Here’s the final version of my island. I put sound on it but the file is too large, I’m still figuring out how to make the file size smaller but retain picture and sound quality to post online. Here it is, much better lighting and a few other fun stuff added to the island. How I wish this is a real-life getaway.
(double click image to play video; this may take a while to load it’s a very large file)
For the last half of this term we were allowed to pick whatever we wanted to model. Initially I was torn between doing a living room and a tropical island. Once I started working on the project, I just started working on the island and didn’t even think of the living room. I worked on it almost everyday of last week. I’m thinking about adding a boat to float by the dock. This video took about 10 hours to render from Maya to a QuickTime movie. So here’s over a week’s worth of work into 48 seconds.
(double click image to play video)
This term is almost over and I’ve learned so much the past 6 weeks. I really thought I’d never like Maya but turns out it is so much fun. I was sick during week 5 of class so I couldn’t finish my mouse animation on time. I finally submitted it a couple days ago. I am a bit disappointed in my work though. I spent very many hours, even days, on rigging my mouse to animate it but I couldn’t get it right so I had do dumb down the mouse animation. So here it is, over 30 hours squeezed into 7 seconds of animation.
(double click image to play video)
I honestly miss writing blogs! Since I started school three weeks ago I haven’t had time to do anything else online. The first week of school was a pain! I seriously wanted to quit and go back to a lazy bumm, but I worked through it. I forced myself to do some research on how to use Autodesk Maya and found that it is a pretty fun program. My introduction to Maya brought back feelings I had of Photoshop when I first run the program. I wanted to punch my monitor or crush my mouse! But all is good now, it actually is pretty fun. I’m so happy to be back in school learning totally new things. My other class is on InDesign, I didn’t think this class would be useful to me but there is so much I can do with it.
Steve left for Washington, D.C. yesterday. I’m lonely, again for a week. It’s girl week in the Sipes’ house. He doesn’t return until Sunday so I’m thinking about taking the girls (Gabby, Kookiis, Vandy) for a girls day out. The puppies are allowed in the mall so we might just do that.
I’m really proud of my work in Maya so check out the photo album to see what I’ve been doing the past three weeks.
Since I’ve learned how to retouch photos I’ve been practicing and experimenting on my own. I said on my previous post my next project would be “Weightloss through Photoshop.” I tried but I just couldn’t get it right, so I will continue to play around with that project until I get it right. In my frustration with it I decided to do more makeovers for more practice and experimentation. I found a great website, Hollywood Celebrity Pictures has a bunch of celebrity photos downloadable for personal use. I browsed through the site and did makeovers on Hillary Swank, Claire Forlani, Fergie, Jennifer Lopez, Lindsay Lohan, and Minnie Driver.
Here are the final images… click on them to view their transformations.
Click on the photo to view larger images.
I am having way too much fun playing with Photoshop. I’ve learned so much about the program this week more than any other time I’ve used it. I could help but dig through photos I want to fix-up! The bad thing is that I hate all my photos now! I just want to airbrush all of them! In this project I cleared up my skin, lightened my eyes, put some makeup on, and extended my eyelashes~digital mascara!!
I would like to thank a couple websites for this project “5 Second Eye Enhancement” for teaching me what the “Dodge Tool” is for and ObsidianDawn.com‘s “Eyelashes Photoshop & GIMP Brushes” for my mascara.
Click on image to view before and after photos in larger formats.
During the past couple weeks I’ve been playing with Photoshop, and the past couple days I’ve watched a bunch of tutorials about how to do makeovers. So I looked through my photos and found one I wanted to do a makeover on. No drastic changes, I just wanted to have smooth skin like they do on magazines. I also did photos of the kids I took for their passports a few months ago. Gabby was really sunburned so her freckles were out in force and her skin was a bit red. I also added some eyelashes and emphasized her eyebrows, being in the California sun bleached the poor girl’s eyebrows. Alex was sunburned too so I wanted I decided to do his photo to remove blochiness and whiten his teeth a bit.
So I did a Google search on “Photoshop tutorial airbrush” and clicked on the first one on the list “Airbrushing – Natural Smooth Skin Photoshop Tutorial” I always hesitated trying these tutorials because they just look so complicated. Initially, they were a few months ago when I first installed Photoshop CS3 I was so frustrated with all the controls! It’s like learning to fly a plane, maybe more difficult… I’ve met quite a few pilots in my day and a lot of them aren’t that smart. So now that I have a faster computer and having more knowledge on Photoshop I released my fear and actually read the tutorial. Now, I’m kicking myself in the ass because it is so simple! I could have learned this a long time ago! Any way, here’s my first attempt to airbrushing my face. My next project will be “Weight Loss Can Be Achieved Through Photoshop.”
It’s time I start building a portfolio and the best way for me to do that is to offer my services for free. I want to build you a website… from nothing, from your drawing, from your Photoshop mokup, or to redesign one you already have. The idea is for me to make web pages based on a client’s needs. Of course the hosting and domain fees are not covered, but if you don’t have those yet I can help you get them. I use Dreamhost, I registered the domains I host with them. The fees are very reasonable. I’m also open to designing lithographs, certificates, and collages. These are other ways I can practice and show my skills in graphic design.
If you’re interested leave a comment or send me a message so we can discuss the details.
It’s been a while since I played on Illustrator and as I look at other people’s work I wonder how I can create art that is completely my own. What I mean is not to use the standard or downloaded brushes, symbols, etc.
In the spirit of the upcoming holiday season I decided to make Christmas themed brushes and symbols. I’ve tested the brushes and they work quite well. The brushes connect almost flawlessly if the settings are adjusted correctly by the user. You can learn how to create new brushes and adjust the settings in the article “How to Create a New Brush in Adobe Illustrator.”
I made some symbols too, these are fun to do because I get to save drawings I want to use in the future. Aside from the Christmas symbol set you see here I made a symbol set of flowers a while ago. you can learn how to create and redesign symbols in the article “How to Create a New Symbol in Adobe Illustrator.”
If you are interested in downloading my brushes and symbols leave a comment with your email address. These libraries are created in Adobe Illustrator CS3.
Until I started at Westwood College I didn’t know about Illustrator. I was having a frustrating time learning Photoshop as it is. I always hesitated playing around Photoshop because it was too complicated; there were too many controls I didn’t understand. Now that I’m a little familiar with both I love them. I’m still a beginner so these designs are very amateur and simple… but of course, you know me… I have to share my drawings.
This is the first one I did. I was thinking of something I could design to upload to CafePress.
I made this design for Alex; he picked the hat’s design.
I did this for Gabby; we were looking through the symbol library and this caught her eye. I didn’t like the color scheme so I changed it to this.
And finally, I drew this myself. I wanted to draw some flowers; I initially wanted daisies but decided to go with cherry blossoms.
I’m so ready to go back to school! I really hate that it took T-Mobile forever to turn on our DSL. I was supposed to go back to school 2 weeks ago. Now I have to wait until October. 