough to accommodate the height of Lethgoshis while at the same time make sense stylistically.  Also, camera angles have to be carefully contrived whenever Lethgoshis appears in a shot with another, shorter character.  (I call this challenge of putting two characters of greatly varied height in the same shot "Chewbacca-Yoda Syndrome".)

In this case, this apartment complex services a number of alien races, and so, I imagine that the building designers probably tried to accommodate as many species as they could. I can get away with the ultra tall door here, but elsewhere, it may present a problem.

And here is a refined flip/jump that I'm trying to get a rather ungainly Lethgoshis to accomplish.


I'm completely redoing most of the work I've done so far on Part 2, simply because my skills have improved as well as the tools in Blender have gotten more sophisticated, allowing new techniques to be used. Therefore, Part 2 will hopefully be a great improvement over the original version, as well as slightly longer. I'll be rerecording the dialogue as well, once I get a useful microphone.  This will be the most expensive thing I could do in the movie.

Dan

Tutorial on how I do the panel lines and greeble details in the various works I've done lately.

And the space port crawler on a turntable.



Dan

Work continues.  Got a lot done on the crawler today.  Gotta think up a name for 'er.  She's a rather cute gal, and I'm falling in love.  Perhaps a contest to see who can come up with the best name for the crawler is in order? :D

Still got a lot of work to do on it, though.

PS: Yes, the tracks DO work and are able to be animated correctly.  Thanks to the tutorial by Greg Zaal.  Shout out to Greg for his awesome tute on that front. Linky.

And I got a little done on the space port itself.  Making preparations for the large doorway, complete with huge doors.  Need a great design idea for them.  Trawling the 'web for ideas on that front.  After that, we're onto the inside and finishing up detailing the grounds outside.  Probably going to put up a few defenses, like laser turrets or shield generators or something, along with the obligatory science fiction shipping crates (they probably explode when shot).  We'll see how those turn out.


Request was made to show how I make the lines on the geometry.  I'll try my best to get a tute up next week, as I will have the whole house to myself during that time, depending on how much time I get between the two clients I'll be working for that week.

Have a safe weekend, everyone.

Dan

End of day one.

Dan

Decided to build a spaceport to house all of these spaceships I've been working on.  Poor things never get a chance to sit and refuel.




Dan