Graphics/Design stuff Q&A

Frozpot

Since 7335 Days

Man, I am REALLY liking illustrator! Really quite powerful. Also, just got Zbrush- my evenings have now been filled :)

In reply to

Oooh, Profound, isn't it?

PlumbDrumb

Since 7570 Days

I was thinking of enrolling in a few classes to get back up to snuff and take advantage of the student discount (75%!!)

an additional plus would be the opportunity to turn a Macintosh on its head :D
(last I checked the local colleges don't use Windows in their multimedia departments, but that was like 4 years ago)

In reply to

Oh well, whatever

GriftGFX

Since 7576 Days

I'm actually taking a class in my downtime. Not a design class though, 'cause I feel like I know enough where I can grow on my own there. It's a silkscreen thing. I figured since I want to do more screen printing and design for screen printing it would be good to start from the beginning, even though I'm already somewhat familiar with more advanced techniques. Plus, it's something to do once or twice a week. Oh, and I get to look at college chicks. Not that I need to be reminded of how old I am.

I've been really lazy since I got back from Florida. I haven't really done much work but I'm going to force myself to get back into it this week. I have a logo gig to do which should help. I also have an idea for another print/shirt design which I want to start on, but I really need to go back over some old editorial and identity stuff so I can get some work up online that I actually like.

In reply to

Frozpot

Since 7335 Days

Posted by PlumbDrumb

I was thinking of enrolling in a few classes to get back up to snuff and take advantage of the student discount (75%!!)

an additional plus would be the opportunity to turn a Macintosh on its head :D
(last I checked the local colleges don't use Windows in their multimedia departments, but that was like 4 years ago)

LOL, the school I'm attending uses only Macs. All they seem to do is stutter and crash. I thought those things were the "graphic artist" computers, lol, the ones I use are total shit compared to my 3 year old PC...

In reply to

Oooh, Profound, isn't it?

PlumbDrumb

Since 7570 Days

I know man, add to that most schools update hardware only every few years, whereas they keep the latest versions of software installed, without system maintenance...
You end up with a nuke on a hair trigger.

Their lovely Windows machines are all tucked into the drafting departments and such.

In reply to

Oh well, whatever

SimonM7

Since 7600 Days

In terms of online galleries or spaces to put your works on, what do you guys recommend? Is Deviant Art the go-to place?

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http://www.twitter.com/simonlundmark - Follow me on twitter

Frozpot

Since 7335 Days

Posted by SimonM7

In terms of online galleries or spaces to put your works on, what do you guys recommend? Is Deviant Art the go-to place?

Deviant Art seems pretty over-saturated, but if you want to put up some stuff its fine. The fact that random people can stumble on your stuff is cool. If you just plan on directing people to your stuff, it doesn't really matter where you put it. I've got a Dev Art account but I don't use it much. I'm working on a personal website right now(sort of, I don't have much time for anything right now). I just put up a quick little Reel on YouTube( 2 gigabyte limit now, which is nice). It's really just a few test renders, but I need something to show to employers even if I don't have anything truely indicative of my capabilities( put the vid together in 2 evenings). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0N8HENX9cc There it is. Be brutal, even though I probably already know most of what you'll say critically( there are some weak design elements, but as I said, I don't have much time to throw this stuff together).

If you have a reel, SimonM7, then I think Youtube is a great place to put it for exposure and ease of sharing. Especially if you pick the right tags...

In reply to

[quote=SimonM7]In terms of online galleries or spaces to put your works on, what do you guys recommend? Is Deviant Art the go-to place?[/quote]
Deviant Art seems pretty over-saturated, but if you want to put up some stuff its fine.  The fact that random people can stumble on your stuff is cool.  If you just plan on directing people to your stuff, it doesn't really matter where you put it.  I've got a Dev Art account but I don't use it much.  I'm working on a personal website right now(sort of, I don't have much time for anything right now).  I just put up a quick little Reel on YouTube( 2 gigabyte limit now, which is nice).  It's really just a few test renders, but I need something to show to employers even if I don't have anything truely indicative of my capabilities( put the vid together in 2 evenings). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0N8HENX9cc There it is.  Be brutal, even though I probably already know most of what you'll say critically( there are some weak design elements, but as I said, I don't have much time to throw this stuff together).

If you have a reel, SimonM7, then I think Youtube is a great place to put it for exposure and ease of sharing.  Especially if you pick the right tags...

Oooh, Profound, isn't it?

Megido

Since 6902 Days

For some reason all of the students last year used Vimeo rather than Youtube for their demo reels.

