Xbox Live Avatar

Xbox Live Avatar

Well Second Life taught me something that it's Avatar customisation is stupidly complicated and hard to use, I thought it would be better to look at a much simpler one. I then choose the new Xbox Live Avatar System which I think is a brilliant addition to the console.

Anyway for starters, you choose a base avatar from a selection of 9 that are randomly created, if you don't like them simply press X and another set of 9 will run on screen, this stage doesn't even matter however as you can change everything later. I choose the guy 3rd from the left simply because it's a guy with brown hair.

Then you can edit everything about your character, hair eyes nose, and unlike Second Life your not bombarded by options, this is simple and that's its main strength. I choose some spikyish hair and changed it's colour and then proceeded to remove the horrible moustache. Unlike with Second life when you add something your not simply building on top of the features that are already there, for instance I was very annoyed with the hair editing system in Second Life and it made your hair look like a massive bush, this however although much simpler has loads of options so you can always find something that looks like you.

You can then change the height and weight of you Avatar pretty standard stuff really, but then you have to think about purpose, this Avatar design system is meant to be simple, its a bit of fun a character that can be used to interact with friends and play simple games with. Second Life is much more complicated and I'm sure if you spent long enough on it you could create something of the exact likeness to you, however this Xbox avatar took me 5 minutes to create and I think is pretty good likeness of me.

Its not perfect I know but here it is me on the Xbox, maybe the hair could be slightly lighter but for 5 minutes quick work it's not too bad and very simple to use. This is the kind of simple 3D style I want to use for my Avatar however I do want much more of a chunky style to it, I also want to get the style of my favourite artist Jamie Hewlett into it somehow. But for a simple avatar with some likeness to you I would thoroughly recommend the Xbox Live Avatar System its easy to use and a great addition to a brilliant console.

Second Life

Second Life

Ok so I thought that I'd start on Second Life and straight away I can tell you that I don't like it. The only good thing I can see about it is that you can fly, which Is quite cool.

Anyway I decided since this project is about identity that I'd set up my avatar to look like me, however the character design screen is very hard to use and stupidly complicated, I did honestly try to make my character look like me but what I've ended up with simply doesn't. Partly because the hair on your original character before you've changed him stays there so you have to keep it or have a massive barnet.

I don't like this game (if it is a game) but I'm going to carry on and see if it gets better I mean I am only in the begginer zones. However what this has taught me is how easy it is to hide behind an avatar, I could make it look however I want, thats probably the draw of online games/ interaction sites is that you can be whoever you want to be. For instance buy an MMORPG and you suddenly stop being yourself and can me Agaphor mighty Paladin and Defender of the Realm, which is fine if its innocent but can also be quite dangerous I think, is it possible to get so lost in a game that you spend more time there than in real life?....Anyway I'll try and continue with second life and post some more, I also want to look at things that allow you to create an avatar or a version of yourself, such as Xbox 360's new avatar system or even Fable 2.

Caricatures

Caricatures
I posted earlier about the Star Wars Film, 'The Clone Wars' and how each character has been turned into a cartoon, I would really like to head in this direction with my work. Not only would it create the aesthetic look that I am hoping for it would also allow me to go into more fancy animation. My lecturer Andy was saying how it takes ages to render full and fancy graphics, however If I go down the route of a very cartoon like avatar, this will allow me to use less faces and shapes on my model therfore making it easier to render while still keeping the look that I'm going for.

So obviously I wanted to look at Caricatures and how they work in 3D animation what I found was this set of advertisements by Virgin Media that use the Caricatures idea.

From this I can tell that Caricatures work really well in 3D animation, I also bought a book showing how to do Caricatures by an artist called Martin Pope. Whats very impressive is the likeness to the celebrities he's doing and the process behind it. So basically I'm going to try and produce my own Caricatures of myself, which will be difficult. However once It's done I should be left with a Character resembling me that will be effective when modelled on 3D Studio Max, I will then add props to help it relate to me more, So I think the next step will be to do a Mind Map to help establish who I am and what items I can use, this can then also be used for the box project and I could also create little trinkets that help resemble me.

To Maya or To 3D Studio Max?

To Maya or To 3D Studio Max?
I posted a few days ago about how I was learning this program Maya, however when we got into our seminar today, I was shocked to discover that we will be using 3D Studio Max. My tutor Andy explained that it was kind of like the PC vs MAC thing and only a matter of preference however I could tell that his preference was leaning strongly towards 3D S Max. But Pixar and RARE use Maya, can they be wrong? Anyway what I've decided is that different companies are going to have different ways of working and are going to be using lots of different programs.

Therefore I'm going to learn them both, obviously I'm going to focus of 3D Studio Max for the minuite because it's the program were using for the Identities module, but I want to keep my options open. Having Maya as a skill will be too valuable to not bother with it, so while I'm at Uni and I've got all of these free tutorials and programs I might as well make the most of it.

My First Ever 3D Animation

My First Ever 3D Animation
Ok I know that I promised a piece of 3D modelling and that is in the pipeline I promise you, however for the minuite I have bigger news I have just finished my first ever piece of 3D Animation. I know that its only very short and simple but it is the first step, if I practice my modelling and get a good avatar I am sure that I can produce some animation of some quality,

This is simply because the animation on 3D Studio Max is easy very easy, but it can produce some very effective pieces of animation, anyway I just need to have a play around with the program, my homework for the week is to learn the program better so I might have a new piece of work to post up soon, however I do want to focus on modelling more for the minuite so that I can produce a fancy piece of work and worry about the animation a little later. Anyway enjoy the short video....

