http://ajcgi.cgsociety.org/gallery/ ajcgi's gallery of images en-us 120 http://ajcgi.cgsociety.org/gallery/642931

Here is my current showreel showcasing my allround abilities. ]]> Sun, 15 Jun 2008 12:59:01 +0000 http://ajcgi.cgsociety.org/gallery/710815

I spotted a sequence in an episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles which got me pondering on how it was made.
Cameron, the heroine Terminator, is sat drawing out a perfect barcode onto a security pass. It was so straight it actually freaked me out.

A whole lot of rotoscoping and garbaging later and I'd worked out how it could be done. Simple, but effective, the process involves starting with a printed barcode, then covering it in after effects and revealing it frame by frame.

On a few frames the pen didn't quite reach the end of the lines, so I repositioned the entire hand and pen in such a way as to suggest it did.

In an ideal world I'd redo this in HD with a non-reflective pen nib! The fact the pen was out of ink did help though.]]> Tue, 23 Dec 2008 11:16:52 +0000 http://ajcgi.cgsociety.org/gallery/710812

This is part of a sequence I completed in the tail end of 2007. A large computer system is breaking down whilst the heroine and her father try to escape impending doom.
For this shot there was a lozenge shaped greenscreen which I keyed out and replaced with the swirling double helix of circles, itself created in XSI and After Effects.
Next was the spark showers, using XSI's particle system and gratuitous use of the glow filter in After Effects.
The sequence is part of an online BBC drama in both scottish and irish gaelic dialects.]]> Tue, 23 Dec 2008 10:59:31 +0000 http://ajcgi.cgsociety.org/gallery/644589

This was originally a sequence of 4 shots, shown here as a cut of 3 to save on bandwidth.
I used particle instancing to illustrate the impact of carbon dioxide on the air. Being simple shots I motion matched by hand.
As usual, after effects was used for compositing including colour correction and some barrel lens distortion on the last shot.
Created for BBC iScience, an educational science series in HD.]]> Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:30:45 +0000 http://ajcgi.cgsociety.org/gallery/644580

This is a cell shaded animation I recently completed, demonstrating the processes going on in a nuclear power station.
The nuclear fission reaction in the fuel rods heats the water, turning it into steam, thereby turning turbines to produce electricity!
Created for BBC iScience, an educational science series in HD.]]> Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:18:31 +0000 http://ajcgi.cgsociety.org/gallery/644582

This is a simple animation, part 3 of a sequence about the human eye.
In this example, the ciliary muscles contract and relax in order to adjust the lens to see near and far objects.
Created for BBC iScience, an educational science series in HD.
]]> Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:23:59 +0000 http://ajcgi.cgsociety.org/gallery/658110

I can't remember where the sound file to this came from but the rigged character is from Mrsolo.com.
This might be the last time I use someone else's character. The amount of reels out there with the same rigs in is incredible.
Anyway this took me about 5 days I think. It was last year some time.
Animated in XSI.]]> Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:39:50 +0000 http://ajcgi.cgsociety.org/gallery/658098

This was animation practice I did a while ago. The rigs are dead simple geometry on top of the default XSI skeleton. Sure, no facial details, but excellent playback speed and quick to render and capture.
It took me a fair while to get the ending of this right. I had particular trouble with the fall. I'm pleased with the end result, though next time round I'll have a better think about the scene itself.
This would work better with the characters the other way around.]]> Tue, 29 Jul 2008 10:07:42 +0000 http://ajcgi.cgsociety.org/gallery/654387

This is an exercise in texturing, using the GIMP alongside XSI. The gun is the first person mesh of the ZB-30, made for Carpathian Crosses, a mod for Red Orchestra, possibly soon to be released via Steam.
The model was provided without UVs. I created the UVs, colour map and specular map.
For the colour map I began with a dirtmap layer baked in using ambient occlusion as the shader. A sphere with a basic brown up to blue gradient was used as part of a global illumination pass, layered on top of everything.
A layer of wood was used as reference for the butt and other areas. The metal had a rippled water texture which seemed appropriately random. The rest of the detailing, dirt, grime, wear and tear was hand painted over the top.
The specular was derived from the colour map, removing details that were unnecessary, and enhancing those that were.

Colour map: http://www.ajcgi.co.uk/xs/zb30.jpg
Specular map: http://www.ajcgi.co.uk/xs/zb30spec_1024.jpg]]> Fri, 18 Jul 2008 10:10:24 +0000 http://ajcgi.cgsociety.org/gallery/641303

This was an entry to the stylized animal challenge over at threedy.com. In an ideal world I'd have the time to rig and animate this guy.
The graffiti was inspired by various artists I was pointed to by others. The original entry didn't have the bushes, but I later revisited this and added them in. I stopped short at adding extra background detail as I reckon it would throw the composition off.]]> Tue, 10 Jun 2008 17:10:26 +0000 http://ajcgi.cgsociety.org/gallery/447938

I came up with this idea for the stylized animal competition at threedy.com. I drew out a concept time and again until eventually I sorted one out that I liked.
This is how I entered it to the competition, but I'd like to take it further one day, so feel free to suggest things. The character is rigged to an extent so I may animate him for practice too.

XSI 4.2 Foundation, textures and post in GIMP 2.2
]]> Fri, 05 Jan 2007 20:52:38 +0000 http://ajcgi.cgsociety.org/gallery/423303

This is based on an entry I made to a 3dworld magazine creative challenge. The brief was to create a compelling companion to Dr.Who. K9 seemed way too obvious, so I picked a cat. I chose to give the eyes plenty of depth by modelling them on a camera lens.]]> Mon, 30 Oct 2006 17:49:13 +0000 http://ajcgi.cgsociety.org/gallery/437607

Character modelled from references to practice modelling skills, edgeloop layout and so on. ]]> Tue, 05 Dec 2006 15:13:03 +0000 http://ajcgi.cgsociety.org/gallery/658118

This is the original concept sketch for the paper house image in my portfolio. Pencil on paper.]]> Tue, 29 Jul 2008 11:12:55 +0000 http://ajcgi.cgsociety.org/gallery/423319

Based on a pencil sketch, I created this as a way of learning more about light and colour. I'd certainly like to do more scenes like this, to a higher standard. XSI with some touchup in GIMP.]]> Mon, 30 Oct 2006 18:32:26 +0000 http://ajcgi.cgsociety.org/gallery/423125

Here is a fishing reel made as a speed modelling challenge. The model itself is subdivision surfaces in xsi and took about 90 minutes to model. The Final Gathering setup took perhaps an hour more. It's a setup I often use for this kindof thing but it slows down my pc hence an hour of rendering.
I should like to know how to spice up images like this, rather than the traditional setup I'm using.]]> Mon, 30 Oct 2006 09:05:07 +0000 http://ajcgi.cgsociety.org/gallery/641318

This is an entry to the threedy.com speed modelling challenge. An hour to design, model and setup. Rendering took a bit longer.]]> Tue, 10 Jun 2008 17:48:46 +0000