peymansalehidesigns.co.uk

Is not up and running yet, but im working on it, not so much now but i will be working on it a lot more over summer.
I have recently learned the ease of fireworks and its lack of HTML knowledge, so i will use this to my advantage to get my own site up and running, until then, im going to try and have a start page which will link directly to this blog.

visual essay

everyone else seemed to be posting about it, so i thought il update you too.

as you may already know by looking through my blog, im creating my visual essay in the form of a 3D exhibition.

its coming on ok, ive got the layout and im not going overboard with textures for an easier render, its not about the exhibition itself its also about the content, so a simple looking place will still work and hopefully be as effective.

ive got a lot of content sorted on the practitioners, but i need material for the introduction to me and the conclusion, which im finding a bit difficult because i wanted to show very early drawings from my childhood which had a link to my practitioners, but instead im going to have to work with my more modern work that ive done before uni up until this point in my life.
This isn't bad, i can show a variety of different things (photography, graphics - type and images, 3D, Film etc)

Im currently rendering the movie room of the exhibition which is where i will show existing work of the practitioners through the use of video, ill upload this soon so you can have a sneak peak at my essay and how it may look.

GAZE - FINALLY finished, second edit

the film finished with a second edit. enjoy.

Visual Essay - front entrance to my museum

Jools if you read this let me know what you think

For my visual essay i am creating a 3D museum and having the work as an exhibition, so the camera will look at the images on the walls of my museum and will hopefully include some video as-well, I will record my own voice and use it for commentary on each image, similar to a guide in a museum, it is risky but i feel i can make it work, and in creating this i feel it will add another dimension to the essay and will demonstrate my knowledge of the pathway i want to choose.

The quickest random animation just for fun

i was just practicing moving a character, thought id start with a stick man haha

Spin around of my Thundertank

Cartoon style

I spend half of today making the ThunderTank

concept big man

I was playing around with the following and finished with this to illustrate

-Autodesk Mudbox
I made the guy in mudbox, nothing special, and nowhere near completed, but i built up his body

-NPR (non-photorealistic rendering)
Not fully NPR but i played around with materials to make it look slightly cartoon like

-Animated rendering
Practice with the animation rendering, i know how to go from start to finish with an animated render, saving them as PNG's and importing into premiere as i did with the stop motion.

Here is what i made, just practice obviously

PC troubles - GONE

All my PC's troubles are gone, Im a genius what can i say. This means im back to building my secret lair, which i will be continuing to build for a while.
I have to say im still regretting not designing a better lay out, iv focused a lot more on practicing everything on 3DS, so my lair may not be the best or craziest layout, but Ive tried to make it as real as possible with materials and lighting, and i feel i have a good grip of the software.
I practiced doing an animation with a pool table, just to test what i could do, i wanted all the pool balls to fall onto the table from the sky at different times, but i couldn't get the bounce sharp enough when it hit the table, it just looked like an anti gravity pool table, I would have shown it on here but i haven't saved it, i got annoyed and just deleted everything haha.
Anyway, its easter holiday, and its me, so get ready for either no work on this blog in the coming 2 weeks, or a lot of 3D models, depending on how i treat my holidays, enjoy.

Thunder Tank

Its been a while since i watched thundercats, I used to watch it constantly, as with every other cartoon i watched as a child, always in front of the tv.
Im going to try and create the Thunder Tank in 3D over the holidays, as part of my secret lair, i still have loads to do on the secret lair but as i said, my PC is down so i have to wait a while, but when its back and running, Im going to make the Thunder Tank, in memory of my love for the thundercats, and also the sword of Omens, which was Lion-O's sword, which i had a toy of as a child.

TAC.TV

www.tac.tv

I am in love with this site of animations, they are done in a very unique way where the characters are dolls but the eyes and mouths are put in after wards, it looks hilarious, it is hilarious, and it works so good. They just look funny, and even with little movement, just the facial expressions seen through the eyes and mouths it still amuses me. It is very much about dialogue as there is very little movement, i love it, check out the website please.

