I made a thing

It's about time I actually show off something I made of my own accord as part of my new repertoire.  I made an emulator of the Enigma machine that you can use to send messages to your friends.  Instructions are included.  Currently I only have a version for Windows that will only work if you are lucky enough to have a certain .dll file (or Visual Studio) installed.  If you don't, just Google the .dll file and install it and you should be good.  It's not official and it's an .exe so every antivirus software in the universe will probably scream at you when you open it.  Let me know what you think.

• Enigma machine emulator (Windows)

Everything is copyright me.  If you want to show your friends, please refer them to this page so they can download it themselves.  Thanks and enjoy!

Getting the hang of it

I'm slowly internalizing the fact that I'm a Computer Science major.  I really think it's true that people identify a lot with their chosen career (or at least what they think their chosen career is going to be) and I certainly have since changing my major.

Anyway, I'm hoping I'll be able to publish some of my creations online, whether it be through web applications or shifty downloads.  So far I haven't found a way to run C++ applications in browser (perhaps I could convert them to Java or something).  If anyone knows how I can do this, let me know.  I'd also like to find out a nice way to show code snippets, but then again, most people probably wouldn't find them nearly as interesting as executable programs.

I'm also heading on a mission soon so I'm not going to have too many crazy projects especially soon.  In two and a half years I'll be a lot closer to having cool stuff to share.

Until then,
Brandon

Quick Sketch

Just a quick sketch for my Drawing for Animators class.

Demo Reel

I recommend watching this at higher quality (on YouTube).

Breakdown:
Butterfly and LEGO minifigure scene designed, modeled, textured, and lit in Maya and rendered with Mental Ray.


Procedural and painted textures created for pulley, standing shelf, side table, glove, and mounted shelves using Maya and rendered with Renderman.


Rig created for dog using Maya.


2D flour sack animation - responsible for story and animation (drew all frames).


Butterfly, LEGO, and flour sack created for class finals.  All other work done for BYU Animation's 2012 senior film Estefan.

Estefan Texture Update

Here's just a little of what I've been working on for Estefan.

Pulley (used to lower one of Clara's headpieces)

Side Table (background set dressing)

Standing Shelf (more background set dressing)

 Glove (one of Clara's headpieces)

 Wall shelf (another set dressing prop)

That's all for now.  I made a couple rigs which I might be able to post demos or animatics of, but other than that, I'm about finished with work on Estefan.  Time for personal projects.

Personal Chasm Concept Ideas

Here are some rough ideas that I made for BYU's film Chasm before I realized that most of it was already finalized.  The commentary I made assumed the decisions were still up in the air.  Be aware that some facts about the film are incorrect.

Sorry everything is in a rough sketch, I'm new to Photoshop painting and still need to learn how to use it before I post something.

First I did silhouettes of the building.  I understand that in addition to the cannon, Addison has a workshop, bedroom, and maybe kitchen.  I used a lot of shape repetition in these designs to make them more interesting.  My favorite is the multi cannon flat.  The text at the bottom reads as follows:

"Cannon should be able to move up and down; can whole building swivel to move left and right?

In order to cause an effect that would take up the most area on the 2D plane that Addison sees, she would probably use a mortar style cannon (low power, high trajectory)

An accident causes her to discover the other side - her angle is too low, and a shot explodes on the opposite edge of the chasm."

Next I did some cannon detail.  I like the idea of having two cannons, but I think they shouldn't be covered by the building like they are in the silhouette.  The cannons would be mounted and rotated about the circle in the middle.  We should be able to see the parts that hold it together.  My favorite of these is the top right bombard style cannon, a design which is reflected in the lower gun howitzer style cannon (second from right on bottom).  It maintains the same shape language as my favorite building as well as a semi-functional appearance.  Both cannons would be aimed up as to launch something in the sky that would burst several feet above the chasm and flow down into its depths.  The text reads as follows:

"While previous ideas considered cannon effects powered by electricity, pyrotechnics should be used as they are more flexible to manipulate into the "effect," they would be easier to "fire" from a cannon, and they would be more likely to be found in a post apocalyptic 40s mining environment."

