I Make Door: Update #2

I couldn't resist doing a better lit screencap

I Make Door: Update #1

I Make Door

I've come to terms with myself that the past year was "technical learning". Now that I've finally got all the skills I need, I'm going to start practicing. First off, is this nice looking door. I'm taking it slow and deciding to start small. I think it's turning out good. The screenshot is inside of Unreal 3 and is only a normal map and I'm using my ambient occlusion bake as a temporary texture.

It's Been A Rough Year

Although I've made progress with my 3D studies, 2008 has been a rough year. I think it's safe to say that the past few months is going to go down as the worst time in my life. That's why I haven't posted since October. I don't really want to talk about it.... it's been a rough year.

Way Behind Schedule

I'm very much behind my personal schedule with my studys. I have alot of lame excuses mixed in with some real life stuff and a healthy dash of plain laziness. I need to get my act together and make my final push so I can be ready to apply by first quarter of next year. ROAR!

Texturing Tutorial: More Stuff

I think I'm going to go through this tutorial a little faster. I said that I wouldn't cut corners but I'm lagging behind on my personal schedule and I really want to get to the point where I can make my own stuff.

Texturing Tutorial: Back At It

So I've had a rather frustrating studio session over the weekend, and instead of punching someone in the face, I've put the music stuff on pause and returned to my 3D study's.

I'm Batman

You may be wondering why I sometimes just disappear all of a sudden. Well it's because I have a past life that calls me from time to time. Yup, I am Batman, err, I mean I am Ironman.. no wait. Okay, the truth is I used to work with music and even though I've pretty much hung the towel on that career choice, I still get some work once in a while. Like now, for example. I have an artist who is gaining some momentum in India and the UK, so she's asked me to work on some music with her so she can have some new material to show off to labels. Of course, I accepted and have put my 3D study's on pause until I'm done. Which shouldn't be very long. But I figure this is kinda like a break and I get some spending money, lol. Anyways, I haven't given up or anything, just real life stuff to take care of :)

Texturing Tutorial

Been going over a textureing tutorial, learning some photoshop workflows and stuff. Here's a pic of the early stage. I did not model the prop, that credit goes to eat3d.com who made the tutorial

Pillar: I Think I'm Done

I think I've hit the limit on this pillar. Need to move on.

Pillar: Again

Year 1, A Retrospective

One year ago in the month of September, I started this path to become a game artist. Today is the 1 year anniversary and I didn't reach my goal of getting a job in the industry. Actually I'm not even ready to apply. I admit my goal was quite ambitious but I'm the type of person that shoots for the stars and land on the moon.

As the months went on, I realised there was alot more I needed to learn until I can compete with other applicants, and that's where I'm at right now. I've definetly made costly mistakes and followed some dead ends but that's expected since I'm teaching myself. And it wasn't until May of this year that things finally started to click for me. Oh well, I guess! I'm a bit dissapointed but I really don't know what I could of done better. On the positive side, I feel I'm getting a better experience teaching myself than a typical student enrolled at a school.

Looking forward, I've set a new goal of being ready and sending out applications by early next year. I'm on the right track now as far as my studies is concerned and seems like all I need is time. Time spent on all the applications involved in the creation proccess and practice, practice, practice. So I'm gonna take a deep breath..... and move forward! Roar!

Some Kind Of Stone Bench

Just messing around on Saturday

Pillar: Inside Unreal

Everything always looks better in Unreal

Pillar: It's What's For Dinner

Pillar: The Sequel

More Pillar Action

Pillar

Messing around with a pillar

Bring On The Rain

I love this summer weather, actually I love it so much that I pretty much have succumbed to it's greatness. My study's have stagnated but I don't even care because this weather is so awsome I don't want to study! Now I understand why I get so much done during the colder months, haha.. Anyways, gonna enjoy the rest of the summer becayse it's going to be a tough Fall and Winter season. Lots to study and with the release of Warhammer Online, I know my will power is going to be tested to the limit. Bring it on!

Squeaky Wheel Get's The Oil

The next day after I wrote my about my dismay of Vancouver weather, it turns all sunny and warm again. Which proves that either Nature listens to me or that I can control the weather! :)

Really?

So Vancouver gets one month of summer weather this year. Really? I mean, c'mon now. Anyways, I've been VERY much slacking and been in the summer mood for the past few weeks. I've gotten some quality time with my 3d studies, but not for long extended lengths. I've begun teaching myself piano which is something I've always wanted to do. Been enjoying the summer movies, Batman was great, and so was Wall-E. Canada finally got the iphone. Their criteria of eligibility for those already under contract is rediculous. I even almost got scammed by Fido's customer representatives trying to ring out some money from me. Eventually, I got an iphone ordered without any administration fees, hooray!

Obligatory Update

Things are moving along, some days are slow, some days go faster. The nice summer sunny days have been distracting but I've been very much enjoying it. Been seeing the summer movies too. Things are Okay.

Sun For Everyone!

