I Just Wanted to Post an Image Thread

[Pendraia]

Thanks for the info...I've seen courses at some schools for blender out here. Most likely because in Victoria where I am the Education dept includes it as part of their image for computers that get used in schools along with Gimp.

I wouldn't be surprised if they are moonlighting. Glad to hear that they provided sufficient tutorials. How long does the course run for? If I could find one locally for ZBrush I would jump at the chance to do a course with an actual tutor. They'd get sick of my questions fairly quickly I imagine...lol

 

[Ken1171]

I'm guilty of just hitting the like button instead of saying something, either I'm busy or on the phone (and I HATE typing on the phone).

I'm somewhat guilty of this as well. Mostly I will hit the like button most of the time when I really like an image, but I don't comment unless I have something very specific to say. That doesn't mean the specific has to be negative, if something really grabs me, I try to comment on that as well.

Typing on a phone is a chore, I know. I find it hard enough to type on my 10" tablet. But when it comes to feedback, I feel like I have evolved light years thanks to the last 12 years of community feedback. If nobody said anything, I would probably still be doing the same mistakes.

The class is at Santa Monica College (they have an Entertainment Design track), and the program is Maya. That's about the only program -- apart from AutoCAD -- that I've been able to find that I can take actual classes in. Mainly because people actually get hired on the grounds of being conversant with it. I get a strong impression that many of the instructors are industry people who are effectively moonlighting.

Depending on the area, 3DSMAX and Maya tend to be the industry standards. Until now, all the 3D modeling jobs I've got used either one or the other. However, Autodesk started to undermine 3DSMAX in favor of Maya, by "forgetting" to add significant new features since 2009. Instead, all the cool stuff goes to Maya. There were even rumors at CG Society about Autodesk terminating 3DSMAX after years of neglect, but I don't think they would do that. At least I hope not. For example, MAX 2016's main new feature was a chamfering tool that actually worked. Until then, the tool would destroy your model, so it's actually a bug fix disguised as a new feature. As if not enough, Autodesk hides actual new features in a subscription program, which is a legacy from Adobe. So buying the program is not enough - you still have to pay for a subscription.

Personally, I use 3DSMAX because of its straight forward workflow and quick learning curve. On the other hand, I have started with Maya when it was still owned by Alias WaveFront, and I think it's the most powerful tool in the market - nothing compares, but at the cost of a steep learning curve. Maya's workflow and interface are definitely not for everyone, but it unleashes a power like no other program I know of. 3DSMAX used to be Autodesk's flagship product from the very beginning, but things changed after they acquired Maya from Alias. After much of complains, 3DSMAX 2017 was the first "decent" release since 2009, where apparently all the energy seems to be going to Maya. So much that Autodesk has unified their 3D applications (including MAX) to look like Maya.

If you plan on getting a job in the 3D industry, those are the programs to learn. Generally, MAX is used in gaming and architectural visualization, and Maya in TV and movie productions. In Hollywood, California, the Gnomon art school is known for being one of the best in professional 3D training, where Maya and zBrush are their main tools. All of their teachers are veterans from the 3D industry, and they take you to a tour in Hollywood studios in the last year, with possible chance of getting you hired on graduation.

 

[JOdel]

The class runs for a full semester. One evening a week. over something like 15-16 weeks.

Actually there are a lot of animation studios out on the west side, which means the track fulfills a need. Plus, there are a load of people taking the classes who want to be game designers.

Gnomon Art school. Will have to investigate that. Probably I either can't afford it, or can't get to it. But worth checking.

 

[Gadget Girl]

From the timing, I suspect that this constitutes our midterm. Unless the midterm is an actual test.

Well your car looks great. And I would hope it would be the midterm. It seems to me far more important to see if you can actually use Maya, then if you remember which key is Translate, Rotate, etc. Of course if you can use it, you've probably memorized that, because just about any modeling program is way to slow to use if you don't learn the keyboard shortcuts.

 

[JOdel]

I'm really shaky on the key commands. And it doesn't help when you keep accidentally hitting the wrong ones. And there are a *lot* of wrong ones.