I actually cried with laughter at this scene.

SONAR by Renaud Hallee

 I dont know what it is but i really enjoy these very simple looking animations which are very closely created in sync with the music, i just love how it moves according to the sound, i posted something similar in style earlier, and again I find this 1 just as entertaining. enjoy.

Rhythmic cycle w/ abstract animation.
Basic keyframe animation using flash, without scripting.
Official selection :
Annecy International Animation Film Festival
Sommets du cinéma d'animation de Montréal : Quebec-Canada
Festival des Films de la Relève

3D 5 week rotation

Im entering the last week of the 3D module, i still have a lot to do before its fully finished, but as i mentioned in the previous post, I cant work on it for now, so Im going to talk about it.
As a practice module to get us to understand 3DS MAX, I believe I have succeeded in understanding the software and what its possibilites are, and what i can achieve if i progress in the 3D specialism.
As far as learning the software goes, i think i have learnt a lot in the short space of time, I believe i am making some pretty decent models considering my lack of experience and more importantly im enjoying making them.
I do believe i could have been a lot more creative around the designs of what i have made, a lot of other people have gone very crazy and very creative with designs whereas ive designed things that are pretty ordinary, but just look very realistic, I havent expanded my creativity, Ive gone for a more realistic approach, which i feel is a downfall on what i have created.
I have learnt a lot of different aspects of the software though and i feel i have a good aspect of the specialism to make a clear choice for next year.

PC troubles

Ok ive had some PC troubles, viruses to be specific, so i cant do any 3D work until i go back home over easter, which means a week of no work on my own PC, i can still go into uni to do some.
This has annoyed me and angered me but im going to try and be as productive as i can in other areas as i cant do 3D.
- Im going to draw.
- Im going to read up on my visual essay practitioners.
- Im going to blog more.

Disney's open source texture mapping

Iv just read about Disney's new texture mapping system which is available as open source, Ptex is available for everybody to access the in house software.
Ptex the software allows texture mapping without the use of UV's, Ptex applies a separate texture to each face of a subdivision or polygon mesh, so less hassle when it comes to complicated texturing an object, which after my few weeks of experience working in 3D, i would find very useful.
And whats even better about the software is that it is free, as mentioned. why would Disney do this? well heres an extract from the article explaining why.
""Probably one of the biggest questions that people ask us is, 'Why is Disney doing this'?" offers CTO Andy Hendrickson. "Part of the open source strategy is that there is a lot of software that a studio builds and a lot of studios build the same exact software over and over, and certain parts of that software are not part of our secret sauce in making images. Certain parts of it make sense in sharing it with other people so we all don't have to recreate the wheel. Now Ptex is one of those that is unique, novel and groundbreaking. But, ultimately, it would be better to share than hold in-house because it helps all of our folks in the industry so much more and we get such good will than keeping it private. So we decided to do that. And in the process, we looked at other pieces of technology, and thought these would be better to share than to keep in-house also. Right now the only other one available is Pythoscope (a unit test generator for programs written in Python), but we're hoping to have a couple more done in time for SIGGRAPH."
You can check out this Disney software on their website, under open source. http://www.disneyanimation.com/technology/

This image shows the texturing done without the explicit use of UV's, even in close detail you can see, there are no seams, it is a flawless texture map.

guns

ok, i looked at desert eagles when designing this gun, but i just did my own thing and changed it a bit.
I dont know much about guns, i dont play COD or shooting games, so im sorry if its not good.
They are all the same model, just different colours/materials, a brush metal silver one, a gold gun and a matte black and red 1.

Helicopter

This took too long, im not entirely happy with the shape, but its my helicopter, enjoy.

im re showing you dr.tran

just because i love Dr.Tran, its actually my favourite cartoon on youtube, ive watched all the episodes many many times, im addicted.