My prayers have been answered. Clouds have gone away and now it's very HOT :)

I've been going through the built in 3D Max tutorials, I'm picking it up pretty fast. And, gasp!, I've only used 1 plugin so far and it's just a convenience plugin too. So far, the grass really is greener

My Summary of Vancouver's Current "Summer" Conditions

"Let's Just Be Friends"

I've decided to end my relationship with Maya. It's been a good run but I find that the more I use it, the more I find it totally lacking in the modeling department. I'm going to start learning 3D Max, I think I should be able to pick it up faster than if I was learning from scratch. If my future employer uses Maya, it'll be easy to pick it back up, so in the meantime we'll just be "friends".

Another Rock

Well, this is suppose to be a road barrier but it just turned out into another rock.

General Update

Bit the bullet and purchased Eat3d.com's "Old Pillar" tutorial DVD. Was a little reluctant because it was only listed as 3 hours long (I'm a stingy man) but actually all the techniques shown was fantastic. Not to mention the modeling, Mudbox and texture workflow was great to watch. My only gripe was that it's done in Max3D, and although I can follow pretty well with Maya, I'm finding that the grass may be greener with Max3D, lol. Anyways, I've been going through it so that's what I've been doing lately.

On a side, note.. Vancouver's weather sure sucks big time. Feels more like November than Summer.. all cloudy and crap

More Rocks

Just some more rocks

Mushy Rocks

Yup, I'm still here. I went over a Gears of War style rock tutorial today, did it kind of quick, not the greatest but it was a learning exercise.

Not Much To Report

Not much to say, been practicing my high poly modeling and normal map baking. It's going slowly but I feel that I'm learning the right things this time around.

Cube

Still fighting the good fight. Messing around with high poly normal map baking and stuff like that, finding out there are many nuances to it.. hmmm

More Garbage Can 2

Attempted a lid today. Maya is very quirky with baking normals and stuff, hmm... Will definetly work on the texture once I'm happy with the normal mapping. I also need to make handles.

More Garbage Can

Slowly learning my normal mapping and high poly stuff through trial and error. I think I've getting better. Last week I had terrible problems trying to make a lid, but I think this week will be better.

Better Lit Garbage Can

A little better lit garbage can :)

Garbage Can

Did part of a garbage can today. I didn't skip steps like I used to, still not that great but I'm getting through the proper steps and stuff this time.

Boxes In UT3

Put my boxes into UT3 to see how they look.. hmm

Back To Square One

I decided I'm going to do some basic modeling and texturing as I've never really spent much time on learning the foundations of 3D graphics. So, here's a cardboard box. During the process, I realized I don't know as much as I thought I did.. I really need to be honest with myself and start from the beginning again. My box turned out to look like Team Fortress 2, which is not really what I was going for lol..

Back Alive

I took a week off from my computer except for some usual surfing. I feel alot better and not as burnt out, gonna get back to 3d stuff this week.

The Club: Frustrated

Well, I'm doing textures and I have this feeling this scene is too ambitious for my current skills and is making me very frustrated. I think I need to start small, like make one building or prop and do it great instead of trying to do several buildings and having it come out just average. I'm really starting to feel the burn of learning all this stuff by myself. I don't like school, but I'm gonna admit I could really use the support system that classmates and teachers bring right about now. I'm a competive person and even compete against myself but I keep biting off more than I can chew, I gotta get a grip on my ego /sigh!

Still Alive

I'm still alive, just been very preoccupied with something else and been finding it hard to balance my time. I'm still working on the "The Club" scene but in small bursts .

The Club: Update 5

Did some windows today, the building definetly looks better now. Wish I could go faster but better to do it right I guess.

Everything Looks Better In UE3

So anyways, I put my tiling texturing into Unreal3 and it looks pretty decent, which proves the point that everything looks better in UE3. Now I can sleep soundly, lol

The Club: Update 4

Well my tile is working better but I dunno, looks kinda odd... or maybe because I don't have the windows textured yet. Bleh... heres a pic

The Club: Kinda Stuck, hmmm

Kinda hit a curb today.. I'm pretty much done the modeling part. I started on the texturing but drew a blank. I have to use tiles for most of the buildings and not sure how to approach it because I don't want it to look boring or "tiled".. so gonna sleep on it. In the meantime, heres another LOLcats!

The Club: Update 3

Minor update today.. didn't have as much time to work on it, but it's coming along very nicely. I'm a little worried about the texturing phase, I have various floating geometry.. guess we'll see lol. I would say I'm close to finishing the modeling, I don't need it super nice because I know when I texture, I'll probably tweak different things anyways. Also, I have a really nice idea for the terrain, hopefully I can pull it off... anyways heres a pic

The Club: Update 2

Feeling good about this peice.. coming along nicely. My previous models, I notice that sometimes I model myself in a corner when I reach the texturing part, I'm trying to stay aware of that this time...

The Club: Update 1

The scene is going along smoothly though not as fast as I hoped, oh well! Here's a little pic

The Club: Truckin' Along + He-Man Video

Been going at the club art test scene.. coming along nicely I think. Though I'm a bit slow compared to the guideline of 7 day to finish. Lucky for me it's just for practice but I still would like to finish close to the suggested time limit. Heres a little pic.. still lots to do.



