MYoB: project 7 lil pilot sculpted

Well I had thought that with a little bit of experience under my belt that sculpting would go quicker and that I would be doing the sculpting and the retopology of the lil pilot as one project.

Yeah… that didn’t happen. The sculpting took me far longer than I anticipated and felt like a whole project in and of itself. Which is ok, I am of course still learning about sculpting, so it does still end up being a whole big thing when I do it.

I am a little bummed that I didn’t get the retopology done by the 12th (which was the exercise deadline), but I think I did pretty good anyhow. I am still going to do the retopology, I just won’t watch that part of Jonathan’s tutorial until I finish mine.

Overall I am pretty happy with the way this little guy is turning out. The hands and boots could use a lot more work, but I think I will tackle that in retopology. Everything else feels good so far. But there is still that whole retopology thing to do and I may decide that I am an idiot for putting all those wrinkles in the clothes.

Anyhow, I have had a lot of fun on this guy and it has been a great learning experience and I have worked through the various stages.

Nope it didn’t get done today….

When I got up this morning, I discussed with hubby the tasks I was going to work on today. I just got off the phone with him a few minutes ago after the following conversation.

hubby: “So did you get BAM #41 all proofed?

me: “Um nope.” (Sorry guys I swear I will get on it asap )

hubby: ”Well are your flower beds all cleaned out and pretty?

me: “Um …. nope.”

hubby: “Did you get Sasha’s nails done?” (Sasha is one of our dogs and her nails are horribly long and desperately need done.)

me: “Nope.”

hubby: “Well at least you got the laundry finished, right?”

me: “Yeah …. nope.”

hubby: “So what have you BEEN doing all morning”

me: “Ummmm….. modeling…”

Seriously I meant to do all those things, but I sat down to have a cup of coffee and get myself all organized. And before I knew it, I had blender open and I was working on my little pilot exercise. The sculpting is going really well and I just wanted to work on it a minute while drinking my coffee.

Fast forward several cups of coffee later, little pilot is coming along quite nicely, chores not so much.

Each time I got up to get a new cup of coffee, I told myself Ok it is time to get busy and then I sat right back down with my coffee and continued to sculpt away.

Now I really really need to go get some things done and be a productive little house wife.

Hmmm…. those gloves just need a little more work, it won’t take a minute I swear…….

MYoB: project 6_Pilot

I am so tickled with myself. Last week Jonathan announced a new modeling exercise (Modeling The Airplane Pilot Character) for us to all work on. So since it was time to start a new project, I decided to play along.

I finished blocking out this little guy and I am so pleased with myself. I am fully aware that this might not seem like a big deal for anyone but me. But up until I took Jonathan’s Master Modeling Workshop, I never did the blocking in stage of modeling. I went full detail from the start and always ended up with really heavy dense models that were difficult to work with. So I have been trying really hard lately to block in first.

And this is my first successful solo attempt at doing so!!!

Whoot me!!!

The best part is that not only do I now have a base model to sculpt on and add further detail, but my blocked in model actually looks like the little pilot dude. Whooooo!!!!

So I am claiming this as MYoB project #6. I will probably claim sculpting and retopo as 7 and 8. Although depending how it goes maybe just as 7. We will see.

Okay then, I’m off to have some sculpting fun.

bye now….

MYoB: project #5… retopology of Flower Fairykin

I realize that technically sculpting and retopology of the same model should be considered all one project, but I am not highly proficient in either technique as of yet, so I broke it into two projects.

The sculpting stage took only a day or so, but the retopology stage took forever!!!. Okay it didn’t really take forever, it just seemed like it. I actually ended up starting over at one point because it just wasn’t working out. Which was irking me to no end.

I finally got the retopo to a stage where I was at least moderately happy. There are still several areas that are not optimal, but that is something to concentrate on more for next time. And if I don’t call it good now, I will be fussing endlessly with this thing til the end of time and I have other projects I want to work on. So I am calling it done. (umm for now )

I do believe that this is only the 2nd or 3rd retopo I have done, so I am happy that I at least finished it.

