Objectivist CG-artists

[Alfa]

I'm posting this thread mainly because i'm interested in learning about any objectivist CG-artists, perhaps to get inspiration or share ideas. My own work is not really mature yet but i'll give you a little brief history and submit my latest work in progress.

It was maybe a year ago that I picked up this little hobby of mine again. Many years ago I spent alot of time struggling to learn different 3D-applications but aside from more technical knowledge I never got anywhere with that. It wasnt until a friend of mine introduced me to ZBrush that I actually started to learn more "artistic" skills(with alot of help at first), and that's also how I have developed a real passion for creating art. Because of this, and although I still have a hell of a lot to learn, I have decided that within 5 years(hopefully sooner, but trying to be realistic) i'm going to be good enough to work professionally with this.

During this last year I have been trying to learn everything I can and just picking up anything that seems interesting. It's almost amazing how much time I have managed to spend without producing much at all worth keeping, but I guess that's sort of the process. There's one thing though, that's really caught my interest - the human form, and the head especially. The face is fascinating in that it's so difficult and it won't let you get away with any mistakes, it can also communicate so much. That's also why I seem to want to return to this challenge...

In the picture i'm posting you can see my third and latest attempt. This is still at a very unfinished stage, but to better understand what I have put into it I can show you about where I started not so long ago(it's a little embarassing so try not to laugh too hard ):

http://i19.tinypic.com/7wjolmf.jpg

...

Anyway... If you are doing any CG-art(any level at all, you know it's allright after my pictures ), please post it here. I'm hoping that there are many talented objectivist CG-artists lurking around here.

[athena glaukopis]

she has some very nice, feminine collar bones

[BrassDragon]

That's pretty damn impressive for a computer-generated image. I can't imagine how much effort it would take to perfect the skills needed to make something like this... but I'm glad there are people out there like you who are doing it!

[Alfa]

she has some very nice, feminine collar bones

Hehe, I hope the collar bones are not her most feminine features(very little work has been put down in that area, btw).

That's pretty damn impressive for a computer-generated image. I can't imagine how much effort it would take to perfect the skills needed to make something like this... but I'm glad there are people out there like you who are doing it!

Thanks.

I must say however, that this is truly nothing compared to what can be done. Have a look at some of the stuff over att CGTalk or ZBrushcentral:

http://forums.cgsociety.org/forumdisplay.p...mp;daysprune=-1

http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/featured2col.php

If you browse through the galleries there you can find some truly amazing stuff.

[Thales]

Alfa,

Not too bad. I've worked with an application called the Blender, freely available. With it you can do a vast array of different things, from 2D images, to 3D polygon models, to animated 3D models, to movies. In fact, it was used in one of the Spiderman movies. Here is a small gallery of some things that can be done: http://blenderartists.org/cms/index.php?id=32 If you check out the forum you will find hundreds of art works in various stages of completion, by everyone from amateur to pro.

Concerning your work, two things I think need to be worked on: the mouth and the area around the mouth, and since it's a woman, the eyes should probably be softer looking. Looking at the ZBrush gallery, this http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=041569 example might help you with the mouth and eyes.

Btw, those works at ZBrush are highly impressive! I'll have to save that link!

[Alfa]

I'd like to bump this old thread, to which I havent really paid enough attention.

Lately i've been working on an assingment for a school application. If I get accepted, which is highly unlikely, there will be two years of studying computer graphics - pure fun and it could lead to a well paid job. However, I doubt that I will get accepted - this time - so my only concern with this application is to get it done and to feel that I have done my best. So anyway... this leads me to this picture. The assingment is to model and render a coffee cup, and you are allowed to add additional objects that would belong to the scene. So it's pretty simple but leaves a lot of room to do what you want.

Anyway, here's my work so far. It's unfinished, a bit sloppy(for example the objects are not placed properly on the ground plane), and so on... but all that's left is really fixing small detail and adding one other object(which I havent decided upon yet).

http://i25.tinypic.com/15gz515.jpg

The reason i'm posting this pic is because I would like to ask you what you think, and not just if it's good or bad(altough you are certainly welcome to state your opinions). I'm interested in what you see and think, without having to overanalyze anything. I'll tell you later why i'm asking this.

[Zip]

That is really impressive. I'm so (visually) inartistic that I can barely draw breath.