I got it turned in last night. And did not cover myself with glory. The instructor wanted renderings done in mental ray, which no longer comes with the program, so I don't have it at home. The classroom computers have been retrofitted with it. So I get there early and start trying to render the car, and bedamed if, in mental ray, my chrome is suddenly *glowing*. And it's a really bad glow, like someone took a spray can of white paint and squirted anywhere the chrome was used. SO I spent *all session* in hypershade trying to adjust the material properties of the chrome to make the glow go away. And never managed it. And, it turns out that the rendering of the vector version -- which I was able to do at home -- was missing a setting which would have corrected the way too dark .jpgs. Only he didn't tell us about that until last night. If I had been able to get the chrome in the smooth version sorted, I'd have done it over. But I never got the chance.

This was as good as I was able to get it. Feh.


I did manage to make a reasonably decent composite by dropping my earlier smooth render on top of this one and setting the layer mode to darken. But that wasn't until I got them home.

 

[Ken1171]

I wonder why MentalRay when Autodesk has replaced it with Iray, at least with 3DSMAX, not sure about Maya.

 

[phdubrov]

Maya comes with Arnold now.

 

[JOdel]

Maya appears to have replaced MentalRay with Arnold. But much of the mystery seems to be made clearer when one reflects that most of the instructor's materials were done with and for Maya 2016 rather than the 2017 which we have been using in class. Rather a lot of things have been renamed or moved to different menus. And evidently the available render engines have shifted.

Actually, my student version at home doesn't come with Arnold either. Just Maya Software (which doesn't recognize smoothing), Maya Hardware, Maya Hardware 2.0 (which I used for my previous renders) and Maya Vector. Maya Software also makes the chrome glow. I should have taken that as a warning.

If I'd known then, what I know now, I'd have gone in and rebuilt the chrome using a Blinn base, rather than the Phong which is where I think the problem lies. But since there isn't a global search and replace for materials (or, not that I can see) and the chrome is rather often applied only to specific faces of an object, it would have required a lot more time to go in and change everything that needed changing, than I had when it came down to the wire.

If I thought that I'd ever have any use for the model, I'd go in and do it now. But I'm not sure there is really a point.

 

[Hornet3d]

Maya appears to have replaced MentalRay with Arnold. But much of the mystery seems to be made clearer when one reflects that most of the instructor's materials were done with and for Maya 2016 rather than the 2017 which we have been using in class. Rather a lot of things have been renamed or moved to different menus. And evidently the available render engines have shifted.

Actually, my student version at home doesn't come with Arnold either. Just Maya Software (which doesn't recognize smoothing), Maya Hardware, Maya Hardware 2.0 (which I used for my previous renders) and Maya Vector. Maya Software also makes the chrome glow. I should have taken that as a warning.

If I'd known then, what I know now, I'd have gone in and rebuilt the chrome using a Blinn base, rather than the Phong which is where I think the problem lies. But since there isn't a global search and replace for materials (or, not that I can see) and the chrome is rather often applied only to specific faces of an object, it would have required a lot more time to go in and change everything that needed changing, than I had when it came down to the wire.

If I thought that I'd ever have any use for the model, I'd go in and do it now. But I'm not sure there is really a point.

You seem to have had a really stressful time over this which is a real shame, but then you seemed to have learnt a great deal from it and already know what you would do differently if you had to do it again. I think the best we can ever do is learn from our mistakes whether it be our mistake or one life has thrown in our path.

 

[Pendraia]

Sounds so frustrating Jodel...you can see how much work you have put into it. Either way you can see what a lot you've learned by the car you've created. Shaders can be very frustrating at times...

 

[Stezza]

Great work... I wish I was half as good ... awesome

Class work. Am taking a 3D modeling class this semester. Assignment 1 was to build a computer mouse. Assignment 2 was to build a car.
View attachment 25129
View attachment 25130
View attachment 25131

 

[Pendraia]

That's how I feel Stezza...

