Dan Doombuggy Art

BIG UPDATE - The Trapper

2012-01-21T17:40:00.000-08:00

I've spent most of my free time working on a open-source multi-player game which blends first person shooter mechanics, with real time strategy elements and team based game-play. At its core its a continuation of the 2006 quake 3 mod 'Tremulous.'
I'm currently working as an environment artist in charge of creating alien buildables and re-texturing current alien models. Its a really exciting project and I can't wait to play the end result.

I've also updated my Portfolio Website please take a look! any feedback is more than welcome.

The problem with being so busy is that I've forgotten to update the blog! I've just added an entry to show the finished book prop but I'm afraid a further image spam is on its way.

The Trapper 'buildable'
The Trapper is a small alien defensive structure, it spits adhesive goo at opposing human players which come within range. If hit and unless the human player is wearing a battle-suit, their turning speed will be drastically reduced, making them a vulnerable target to other alien buildables and/or alien players.

The old Trapper seen in Tremulous (2006):

Initial Concept:
Something we've tried to do with a lot of the updated alien buildables is to make them look more sentient. I did a lot of different designs but settled on one of my later concepts. I attempted to incorporate the old Trapper in to the new designs tail. I like the idea that its evolved but kept some of its old identity. Of course some of the development team like to joke that maybe it was just hiding under the ground before... Little do they know that was one of the founding ideas that influenced my designs, hence why it looks like some sort of subterranean worm (The Graboids from the film Tremours were used as reference - awesome.) I'm fond of the idea that maybe it was just cocooned under the surface awaiting its unholy metamorphosis!

High Poly Zbrush Sculpts and Polypaint texturing:

Final Low Poly Model, Renders and Breakdown.

Zbrush - Book (Incantartum Dragonomicon) - Low Poly

2012-01-21T16:17:00.000-08:00

I've been busy working on another project but I found time to finish the low poly book I was working on. I'm happy with the way it came out. If I come back to it I think maybe adding some variations with a little extra damage on the cover might be interesting.

I used Maya for creating the low poly, Zbrush for high poly detailing and Xnormal to bake out the maps.

Zbrush - Book (Incantartum Dragonomicon)

2011-12-04T07:48:00.001-08:00

The slightly pretentiously labeled 'Incantartum Dragonomicon.' Quoting my friend, "Warhammery stuff is fun to name!"

This is another prop from my Dragon/Cultist lair environment. I'm currently working on the low poly but this will be my last post until Christmas as I'm moving to Southampton tomorrow! No internet until the 6th of Jan.. boo!
I've aimed for an amalgamation of Celtic, Arabic and even some Aztec patterns, which have come together quite nicely (I wanted clear influences, an unmistakable mix of cultures but not so much that the book was grounded in reality.) Not sure about the runes on the front cover as the simplicity clashes with the detail of the rest of the book, I may make them look a little more complex. The two large blocks of symmetrical pages will also be hidden by randomly placed pages protruding at various angles.
The awesome watermarked design is by Josef Treweeks, I wasn't sure if it was a little extreme to watermark it but I wouldn't want anyone taking his artwork without his permission. I'll be using this design and another throughout the environment so much thanks to him!

Small Mushroom Props

2011-11-24T19:49:00.000-08:00

Some small mushrooms for the interior of the Dragon lair/Cultist Cave I intend to make. Some medium and large sized mushrooms still to come. I've tried to design them in a semi-modular fashion so they can be easily edited and placed. Low Poly modeled in Maya, High Poly sculpted in Zbrush.

IronMaiden_05

2011-11-08T16:02:00.000-08:00

Managed to fight through my man-cold to finish texturing the IronMaiden. *sniff*
I'll probably end up tweaking the maps (not sure about the eyes) while I work on some other props but for now I consider her complete! I played about with the lighting to try and back up some dramatic imagery in my head. I have some cool ideas about how I'd like her lit in the final UDK scene so consider this image a mock-up of what I'd like to achieve.

Gargoyle_prop

2011-11-07T07:17:00.000-08:00

Diffuse (+AO, Cavity), Normal and Normal detail.
No spec map yet but its in the works.

