Kara Update 8

This is the 8th update on my Kara model, My plans is to finish and animate this model very soon so keep a eye out for updates.

First of all this was created in Blender 2.61 and Blender b-mesh build from http://graphicall.org/ was used for the new head(you cant see the head in this video keep a eye out for the next).

Second this is not a true render unlike my other videos, instead this is a render of the view-port in OpenGL. So textures and details will not be shown in this video.

Third the reason for uploading this is to show that my Kara model now has a rigg(digital bones) ready to be skinned too. I'm guess some people would be interested in such things so that is why i have uploaded this video ;)

Fourth this is also a sound test and fade this, that's right from now on I'll be trying to make sure that a good 90% of my videos come with sound.

Soon ill be adding hair and animating Kara in future videos.

Truck Update

I'm really bad when it comes to these social websites, they always slip my mind.
Here is a update on my Truck ,still much work to be done.

Long time no post

I've got a memory that is as bad as well I don't know what, ill do a small update here for now and pray to god that I remember to do a big update soon.

So far Kara was put on hold so i could work on a different character for Cerebus Film, also improving my skills while i go along.

First of all here is prove that my skills are improving.

As you can see my 3D head has greatly Improved

Here is the new Character for Cerebus Film

I was going to go more in depth on this but I do not want the rigger to have any issues.

Also not sure if you have checked my You tube account , but if you head over there you will find the new Dragon Roars video.

Now I'm going come back and added more soon but first to check what i have and have not done sense my last post.

Not much to report

Not much to report this month as I've been a little busy and here what's been going on!.

My brother donated little bit of money which as allowed me to finish my new pc.
Its a very fast quad core AMD Phenom II X4 3.2 GHz Processor, not over-clocked because its not really needed and I'm very happy with the speed as its my best loved pc to date.
I've have no problems expect for some reason when plugging in my wireless adapter it gives me a weak signal, both Windows and Linux(only used Linux to check if it was not a software related) shows a strong signal but a slow web. The week after pulling my hair out I came across my old USB extension wire which soon link up to the new pc, then tested my internet speed with the wire leading out side of my room and the problem was solved.
I recommend any one with odd wireless problems that's reports a strong signal but speeds keep dropping to try a extension lead as it could just be a weak signal, not sure why both Windows and Linux show the signal strength to be strong when its not. But really its time to upgrade to them wireless wall plug adapters as they are faster and easier.

I've downloaded Maya 2012 30 day trail and started to learn it, at first I used the free trail from last year which was on my hard-drive but switched to 2012 dew to problems loading example scenes. I find Maya more powerful then Blender such as I can use n-gons(5 or more sided polygons) while modelling and then clean the mesh later!, much better Nurbs control and many other features such as layers.
This does not mean that Blender is no good!, Blender is great to use for new users,low price and new company's starting out, plus its only going to grow better with every release and maybe even over take Maya one day.

Me,my friend and brother are planing a group trip to Great Yarmouth for a few days out, got to discuss it more next week,  looking forward to a small break from here. Its been a long time for me to get away from here so ill take the first chance that I get.

Been working on house scene for Cerebus Film and feel really sorry that I'm not faster, in my house every one wants on the pc and well I've got the fastest and I'm too kind. This really can slow me down alot when something unexpected pops up., plus i try and fit as-much learning time in between.
Here is the latest image of the house, lucky its near finished all i need is one good day for time.

Also my truck is coming along slowly just finished the gas tank for now, but not really in need of a new image upload so just wait a little for a bigger update.

Firefox no more, that's right I'm now using Google Chrome!.
The reason was when web browsing I came into errors loading web pages yet again, so downloaded Chrome for a quick fix, right away it open'd much faster then compared to Firefox 6.02 and it impressed me.
Shortly after I researched how to do my bookmarks and away we go!.

That's all for now ;)

Update

Heres some stuff ive been working on latly.

For Cerebus Film im working on a small scene, which i'll continue it tomorrow as i was a bit busy today.

Also in the mornings in my spare time ive been working on this Truck, lots of work still to be done on this model.

Kara Update 7

Kara Update 7 still a few more to come such as hair and better lighting etc.

Sorry for the delay in update, when i rendered it myself I made a mirstake so i sent it to render farm to save me time.
Sadly while the file was to be rendered at renderfarm it had to wait about 2 days in a que, so basicly i was very unlucky.
Render farm took about 7 hours to render it however on my pc it would have took about 14 hours, so its not as fast you would think instead its about 50% faster give or take. But if ques are always this slow then its a huge lost in time, the system is great but it needs to be more optimise.

Stevenshearing198807@googlemail.com
http://stevenshearingslife.blogspot.com/

RenderFarm
http://www.renderfarm.fi

Kara 6.9

Ive now got to the final texturing stage and here is the render, click image for larger resolution.

