Apple Render

 Some decent quality apple rendering.

Orange Render

I rendered an orange.

The Uncanny Valley

The Uncanny Valley is an area on the path to photo-realistic human qualities from either computer rendering or physical robotics. As things become more human like, it generally becomes more likeable and interesting, such as Mario or Wall-E. But there is a certain point on the path in which a massive dip down is taken and these things become creepy and unsettling. This area is called the Uncanny Valley. Surely, through pushing hard enough, the valley can be overcome and a photo-realistic view is achieved. However the peak before the valley is where more creativity and artistry can come in. This is where people can be stylized and contains a wide variety of forms in which we can display characters. In a game using the stylization peak before the valley, mistakes can be forgiven, such as the character sprinting into walls or just any generic thing that we as humans wouldn't really do. However with a photo-realistic approach, these "glitches" or just inhuman acts become aggravating and annoying, as real humans wouldn't actually do that, even though what we see is depicted as a "real human".

11/19/13

 Apple coloring and rendering.

11/15

Thingiverse

Thingiverse is a website in which users may upload 3D models into an online bank in which any person may download and use this model as they please. There is no cost, and it is all open source allowing changes or modifications. Thingiverse has the potential of making many human creations to be open to the public, without one company monopolizing on over-pricing items. Similar to that of Wikipedia, however with real, solid objects.

11/7/13

BACK TO THE PHASER.

11/5/2013

The mustache so far is riddled with stupidity. There's verts being combined and the split tool never wants to work. However I have made progress, and will be planning on re-doing the curly tip(then mirroring the one half).

10-15-13 Work

I got the mind map done, and have a good idea of what I want to make. So far I'm thinking a 20 Sided die that I'd use for Magic The Gathering. The two main designs I have been thinking of are a gambling-skeleton base or a very fancy, cursive numbers.

10/11/2013 Sketchbook Start

I'm not the most artistically inclined when it comes to pencil sketches and the such. I did end up making a sewer/tunnel in the dark though. I think it's decent for not really having any idea of what to do though.

10/9/2013 Shapeways Project

Today was mainly brainstorming and trying to find ideas for what to make. Originally I was thinking of making dice because I would be able to print them out and use them. However I'm unable to get any ideas/inspiration for a good set of dice. I was also getting an idea of doing a sword in stone model, or possible some figurine from a videogame. Also recovering from being sick recently, so I've been a bit under the weather.

FINISHED: 3 Box Deformation

Bend - Bends the objects into various degrees of a circle

Sine - Applies the objects to a sine

Flare - Changed the size of the top and/or bottom

Wave - Applies the tops/bottoms  to a wave

Squash - Moves the tops towards bottoms while expanding

Twist - Twists either the top or bottom

Sculpture 1

Sculpture 3

Sculpture 2

Phaser, good progress.

No description.

The phaser is coming along well, I be working on it at home too. There have been complications from updates to Maya through the years, but nothing too bad. Having this saved on sky drive will be useful though.

FINISHED: Hand Finger Creating

The hand was interesting. I've always been pretty bad at recreating living objects, especially human. The fingernail turned out to be rather difficult, especially because I didn't understand what the tutorial was saying. The other parts of it were pretty easy though.

FINISHED: Salt (and pepper) Shakers

This mini project was also pretty simple and was finished quickly. I felt like the tutorial was lacking a little, so I made another shaker and colored them. You don't want just salt, and its good to know which is which!

FINISHED: Egghead

In all honesty, this egghead mini project was kind of creepy. The lips are very...interesting. But it was very interesting to learn how to sculpt in Maya, as opposed to Mudbox. As I said before, this will help with the old man face I am attempting.

Unfinished: Egghead

The sculpt tools are going to very incredibly useful in the making of an old man's head. I haven't done much with the egghead, but I'm going to come after and finish on 4G and after school. I was thinking it'd be better to do this with more edge loops in certain areas, as it could be more precise. Also trying smooth select could have an impact.

FINISHED: Egg Cup

I had been wondering how to take a curve and revolve it around a center point. I had learned how in Inventor Pro but wasn't sure how to in Maya. Also being able to control the single curve and manipulate the entire cup from there is useful to know.

FINISHED: Bevel 4 Cubes

 This time the cubes look a lot more similar to the instructional pictures than before. I'm thinking that the bevel feature will be very useful in future projects.

FINISHED: Bevel 8 Cubes

I followed the instructions to the letter, but have a results different than shown on the instructions. I'm hoping that the change is due to adding in the bevel absolute option, because without absolute, the cubes look similar to the ones shown in instructions.

FINISHED: Goblin Head

 Taking a pre-made human head and turning it into a goblin head with glasses and a beanie was pretty enjoyable. I personally felt like he needed some creases in his forehead and some more pronounced eyebrows. Kind of like an angry historian/librarian. With a beanie.

Goblin head, Finished but mising save file/picture

I have also finished the man's head to goblin's head transformation, but cannot find the save file. It wasn't massively difficult, and I could probably do it again. I'll probably come in 4th hour and finish it up. Again. Then continue on the phaser.

FINISHED: Helmet nurbs

The helmet was quite simple, but caused me a good bit of stress from seemingly minor problems early on that turned pretty fatal. However mistakes aren't a terrible thing, I learned how to do different things the tutorial didn't offer information on and fix various problems. If I were to try and make my own helmet without a tutorial or anything though, I wouldn't do that well. Probably. Maybe.

FINISHED: Tentacle Box

The 'tentacle box' was pretty fun, it was interesting to see how the solid extrusion interacted as the vertices were moved. I used this knowledge at home to create a bident, a two pointed trident.

FINISHED: Temple

The temple was fairly fun. Being my first project, I wasn't entirely sure on what to do. A few things are misaligned, but not by much. If I were to redo it, I could definitely do better.

Barely Started 9/6/13 Phaser

Today, I started the 3Dbuzz tutorial on a star trek phaser. I
Didn't accomplish much due to problems with messaging
on Cole and other things. I really hope the interaction between the 2008 Maya in 3Dbuzz and the current 2014 Maya. I really don't know why the box is shaded in the perspective view, there's nothing indicating it should be.

I joined this class for the purpose of gaining experience in the growing field of 3D.  I see this skill becoming more and more prevalent in current times, and can only really keep going up. Currently, I plan on entering the field of engineering, specifically aerospace. However I'm not attached to the idea of aerospace particularly strongly, and wouldn't mind going into different types. Regardless, this skill will be very useful to of acquired.