Next project is going to be me attempting the new modeling exercise that Jonathan announced at Blender Cookie today. He has challenged us to model the little pilot that goes with the little plane training series he released a short while ago.

The deadline for render submissions is Sunday, May 12, which gives me a week to see how well I can pull this off. Best part is that this is the same design that will be used in an upcoming Citizen course on the same subject.

So I get to muddle through and give it my best shot then watch Jonathan show me how I should have done it.

Well off to get started… well right after I change out the laundry.

Book Review. Blender Master Class by Ben Simonds

I was recently contacted by No Starch Press. They asked me to review Ben Simonds new book, Blender Master Class.

Ben Simonds is a well respected member of the Blender community as well as the co-director at Gecko Animation Limited. Since Ben often uses Blender in the animations produced by Gecko Animation Limited as well as for personal projects, he has considerable experience both with Blender and project completion. Knowing that, I was pretty sure that this was going to be a good book filled with interesting tips on his work flow and techniques in Blender.

Whenever I get a new book, Blender or otherwise, I can’t resist the urge to flip through it before settling down to actually read it. Flipping through the pages showed me a number of things to look forward to reading further. A quick glance at the table of contents let me quickly see the well thought out organization of information.

From a formatting standpoint, this book is beautiful. It has a clean layout, nice legible screen shots and the book itself is printed on a nice weight paper, giving the book a nice substantial feel. Having experience in typesetting myself, I was pleased with both the font choices and the layout itself. The font is very legible and easy to read and the layout is clean and organized. Which is very helpful considering the enormous amount of information Ben covers throughout the book.

Which of course leads right into the very important topic of content. The entire book is based on creating and completing three very different and unique projects.

• a mechanical spider
• a bat type creature character
• a jungle temple ruin scene

Using three such different projects allowed Ben to cover a multitude of techniques and tools. And while this book is not intended for a beginner, there is a wealth of information that even a new user would benefit from. The more experienced user will gain the most from seeing how Ben approaches each of the projects and the efficient work flow for successful completion of those same projects.

Many books of this nature lead you step by step through each process. Ben takes a somewhat different approach, in that while he does give some step by step information for difficult or interesting steps, most of the book is a more informal discussion of how he approaches things. I personally enjoyed this approach. I found his writing style to be informative and easy to read. More like hearing a friend tell you how it is done versus sitting in a classroom with a textbook.

So what exactly did Ben cover? After a brief introduction to both Blender and GIMP, Ben starts off in chapter 3 with Preparation. I personally found this chapter to be one of the most informative. Preparation is such a necessary part of any project and Ben’s treatment of this important first step is filled with great tips and useful information.

In chapter 4 the real fun begins as Ben blocks out each of the projects. This step is almost as important as preparation and is a step I often overlook. Blocking out your project can save considerable time down the road. Ben blocks out each of the 3 projects giving a good starting point for further work.

Chapters 5-7 take you through modeling the finer details, sculpting and retopology. In each chapter Ben discusses the tools and techniques needed to take each of the 3 projects closer to completion.

Chapters 8-12 cover UV Unwrapping, Hair and Particle systems, Texture Baking, Texture Painting and Materials. This particular section of the book is seriously packed with information and warrants a very careful reading. The end result combines together to create truly amazing results.

The last 3 chapters cover Lighting, Rendering and Compositing and a Going Further section. Just like the previous section, this section covers a huge amount of useful information and tips. Chapters 8-14 cover not only Cycles but Blender Internal, giving you a good look at their strengths and weaknesses.

Overall I found Blender Master Class to be an excellent book filled with useful work flows, techniques and tips. By covering 3 different project types, Ben ensured that the greatest number of tools and scenarios could be covered, giving the reader as much information and help for their own projects as possible.

Blender Master Class can be purchased at:

Amazon

No Starch Press

Blender Foundation Eshop