The art as presented makes me think of class and opulence.

Is the handle of the Mug supposed to match the curve of the glass?

[Alfa]

Thanks!

I like that you mentioned class and opulence, because it's purely unintentional from my part - altough it does fit very well with my intent. So it's fun, and i'm glad you mentioned it.

The handle should somewhat follow the curve of the glass. I havent checked how closely matched they are though.

[flyboy2160]

Are you able to render this as smoothly surfaced instead of tessalated with just a touch of a button?

[universehead]

Hey Alfa. I'm glad you posted this topic. Just to give you a bit of encouragement, I do Visual FX and 3D animation for a living and, though it is was a little difficult to start out (learning the 3d and 2d applications), it only got easier and more exciting as I went along. I went to a 10 month school in Canada for these things and got a job at a game company after 9 months of the course. There is a LOT of money to be made in this industry, whether it's in Movies, TV, or video games. It was completely worth every Canadian dollar to go to that school. I made that tuition back in 6 months.

My point is, if you really want to work in the industry it won't take you even close to 5 years to get there. I would suggest finding a short intensive training program. It's worth it.

Here are just some schools of that nature. Sorry if you've already seen these.

http://www.lostboys-learning.com

http://www.gnomonschool.com

http://www.fullsail.com

[Alfa]

Thanks!

Just a few days ago I was acutally thinking about the possibilities to apply for something like that, but I havent yet looked any further into it so those links are really helpfull.

Now I don't really know what it would actually take to go to one of these schools and I don't know if it's even realistic for me. I can see a couple of possible obstacles.

One is that I live in sweden. Don't get me wrong tough, if I have the chance i'm out of here in a heartbeat. However, financing something like this could perhaps be difficult, so that may become a problem.

A second problem could be that during my high school years(or the equivalent here) I was very sick, so in case the school asks for any such papers it could be a problem. This is the reason why I believe that the school i'm applying for now will turn me down(atleast until I convince them that i'm intelligent, well read, driven and that I never give up ). After a quick look at the links though, it doesnt really seem to matter(guess it could matter with financing issues though).

I guess what i'm saying is that if I can make it work, then... hell, that would be like a dream come true. So, i'm going to look furhter into it.

[tps_fan]

I'm certainly gonna try to keep tabs on this thread because we, Objectivist musicians, need album art!

[universehead]

Alfa, These schools are not like a university where they need your high school trascripts. (trust me I would've never gotten in to it if that was the case) I completely understand the financial struggles for something like this. I came in to the school with only a wee bit of knowledge in Photoshop and a student loan. And in 10 months I learned Maya, AfterEffects, Realflow (fluid simulations), just to name a few. So with your little knowledge of Blender, you'd be a fine student. I know I keep saying it but it is worth all the work and pain. It really is a dream come true. Here's a link to my website. I haven't updated it for quite a while so there's no new stuff in it. It's just a demo I did in the 9 month period I was at the school. This silly little Demo reel got me a job at Midway Games.

As Miss Rand says:

"Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplacable spark. In the hopeless swamps of the not quite, the not yet, and the not at all, do not let the hero in your soul perish and leave only frustration for the life you deserved, but never have been able to reach. The world you desire can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours." (thanks for the quote Sophia.)

www.universehead.com

And TPS FAN, anything for a fellow Objectivist...at a reasonable, competitive price of course.

[Alfa]

Universehead, how difficult is it to get accepted by these schools? Is the competition very tough so that you need a really awesome portfolio to get in? What kind of stuff did you have in your portfolio? Were you good at drawing?

Since it's a bit too late to apply for it now though, I suppose i'll have enough time to work on my portfolio. Right now I have very little finished stuff because I have spent most of my time learning all the different aspects, more than working on particular projects. So, i'm thinking if it's possible to apply for the spring term?

Regarding financing there is a slim possibility that it can be done through our state student loans. This is how all college and university studies are usually financed in this country, so I don't think that the real banks have any sort of loans to give students(and for a regular loan they would of course need some security, which I don't have). To get these loans the school needs to be approved, and I think usually this means that the schools need to be colleges or universities. However, there might be exceptions for art-related schools. So if it's possible, which I think it could be, it's just a matter of how much the school costs(including living of course).

