Matte Painting

No, it's not cheating. It's a technique used to create a more realistic image, using a photograph as reference for the natural lightning and mood for the piece. It's commonly known that in an FX shot, it will only be as good as the matte painter assigned to it. Not that I have any experience in it, but that's what my friends in "the Biz" tell me. Anyhow, this was done in Photoshop CS2 in about 2.5 hrs.

Here is my first attempt. Thanks to Ben Cammarano for all the tips! Wish me luck...

2nd image is original plate. 1st image is after I'm all done. Click to view at full size!

Two-Fer

I've been watching season one of 30 Rock using my Netflix "Watch it Now" privileges. It's been fantastic! Granted, they don't have a very wide selection of content, but there are some hidden gems. I highly recommend an indie film called "One Last Thing". The movie description doesn't do the film justice, but read through some of the member reviews. It was a very good film, and not at all what you'd expect from the movie description. It is thoughtful, engaging, and an emotional ride.

Also on the movie front, I took the entire family to see Ratatouille at the dollar theater yesterday. We actually took up an entire row! The movie is fantastic, and delivered a wonderful story and great animation. Abbie commented that the rats in the movie could cook, but the rats in our kitchen couldn't.

Puke

It happens with every pregnancy. Mind you, I'm not the one puking, although it can be contagious. More amusing is the attitude of our kids when Alissa is puking her guts out in the morning.

Abbie: "Is mom throwing up?". Goes and checks. "Yup, she is throwing up! Is it green? Mine was green when I was sick and threw up."

Anna: "I wanna watch!"

Miles: "gah! hya ma gupp ada!"

Worse than the throwing up is the complaining. Yes, I know you don't feel well. I don't really need to be reminded 10 times a day. I ask what I can do to help, she says "nothing". Really, I just want to stop hearing about it... Maybe I should just get her a Tshirt that says "I am Pregnant and Sick and feel awful" so she wouldn't feel like she has to remind me.

I guess I'm complaining too. I have sympathy, but really we both knew what happens during pregnancy. No, I'm not a cruel husband. I just want my wife barefoot and pregnant and in the kitchen, is that so much to ask?

Busy Bee

Work's gotten busier, but I've still been trying to find time at home to work on personal projects. Here is the latest update. I'm UV'ing the game res model, but that's boring so here's the hi-res sculpt. I've gotta figure out how to make some clean normal maps from this (so far generating really ugly ones from Maya) so I can start texturing this guy....

Beast of Burden

I've been remodeling this character, I lost the original model. I need to figure out how to create better normal maps, since Maya seems to be acting weird and Zbrush3 doesn't export normal maps. Then I need to paint textures for it, which is the important part. I'm wondering if this hi-rez sculpt makes the character too "busy", as the original was much simpler... I will be making the saddle and stuff too....