As for crits on the stuff, maybe do a lip sync rather than just blend shapes for the face, also bring that thing in to zbrush and sculpt the crap out of it :) The most glaring thing though, is the knight. His hand, looks rather floaty and unattached to the belt, you might want to try setting up a FK/IK switch on the arm chain and use IK for that part instead, as IK is a lot better for planting a hand somewhere.

In reply to

Take a bath!? Get a bike!

Frozpot

Since 7335 Days

Posted by Megido

For some reason all of the students last year used Vimeo rather than Youtube for their demo reels.

As for crits on the stuff, maybe do a lip sync rather than just blend shapes for the face, also bring that thing in to zbrush and sculpt the crap out of it :) The most glaring thing though, is the knight. His hand, looks rather floaty and unattached to the belt, you might want to try setting up a FK/IK switch on the arm chain and use IK for that part instead, as IK is a lot better for planting a hand somewhere.

Thanks for input. That was a test animation/render I did in an evening. I was practicing moving the body with the audio track. I actually did do a lip sync on that one( guy with sword) using some line from "BeetleJuice" I had floating around. The full screen face is my newest one and the work with the shaders doesn't come through on the Youtube vid. I only have 5 morph targets for that so far. Like I said, it's just a bunch of tests I rendered out over night. I just got Zbrush, but haven't had time to install it. My life is massively busy and I had to put off doing some homework to put it together( the only things I really like in it are my walk cycle at the end and the painter/dancer animation for my logo)...

In reply to

[quote=Megido]For some reason all of the students last year used Vimeo rather than Youtube for their demo reels.

As for crits on the stuff, maybe do a lip sync rather than just blend shapes for the face, also bring that thing in to zbrush and sculpt the crap out of it :) The most glaring thing though, is the knight. His hand, looks rather floaty and unattached to the belt, you might want to try setting up a FK/IK switch on the arm chain and use IK for that part instead, as IK is a lot better for planting a hand somewhere.[/quote]
Thanks for input. That was a test animation/render I did in an evening.  I was practicing moving the body with the audio track.  I actually did do a lip sync on that one( guy with sword) using some line from "BeetleJuice" I had floating around.  The full screen face is my newest one and the work with the shaders doesn't come through on the Youtube vid.  I only have 5 morph targets for that so far.  Like I said, it's just a bunch of tests I rendered out over night.  I just got Zbrush, but haven't had time to install it.  My life is massively busy and I had to put off doing some homework to put it together( the only things I really like in it are my walk cycle at the end and the painter/dancer animation for my logo)...

Oooh, Profound, isn't it?

Megido

Since 6902 Days

Don't get me wrong, it looks alright, i was just offering my input on the parts where i thought there was room for a little improvement :)

For an animation done in one night, including rendering, the knight is passable, but if you plan on applying for work with it i think you should really spend some more time on it. But really, if you are going to do characters, get that zbrush up and running asap, it'll cut your time working on a body and face down by a whole LOT. I started sculpting on a sword hilt the other day, took me maybe two or three hours to get this far: http://i.imgur.com/IOt36.jpg

In reply to

Take a bath!? Get a bike!

Frozpot

Since 7335 Days

Posted by Megido

Don't get me wrong, it looks alright, i was just offering my input on the parts where i thought there was room for a little improvement :)

For an animation done in one night, including rendering, the knight is passable, but if you plan on applying for work with it i think you should really spend some more time on it. But really, if you are going to do characters, get that zbrush up and running asap, it'll cut your time working on a body and face down by a whole LOT. I started sculpting on a sword hilt the other day, took me maybe two or three hours to get this far: http://i.imgur.com/IOt36.jpg

I agree man. It is a little embarrassing, honestly. I just wish that whole time thing wasn't an issue :) I would LOVE to get into Zbrush. Neat sword hilt, and it really illustrates how much of an advantage Zbrush is...

In reply to

Oooh, Profound, isn't it?

Megido

Since 6902 Days

Hey, have a look at my latest project. I got a little inspired by playing Amnesia and thought i'd model and texture my own lantern. I've got some rendering problems currently but i still want to show it. Nothi8ng fancy so far, just an occlusion pass, diffuse map, specular map and a transparency map. I'm going to make a normal map, i just haven't gotten too it yet. I'm going to add more grime and wear to it as well, but i'm kind of sucky at texturing so the work is progressing slowly :P

Can't get the transparency to work with mental ray for some reason :\
http://imgur.com/tJNix.jpg

I snagged a real-time shot too, with working transparency.

In reply to

"I still don't know if snakes make good pets, but at least they've got your f****g back."