Anyway, i'm trying not to get my hopes up too high, but it could actually be possible.

Oh, and regarding Objectivist album art, i'd love to give it a shot sometime when I have a little free time over. That would really be an amazingly fun and creative challenge(not sure I could do it justice though, but it would be fun).

[Alfa]

As Miss Rand says:

"Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplacable spark. In the hopeless swamps of the not quite, the not yet, and the not at all, do not let the hero in your soul perish and leave only frustration for the life you deserved, but never have been able to reach. The world you desire can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours." (thanks for the quote Sophia.)

That quote, by the way, is as close to saying a prayer that I will ever get. Those words have been with me for a long time, and I will make sure to never forget them.

[Alfa]

So, now i'm nearly finished with the coffee cup assignment. I might still adjust the levels a tad bit in Photoshop, but it's probably best just to leave it. The assignment did however require a second picture from a different angle, so I have made a different rendering too. Anyway, here they are:

http://i26.tinypic.com/op7itk.jpg

http://i28.tinypic.com/j11zls.jpg

Now let me tell you why I asked that question earlier(and I want you to know that any feedback from you - good or bad - is highly valued).

To say that i've spent a lot of time and effort on this would be a huge understatement. If I told you how much you would probably laugh and tell me to pursue another carreer. Knowing how it's done it can probably be duplicated in a day or two(if rendertime is taken into consideration). When I started however, I had no clear idea of what it was going to be like. First I sort of made a mug that I liked, then tried to match it with a sugarbowl and other objects. When not trying different design ideas I instead spent a lot of time learning how the render enginge works. So what has taken so much time and effort is the whole creative process rather than just the technical aspectof it.

One reason I ask you what you see in the picture is just that I have spent so much time looking at it, and a million different versions of it, that my judgement is seriously lacking.

Another aspect of this is what I have not shown you. Obiously when you work at something like this stuff that you don't like will get thrown away. Myself, I took a week off from work to only focus on this. I spent that time working religiously. For example I did a lot fo cloth simulations, just to get a nice backdrop. Then I spent a lot of time learning about lighting. Also I made a couple of more objects to add to the scene. The result was very different from what I have shown you here. Technically, a hell of a lot more advanced. So, after this week I sat there exhausted thinking that I should compare what I have done to previous work. I looked through many pictures and then just stopped at this one - the one I showed you earlier. The other pictures I made are more advanced, more perfect and show off more skill. But there's just one thing... I like this one better.

I don't know if this is to be regarded as unbelieveably stupid. The whole idea should be to just apply for this school. But you see, the picture is - on the other hand - not just about a friggin coffee cup. It's more of a small dedication to my thoughts on someone(who, by the way, is very classy - that's why I enjoyed Zip's comment). The other pictures were just meaningless exercises in skill, and it does nothing for me personally. As you probably understand though, just throwing away a shitload of work was not an easy decision to make. Especially when I know my own judgement might be a bit clouded.

At the end though, I think I have done the right thing.

[Alfa]

I think I must have made the right decision going with those two pictures because, well... I just got admitted to the school I was applying for. And, that is despite the fact that i'm unqualified due to my lack of formal education. So I suppose i've done good. I would have done great if I got the girl also.

[softwareNerd]

I think I must have made the right decision going with those two pictures because, well... I just got admitted to the school I was applying for.

Congrats!

[Matus1976]

I think I must have made the right decision going with those two pictures because, well... I just got admitted to the school I was applying for. And, that is despite the fact that i'm unqualified due to my lack of formal education. So I suppose i've done good. I would have done great if I got the girl also.

Congratulations Alfa. I also consider myself a 3D artist and have a lot of my work posted in the "My 3D Cities" thread.

http://forum.ObjectivismOnline.com/index.p...=10907&st=0

I do mostly non-organic modeling so far but I am trying to get into charachter modeling and animation now.

[tps_fan]

Congratulations, Alfa! This sounds like an encouraging development.

[Alfa]

Thanks guys! It still feels a bit unreal, like I wont believe it until the papers are actually signed... but well, it does look like it was worth all that work. However it is a little bit scary to realize, knowing how much effort it has taken, that it's now that the real hard work starts.

Matus: I really like your stuff, especially that skyscraper. Also, being quite unfamiliar with it, I have found that I like many art-deco styled things.