Mental Ray cont.

So we continued learning the Mental Ray engine and tools today. Quite a lot of fun but also very tricky.

Our lecturer gave us a few scene to light and the rest, putting a few bumps and challenges in our way as is to be expected. Just gonna post up the renders. Most of them aren't good but hey, documenting the process of learning and in a way secretly contributan to society :D

Hope ya like em, and don't be afraid to comment or anything, i'm getting lonely talking to myself here.

Mental Ray

Hey there

Today we started learning the Mental Ray rendering engine. Suffice to say it's a bloody awesome tool, easily capable of making things look great if you know what you're doing.

Sadly I don't really know what i'm doing just yet, but here are a few renders and stuff of me fiddling around with the lighting settings (note: our teacher did the models I only did the lighting) 

We basically studied about Global illumination and using the Final gather to do all that fancy stuff such as learning to use the

Initial FG point density tool the Rays per FG point tool the Interpolate over Num. FG points tool. 

It is rather confusing to see how everything works but in the end it boils down to practice practice practice. and im going to focus all my energy into studying in the upcoming months so expect blog spam :D 

ORIGINAL CHARACTER DO NOT STEAL

You know, i've noticed a rather startling trend.

On websites such as the ever-popular Deviantart there seems to be ample amounts of false praise and ass-kissing to such degrees that I begin to worry about the oral-hygiene of most of the users there.

(Note: I am in no way trying to insinuate I am better than artists on deviantart, there are many talented artists there much better than I am now *insert apology for the impending rant*)

One thing stands out, above the awful anthromorphic drawings and  the plagiarized characters to hell and back (I'm looking at you  X The hedgehog #1235125135)  it's the remarkable lack of ability to take criticism  or critique I should say.  If someone critiques your work and finds something out of place it seems to be common knowledge that they are immediately worse than Satan and want to kill your firstborn, it also seems customary that you immediately have to disregard what they are trying to tell you by using the forbidden words:

"It's my style."

Now there are many, many, MANY things about this statement that make me want to stab my groin with a broken beer bottle. First and foremost being that 9 times out of 10 people completely disregard the advice given to them and continue to make the same BAD mistakes and cover it up under pretense of style. I myself have done this in the past, as much as it pains me to realize and only fairly recently have I figured out something quite simple.

Animation / cartoons = Exaggerated normality

Therefore if one is to get better at cartoons they should first learn the basics of realism;aldskdnga;sdkngsadg

Sorry about that I lost interest in what I was saying.

In short

Know the rules so you can break them properly and also remember if you want critique and someone finds many things out with your precious drawing. They are not trying to harm you, only help.

In retrospect after reading what I just wrote I really do need to learn to follow my own advice, maybe then i'd improve faster. ... That's for another time, now to make some coffee

Happy 1st of May Day

Regards

Francis

Take it or leave it

Good Evening

Thanks for taking the time to view my blog. I'm afraid I don't have much to show tonight. Going back to college on Tuesday and hopefully after this quarter is finished i'll be able to work on my own projects independently.

I find myself wondering tonight, wondering why is it that I just want to become better that I have such high expectations of myself and never seem get to where I need to go while other people are happy to waste away doing nothing. Do people not have a dream to follow or is it that the dream is perhaps too hard to follow?

You know what it is i'm talking about, never seeming to enjoy the work of your hands (be art-wise or not), but coming back knowing that you're getting closer and closer to achieving what it is you want to achieve, maybe you don't know what it is you're trying to achieve, maybe you know exactly what you want to do. You lose faith countless times and feel like giving up all together but still you come back. Time and time and time again, you come back.

If I may talk about myself. I don't know if I ever will reach what I need to reach. I just want to become a better artist. Circumstances limit my ability to draw and oft i'm left dead tired and not willing to do anything after working a dead-end job and studying all day, but I sincerely hope I can continue to chase my dream even if I'm moving at a crawl, in the end I would rather have tried my best than to not have tried anything at all.

Don't give up. The road is dark and the journey long, but eventually we all find what we seek.

To those out there that are going to read this, I hope you never give up. I hope you follow your dream to wherever it may take you and be damn well proud you did when at last you turn around and look at all you've conquered to be where you are.

One day perhaps i'll be able to join you.

Never give up.

Regards

Francis

Cold Comfort

Hello.

Sorry for the lack of updates, haven't had anything to show, practicing pencil works and the rest though, will scan a few one day if anyone cares to see. But yeah. just wanted to show I haven't abandoned the blog just been awfully busy.

Regards

Francis

A Challenger approaches!

Good evening, decided to practice more, and try to model a NES controller. I thought it was fitting that I would try model something that had an effect on my childhood and I can look back fondly upon heartwarming memories while modelling. 

Just kidding. Never seen an NES nor do I care about it, just decided to model it because it looked fun. Here's the reference image i'm using and the first render of 5 minutes in. 

-Francis

Practice practice practice

Ho there! On my first day of holiday, decided to put to test what i've learnt, it's pretty crappy in my opinion but it's decent practice with straight poly modelling, the scene itself is just over 800 polygons, so a little low on the polycount and the materials are really just dug up from google, but hey, was decent practice.

Hope you enjoy.

-Francis