Also, i really want to make a flash cartoon, i dont think it would be as hard as coding, it would be more about the motion and animation etc, so im going to attempt a flash cartoon, hopefully reaching a selection of cartoons, having a fanbase on youtube, get famous, get rich.

ARK by grzegorz jonkajtys

I enjoyed the lifelike realism in the movement and the hands especially, the environment was also realistic. I do believe the features of the faces were very realistic, but in a non realistic way, the faces do not have that life life look, but have that believability.
When it does close up on the hair or eyebrows, they do look very wirey and thick and not very realistic.
A very creepy film, but when i was watching this i focused more on the realism and believability in the movement and features and camera movement. enjoy.

1925 aka hell by Max Hattler

This was interesting, i watched it till half way before i realised it was looped, which made it even more interesting for me, even if it had looped for 10 minutes i probably would have watched it, but limiting the overall time to its length was good. It is a good representation of what 'hell' could be in the form of a never-ending repetitive world but also with it being 1925, its an observation of the industrial era, the mechanical repetitive movements that just keep going on in this 'hell' like world.

i wrote all that off the top of my head without reading it so if it doesn't make sense or if its wrong, sorry.

1925 aka Hell (by Max Hattler) from Max Hattler on Vimeo.

shooting range.jpg

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mountain top.jpg

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In between ends - Alex Glawion

i came across this video, and I loved it, its creepy but also very beautiful, in an eery way, its strange, and i cant completely understand the story, but i think its about the cycle of life, im not too sure, just enjoy it, i did.

relaxation room in progress

so who is my lair designed for you might ask...

have you asked this? i dont know, have you? you havent asked me, you may have asked yourself. do you want to ask me? go ahead... ill wait...

well im glad you asked, my superhero, is not a superhero, my secret lair is still a secret lair designed for a superhero, but the person to whom it belongs, is not a superhero, aha, why you ask...

well, i wanted to be different, and i need to become a lot more imaginative in creating characters.
I didn't want to make a crappy character like computerman, or bag man, i wanted something special, and for now, i dont have that creativity flowing through me, im focusing more on the lair itself, so something i thought would be different, is the following, here is my character...

My guy is a wealthy man who has decided on a slight change in his life, he was a business man, now hes living in isolation within a mountain, and slowly training himself to become a superhero like the superhero's he idolized as a child.
He doesn't have any superhero's, but he has people who work for him in his secret lair as he is quite wealthy, which includes a martial arts expert who is teaching him  the ways of... some form of martial arts.
Since its all made up, he also has yoda teaching him the ways of the force, why not.
He wants to help the world like his childhood hero's, batman, superman, etc.

He is currently unknown to the world as his superhero/wannabe status, as he isnt there yet, but he is trying.

Thats my character, i have a very wide imagination as you can see...

sneak peak to some more things im making

A couch as part of my 'relaxation room'

An Abstract artistic looking statue of a penguin, because i like penguins, made in marble.

The big round table for meetings or general sitting in a circle type events.

samurai

Thought I'd make a samurai sword encased in a museum type presentation thingy, as part of my weapons room / training room, its not finished yet, i still need a better wooden texture for the case, im not happy with its colour, but im happy with the way the sword has rendered.

I have more to show, but in due time.
enjoy.

My Superhero

is me, my secret lair is going to be about me, but not exactly me, its based on me in an alternative world, i will explain the whole story in much detail later on as i have thought about it a lot, but for now, how about looking at some pretty pictures of things ive made so far in my lair :)
Here is a lift which will take you down, into the mountain where my lair will be.
I need to work on shadows as im having some problems with them being blocky because there arent enough final gather shadow samples i think.
also need to make actual light structures for the light to come out of as right now its just a light placement. im happy with its overall look though, im pleased with my few hours work on this.

More pictures will follow in time, for now, just the lift.

LOWRIDER

If you dont like this bike then your silly, i want to get this bike for next year, no relation to this blog or my course, i just want this bike and thought id share it with you... who ever you may be.

