Daily Digest Articles

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6158/persuasive_games_free_speech_is_.php

http://kronikle.kidrobot.com/pencil-tip-micro-sculptures-by-dalton-ghetti/

http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=5870&utm_medium=editors_desk&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=highlights&utm_term=tron&utm_content=main_imagelink&utm_campaign=20100923&referer=newsletter

http://kotaku.com/5655107/

http://lifehacker.com/5654870/

Flowing

Okay…its been a while.  Just sayin’.  I have been working on a lot of stuff for clients so I haven’t been able to really post anything here, but I do have this lovely video of a RealFlow test I did.  It is stylized water filling up a sphere and it is the first pass.  Yes it looks like gelatin, but it works so test successful!

realflowtest

In other news, I have started going through my Photorealism with Mental Ray course work.  If you would like to take the course, I would recommend heading over to CG Society.org and checking out their workshops.  It is an excellent price for everything that you learn.  I will be posting those updates but I won’t  be saying how I did anything unless it is different from the course.  It wouldn’t be fair to the instructor’s hard work.

Creative Outlook

We have all, at one time or another, been faced with a complete lack of motivation.  I am not talking about just not wanting to do your work.  Here is a scenario:

You sit down at your computer to do freelance work or just a project of your own and you feel like this is the day.  You are going to rule the world and it is going to be awesome and then we others realize how awesome your work is they will revel in your awesomeness.  This project is just going to put you back on track.  You are going to learn new things.  You are going to have to learn to light…and….render properly…..hmmm….that model is really complicated.  HEY!  If those other awesome people online can do it I can do it!  ….HOW THE HELL DID THEY DO THAT!?  You begin fiddling online looking up helpful useful inspirational stuff and a friend IMs you or you IM them and eventually…. you dwindle ….and then it is evening.  You have spent most of your day on Twitter or Facebook and IM and now it is the time of day you shouldn’t be working because you have to “clear your head” before you go to bed so you can get a good night sleep and do it again tomorrow……

/cough

Something is missing.  I was busy all day right?  In a sense.

I am really bad about productive procrastination.  I rather organize files on my computer or clean out my email then find out I have wasted my day, instead of being productive on something that needs to be done.  This is what has happened to my portfolio amongst other things.  I will say though that I also work a full-time job and often forget that it counts as being productive and why I tend to be tired.  I may be a possible work-a-holic, but I digress and think that would be another topic.

What this comes down to is coming up with ways to really motivate myself on a professional and creative level.  For some, a quick jog around the park can do that but what motivates me is being surrounded by those that LOVE what they do.  They exhibit passion that you don’t find everyday and they do what they do because they LOVE it.  Pretty simple…unless you aren’t in a very creative environment, but that is what the internet is for…right?

I am hoping to start postings that are inspirational or doodles or quick sculpts I have done about 5 times a week.  In order for this to work I have to be non-bias on what I submit and completely take in my shortcomings and learn from them.  This can even include if I just decided to learn something new and then blogging about it.

This is a major push on my part and hopefully the motivation can be passed forward.

Here is a prime example of inspiration and a good chunk of the reason I am taking more action.

http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1012259/Train_(or_How_I_Dumped_Electricity_and_Learned_to_Love_Design)

Just watching this has renewed my sense of excitement for all that stuff I learned in college and have been fighting for time to do again.  I think it is time, and do enjoy the lecture.  It is highly informative and fascinating even if you are not a game designer.  It is game design to a whole new level.

This weekend.

So the heads are what I have been working on this weekend.  I am actually submitting them as extra work for a job application.  Wish me luck!

This final set of images are some of the things I worked on for the Lighting and Rendering course I took back in May/June.  I highly recommend the course if you get the chance to take it. 😀