GriftGFX

Since 7576 Days

Show and tell time? I just tried to print this yesterday. The layers are a bit off registration on my print, but it's the first time I've actually taken four colors to a silk screen before.

I'll probably give it a second go after I get a little better at it.

In reply to

Frozpot

Since 7335 Days

Posted by Megido

Hey, have a look at my latest project. I got a little inspired by playing Amnesia and thought i'd model and texture my own lantern. I've got some rendering problems currently but i still want to show it. Nothi8ng fancy so far, just an occlusion pass, diffuse map, specular map and a transparency map. I'm going to make a normal map, i just haven't gotten too it yet. I'm going to add more grime and wear to it as well, but i'm kind of sucky at texturing so the work is progressing slowly :P

Can't get the transparency to work with mental ray for some reason :\nhttp://imgur.com/tJNix.jpg

I snagged a real-time shot too, with working transparency.

Looks good to me, man. Are you going for a lowish poly-count? If not I'd step up the, er, steps for your lathe- the polys are showing some. Also, are you using Mental Ray materials for your transparency? Sometimes it doesn't like things like transparency/ translucency if it's not a Mental Ray material. Of course, I don't know if you are using a ray-trace material or not. Also, if you aren't getting too crazy, a good bump map for something like that would work just fine. Especially if you make good use of your specular map for reflectivity levels of rust/dirt versus clean metal. What kind of light generation are you using? Just a global, or are you using the photometric lights? Are you using a spot/ fill combo?

On a side note, I was really digging Zbrush, but I can't seem to get the UV coordinates to transfer right from Max. Whenever I convert my displacement map in xNormal, it picks up all the edges on my faces, thus ruining it. Zbrush also exports the Map in little tiny peices. I'm thinking I am not prepping my meshes right before I export to obj. in Max.

@GriftGTX I like it. You have a nice style.

In reply to

[quote=Megido]Hey, have a look at my latest project. I got a little inspired by playing Amnesia and thought i'd model and texture my own lantern. I've got some rendering problems currently but i still want to show it. Nothi8ng fancy so far, just an occlusion pass, diffuse map, specular map and a transparency map. I'm going to make a normal map, i just haven't gotten too it yet. I'm going to add more grime and wear to it as well, but i'm kind of sucky at texturing so the work is progressing slowly :P

Can't get the transparency to work with mental ray for some reason :\nhttp://imgur.com/tJNix.jpg

I snagged a real-time shot too, with working transparency.
[IMG]http://imgur.com/ANWlw.jpg[/IMG][/quote]
Looks good to me, man.  Are you going for a lowish poly-count?  If not I'd step up the, er, steps for your lathe- the polys are showing some.  Also, are you using Mental Ray materials for your transparency?  Sometimes it doesn't like things like transparency/ translucency if it's not a Mental Ray material.  Of course, I don't know if you are using a ray-trace material or not.  Also, if you aren't getting too crazy, a good bump map for something like that would work just fine.  Especially if you make good use of your specular map for reflectivity levels of rust/dirt versus clean metal. What kind of light generation are you using?  Just a global, or are you using the photometric lights?  Are you using a spot/ fill combo?

On a side note, I was really digging Zbrush, but I can't seem to get the UV coordinates to transfer right from Max. Whenever I convert my displacement map in xNormal, it picks up all the edges on my faces, thus ruining it.  Zbrush also exports the Map in little tiny peices.  I'm thinking I am not prepping my meshes right before I export to obj. in Max.

@GriftGTX I like it.  You have a nice style.

Oooh, Profound, isn't it?

Megido

Since 6902 Days

No i'm going for a low-poly mesh. I'm just under 5000 tris atm.
http://imgur.com/gwmrT.jpg

I'm using a regular maya material though and yes, that might well be it. Though i don't think i'll bother rendering it in mental ray, i'll just use vray or something instead, so much easier :P

As for baking in xnormal, how do you do it? Your low-poly mesh has to have correct UV-layout, the high poly mesh though, not so much. Just export the high-poly mesh as an obj from zbrush and it should be good to go.

In reply to

"I still don't know if snakes make good pets, but at least they've got your f****g back."

SimonM7

Since 7600 Days

That's really cool! I really need to learn to use curves and dynamic/organic width when doing "clean" portrait type stuff. I always fall back on texture, which is alright when your motif is a man, but you can't really put facial hair and wrinkles all over a lady face, and contours carry a lot of weight then in order to still make it interesting to look at.