And now onto a "I Don't Remember Seeing That While Growing Up" note, heres a little He-Man public service announcement clip :)

The Club: Start

I forgot to mention that yesterday I started on modeling a new scene. This one is actually a public art test by Bizzare Creations, the people who made the game "The Club". The art test can be found on their home page here for anyone interested. This will be a good test to see how well I've been studying. It's also nice that they have some specific guidelines on how it should be built, so we'll see how this goes I guess!

Death Metal Puppy

Finished the Mudbox tutorials.. now gonna spend the coming week on any other stuff I need to learn. Basically, I want to make sure I learn all I need before I make another scene. That way I shouldn't have to stumble on key concepts while I model and texture. So in the meantime, here's a Death Metal Puppy!


http://view.break.com/468548 - Watch more free videos

Still Mudboxing

Still going through the Mudbox tutorial CD, nothing much else to report. So here's another lolcats pic!

Next Stop, Mudbox

Spent last week learning UT3 Editor, not the entire thing, just enough for me to know how to create a basic level and importing my models. So, gonna learn Mudbox next. Not gonna be much blog posts while I study, so here is a funny lolcats picture.

Lolz

I imported an item I did for the MMORPG Planeshift into UT3, did it as I was following a tutorial on the subject. It put a smile on my face :)

I Drink Your Milkshake

Also, I finally caught "There Will Be Blood" and now I understand the new 2008 catch phrase. Though, I have to say, the scene where it's taken from was so sudden and a little confusing but not really at the same time. What's with all these movies and their crazy endings, like the one in "No Country For Old Men". Both good movies though. I DRINK IT UP!

UnrealEd3: Not As Bad As I Thought

Finished my first day of learning UnrealEd3, wasn't as bad and daunting as I thought it would be. Or maybe because today I was just an intro? :) We shall see.

Continuing My Edumacation

I've decided to learn UnrealEditor3 and Mudbox in the next few weeks. I really wanted to do another scene but I think I better learn all the tools. I have a checklist of all the things I want to learn and I think I'm gonna go through it completely, that way I can just focus on my portfolio later. I'm still doing props for Planeshift so that'll be a fun diversion from my studying. Anyways, off to get edumacated! :)

Fork In The Road

Thinking what should I do next.. I want to do a new scene but I also want to learn UnrealEditor3 and Mudbox. I have alot of fun doing scenes, but I think I should get these two programs out of the way.. hmmmmmm..

Planeshift: Skull Mask

Worked on a skull mask for Planeshift today.

New PC!

Parts finally arrived. New PC is assembled, rawr!



Not super top of the line but much better than my old one.. now my video card is too slow.

Alex Kam does not sleep. He waits.

And waits and waits for his remaing 2 computer parts to arrive and then finally be able to assemble his new upgrade computer.

More More Normal Maps

Happy V-Day, in celebration here are some Metal Bewbs! I'm still messing around with different normal map generation methods and playing around with Maya's Transfer Map tool, pretty neat.

More Normal Maps

Still messing around with different methods of producing normal maps.. hmmm

Hmmm.. Interesting

I didn't know I had any allergy's to anything until lately.. in fact I'm still in denial and I still don't know exactly what gives me the allergy symptoms. I ran out of Claritan (just 2 weeks worth) and felt fine until a few days later.. ugh! After buying more and taking a tablet I can't believe the difference it makes. Now this is interesting because I've always had these symptoms for years but never thought it could be due to allergies so I never did anythin about it... I've had so many weeks in my life that could've been fixed by taking a friggen Claritan?! Now I wonder how many other people out there have lived their live's with weird cold like symptoms and never knew it could be allergies like me..

Anyways on a semi-3d related note, I'm finally gonna upgrade my computer. Will be nice to actually run Unreal Tournament 3 and the included editor, lol, and other things too heh..

Normal Maps

Dun dun dunnn! <--- dramatic music




just messing around with normal map generation

Planeshift: Bone Club

Made a bone club for Planeshift, submitted it and now waiting for review.

Planeshift: Volunteering

Got accepted to contribute 3d assets to Planeshift http://www.planeshift.it on a volunteer basis. Its a free MMORPG. I got my first few small tasks, it's definetly different working with certain limits as opposed to my personal stuff. That's a good thing for me, I will definetly learn because of it. Hopefully I can fit it alongside my studying, hmm....

Creepy Hospital: Done!

Well I would say I'm finished lighting and messing around with rendering this scene. So, time to move on, things to do, things to learn and that sort. Full 1024 resolution pic on my portfolio site www.alexkam.com

Creepy Hospital: This is Madness.. THIS IS MENTAL RAY!

Apparently the price I have to pay for quality is my sanity! I feel my hair turning gray with every mind numbingly slow... slow... slow render. I even spent 1hour 15mins on a render and I didn't even keep it because of some f#%^#!'n crap happening with my lights at the very last block of rendering. AGGGGGHHHH!!!

Waiting For Renders

I've decided to stick with Mental ray for my renders as it is very cool indeed. Unfortunely it takes a long time to render out scenes, so I made this picture collage.