All Nighter in Montgomery

Rose and I had a lot of finals to finish up last quarter and somewhere in the night we got camera happy.

Life is a Bosch of Chocolates

These are some final renders of all of the models (1) and (2) from (this) sketch- that I created during the Winter 2009 quarter in Professor Valentine's Digital Form Space and Lighting class. I hope nobody notices that the bird who plays his nose is floating.

Miss Havisham's Dining Room

Finals just finished up today at SCAD and here are some stills of the room I created in Maya- I chose Miss Havisham's room from Great Expectations (thanks to all those who helped me work through making a decision!

Soon, I'm going to show you how I did it!

Fun With Maya in Digital Form, Space, and Lighting

Maybe I'm a worrier

My roomate says I worry about things too much, and that could be true,
BUT- every time I think about planning and making my senior film my stomach absolutely turns inside out. Basically, it jumps and folds inside itself until it is wrongside out and then turns to solid rock. I am excited to come up with ideas and plan and actually make the thing, but after I have a rough time with Maya, I start to panic and think that I'll never learn everything fast enough! Or I'll worry that I won't be able to find anyone to help me do it (so I'm not all by myself) because most people I know don't have ANY spare time to work on outside of class things!

I don't even have to start planning it for another year, but I feel like the pressure's on NOW to learn everything along the way so that when it comes time to use it, I will know it extra well. Plus, I am out of money and need scholarships to be able to stay at SCAD. Gotta get A's, baby!

Blah, blah blah, whine whine whine. Whatever.

finding a tutor was a very good idea!

This quarter at SCAD, along with trying to do at least one Maya tutorial a day, I finally took advantage of SCAD's free tutoring... capabilities? Don't get me wrong- I love class time and learning from professors who have worked in the industry, but I learn SO much when it's just one-on-one. The tutors that have been helping me know what they're talking about and if I get lost, I can ask a question right there (without having to decide if I want to interrupt in front of a class of 20 people) Plus, if I want to know why something works the way it does, or what 'specular' means what 'uv mapping' is for or why 'quads' are good and 'n-gons' are bad- they almost always can explain or show me on the spot the answer to my question.

The two guys who have been helping me learn this stuff are Matt and Dorien. They are nerds in the most complementary sense of the word. Meaning, I would bet all of my scholarships that they are going to get jobs when they graduate.

Did I tell yall I changed my room project? Yeah, I kept thinking about how much I loved Great Expectations and I remembered a picture of a rotting cake that I drew in... what, 8th grade? (Mom if you are reading this- have you seen that drawing anywhere? Where has it gone?!)
During the time that I was making all of the Hansel and Gretel concept development stuff, I caught my mind wandering more and more towards victorian furniture and spider webby creepily lit rooms. About a weeek (or two) ago, I just decided to go for it. I was obviously more excited about Miss Havisham's room and I was more confident that I could resolve it in time for finals.


Here are some curtain tests for the room :



Steady wind blowing a curtain



Now, there's an object in the way colliding with the curtain. Getting here was not easy, internet viewers.



Some tweaking and voila-Wind speed variations!



Here, I was just being obnoxious.


I am very excited to continue working on the room- I don't think it's as insurmountable as I thought it was prior to today.

glass cup

figuring out caustics in Mental Ray

Some New Models

These were super fun! I modeled, textured, and lit these guys- inspired by Hieronymus Bosch paintings- plus, they're made with Maya-chocolate!

New Project Ideas

Today was the first day of the Winter 2009 quarter at SCAD. I only have one Monday/Wednesday studio- and I think it will be my most challenging class so far. This is the first class that I am taking that begins with the prefix ANIM- and it's completely computer based modeling and building. The official name for it is 'Digital Form, Space, and Lighting'.

Our assignment for Wednesday is to choose a famous somebody so we can begin to design and create a set or room that reflects who they are. At first, I had no idea who I was going to pick- I was thinking Abe Lincoln and similar historical figures. They would have been cool I guess, but I really want to push this project.

I made a list of books that I've read growing up, trying to remember the ones that seemed the most vivid in my imagination. The ones where the author was writing a whole painting in my head while I read.
THE LIST:

- Corduroy- I feel like there is a picture of him on a shelf in a toy store with an escalator.. The book was checked out of the Savannah local library, so I couldn't check to see if I had made it up.

- Pinocchio- I would like to make Geppetto's workshop.. Lots of potential for clock designs and marionette strings, puppets that never got finished? I would stay away from Disney's Pinocchio, design my own layout and everything.

-Miss Havisham's House- From Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. The house, called "Satis House" is falling apart and decaying, reflecting Miss Havisham. Miss Havisham was set to be married and was already wearing her wedding dress and one shoe when she received a letter from her fiance leaving her at the altar. She stopped all of the clocks in that minute, and left the wedding cake and feast on the table for years. Making that room would be fun- there would be a fireplace and spiderwebby candlesticks everywhere

-The witch from Hansel and Gretel- CANDY HOUSE!!! It could be bright and colorful and it would smell like peppermint and gingerbread. Okay, so it wouldn't smell, but it would be super yummy looking. Furniture made with Maya-gumdrops! Crystallized sugar chandelier! And since it's the witch's house, it can't be ALL sweet... Angry personified oven and candy cane bars on the windows!

-The Nutcracker- not a person, but probably acceptable. Two options: the Christmas morning scene with a tree and lights and toys and presents. Or an 'on stage' version with curtains and wings, as if set up for an elaborate ballet.


I'm not going to tell you which one is my favorite yet.. I want you to tell me! Which one is your favorite? Why? Did I leave someone cool out?
I'll update on Wednesday to let yall know which one I picked!

My-a Room numero uno

**update** imbedded with Vimeo instead of Youtube. Better Quality

Maya created Studio by CourtneyBrookeVaughan

I finally uploaded the room I made in Maya last quarter at SCAD. There are lots of things that bother me about it now. I'm ready to learn more. Feed me, feed me!

I am loving Maya. And Animation. And building stuff.

"Film as dream, film as music. No art passes our conscience in the way film does, and goes directly to our feelings, deep down into the dark rooms of our souls."
- Ingrid Bergman, Swedish born American actress, 1915-1982

This is the first playblast of the room I've been working on for the past few weeks. (don't blink or you'll miss it) I'm in the process of modeling some more furniture and finding textures to use on the different surfaces (couch fabric, stairs, carpet, possibly a rug, easel..) I'm also working on a twisty handrail for the second level and stairs and I need to decide where to put the "gallery" Somehow, a teacup found its way onto my coffee table.. I guess I'll let it stay.



The professor of this class (Craig Kovacs) is very awesome and everybody seems to be picking up this modeling stuff fast. I'm just glad I'm finally getting to make things. The night before our first Maya lesson I had a crazy dream where my computer caught on fire and exploded, and all I had done was open the program!

So far, I haven't exploded any computers at SCAD. Praise God.

ch ch ch changes... and cuh cuh cuh couches...

lots of hours later.. i think this'un's bettuh

Storyboarding

First storyboarding assignment: The Establishing Shot: Riverstreet.

First Couch in Maya