PlayTest - 3D Coat

Voxels, voxels I tell ya are the future, Ever since I played Outcast back in the 90's I have wanted em - now we do have em - 3D coat has a voxel sculpting section - which allows you to create holes lumps whatever you want - no restrictions- Just started playing around with it- In demo mode. Think it may well be worth a buy- has re-topology tools and UV mapping poly painting- the works bloody lovely and the interface is relatively normal and intuitive(Maya esque).

StGiles_V1.1

The original stone sculpture that this digital sculpt based on is in St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland a digital sculpt based on photogrammetric mesh data (generated by 3Dsee, based on an original photograph by David McKinnon). I then re- topologised and re-sculpted - intentionally ignoring the original photographic image. The head of the character in the relief is pure digital, sculpted for the scene, based off of a combination of deer and duiker skulls - a European and African hybrid.

Amazing HC interaction/App:

ILoveSketch from Seok-Hyung Bae on Vimeo.

CrowSkull Redux V1.1

Flower skull with atmosphere.

A (my) version of a memento mori (a reminder that we all will die)- combined with quetzalcoatl flower skull symbol- Old world meets new world skull symbol. All a part of my personal terror management.
I have got to reference my trip to Mexico way back in 98 when I went to Teotihuacàn just outside of Mexico city (DF) .To me the combination of the skull and the, what I saw as flower petals made a long standing image - an archetype that I have revisited in this image.


This revisiting of birds and specifically bird skull imagery - there is something in the shape, a mask like quality that appears- the same mask shape was used by plague doctors in the middle ages. It all seems to tie in with death/life.

CrowSkull_Redux

Working towards my passion for bones, taxidermy, sculpture and CG animation – Reworking the skeletons in my closet

AKA : Using found art as a means to integrate the tactile into the non tactile digital medium.

After a leave of absence from my studies I have decided to return to my original orientation for my masters which is my digital sculpture work.

Examples of my earlier found works (1994- 1995- artwork part of Rights of passage, graphic novel).

By using the tech with the ACID vision imaged based modelling software to drive my goal of sculpting and reworking of found objects in the digital.
I am exploring imagery from my childhood in Zimbabwe- I have always seen bones as beautiful sculptures –I remember visiting friends ranch as 5 or 6 year old and seeing a huge elephant skull on their front lawn and thinking “Wow! Amazing I want one for my room!”
As a child I used to practice taxidermy with my older brother, skinning cane rats, duiker and snake and monitor lizards – I always saw the remains of creatures a great big jigsaw puzzle waiting to be solved.

Everywhere I went as a child in Zimbabwe I saw skeletons and taxidermy in people’s homes – it was a part of my child hood culture- Both my siblings still have skeletons and as their bric a brac and home clutter. It seems to be a part of our heritage of growing up at that time in that place.

Close up detail of deer skull (skull courtesy of Brisbane Museum).

This passion for this aesthetic was also reinforced by HR Geiger’s creature creation in the film Alien- but my work hopefully doesn’t have the same associations – as for me there is a purity of form – almost a landscape to the topology of bones.
I also have an illogical interest for Xeno Taxidermy but without the need for getting into the blood and guts of it so to speak. And there are the health and safety issues- hell let’s admit it - space. I live in a flat with an 8 month old child now, not a big farm where I can bury carcasses and dig them up later for fun jigsaw times.

3DSee

I am working with David McKinnon to integrate the Acid vision/3Dsee application into a computer games studio workflows- demonstrating its potential commercially as well as using it as a practicing digital sculptor/vfx artist. My goal is to further develop/promote the Acid vision software in my field of expertise. Which is character modelling for real time 3D applications, simulators, games and digital sculpture.


I am also using 3DSee to convert my photographs of animal bones from the Brisbane museum to create a model and texture library to create useable (animate-able) 3D props for an animated sculpture /vfx piece, (A sort of software art piece).



This technique of mixing media real and virtual would allow me some creativity in the form of re-manipulating the bones - reconfiguring them making new species – (Digital Xeno taxidermy).
I have been looking at artist and naturalist Sarina Brewer as well as Jan Svankmeyer’s animation work as a source of inspiration for future works.

Prix Ars submission

Its been a long time since I have updated my blog-
I have been working on a less educentric approach to my work - I have veered away from the educational videos back to digital sculpture - aproaching digital sculpture from it use as a virtual archiving tool as in use by 3Dsee and instead using its library of assets (as well as my own) in "found art" aproach- butone in which I can then manipulate and edit.



BirdSkullVideo_Process from Jake Hempson on Vimeo.




Prix Ars submission info from Jake Hempson on Vimeo.

Intro: Key topology areas

Intro: Key areas of deformation. (2mins 34 sec)



Shoulder/Chest Area.(2mins 58 sec)



(Very rough pass video cuts of modeling for deformation- feedback welcomed)
The first vid is an intro to areas to be covered in the full tut series, the second video is a run down on "traditional modeling" techniques for the chest/shoulder area-(to be updated with a more conceptual topology flow video of the funnel crossed with a cape concept).




First pass concept vid of the "Funnel" flow concept in action.

MODELLING FOR ANIMATION OR TOPOLOGY FOR DEFORMATION: SCRIPT

Topology for animation: The human body- the shoulders:

What we will be covering in this chapter - where the important topology lies on the upper body of a person. Specifically the key area of deformation around the shoulder: (Fade in Skeleton+ High res mesh)

What we would like to introduce is the concept of key edges or cuts for deformation which run from under the under the pectoral muscles (label), up over the top of the arm bicep/triceps area (+label as red edge loop appears) and around to the back/scapula area (label). (Camera moves around high level geometry over skeleton, as labels of muscle groups appear….pop…pop)

Why is topology for this area so important? (high level geometry fades out)

The shoulder area has the most extreme movement in both rotation and translation - (fade in Skeleton animation of movement extremes).

The Scapula (label) and Humerus (label) act as a ball and socket joint with 180 degree rotation along the z axis. [FEEDBACK NEEDEDHERE] The scapula (label) which supports the arm can also translate around from the back around the rib cage (Skeleton animation: rolls the scapula to drop the shoulders slumping the chest)

Key concept: A popular solution is to think of a poncho (or cape) dropped

over the shoulders of your mesh. (Camera moves around high level geometry as mid resolution poncho drops over shoulders)

With medium resolution example shown here you can see how the key loops shown in red (T- shirt version of the upper torso now starts to animate to same extremes- camera circles the mesh for +- three extremes of movement).

With careful skinning and no additional bones, this same concept can be applied to lower resolution meshes, which could be used in game. (T- shirt version of the upper torso now starts to animate to same extremes- camera circles the mesh for +- three extremes of movement).

Here the upper torso of the model is simplified to 3 rows only for shoulder

In the next video we will explore the key area of the groin and buttocks which again has large extremes of movement.