IronMaiden_WIP_04

2011-11-06T15:19:00.000-08:00

Back from Manchester and just in time for a little texturing! All texturing has been done in Photoshop so far, apart from a little seam correction in Mudbox. Also generated a detail Normal map from the diffuse by desaturating and editing the gray-scale values before throwing it through crazybump as a height map, alternatively nDo. It doesn't tile like an average detail map but it complements the diffuse and having the ability to tweak the smaller details away from the main normal map makes me happy.

IronMaiden_WIP_03

2011-11-02T09:19:00.000-07:00

Up in Manchester at the moment but I've had a fair amount of time to work on the IronMaiden prop. The Low Poly is pretty much complete, unwrapped and had AO + Normal maps baked. I'm pleased so far, just in need of some texturing and tweaking.

IronMaiden_WIP_02

2011-10-26T09:13:00.000-07:00

Started rebuilding the low poly. Not keen on poly distribution with the head ornament so I'll probably redo it. So far the High poly (excluding the head) is about 95% complete with just a few minor details to include, I'll post some screens of it as soon its ready to bake down.

The image below shows my low poly progress, unwrapped with Ambient occlusion, normal and cavity maps. I've also baked out displacement maps for use with dx11 tessellation (also implemented in the image.)

Iron Maiden_WIP_01

2011-10-21T11:55:00.000-07:00

WIP Iron Maiden prop for the Dragon Lair enviornment. I realise the arms are quite long but I wanted to try and reinforce her creepy factor. Still lots to do!

A short break.

2011-09-29T18:47:00.000-07:00

I'm off to Manchester for the next week so work on the environment will be slightly slower than usual. I'll be working on some designs for the environment so the Egg and Egg Holder prop are now going to be ticked off my list. I expect I'll be tweaking the maps at a later date, haven't got the blood quite how I want it yet.

DragonEgg Video Example

2011-09-28T19:36:00.000-07:00

So here's a video of the prop I've made and imported in to the Unreal engine. I've tried toning down the gold texture so the eye shouldn't be entirely focused on it. I decided to ditch the alpha style goo hanging from the egg as it just didn't look as I hoped it would, it also covered the nice rocky shell texture at the bottom of the egg. I imagined the Egg would have some animations in the final version like squirming and wriggling which would help it stand out more. Par particle effects like a fire and some splashes this is probably close to the final result.

View HD for best image quality.

UDK mats

2011-09-27T16:36:00.000-07:00

Spent the last day and a half inside UDK, setting up material nodes for the Dragon Egg and Egg-holder props. There's still some work on both props left to do. For the egg holder I'd like to separate the blood on the rocks with a mask so I can set it to a separate specular power, at the moment its too broad. This'll be easy as I've already done it with gold dragon heads and I always keep details such as blood decals on separate layers on my photoshop master file for easy masking. The Egg is also missing alpha details such as hanging ooze. I'll also need to look into particle effects such as blood splashes and fire effects.

2011-09-26T19:06:00.000-07:00

So far so good. Steep learning curve but surprisingly fun. Still lots to do! Trying to make some of my textures more dynamic and interesting to look at. All textures 1024x1024.

Eggholder_WIP_02

2011-09-24T19:53:00.000-07:00

First UDK mesh and material test. All materials at 1024x1024.

Eggholder_WIP_01

2011-09-23T17:41:00.000-07:00

Quite a large prop for my dragon environment (It holds the dragon eggs). I'll be putting it in UDK and fixing a few things, textures.etc. Updates to come soon.

Coins

2011-08-31T18:16:00.000-07:00

While figuring out how to make my Dragon lair environment, I've started to make some smaller props. A Dragon can't have a lair without a horde of gold so naturally I've just started making some coins. Although small, I've made several different textures for a single coin to try and make every few coins of the same type slightly different. They'll range in size and material, gold, silver, copper.etc aswell as weathering, rust, dirt.etc

Aswell as low poly models I'm also looking in to rendering them as flat 1 poly alphas to be layered over the environment floor. I'm also aiming to create piles of these coins as single static meshes.

Low Poly Dragon WIP 04

2011-08-23T18:12:00.000-07:00

Finished with this guy until I take him in to UDK (fun stuff.)

Enlarged Iris and pupil texture
Created Emissive layer for the eye
Created textures for Fins and Spines - Normal, Diffuse, Spec, Gloss
Added Alpha channel for Fins (cuts and tears.etc)
Reviewed and cleaned up existing normal maps

Low Poly Dragon WIP 03

2011-08-21T18:54:00.000-07:00

Painted in mudbox and photoshop.