A New Essay - Thoughts

A New Essay - Thoughts
I hate my rubbish internet connection hear in halls this is the second time I've had to write this post because when I clicked post the last time it decided to have a momentary lack of connection. Anyway Yesterday I was given my second essay title and I've got to say that its a lot better that the last one, which was talking about design processes. This one however is all about choosing 3 practitioners that I like and talking about their work and hows its influenced me, I guess its all part of our course trying to help us identify which area we're hoping to go into.

Anyway I already have two names lined up, John Lasseter one of the founding members of Pixar animation studios, what I like about his work is that Toy Story was the first 3D animation which has brought with it a new form of animation and Pixar has always been at the very pinacle of creating new work that is always different and special never relying on past glories to draw in an audience. Also from a personal note watching Toy Story as a kid of 5 years old was the moment I ever said WOW to a film and its responsible for getting me into animation, I knew that if my England Football career or being an Astronaught didn't take of this is what I wanted to do.

The second is Jamie Hewlett, an animator who's work is very popular and massively influencial on todays culture, for instance he created the intro sequence to the BBC's coverange of the Beijing Olympics. What I also like is that his work is very edgy and has such a dark humor about it and yet his modern work is very mainstream. I think the mark of greatness is being able to take an idea that would often be considered cult and make it mainstream. I'm also a massive fan of the Gorillaz and I like the idea of working for music, why should music simply fit into animation and films can't they be made for music?

Anyway I still need to think of one more practitioner but I've got two already so I can start work at least, I don't want to leave this essay to the last minuite like last time, but I'm actually into this essay this time and I work a lot better when I'm like that.

An air of optomism and being on the Ball

An air of Optimism and being on the Ball
At the minute I'm on a bit of a high I've never felt so good about my work in a very long time. Not to mention that a certain President Obama has just been instated and it suddenly feels like the worlds going to sort itself out. Tomorrows going to be different and its going to be a good day, I'm going to do my first bit of 3D modelling and work even harder.

Further evidence of everything starting to work out is that today I got another journal task to start to talk about my influences which I'd already done, I'm going to go into further depth obviously but its good to know that I'm doing the right kind of work. and a bit of work does pay off. So yeah things are looking good at the moment and I'm looking forward for tomorrow.

Learning 3D Modelling - Inspiration Thoughts

Learning 3D Modelling - Inspiration Thoughts

Hey I've just spent the day watching video tutorials of Maya 6 online (yes very exciting) and I have to say now that I've seen the program the entire task suddenly seems a lot less daunting, There's a simple video of a guy modelling an apple which I might try, well I might do a pear instead just to mix things up a bit. But yeah the program seems user friendly enough so I'll hopefully get into Waverly either today or tomorrow but we'll see what happens because I've got to go and look at a house tomorrow.

Also I haven't just been watching tutorials all day I also had a look at the new Star Wars film The Clone Wars as part of my 'research', I know it gets a lot of criticism for seeming like George Lucas is riding the Gravy train but it is rather good. But in terms of my project I'm not concerned with how good a film it is what I am interested in is the look of the characters.

I posted yesterday about how I wanted a cartoon style and I think that this could work really well in regards to my avatar. Here you can see a clear difference in the two different styles of interpreting the same character. The 3D one however still keeps the characters looks but adds some cartoon features such as bigger cheek bones in order to transfer him into the 3D environment. What is interesting is that Lucasfilm clearly chose this look as now fully true to life animation can be achieved, however this style helps to pitch the film to its young target audience.

I'm definitely going to go along these lines when producing my own avatar but maybe take it even further to make an avatar with a retro chunky style similar to some to the Rareware games. However for the second this is just a glimpse into the future and I'll stick to modelling apples and pears for the second. Ill hopefully have an update in the next few days showing off shiny fruit.

New Term - 3D Modelling

New Term - 3D Modelling

Well after a good few weeks of relaxing back home in humble Yorkshire I've made the shortish trip back down to Nottingham to start the new term and it is one that I am really looking forward to. The last one was very varied I found myself doing 3 very different projects, and I've learnt new skills and all that jazz but the projects that I have most been looking forward to have been the 3D ones.

I'm also very worried its totally new ground, I've never even seen 3D modelling software before yet alone use it, the most amount of contact with the software I've ever had was a short 'making of a scene' clip on the DVD extras of Wall- E. Also when asking about it my Tutor Andrew put it simply 'it's hard....very hard'. However I'm going to remain optimistic (and work stupidly hard) and then hopefully deliver the goods. I suppose what excites me the most is the fact that I'm finally getting to try what I've always wanted to do, I remember watching Toy Story as a kid and just being in awe at what I was seeing, I went to watch it about 10 times. I've been a fan of Pixar ever since and every film they release is an instanct classic, I know the work I'm going to produce in the next ten weeks isn't going to be anywhere near that level, and I doubt that any actual 3D animation we do we be very limited but why not aim high?

So anyway I'm glad to be back into the uni lifestyle, but what I'm going to be doing over the next couple of days is doing 'research', which should be very fun, looking at all the 3D style animation that I like...Pixar, Dreamworks and the rest and hopefully even looking at some computer game styles, perhaps not the stupidly,realistic and accurate levels of games like Halo and Gears of War but some of the chunkier characters such as many of the reoccurring Nintendo characters as they will transfer over better into an avatar. I've also always been a massive fan of the game developers RARE who also use almost a cartoon style in most of their work. I'll have a new post in the next few days outlining what sort of look I'm going for with my 3D work and I'm also going to sit through hours of online tutorials for 3D modelling software a lot of the websites that I've looked on so far talk about this program Maya so I'll hopefully find one for that and get started, if we don't even use that program at least I'll have some kind of a footing up this huge mountain I'm about to climb.