Gaze - 1st finished edit

This is the edit which i directed and edited, but i want to make another version using my own music and sounds, this version was done by Ulisse which im grateful for, but i want to make another version making it very creepy.

Shapes animation

this is the best thing ive seen in ages, its not even anything spectacular, i just love the way the shapes move to the music and everything is to the beat. i love it.

This video was made by Steffen Bygebjerg in 2009 for the song "End Scene". The track is taken from Troels Abrahamsen's album WHT also from 2009.



The animation work was made in Adobe After Effects. Each frame was then printed and the print was subsequently scanned back into the computer. The scanned frames were then assembled back into the original animation, now with a new rugged look, created by the visit in the physical analogue world. No effects added after scanning.



www.supertroels.dk

GAZE - group version

Our Film is finished now, the group version, Im going to make my own slight changes again for the end of year, as im not happy with the sound thats been put over it, I am quite happy with my editing and directing, but i think some final tweaks are needed, especially on the sound.
Im uploading it so it should be on here after this post.
When you see it I think you will see what i mean, im just going to make it creepier with some eery music and no voice over as i dont want the viewer to understand anything, i like the idea of watching something with no understanding of what it could mean or should mean.

pretty much finished the chair now

practice on 3ds max

more practice and ive made a chair, after about 7 hours doing it haha, all created from scratch, im quite proud of it, and im enjoying the software a lot. good times.

3DS Max

Still learning using the full lynda.com essentials, its going well im learning key skills for the software. I have a friend who is an architect and he uses 3DS with his work, so he is also helping me a lot in using the software, talking to me about things im not quite sure about, but its helping. I really cant wait for this next project, i can just see myself using 3DS for hours and hours everyday to get the perfect 'secret lair', as im already on the program for hours everyday.

Oh im looking forward to my future haha

This is an interior piece that my friend gave to me to work with, i put my little character Jose inside the house and thats pretty much it, i rendered it using mental ray, added a skylight, and Jose now has a house.

Gaze pre-upload

I haven't uploaded our group film yet as its still going through some post production work with sound, as the entire film has a score and voiceover, the sound is vital in making the finished piece complete, without the sound, or just the voiceover, it makes even less sense.

I have to admit im not very happy with the outcome, i can live with it, but i feel it could have been pushed further with more effort by the whole group, but as we had a director missing for the entire shoot, making me director as well as editor, i dont think it has turned out as a full group effort, this is where im hoping Ulisse can revive the film with some good music and voiceover.

I did post the first scene, the rest of the movie has that same theme, it will be posted soon, unfortunately sound man Ulisse couldnt get it till today to work on, so im hoping it will be uploaded by monday at the latest.

I am very happy this project is over, not because i didnt enjoy it, because i did, it was stressful but enjoyable. Im happy it ended because i learnt a lot about myself, for example i do prefer to take over a group, like with the directors position, i took that because i was selfish and wanted the film to turn out how i wanted it to look. That's also what i learnt, I have to have things my way or i probably wont be happy with the outcome, i see what i want in my head and i wont stop until thats achieved.

Jeff Patton

Is a freelance graphic artist, i was introduced to him by a friend of mine who is an architect, and he described him as the man when it comes to mental ray, which is 3DS max's renderer. some of his stuff is really incredible and makes me think i have a LOT to learn when it comes to 3D, especially if i want to get into animation. anyway, here's one of his pieces, and here's his website.
http://jeffpatton.net/openb/

opening scene GAZE

I have a lot to blog, but im busy editing, so here instead is what im hoping to be the opening scene for out GAZE film, its not long, just a quick example of whats soon to be completed

3G making of advert

Film Update - Gaze project

Our group has been very busy filming today, we got a lot of footage which means we are almost finished with the production, which means my work as Editor is about to triple, but im ready for it. I have also taken over as Director as the original director doesn't seem to show up, so i Have had a lot of input in this film, fingers crossed it looks good.
Im working with After Effects, still practising and getting better, using tutorials to create a very good title sequence for the start and end of the film, before i work on the actual footage, so i have more time to work on the film.
Im about to start creating something spectacular but im not going to share it yet, you will have to wait and see when i blog it.