Started working on:

Diffuse + ao + cavity maps
Spec
Gloss

Low Poly Dragon WIP 02

2011-08-16T05:43:00.001-07:00

Corrected all cavity maps, EDT & EMB
Increased anti aliasing on ambient occlusion maps
Updated with fins, skin flaps and tongue
Created a separate normal map with -Y for use in 3Ds max and UDK

Low Poly Dragon WIP

2011-08-15T06:56:00.001-07:00

Steroid Dragon

2011-08-12T17:26:00.001-07:00

Sword and Shield Texture Comparisons

2011-05-29T04:07:00.000-07:00

Tests to see how efficiently texture space was saved:

Sword and Shield Prop

2011-05-28T18:33:00.000-07:00

I've set myself a target to create a game prop piece or generally small CG model every 1-2 weeks. Its definitely a challenge as I'm working full time during the day and only have a few evenings free a week.

With this prop I set myself an extra little task: to waste as little UV space as possible. This should always be a priority but I really wanted to nail it. Getting textures to look good at 1024 x 1024 is my main task. A small polygon budget is also something I'm aiming for.

Here is my result rendered with a map resolution of 4096 x 4096 (Large I know but I really wanted something to compare lower map renders to.) I'll update with more images, including lower resolution maps tomorrow morning. Final Polygon count for both Shield and Sword was 960 tris.

Gun Transformation test

2011-05-13T12:44:00.000-07:00

Transformation_Test_01 from Daniel McCarthy on Vimeo.

A quick test displaying two different modes of the gun I've created.
Ammunition clips have been excluded for the time being.

(Zdepth cuts out early, will be corrected)

DW V Gun progress_04

2011-05-07T08:48:00.001-07:00

Not quite finished yet but here's some renders without the ammunition clip or energy cell. About 3k tri's in total.
Textures are pretty much finished although I'm yet to do a specular map. I've used a few different lighting set-ups. I think the 2nd lighting set-up definitely helps show off the normals better.

This is just me fooling about but I quite liked the result. - In game? =P Tempted to put it in UDK now!

DW V Gun progress_03

2011-05-04T16:12:00.000-07:00

High res from Maya:

High res Zbrush detailing:

Zbrush Texture experiment:

Low Poly texturing, taking inspiration from the art-style in the game 'Borderlands':

DW V Gun progress_02

2011-04-27T14:12:00.000-07:00

Here is some progress on the DW gun. I've hit a bit of a stand-still with concerns to where the ammunition is stored and how it'll reload.etc I've designed it to have two types of ammunition, an energy based cell inserted into the main grip and a more traditional clip, inserted into the top back. I'm keen on the current placement of the main clip (drawing inspiration from the P90) although its currently too small. My favoured option here is to elongate the clip without destroying any of the transformations. I've also got to figure out an accessible way of reloading as the elongated clip would have to be under a rail (A rail the scope sits upon in its sniper function.)

Other options would be to change where the main ammunition clip inserts, although on my second image, both B. and C. would get in the way of its alternate functions.

DW V Gun progress

2011-04-26T14:32:00.000-07:00

I started work on the character's weapon. I really wanted it to have a multi functionality, almost like a Swiss-army knife. The weapon is supposed to reflect on the characters ability to adapt to any situation. So far these are just showing me trying to work everything out, you'll notice at this early stage I'm experimenting with both high and low poly. Although 'blocky', its got fairly complex pretty fast. I'm aiming to get it to transform fairly fluidly, making as much sense to the eye as possible. I think I'll allow the realism to slide if needed, for example if a minor object needs to pass through another to get to the desired transformation it can do so. Allowing smaller technicalities to pass should help me keep the finished model's poly count fairly low.

DW V

2011-04-25T16:22:00.000-07:00

I've decided to participate in Dominance war V this year to try and learn some new techniques, gain some experience and have some fun! As I'm in work, I've been finding it hard to find the time to commit to working on it but I feel like I should be really pushing myself so here are some rough concepts/designs:

I've been dying for a project with specific requirements/rules since leaving Uni so I'm glad to be finally getting involved.

