Links and pics

Wanted to plug my friend Joel Davis's article:
Better Programmer Art
(or how to fake it as a game artist)

REALLY good tips on game art here for artist's and programmers alike.

Also wanted to mention Alchemy since it is my new favorite drawing program. This program is great for making loose concept sketches as well as abstract doodles as well as good old illustration.
Here are some examples of what I mean from their forum

Modeling done

Haven't unwrapped the UVs yet. Playing around with image based lighting and the skylight in 3dstudio max. Messed around with it in post (photoshop)

Update.

Minor update. The modeling is almost done.

End of term

The steampunk challenge had to take a back seat to finishing out the term and studying for my Max certification. Here is a character I am finishing for a class demo on character modeling. A friend of mine designed / illustrated the character.

Steampunk Myths and Legends Challenge

I have tried entering a few of these contests and never seem to finish. Here's hoping this one will be different.

This is a rough mockup of my steampunk rendition of the "Pygmalion" story.

Not sure if this is the one I want to go with but it might work. I hope to have a few other mockups posted soon.

I am also considering doing these:

steampunk Jimi Hendrix
steampunk Mad Hatter
steampunk John Henry

The following ideas seem to be being done by a lot of people:

lochness monster
trojan horse
medusa
wizard of oz (?)

Autodesk 2009 event notes

Here are the notes for Motionbuilder 2009

Autodesk 2009 Launch Event
Carlsbad CA
Nov 13th Sheraton Hotel
(Autodesk recommends DELL laptops M6400 and M4400)

Motionbuilder 2009
- Improved asset transport through the .fbx file format
- Ragdoll physics can be combined with rigid dynamics (characters falling and breaking walls for example)
New ragdoll -> approximation -> activate collision with rigid body (wall) -> physics solver (gravity)
- Characters can interact with each other through constraints (each character can push/pull the other - double solve)
- Imports cameras via FBX and allows you to setup shots in the story(board) tab. This is great for previz and supports transitions (crossfade etc) between shots.
- Quicktime 7 or greater supports FBX and allows you to jump to different cameras/shots using a hotkey. QT will also show other FBX info such as:
1. FBX file info / stats
2. show skeleton / rig
3. show lights etc etc
Being able to jump to different shots in the QT file quickly is great for previz / camera setup
- Character definition tab allows for creation of “control rig” using Fullbody IK / Human IK.
- Can create new effectors which control rig can “reach” towards (or reach towards the average of multiple effectors)
- Expert mode for relative transform
- FBX plugin exists for XSI but soon full integration will exist
- Motionbuilder interpolation now used in Maya 2009 animation layers

Westwood Designfest This Saturday!

This Saturday, November 15, 2008, from 11am to 4pm, the School of Design, its faculty and its students will be holding their student artshow. Please join us in this event, showcasing artwork from students in Game Art, Graphic Design, Interior Design, C.A.D., Animation, and Visual Communications.