I honestly didn't like the silhouette of most of the cannons already posted - perhaps because some of the barrels are too big or the because the housing doesn't reflect what the cannon would fire.  Also, most of the cannons are aimed arbitrarily at the chasm at a 0º-45º angle which would yield less than spectacular events when that cannon is fired.  I realize I am being hypocritically critical as I have no beautiful paintings of my own to showcase, but I believe it is a legitimate concern.

Lastly, I have a rough storyboard for the discovery of the other side.  This was drawn before I realized the cannon should be in a mortar style, so it is aimed directly opposite of Addison with a flat angle.  I mainly wanted to convey Addison's emotions as being bored of the same effects, then angry (causing her to max out the power in the cannon), then inquisitive about the discovery, then curious as to max out the power even further to get a better view of the other side.

I imagine Addison wearing a ponytail, tank top, baggy pants, and heavy boots.  Her hair would be styled like Chloe Frazer from Uncharted 2, and she would have a personality reminiscent of Trudy Chacon from Avatar.

Estefan's Product Line Textures

Recently I've been working on some textures for BYU's animated short Estefan.  I was assigned Estefan's line of hair styling products:

The texture lead noted that the textures needed to be more vibrant and composed of warm colors.  The following hair products will probably set your hair on fire.

Looks good so far though.  It's really cool to be working on the movie.

2D Animations for VAANM 160

Here are both animations for VAANM 160.


Bouncing Ball:

Flour Sack:

I'm planning on adding more to the flour sack for the final application.  Cynthia said my animations were at A level (ready for the animation program) and I just need to work on my drawing skills.  Luckily, I was able to get into VAANM 265 for next semester (drawing for animators)

3D Insect (Butterfly) for STAANM 150

Today I finished the 3D insect project for STAANM 150.  It may be better than my LEGO, but I think it took less time to model and to render.  I did spend more time on textures this time around however.

The final:

Early render with a terrible background and wing texture placeholder.  Mostly to check success of wing modeling.

Addition of mental car paint texture to wings to simulate iridescence.  The head is the only other shaded object.

An early composition render.  The background is too busy and the wing textures are not realistic and don't match up with the veins or other wings.

A render showing fur used on the thorax and head.  The eyes are also shaded with car paint.

An experimental composition later discarded because I wanted to maintain the blue color on the back of the wings (the front of the wings have orange and red patterns).

Close up of improved fur use, a fractal shader, and some abdomen modeling.

Final render for class.  Still needs to be updated with better texturing on the body as well as a change in lighting to make it more three dimensional.  Other than that, it's a good start.

A cleaned up render I did in March 2012 for my demo reel.  I reduced the depth of field, redid the body textures, adjusted the lighting to create a better core shadow on the body, and made a few other adjustments.

Any further suggestions are welcome.

3D LEGO Minifigure for STAANM 150

Here's where I'll post my work from figure drawing, 2D, 3D, and my sketchbook in preparation for my animation major application at BYU.  I'll start off with my 3D here, as I have yet to find a scanner/hi res camera for my physical work.


Final:

 Rough shapes (day 2)

Better shapes (day 6)

Redid legs, added shading, started arm (day 16)

Modeled arms, hands, and sword and rendered with mental ray (day 19)

Detailed texture of sword guard and hilt (day 20)

Built room, added linked textures to head and torso, textured floor and walls (day 21)

Redid lighting, fixed wall textures, changed pose (day 25)

The only problem I have with this image is the head near the white ninja's right hand which is somewhat stuck in the floor.  Unfortunately, this image took 52 minutes to render, and I am hesitant to render it again to fix it.  Maybe I will later.


Update: I redid the final image for the end of class.  I simplified a lot of the meshes, redid the lighting, added depth of field, and rearranged some of the models in the background.