10_Vexgnaw WIP

2010-12-16T17:52:00.000-08:00

A quick texture test before I go to bed. Will probably use this as a foundation to play with polypaint features. (Spec's ramped a little high..)

Long awaited update

2010-10-28T16:59:00.000-07:00

Since starting as a texture artist at Dinamo productions I've been way busier outside of work than I ever could have predicted. Keeping a constant effort to work on my portfolio seems like a loosing battle but its probably my own fault for choosing such an ambitious project to complete. -_-

I haven't had time to work on Vexgnaw for a few weeks now so I'm officially putting him on pause until I have a a decent stretch of time to properly commit to him. Don't worry, I'm sure as hell not giving up on him!

Here's as far as I got :

I'm quite happy with the result so far, hopefully textures will truly make him come to life (looking forward to that bit.)

As for the time being I've decided to take what I've learnt making Vexgnaw and apply it to a fresh new project. So far I've just had time to block out a rough head base mesh. I'll be following information from Scott Spencer's "ZBrush Digital Sculpting Human Anatomy" book. I'm currently using his heroic character model as a guide for my base mesh but wont be using Zbrush for the detailing =O. I'm also attempting to model by dragging out faces rather than subdividing from a box. Experimenting with topology... sad to admit but I'm finding it rather therapeutic. Here's the head I created:

I'm happy with the majority of it but do feel like there could be more Polys shaping the side of the nose, probably something I'll look in to after finishing the rest of the body.

I'll post an update of my progress asap. All comments/advise are welcome =) (currently fighting with the torso and arms.. mostly arms.)

09_Vexgnaw WIP

2010-09-12T17:51:00.000-07:00

Here's a 4k preview of my progress so far. Belt was a pain to create, may have to go back to it at a later date. Need to get the lower legs in and move on to creating his backpack.

08_Vexgnaw

2010-09-05T15:43:00.001-07:00

Got a chance to add the arms in this afternoon. Took longer than expected as I had to retopologise each limb before unwrapping and rendering the maps. Ran into a few problems but managed to overcome them after several cups of tea.

I'm particularly pleased with how his non-mutated hand has come out, hands being something I've always found awkward to model.

07_Vexgnaw WIP

2010-08-31T17:06:00.000-07:00

Starting to run in to a few problems...

06_Vexgnaw WIP

2010-08-20T08:04:00.000-07:00

Click to view HD

05_Vexgnaw WIP

2010-08-18T12:35:00.001-07:00

Some tests with displacement maps, rendered in 3dMax. I'm hoping to get a similar test up in Maya asap.

*Updated with progress so far before I go to bed =) I aim to get the chest complete before I try and replicate it all in Maya.

04_Vexgnaw WIP

2010-08-10T11:11:00.000-07:00

03_Vexgnaw WIP

2010-08-05T12:29:00.000-07:00

Blocking out the hard surfaces at the moment, shoulder guards will probably be redone. Progress on this character had been slowed during this past month for various reasons but fortunately these next few weeks look clear so there shouldn't be anything stopping me! This is probably the hardest and most ambitious character project I've set myself so any advise or critism is more than welcome.

02_Vexgnaw WIP

2010-07-15T12:09:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick screen grab from Zbrush to show my current progress with Vexgnaw.

*I'll update this post with more images soon

01_Vexgnaw WIP

2010-07-06T10:46:00.000-07:00

Made a start on Vexgnaw today although there's still a lot of work to do before he looks more like the concept. I'm still piecing him together and working out what needs to be done and how I'm going to do it.

The only thing bothering me is working out how I'm going to go about the hard surface detailing, I'd like to get sufficient detail while keeping it relatively low poly.* If anyone can tell me any tips or knows any books, webpages that might help me learn hard surface detailing techniques I'd greatly appreciate it.

*Making two versions for Film and Game.

'Vexgnaw' Character Concept

2010-06-26T18:10:00.000-07:00

This is a concept for a self set project I'm currently working on. Consider it fan art for 'Warhammer 40k.' I love the universe its set in and thought I'd like to do nothing more than create some concepts and character models while I have some spare time.