Im also teaching myself 3DS MAX for the next project, and for personal development.
Im going home over the weekend but il be using that time to sketch some ideas out for the next project so its not time wasted.

I have high hopes for this film so i hope it turns out how i want it, and it should do as im editing and i wont stop till its perfect.

enjoy

credits

again, more practice using after effects, this is just a tester for the credits in our film.

looking at it, its a bit fast, but the effect itself is quite decent.

group film intro titles

This is just some practice with after effects with what could possibly be the start of the group film, just the production name and the film company, its all fun

after effects and 3DS MAX practice

hello...

i've been practicing some tricks on after effects literally all weekend, from morning till night. Im trying to get a good looking title sequence for our groups film, so far ive created a short clip for the name of our group 'GAZE films' and im in the process of making a title for the so called production company, which i'll just name after the producer, Josh Crooks, im thinking Crooks productions.

I would have uploaded the one ive already created but its nearly 1gb because of the quality so ill have to make it smaller and lower the quality to show my progress.

Im also going through the Lynda.com tutorial guides for 3DS MAX, i have them all so im slowly learning how to use the software for when i have my virtual environment project later on.

Im suprised at how easy after effects is to use for a piece of software that can do so much, the interface is very suitable, most probably because i have experience with other adobe products.

After effects is definetly a product i can see myself using a lot of, and is very useful in creating cool things for my groups film, such as the title and the end credits etc.

As for 3DS MAX, this is a product i will definetly be using a lot of more and more in the future, so i need to get on it and master the art.

peace

Flip the Frog - Fiddlesticks

my memory of my childhood is crazy, i can vividly remember a lot of it, from when i was very young. I had this cartoon on video and the last time i watched it i was around 3 or 4 i think, but to this day, before finding it again, i can very clearly remember most of the scenes, the style of the cartoon being like disney (because it was done by a disney animator Ub Iwerks, who made this cartoon after leaving disney) i can remember the frog in detail, i loved this cartoon so much, and i have now found it, making me very emotional because i have been looking for this for a very long time.
It was created in 1930 by Ub Iwerks who i said worked for Walt Disney previously, which is why the style is very similar to the old disney cartoons.
This was also the first ever colour sound animation, it was made in two tone technicolor.
This really does bring back a lot of childhood memories, i watched this so many times as a child, it still amazes me that i remember a lot of it. I hope you enjoy.

Character Animator

Character Animation is a career choice I believe i would enjoy going into, I have done some research into being a character animator in Film and games.

This paragraph is from the Disney website about being a character animator.

'Character Animators bring characters to life. To be a successful candidate, Character Animators may have a background in any of the following animation disciplines: traditional, cg, stop motion or claymation. Prior training should cover anatomy, perspective and composition, including solving problems in weight, balance, movement, space, construction and proportion. Animators must be able to demonstrate their understanding of animation principles such as timing, clear staging, squash and stretch, anticipation and follow-through, and secondary action.'

After looking at the Rockstar games website under character animation, i've noticed that a traditional art background may be essential to be successful, and i don't have such a big background in that, but regardless, I will be trying hard.

This is the list of requirements Rockstar wants for a character animator;

• Minimum of 3-year degree with an emphasis in character animation or equivalent work experience.
• Outstanding demo reel demonstrating strong animation ability and good aesthetic eye.
• Exceptional skill in animating realistic human characters.
• Thorough understanding and application of classic animation principles (staging, timing, anticipation, follow through, etc.)
• The ability to collaborate and communicate effectively with a wide variety of project staff.
• Consistently meet project deadlines in a timely manner without compromising artistic integrity.
• Assist in the integration of animation with designers and engineers to create compelling in-game animation.
• Strong interest in video games.

