Planet Surface & Difference between Displacement and VDMs ?
Posted in Mudbox | Comments Off on Planet Surface & Difference between Displacement and VDMs ?

Hi, everyone. Here is a Planet Surface that I quickly created one day in Mudbox. Stay Tuned for Tutorials to come soon.

Planet Surface

Planet Surface

I’d also like to mention the differences between Vector Displacement Maps and Displacement Maps. If you are unsure between the differences. A displacement map works by displacing the object or the surface normals, whereas a Vector Displacement maps works in a similar fashion, except it can get areas that not along the surface normals, a common example is a human ear. Looking at a ear face on, is along a surfaces normals, there are parts, specifically the top of a ear that are not along a surface normal, that is where vector displacement maps work, beautifully.

Mudbox Artist, I will be posting VDM maps here, don’t forget to drop by ever so often. You can also find me on Autodesk Area Forum under the Avatar “FalconCrest” and I can also be found on the Si-Community Forum as well.

Quest to Master Softimage ICE
Posted in Learning Softimage ICE, Mudbox | Comments Off on Quest to Master Softimage ICE

Here is my recent ICE tree using Arrays. The Softimage docs are crude in terms of explaining the math, at times it can leave you scratching your head, and consistently going online to find the answer can be annoying, but I continue on my quest. I wish ICE would show the actual math in each node after it’s evaluated so I can see how it’s done, I know you can visualize data but seeing the math would help too.

icearrayresult
icearraytree

Tutting
Posted in CreativeInfo, Mudbox | Comments Off on Tutting

I’m a fan of interesting commercials and this commercial is no exception.  I didn’t know what tutting was but after doing some googling I found it is related to what they had done in Egypt. And also what Micheal Jackson did in one of his music videos which had an Egyptian theme.  What I liked about this commercial was how they adding the motion graphics between his fingers.

Tutting by Samsung Mobile

I’d like to share a 2K Landscape vector Displacement map which I created (SnowMountainVector_vdm.tif) – 35 Megs

ICE Simple Deform Expirimation and Color Switch in Mental Ray
Posted in CreativeInfo, Learning Softimage ICE, Mudbox | Comments Off on ICE Simple Deform Expirimation and Color Switch in Mental Ray

Here is an ICE Tree that I’ve been working on that can deform an object with a null based on a weight map.  You can copy the ICE Tree and tinker with it.

Mental Ray in Softimage, there is probably a node in Maya that does the same thing called Color Switch it’s a Boolean node and this image was taken from Rork on XSIBase forum.  Rork demostrates using a sprite to switch between a color image and a Ambient Occlusion shader, it can be used as a alternative to passes, although I still prefer passes.

I recently saw “How to create a Awesome Demo Reel” by Grumo Media.  It is really good and Miguel Hernandez is funny at times in the tutorial series as well. I recommend this tutorial if you want to know and sell your demo video as I want to in the near future.

A Brand New “Creative Sheep” web site will be online very soon.  Ready to hopefully make me a success.  My Demo Reel won’t be online as it’s not completed but that will be coming in the not to distant future, stay tuned.

 

 

Mudbox Technical Transfer Details
Posted in Mudbox | Comments Off on Mudbox Technical Transfer Details

I enjoy sculpting in Mudbox, releasing you creativity is pure delight.  I recently had an issue with Mudbox Transferring, after being in talks with a support person at Autodesk who was very helpful.  I was informed on the technicalities of how transferring in Mudbox works.

Transfer Details is a great feature, but it is not miraculous.  It works by measuring lines perpendicularly from the target surface to closest point on the source surface, and moving the target until it touches the source.  This is why it is important to line up the meshes as closely as possible before starting the operation, and even (if necessary) distorting the target with sculpting tools if it is too far from the source.  If there are different possible intersections, you can control which one is chosen with the Advanced feature “Choose Samples”.   (Hold the mouse over this to see the graphical tooltip explaining what it does).  So the short answer is that yes, for best results, you should conform  your target surface as closely as possible to the source surface – it is the “details” we are transferring, not major sculpting features.