*I'll update this post with more information regarding the character and project soon

Warhammer 40,000 is © Games Workshop

Concepts

2010-06-20T03:34:00.001-07:00

Here are some concepts I created for my teams 'dare to be digital' entry this year. I think we had a really good game idea and mechanic but unfortunately we didn't get through. I was quite disappointed but I feel a lot of good came from it, especially by taking the time to do some traditional and digital concepts. It was a nice change and refreshed my respect for concept artists and illustrators.

When I started my degree I wanted to be a concept artist but as the course progressed I started to realise concept design was mainly focused on the 2D course. This caused some confusion for me but I quickly started enjoying the 3D elements, especially modeling and texturing. Now when looking back, I'm so glad I chose to do what I did. I've enjoyed it so much, I don't think I can imagine not being a 3D artist!

I like the 'Zombie boar' image so much I think I'll defiantly have to create a 3D model of it!

Graduate Showreel

2010-06-12T07:53:00.000-07:00

Daniel McCarthy Graduate Showreel from Daniel McCarthy on Vimeo.

My Graduate showreel, containing clips from a variety of projects I undertook during my 3rd year studying Computer Animation at Glamorgan University : Atrium. The showreel also contains clips from a collaboration project called 'spider attack,' a short visual effects sequence by Myself (Daniel McCarthy - CG artist), Sean_Rowlands (VFX artist) and Mark Nicholas (Animator).

'Spider Attack' - short film

2010-06-10T03:50:00.000-07:00

Spider Attack - Final Cinema Render from Sean Rowlands on Vimeo.

Aracnoid!

2010-05-17T03:56:00.000-07:00

Heres the lovely spiderbot pretty much all finished up =) Im considering adding some blood alphas to the feeding tubes on the face and maybe some bullet decals on the metal plating. Input welcome!

Also rendered shot 3 of our spider attack film. A short action sequence featuring the animation of Mark Nicholas, visual effects of Sean_Rowlands and modeling, texturing and general 'artyness' of myself. Hope to put some stills up soon.

Turret Prop

2010-05-14T18:45:00.000-07:00

Spider WIP teaser

2010-05-13T08:11:00.000-07:00

Me and Sean have been working on some Blood effects for our little 'Aracnoid attack' film. Check it out =)

Models and Textures - Daniel McCarthy
Animation - Mark Nicholas
VFX - Sean Rowlands

Blood Splatter Test from Sean Rowlands on Vimeo.

Exterior Environment WIP

2010-05-13T07:13:00.000-07:00

Exterior Sky WIP

2010-05-12T17:07:00.000-07:00

So i've spent all day trying to get this right, and while its not quite there yet I think its in a good enough place to leave for the time being. So much to do, so little time!

Environment feedback update

2010-05-11T05:31:00.000-07:00

I've updated my interior with a ceiling, magnetic pipe hooks and hopefully screens that now look more like screens and less like posters. Thanks to Sean Rowlands who's been helping with the screen animations.

Any more feedback would be great =)

Interior feedback

2010-05-09T08:24:00.000-07:00

Updated some of my interior, mainly the propaganda posters due to 1st submittal feedback. They did look far too clean before...

Spider Texture WIP

2010-05-07T15:10:00.000-07:00

Zbrush bodydouble

2010-05-05T14:54:00.001-07:00

These are my Zbrush sculpts of the body double character so far, click here for a peek at the greenscreen footage we shot useing a tasty Red camera. Hoping to have more up soon, including the low poly character in progress.

Interior updated

2010-05-05T13:08:00.000-07:00

Environment interior?

2010-04-24T18:12:00.000-07:00

Wip character

2010-04-06T15:07:00.000-07:00

Major Character

2010-03-31T07:01:00.000-07:00

Here's a current WIP of my major character project. Its modeled with games in mind but might be used in a short film as a body double to swap with a live action character. The face wont be seen as it'll be behind a gas mask but I used the opportunity to model my friends face underneath just because I can =P A sort of mini project I guess.

Really need to learn how to model creases.. time to watch those Richard Smith tutorials =S

Establishing shot V.1

2010-02-27T07:03:00.000-08:00

Handed in render Version one from Sean Rowlands on Vimeo.

View HD on Vimeo for best quality.

A collaborative piece done with Sean Rowlands, a friend studying motion design. We hope to add more in the following week to help make it more interesting. Currently we want to include a zoom out from the tower in the background, to bring the viewer in to the shot and various small changes to the background. A subtle twisting movement in the background, spaceships?, low opacity clouds, rain that seems more effected by the wind and shadows on the characters are a few of the changes on our list. Any feedback would be great!