On the Papaya Studio website, the games website behind a few Disney game titles, their job description for a character animator is as follows. Job Responsibilities: Responsible for creating various real-time character animations and cycles, including research, rigging, testing and revising. Work with Lead Animators on character animation including facial animation, lip sync and personality animation. Meet tight deadlines and milestones by staying on top of the schedule. Communicating with designers, producers, programmers, and fellow artists.

I believe with a lot of practice on 3DS max and MAYA, a lot of sketching, and gaining further knowledge of the human anatomy, i Could be successful in this career, if i do choose to go down this road.

Thats my bit of research into my possible future, enjoy.

so what am i doing to help me progress to a future in animation? im glad you asked...

well i do a variety of different things which i believe may be helping me develop my skills and knowledge of the animation pathway.
Because i come from a graphic design background, 3D is new to me, i'm used to designing in 2D or photography, i've never worked with 3D software or thought of making a moving image.
anyway... to develop myself...

I go on a variety of websites quite regularly just to keep up to date with arty and animation type things, www.awn.com the animation world network, is great for keeping up to date with films and reading about news in the animation industry, information about films, software, anything that may be relative in the animation world.
Im also a member of DeviantArt and AREA (which is the autodesk 'area' for learning anything about the autodesk products such as maya and 3ds max, articles and blogs and member portfolios on this are very good)
Another obvious site would be youtube but that is pretty much expected now, any animated short films will probably be on their.
The adobe website also has a section dedicated to tutorials and articles which helps a lot, and will hopefully help a lot when i want to learn more, but i feel the tutorials on the autodesk website will be more useful to me when doing animation.
I currently have many tutorial videos on my computer for MAYA and 3DS MAX, i haven't watched these yet but i know they will come in handy when i get the chance to use them and develop my skills with these programs.

Im also a fan of movies, i love them, and especially love animated films, which is something i hope to get into, so i am constantly watching films, with 1 side of my brain enjoying the film and the other side analyzing the film and understanding the creation, and how i could develop these, and create better ideas for films.

I think i have a massive thirst for knowledge, but am quite lazy to actually learn, so this needs to change, i am trying.

I also have a contact in manchester who is an animator and we have pretty much agreed to arrange something over the summer holidays so i can go and learn and watch how the animation industry works, either just by watching him, or possibly doing some stuff myself.
I also have another contact, a friend of my cousins, who is a well known architect, he is 1 of 3 main architects at www.fparchitects.co.uk, he has also told me he would teach me 3DS MAX when im back in manchester, so getting in touch with these contacts is definitely helping me develop in the industry.

GAZE - 5 week film project

As a group we have now started the 5 week film project, we have been given a script, which we then have to twist and re-create, develop it and make our own film out of it, with only a bit of leniency.

My groups film is about loneliness, depression and all that shiznit, basically about a girl who never gets noticed, and there are various scenes within the film, set in different locations, where she is proven, that yes she actually isn't noticed by anybody. very sad story, bit boring maybe but its what we have to work. The group and I have decided on taking a more scary approach to this film, still keeping the sadness but a bit eery and messed up, and since I have been chosen as Editor (official role) i'm going to try my hardest to make this film look as dark and freaky as possible.

As i mentioned i am the Editor, Josh Crooks is the Producer, Janos Hammond is the Director, Will Blackburn is the Camera Operator, and Ulisse Razzini is doing Sound. As editor i will be working closely with the Director in production, then my main role will develop further in post production where the film is edited together etc.

Because we have specific roles, we are not allowed to act in our own film, so the search begins for a female to play our leading character, but for now we have to get together and organize locations, scripting etc.

peace

Gran Turismo 5 cover

the Mercedes SLS AMG gull-wing has been chosen as the car for the front cover artwork of GT5 for PS3, due for release in march 2010.

is this not the best advert of 2010... so far