Ill now work on creating a spin-able video for my youtube account.

Kara Update 6.5

Kara is nearing completion , so here is a update and a video will follow in the next few days.
Click the image for higher resolution

Kara Update 5.5

Not quite ready for a new table turn movie yet but here is a updated viewport screen shots of my kara model. Colors are temporary as they are to help me see what im scuplting instead of the plan blender colors.

Not had time

I've not had the time lately to update this blog or even to render the new Kara update which im still working on, for now ill just link to the dragon video from my youtube account and a new scene that im also working on.

Note that more information is on the youtube page about dragon.

Kara Update 5

This is the 5th Update of my Kara model and I'm so glad to say the modeling stage is now over, the next stage is to use this as the model to start sculpting on which will add fine details.
After i finsh the sculpting stages then ill began the uvmaping stage, following that ill start to paint Kara.

Its getting it's exciting to know that the model is about to be sculpted on soon in my next spare time, im really looking forward to finshing this Character.


Created in Blender 2.57a

Kara Update 4

This is the 4th update of my Kara model and im really enjoying creating this character, I should be updating yet again next week but i can't give a date to be dead sure.

I had the time to render this one in full hd , and this was created in Blender 2.57b however a new release of blender 2.58 is now available

Ill be going over the hands soon and if i rember the face alittle, i pretty much suck at faces but ill keep trying.

Kara Update 3 Blender 2.57

This is the 3rd update of my Kara model so far, as you can see I've been working around the skirt and top plus the belts.
The render is not full HD as i decided to save time ill render my updates about this size, when i complete the model then ill create a full hd ready version to showcase the model.

My skills are greatly improving the the point which i used my own technics in the modeling inorder to improve my wireframe/topology.

More updates to come, and yes I'm working on the top part of the vest now so im fully aware that her breast is sticking out sorry.
Mesh still needs some cleaning such as the revits on the belt are on the belly plate, this is because ive not applyed my modifiers yet inorder to then go back over and delete the un-need parts.

Created in Blender 2.57b

Update Kara,Dragon,Minotaur

Here is a more up to date spin of my Kara Model, was unable to render a full hd version so hope this will do for now. Its still under heavy wip and currently around the skirt and belt.

The Minotaur has been textured by Rolf Jacobs

Dragons been sent off ill update that the next time i recive a image.

Keep you eyes peeled and keep checking back for when i edit this post.

Kara

Im currently learning from a training series inorder to greatly improve my skills as an artist, here is my first early results hoping you enjoy as much as i do.
Created in Blender 2.57

Still much to do this is only the base model so far, got to learn all Blenders features this small course will provide me with all the needs to render it better, texture it and even animate it,
Expect more to come soon :)

-------
Here is youtube link

Cerebus Dragon Heavy WIP

 Its been a while for me but im still alive working on the dragon, getting new ideas to add to it such as remodeling the end of the arms and attaching a new pair of arms.

Still is work in progress!.

My Updated Blender 2.5 Review

My Updated Blender 2.5 Review

I’ve been using Blender 2.5 for a while now and beginning to find its flaws and strengths while the time past’s by, Its very surprising how powerful blender it truly is a great program for any artist from beginner to professional artist.

Interface Improvements

Blender has greatly changed the whole interface which has really made blender stand out better and less scary looking compared to it’s older 2.49 versions. With Blender 2,5 you can pretty much create any layout you prefer to work from and save it as the default settings, which is also extremely easier to access from file-> user preferences and click save as default.  If you feel the screen is to cluttered you can hide parts by clicking the window corners and dragging them over the window you which to erase, you can even hide and show the toolbar and properties bar by pressing T (toolbar) and N (properties) on the keyboard

Default settings

When opening blender 2.5 for the first time I find the settings to feel extremely strange like as if it was a different language to my own, for example to select you right click instead of click. These few problems can be fixed pretty fast under the file->user preferences, you can change the view type to turntable, select with left click, rotate around selected and many other settings.

Missing Features

There is a few problems with blender that I’ve came across which most likely keeps blender from becoming big time main steam program.

One of the problems is extruding along normally, when selecting a bunch of polys on mesh like a sphere you may wish to extrude them in the direction they are facing. Now normally in 3D max I would just select and hit extrude and it’s done but that’s not the case here in blender, instead you have to extrude face by face and then fix any problems you may run into.

Second problem is Bevel weights is not working at all in blender 2.5 however the modifier remains so any new user will become extremely confused fast.

There are many more problems in blender and if we get lucky and thanks to the large user community which blender has these problems most likely will be fixed soon.