Terrain tests

2010-02-22T09:24:00.000-08:00

Making terrain on 3d max for the first time :S Ignore the white boarder on the plane, I'll kill it soon.

1st image : 640,000 tris =(

2nd image : 10,000 tris

3rd image : 2,500 tris =)

4th image : 1 poly?

(I wont use this but I think it shows I can push it pretty low)

Environment WIP

2010-02-19T15:17:00.000-08:00

Hope to post some more images soon but heres a taste of the environment I'm creating. Please feel free to comment!

Texture tests

2010-02-05T15:03:00.001-08:00

Think I'm slowly getting the hang of this... feel free to comment, I'd like to hear some feedback.

Texture test

2010-02-04T09:14:00.000-08:00

05 Collab - New head design

2010-01-28T01:11:00.000-08:00

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the head at the moment. I think there are some features I'd like to mess with more but straying too far from the initial design idea isn't good. We decided to get rid of the large eyes as it felt too human and the remaining four, smaller eyes made it look far more intimidating. After more thought my animator friend and collaborator decided larger eyes should be re-included, reason being it could show emotion through its eyes and the current ones were too small for that. I've tried my best to create more animistic eyes now (as opposed to humanoid but something doesn't feel quite right, perhaps the profile is too flat?

If anyone has any input I'd be grateful to hear it.

I've just managed to create a mock-up of the body so far, work still to be done so the model isnt finished yet. Images below.

04 Collab - Spider Robot Update

2010-01-25T08:56:00.000-08:00

Here's an update of Spiderbot in his currant state. Haven't had a lot of time to work on him over the weekend, but the deadline I set is nearing and modelling needs to end! =P

03 Collab - Spider Robot Face/Layout

2010-01-21T16:01:00.001-08:00

Spent the majority of the day on Zbrush sculpting a head for the Bionic spider-majig. Made some good progress but still no where near finished. I have a tutorial in the morning so It'll be good to get some feedback. I think the design will change quite a bit from where it is now, after refreshing my eyes I keep finding bits to change.

02 Collab - Robot Legs

2010-01-19T14:17:00.000-08:00

Here's today's work. Lots of tweaking/adjusting done to the shape of the leg, attempted to give it a more organic shape as the creature itself is supposed to be bionic. The claw was also changed to make it look more unusual and give it a bit of variety. I've also redesigned the claw to work more as if it were a type of spring-loaded mechanism. I think this new design will work well especially making seance off gripping and scaling vertical surfaces as my collaborator intended it to animate.

Here's a possible idea for a form of attack using the new design as a more 'interesting' weapon. I'm yet to run it past the person I'm doing this for, so as for now this will stay as an idea and only in very basic form. It basically just uses the new 'spring-loaded' claw as a type of spinning blade, this just gives the creature a bit more variety in possible attacks.

Now the shape of the leg is almost finalised I need to go in and cut down on some poly's and sort out any messy topology. Hopefully I can make a good start on the body tomorrow.

01 Colab - Robot Legs

2010-01-18T16:24:00.000-08:00

I'm making a spider robot for a classmate as part of my collaboration this year. I thought I'd post up my progress as part of more regular updates to my blog. My first day working on this project and I've managed to re-create the robot leg from the initial design sheet given to me. Its taken a fair bit of tweaking to get a shape we're happy with but not too stressful! Here is the leg so far and a test to make sure the model can move about. Its not my job to rig or animate this but I've got to make sure the model can move about so my collaborator wont have trouble =)

As always comments are welcome, especially in this early stage.

Robot Concept

2010-01-10T06:53:00.001-08:00

Illustration concept peice for a robot character I'm creating. Theres a monkey inside him =) Monkeys are awesome. FACT.

Intro to Mudbox, Game character project

2009-12-07T11:23:00.000-08:00

For this project we were asked to take an existing character from tv or book.etc and make them in to a computer game character. I chose 'Kal Jerico', a bounty hunter from the Necromunda/Warhammer universe. Initial research for this character was tough but I managed to gather some visuals and put together a model sheet to work from.

The final game model was made using 3d Max (for texturing), Maya (for modeling), Photoshop cs3, Mudbox (vital to the project brief), Zbrush (because I don't like mudbox stencils) and Xnormal.

