The Asylum of The East...

What can I say? Finally there is finally a version of Ivan out! I know it's taken some time (and countless hours of tinkering), but I have finally created the little guy. Many of you will (of course) notice the influence from the Tim Burton characters. I've thought of doing at least one character in this style, but this is simply because there are so many people doing this, that it's become really absurd to do another standardized model. So, this is really done for kicks.

The current model was created with the box modeling technique in Maya 2008 and converted to Sub-D. I'll update with the poly count later, but currently the model is rigged and the normals are corrected within the skeleton. IK handles are in place for the legs and reverse foot controls are next on the list.

To-Do List

1. Add controls for feet, hips upper body and knees.
2. Model head separate and add head rig.
3. Combine head to body rig.
4. Texture model.
5. Add hair to character and eyebrows.

Keep visiting back often for updates to Ivan and the animation.

Killing time...

Well, I created some more 3D stuff and been kind of bored and withdrawn recently. I'm just trying to find some inspiration to get some things going. So far it's been wondering about creating liquids in 3D space to make some of my renders more realistic. Course, when everything except the liquid looks real, it's kind of frustrating. :) So, I'm not sure what else to do. The options have pretty much been sitting on the couch and watching tv, working on the computer or sleeping. Not sure, but it just seems that nothing is interesting anymore.

Dallas is good from what I've seen of it. Course with the way money is tight all over, there is really a limit on what we're able to do. Eh... I wish I could write something a little more upbeat, but maybe the next few months with provide that. Who knows?

I've entered a couple competitions out there and I'll see what happens with those too. One is for the Mountain Dew Bottle Design and the other is for some liquor (not sure if I'm going to do that one yet.)

I've also posted some pics of the updated render though and if you'd like to give some crits they would be welcome. The image below is the recent render...



That's about it for now. The new job rocks and doing the same old stuff other than that.

Until next time...

A new career path

Well, we spent a good amount of time looking for a good job and like everyone, we have experienced a number of setbacks. What do you do? We did the head hunters thing and then from there we tried direct hire situations. Nothing was coming up and better still, money was getting as short as our tempers. As the old saying goes, "Money isn't everything" it really makes you sit and look at the people in your life that you have and let's you see what's the most important priorities. I'm really happy to say that I have two amazing daughters and a little boy who mean the world to me. Most of all, I have someone that I love very much and although things are bumpy from time to time; it's being able to know that with each rough spot we learn more about the other and can grow from it. Are we perfect? Hell no! I believe that we're perfect for each other though, but like anything in life nothing is for certain.

I recall what my grandmother used to say... "You're the luckiest SOB that I know. You can fall in a pile of crap and come up smelling like a rose just about every time." You know, I thought that she was just saying it, but the older I get the more I understand that I do have a good amount of luck on my side and I have to really embrace that. Case and point, just as Jeanette and I thought we would be out of money all together, we end up getting a phone call the very next day. The call was from RJ Byrd recruiting agency informing me that I would be getting a call from HR Smart in Richardson, TX. HR Smart heard the situation and agreed to take me on as a web developer! The most amazing part is that the people that I work with are amazing! Not to mention that the salary is more than I've ever made too! The client list as well are top name companies that led me to be a little intimidated at first, but really it's a great feeling to work on some of the big company sites. I haven't as of yet, but I can see that it's going to be very VERY soon.

So what does the future hold? Who the hell knows! I have a great life and I'm willing to take all the pot holes that come with it (that's why they make filler right, LOL?) Just need to take it one day at a time and as the late great George Carlin once said "There is no such thing as living in the 'present', you live in the immediate future and the immediate past!"

I finally found an old picture from about 6 years ago of my old 1967 Camaro. I have a few that are in a scrap book, but this was definitely one of my most prized cars ever. You can see a closer look of the car with my daughter in the drivers seat on my other pages though. I thought I would share since I know a few of you enjoy the muscle car scene. :)

Effects Corner

For those interested in learning about VFX have a look at http://effectscorner.blogspot.com/ for some great information from one of the great VFX artists Scott Squires. I'll add more here later, but please feel free to jump over and take a look at some of his work and podcasts on such techniques as rotoscoping.