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GriftGFX

Since 7576 Days

Thanks. It's part of my on-going focus on screen printing. This still accounts for basically zero percent (from a small pool!) of my professional work, but I would like to move more and more into this area as I press forward. I still need to go back and focus a little more squarely on more typical corporate visual communication, and soon, because I need the content to put online and into a new portfolio, but I'm pretty happy with how this stuff is coming along anyway. Here's a potential all-over shirt layout for the same design:

I'm submitting this one to some sites, starting with unitee.com. I don't know if it's a good choice for this particular design, but they do all-over prints and it certainly can't hurt. These contest sites are a little too big these days. The amount of really good content they have coming in almost certainly exceeds the demand. But while I continue to produce more work, it doesn't hurt to promote what I have, I guess.

I printed this a few times over the last week too. My registration skills are improving. On paper, that is, I haven't really started to print on clothing.

In reply to

Thanks. It's part of my on-going focus on screen printing. This still accounts for basically zero percent (from a small pool!) of my professional work, but I would like to move more and more into this area as I press forward. I still need to go back and focus a little more squarely on more typical corporate visual communication, and soon, because I need the content to put online and into a new portfolio, but I'm pretty happy with how this stuff is coming along anyway. Here's a potential all-over shirt layout for the same design:

[img]http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2010/296/a/2/a2998aeef5fd0839a631e0e004f0c9f7-d31cnr8.jpg[/img]

I'm submitting this one to some sites, starting with unitee.com. I don't know if it's a good choice for this particular design, but they do all-over prints and it certainly can't hurt. These contest sites are a little [i]too big[/i] these days. The amount of [i]really good[/i] content they have coming in almost certainly exceeds the demand. But while I continue to produce more work, it doesn't hurt to promote what I have, I guess.

I printed this a few times over the last week too. My registration skills are improving. On paper, that is, I haven't really started to print on clothing.

PlumbDrumb

Since 7570 Days

well it looks great.

Any news on the Pacman shirt printing?

In reply to

Oh well, whatever

GriftGFX

Since 7576 Days

Negative, but I'm hopeful that I might get it printed on moderntee.com still. There are still two more days that people can vote too:

Two days left to vote: http://www.moderntee.com/vote/?usid=2837

Considering that Wotto just showed up on this site, I think this is doing pretty well. Hopefully Marius and Co. agree.

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SimonM7

Since 7600 Days

I'm having the stupidest problem. Photoshop, I'm trying to create a brush with a narrow centre and a smooth fade to transparency around it. A normal airbrush like brush, in other words. I can't for the life of me get it to behave like a smooth round ball (!) it just gives me a flat line with a tiny bit of fuzzyness around it. "Painting" with it looks like acryllic instead of the airbrush I'm going for, and I can't for the life of me work out the settings.

In addition to that, or separate from that perhaps;

I usually paint in b/w in photoshop, I'm just not that great at coloured shadows/highlights. What's the best method for colorising something that's black and white? I'm not talking simply a colour tone or a gradient map, I wanna be able to colorise individual areas. Greatly appreciate any pointers with this.

EDIT: Okay there's a "colour replacement tool", obvious enough for anything but 2:30 at night Simon.

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Megido

Since 6902 Days

A multiply layer might also be something to try. Especially since the "replace color" thingy doesn't work on things without color (using it on black and white stuff don't work too well).

In reply to

"I still don't know if snakes make good pets, but at least they've got your f****g back."

SimonM7

Since 7600 Days

Yeah I typically use multiply, but with either tool I'm having a hard time getting the luster back.

I should probably get around to learning how to do these things in colour from the get go. I never painted much irl, but I think it's time I started.

I kept it in b/w:

Facebook compression for the lose, but at least it's relatively good to b/w stuff. I admit I've the attention span of a monkey so there are still things that look unfinished on it, but at some point I can't stand staring at the same image anymore. :P

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http://www.twitter.com/simonlundmark - Follow me on twitter

FireWire

Since 7577 Days

That's some great stuff there Grift and Simon. What do you guys use? Some kind of pen and pad?

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"First come smiles, then comes lies. Last is gunfire"

SimonM7

Since 7600 Days

Thanks! And yeah, I'm on a Wacom Intuos 3.

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http://www.twitter.com/simonlundmark - Follow me on twitter

GriftGFX

Since 7576 Days

Thanks also!

I use a lot of reference, and I used to draw & trace on a lightbox, scan, and then build the image in Adobe Illustrator. This was a tedious work flow, since I'd wind up drawing, scanning, and just repeating the process until I was (or wasn't) happy. Now I just use a Cintiq 12WX, and I do the sketching in Photoshop. My work flow is now 99% paper free. That's not counting the printmaking stuff I'm currently doing, which is all about paper (or whatever I want to print on) :)

There's no reason I couldn't accomplish the same on an Intuos, but I love my Cintiq.

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