My summary

Blender is a great program to model with and come pretty much with every thing you ever need, the program is also free and can easily fit on to a memory stick and run from a simple folder. Blender can be used on many systems such as Windows, Mac, FreeBSD and Linux (if you like using old fashion command lines) this means the program is very portable and could be used at a friend’s house or on a laptop when applying for jobs to show your work in full 3D instead of flat paper prints.

It’s worth keeping on a stick or using it even to start your own free studio.

I’ve got big hopes for Blenders future.

Wow an update

I really do not get around to updating this thing much hey, so here is a small update on what I'm working on at the moment.

This is a Dragon I'm working on for the Cerebus Film, its been quite a while on its development.
Its near the end of the modeling stage and then needs to be sculpted on.
I may upload a better image later on :)

Minotaur Cloth Waist Small update.

Took a break from sculpting at the moment to create more important things like his armour and weapon.
This is a work in process cloth around the waist, still got to get it some depth and edit the top part.
The images shown is the in between model so thats not the high or low model. also the hoofs have became deform'd and needs fixing soon.

 

Any donations at the moment will go to buying a cheap ddr3 ram for my mother board, inorder to get the quad 955 pc ready to use ;).

Small Minotaur

Same update to the minotaur, still much to do but so little time.
Model is based on world of warcrafts tauren race.

Bullets update

While I'm working on my 3d minotaur which I upload'd a video of it the other day on youtube, decided to go back over my bullets. Changed the texure alittle to make it look better. Its a small change but a much better image hope you like it.

Bullets

In the last few days and in which tiny bit of spare i did found in the morning I decided to follow a Blender Tutorial, the reason was simple it had texureing and composting and even a little lighting.
Heres my results, lots and lots of bullet. Decided not to model my Bullet the same method as the author fegot to cap the ends of his bullets, plus i got my own methods which I learned in max but overall it came out with pretty much the same results.
 
Created in Blender 2.56a

The Minotaur And Scene

Not updated in a while as I feget that i even have a blog plus the fact I've never really been into social websites like facebook.

Heres what i have been working on for a few days, its for the Cerebus Film and one of my most loved models so far.

Also my scene is being textured by a artist called Vijay R he has done an amazing job texuring it.

I modeled the Minotaur in Blender 2.5, greatly loving this program.
The scene i modeled in 3d Max.

Blender 2.5 review

This is my Blender 2.5 review, it’s my first ever review.

For the last 2 days I thought what the heck why not give blender a try.
Blender is a rather powerful cad program from what little I tried; it has its ups and its downs.

A good feature called edge length which allows you to see the length of any 2 points; this is very useful at modelling to scale. Not sure myself if max has this or not but I'm keen to find out.

A downside is that at the current moment there is no support for ngons; ngon is any polygon with more than 5 points. This creates problems as you cannot chamfer a vert which we all know to be a useful tool.
However a hand full of developers (Joseph Eagar, Wael Oraiby and Fabian Fricke) is working on this problem and is near compelte.

I found that blender lacks in some of the basics such as segments, it has them but not to in depth, an easy workaround is when added loop's you can add multiple loops.

Move/rotate/scale things are very nice in blender, you tell it for example to move then hit either X, Y or Z to choose which way or you can use them all. Also you are able to type a number into the keyboard and it will use that number and take effect. This allows you to be very precise while modelling.

Blender has pretty much the whole studio built in; expect Photoshop but gimp can fix this.
I hear its even got a kick butt fluid system built in, many things I have not tried yet,
gave the material nodes a try myself.

Materials nodes are better than max allowing you to fully control the look off a object, it even has a system similar to Photoshop being that you can do overlay etc.
Simple and easy to use just connect the lines and you set.

Animation, now I not gave this a try but from movies like big buck bunny and the source to that being available for download you can see blender is strong.
Even in the news on blender’s site someone has got the new Xbox camera working in order to work very fast. Allow me to show this.
http://www.blendernation.com/2011/01/07/motion-capture-with-an-xbox-kinect/#utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Blendernation+%28BlenderNation%29
It is very impress and very useful and well I bet its fun as hell plus cheap.

This is my review on Blender 2.56, I’ll keep my eye on this cad program as its cheap and powerful the developers have done one heck of a good job.

Scene

Not posted in a while and to tell the truth its because fegpt i had a blog.
Things are going well for the start of a new year, there is a chance my family and eye could be moving to norfolk, my Parents will become debt free for the first time in 20 years.

Im enjoying creating a scene for the budget film and found out that I'm allowed to show my work so far, its on a facebook link and a another blog already and why not here then.

This is the scene i have been working on , with the help of a few refances.
If your got any ideas for it, head to my youtube channel and pm me the idea ;)

Also been gibing Blender try laty, Got to day that it is a impressive cad program with a few limits like ngon's but hear that besh will fix this very soon.
Still playing with the engine and ill post about this later this month hoply(hope i dont feget again)