 

[JOdel]

Well, I did take this afternoon off from another project and rebuilt the chrome. Using a Blinn. It doesn't glow. I've no idea how it would look in MentalRay (or Arnold), but it doesn't glow in Maya Software, which the one based on a Phong did. I think I'll take the bus out to the campus and see whether I can get into the computer lab, and redo my renders. I can put them in the Teacher's Drop Box from there. I don't know whether he'll accept it, since it was supposed to be turned in yesterday. But I can try. Assuming that the computer lab is open. I think I'll check on the website before slogging out there and losing half a day in transit.

It did indeed take 2-3 hours to shift over all the objects and faces from the old chrome to the new version.

I do think it looks very nice in smooth mode. In unsmoothed mode it's a fairly messy mesh, with various vertexes poking out from inside the car body, or various items half buried inside the shell. But I am getting more comfortable with using the tools. And getting better at finding them.

 

[quietrob]

I hope you included an explanation for the delay. Technically it WAS due yesterday but this isn't a job with a deadline and money on the line. It's about knowing if you have learned. Your class is once a week s it's not like your behind in class. You should be able to get a some slack with a little slap on the wrist for being late. You completed the project and it can be discussed in the next class would be my point of view.

 

[raven]

Looks to me like a massive amount of bloom on the chrome highlights rather than it glowing as such, as the rear wheel doesn't seem to exhibit it as much as there isn't much of a highlight on it. Nice model for a second assignment too!

 

[JOdel]

Yeah, I figured that was what "bloom" meant, but there was no slider for bloom in the properties editor, so I couldn't dial it down.

And it turns out that the computer lab is probably not open, so I won't be able to re-render it until after spring break. The instructor knows very well what the issue is. But, given that the render was such a botch I may get graded down for it. The render was part of the assignment after all. The vector render wasn't botched, precisely, but it wasn't done acto the instructions we were given on Wednesday, so that one won't get submitted in the proper form until after the break, either.

*Le sigh*

 

[Gadget Girl]

I'm really shaky on the key commands. And it doesn't help when you keep accidentally hitting the wrong ones. And there are a *lot* of wrong ones.

Yes, there are a lot of commands. I always found that when I was learning Maya, I'd hit something and take myself out of the animation tools and suddenly be effecting the base geometry of the model, which I didn't want to do. It's one of the strengths and weaknesses of the program. You can do just about everything 3D in it, so if you were working as part of a studio pipeline, you don't have to worry about stuff being lost and having to be fixed as you move models from program to program as they are built, textures, animated, rendered, etc. But it also means you sometimes end up in parts of the program you don't want to be in.

Sorry that your final render didn't turn out how you wanted it. That's really tough if you have to work on the final version in the computer lab since you can't get the version with the right render engine. Especially since it shows that you wanted to go back and make it right, and continue to learn the correct way to do it. It was still amazingly well done.

 

[Pendraia]

Sorry to hear that Jodel...

 

[JOdel]

Yes, well. It won't be the end of the world if I get a 'B' in the class. Or even a 'C'. But it's annoying when you know you put in a good deal of work and got a perfectly good (even if not perfect) model out of it. And then you can't get it to render acceptably.

I did turn in what I ended up with, as well as the Maya Hardware 2.0 renders, so the instructor did at least get versions where he can see what I *thought* I was doing. Later I took both versions and layered them with layer modes and got something that I rather liked. But there was no way to do that at school and turn it in. Nor would it have been what was specified as what was to be turned in.

Ah, well. Time to take a reality check. Reality seems to be organized by Murphy.

 

[Hornet3d]

So it has been a busy week, I now have a process that lets me build a .pdf and supports lot of the tools I am looking for and I have started the first chapter of a story book. I have started the chapter based on the suggestions here so that there is a page of text to accompany each image. The concept seems to work so I have started to go back and redo some of the early renders as I was not using Vue when I started. If I ever get to complete this I like the idea of turning it into a flip-book but now I am trying to run before I have even learnt to crawl.

Here is one, early in the story when Turlough's adventure begins after accidentally gate crashing a 'happening' the woods as night begins to fall. It is actually the second contact but more of that later.