I'm happy with the outcome but there are plenty of areas I feel I could work on, such as more texture detail on the clothing and alphas to go with the hair.

Critique more than welcome!

Introduction to Maya - Environment

2009-11-01T06:30:00.000-08:00

First project back in Uni was to create an environment in Maya. This is a programme most of us had never used before so it was a lot of work for the amount of time given. The project itself was very rewarding and some of the environments created were really awesome. The below is my result!

I was quite clearly influenced by the research methods of the recent 'Brutal Legend' game. I looked at a lot of metal album covers and my concepts went from 'Shrine' to 'Sacrificial Mosh Pit to the Gods of Rock!' Had a lot of fun with this one and managed to get some HD renders, so hope you like it!

There is a lot I'd do differently now I know more but in the end I think it was quite successful. Getting my head around hypershade was probably the hardest thing of this project but now I know how it works I can see how useful it can be. After using Maya for about 2 weeks I'd say I'd probably feel more comfortable modeling in 3dMax but I think I'd be inclined to texture in Maya.

Using the Zbrush Tools

2009-09-27T16:12:00.000-07:00

I've started working my way through some books I purchased, in particular 'Zbrush Character Creation, Advanced Digital Sculpting' by Scott Spencer. So far this book seems great! It comes with a DVD with video tutorials but I'm yet to watch any as the book itself has me glued to the pages.

I spent a few hours on the first tutorial which talks about the importance of Gesture, Form, Proportion and introduces you to the basic tools required to start sculpting. Although I'd had some prior experience experimenting with the different brushes and tools, the first tutorial introduced me to some features I hadn't yet come across. These were features like the lazy mouse and transpose tools. I also managed to use and successfully navigate Subtools for the first time. Surprisingly easy! For me the most fun part of this exercise was actually modeling an eye. There was a lot of satisfaction to gain after using the masking tool in conjunction with various brushes to get a set of realistic looking eyes in almost no time at all. Awesomeness! Bring on tutorial 2!

Zspheres!

2009-09-26T06:05:00.000-07:00

My first attempt at Zspheres pre 3.5 Saw 'District 9' on Wednesday and loved the special effects so I thought I'd try making a prawn alien!

Semi successful and fun although I found the process interesting but a little awkward at times.

I think this will be something I'll come back to at a later date. All in all I learnt quite a lot so I'm looking forward to giving it another go!

Ctrl+N

2009-09-25T06:20:00.000-07:00

Here's something I did during summer. My imagination went nuts with this one so its probably one of my more personal creations. I titled it Ctrl+N, its a bit surreal but I had great fun making it and it taught me a lot! I'll be sure to use the techniques I taught myself when making this piece during my coming year at Uni. Its always great fun to play with photoshop! I created it for conceptart.org's 'Newborn' contest. I'm starting to find online competitions a great way of improving my skills =)

Comp

2009-09-10T05:12:00.000-07:00

I decided to spend some time working on a competition entry for the Imagine FXs 50th issue. Here is what I've done so far. Quite a lot of work still to go...

Zbrush intro

2009-08-14T16:13:00.000-07:00

I had a little look at using different brushes and alphas today. Quite interesting stuff, I can see how easy it would be to create very interesting textures with experience. I used the clay brush when initially modeling, instead of the standard and also played about with clay tubes. I also experimented with masking, embarrassingly it took me a while to figure out how to deselect the highlighted surface but in the end it helped with the nose.

Couldn't resist letting my imagination take over today, aliens on the brain! Over the next few days I think I'll try and learn how to add/create separate elements to the model, like teeth, eyes and maybe hair. I think I'll also try and experiment with different combinations of brushes, strokes and alphas.

Day 2 in Zbrush

2009-08-12T15:21:00.000-07:00

This is the 2nd sculpt I've made in Zbrush and I think I'm progressing quite well. Today I tried to use the pinch tool. Some quite cool brushes in Zbrush, hopefully I'll learn to use one a day or something. Starting to feel a little more comfortable with the controls now.

Getting started in Zbrush

2009-08-11T12:43:00.000-07:00

I've just started introducing myself to Zbrush 3 and my experience so far has been very positive! Its taken me a little while to get used to the scary interface but now I've had a proper look at the different brushes and vast options I feel little more confident. The customisable interface is very impressive and makes working feel very personal. The above image is my first attempt at sculpting anything and was pretty good fun! Thank god I've got my Wacom tablet working again!

2nd year showreel

2009-08-01T06:38:00.000-07:00

Daniel McCarthy - BA2 Computer Animation from ATRiuM CCI on Vimeo.

(Better quality video to be posted soon)

This is my submitted work for the end of my 2nd year in Uni. It got me nominated for 'best 2nd year' which was a great honor. Its amazing how much I've learnt this year and I'm really starting to feel comfortable in programmes like 3D max. I'm looking forward to starting my 3rd year as things I didn't really understand in my 2nd year are suddenly becoming clear to me now. I still find some of the technical aspects a bit mind boggling but I remember that same feeling starting up Photoshop almost 10 years ago. If I had more time on this project (it all went so fast!) I think I would have liked to experiment with normal maps and also do more hand drawn designs.

On a more personal note, I have a feeling that because I've been doing mostly digital work lately people doubt my capability with a pencil. One person in particular who mentioned this to me was my tutor and its been eating away at me since. I've always been confident using pencils but due to spending the majority of my time trying to figure out how to use certain computer programmes to enhance my 3D work, I guess I've been neglecting more traditional skills. When I get back to Uni I'll have to make sure I keep practicing and not forget how much fun traditional methods are!

At the end of this video you'll notice my work for the BBC 'talking dog' project. This was great fun and I'm so glad I was asked by my classmates to take part in it. I've always had a huge interest in Matte paintings and always wanted to give it a go. This assignment gave me the freedom to experiment with techniques I've always wanted to try. Despite the length of the establishing shots, getting a feeling of life and movement in these images was very self satisfying!
Much thanks to my friends in Motion design for teaching me how to use Adobe After Effects in such a short amount of time!

2009-07-31T18:48:00.000-07:00

Forgot to include this in my last post but here's a quick illustration I created for my Valkyrie character. I wish I was given more time with this, it felt really rushed and uses a lot from my finished character turn arounds. Originally I wanted to create something from scratch so I could work on Corel Painter and try and learn some of the interface. Unfortuatly I couldn't afford to take the risk as I was running close to my deadline so I ended up back in Photoshop. Despite being unhappy with how this image was created Im pleased with the result.

More 2nd year work

2009-07-31T16:43:00.000-07:00

This is a turn around for a character I produced for my major project. Shes a space Valkyrie! Had a lot of fun creating the designs for her. An unusual approach but I learnt so much! I bought a shape theory DVD from massive black which was a huge help and taught me lots. Andrew Jones has become a massive inspiration in my work. Good stuff =) I recommend it to anyone interested in concept art and illustration!

After going nuts on these designs I realised the whole point in designing this character was to make it in 3d. I cant say there wasn't a point where I wondered how on earth I'd go about this but I was having so much fun designing that I wouldn't let the doubting 3D artist in me take over. Eventualy I managed to think about what parts of the design worried me the most and came up with some solutions. I'll be posting the finished 3D version soon.

Below is the Valkyrie characters hover bike. Also had a lot of fun designing this. When I get into the swing of dispalying my artwork on this blog I'll probably end up posting all the crazy variations and weird contraptions that existed before it was finalised as a bike. I tried to keep some bold Norse influences into mind at all times when designing this.

2nd year final project work

2009-07-30T05:27:00.000-07:00

Here's some work I did for my major project in Uni. These are two illustrations I made for a friend and fellow student. She asked me to produce a design for two characters, an Orc and a Dragon for her fantasy inspired end of year film.

They were created using photoshop and I had great fun in the process. Whenever I try and practice digital painting for concept art and illustration I always find myself resorting to my usual photo-manipulation techniques. I don't know why this happens but I'm starting to realise that maybe instead of avoiding the techniques I already know maybe I should just adapt and experiment with them.

Although these Illustrations didn't take me too long to create I did manage to learn a few useful techniques and effects that I'll be sure to incorporate in to future works. If I had more time on these I'd probably like to clean up some of the edges and possibly work on rough backgrounds. The Dragon initially had wings too but I felt they didn't really do justice to the image as a whole so that's definitely something I'd like to come back to.