We DO Need Stinkin' Pedals!

Finished several small things. Some top pokey-outty thingies (being a modeler requires advanced knowledge of program-related terminology), as seen below...

...a brake (because despite my humble opinions, this tutorial guy seems dead set on a manually-operated space age bike)...

...and the cord for the brake.

Oh and a kickstand, but I don't like my kickstand yet so I'm modifying it before it sees the light of the Internet.

For the record, I'm really sick of this bike. I wish the bike were a bunny instead, or a saber-tooth cat.

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Pedals

My bike now has a front that sort of looks like one of those fake noses people buy to rob stores...

...and a seat...

...and the pedals are next, but I'm wondering why this bike needs pedals. It's a futuristic bike, shouldn't it run on solar power or particle energy or blood sacrifices or something? Or even better, MIND POWER. You make a mental connection with your bike and tell it how fast to go and when to turn.


Anyway, that's...yeah. There's my bank robber nose front and my cushy seat that looks like it has a belt attached to it.

It Can Move Now

This is turning into a sexy bike, guys. At the price of many, many hours and a few headaches here and there. At least it has wheels and handlebars now:

Slowly learning about CV curves, what polygons can and can't do. Also learning to SAVE OFTEN.

Headache. Need food.

So by this point, I'm tentatively growing more comfortable with Maya, but I'm afraid she's going to turn on me. Like when you're petting a cat and you think you've really got that bond thing going, everything's right with the world, and out of nowhere, WHAM. Cat reaches around and bites you for no reason. I know. I have three of them. As a matter of fact, right now two of them are looking at each other like they want to kill--you know what, I'm supposed to be blogging about Maya instead of my cats, so onward and upward.

So far I've got the frame of the bike pretty much done:

 

Now just imagine wheels and handlebars and a seat and a kickstand and color and good lighting and some sort of environment, and you've got yourself a bike. 

I like this guy's tutorials, by the way. But he goes too fast :(

Now to do the wheels! Unless one of my cats kills me in the middle of the night, because they're prone to do that. If that happens, you won't be getting any wheels from me. Unless I come back as a ghost and decide to finish the model, but somehow I don't think my ghost self would be interested in modeling. I'd be more interested in flying, I think, 'cause I'm pretty sure ghosts can fly. Or at least go through walls.

I'm at that sleep-deprived rambling stage so I'm signing off now. 

Sinking My Teeth In

Began the bike tutorial today. Here's what the finished product will (in theory) look like:

I started with an image plane, or a reference, in other words...

...and from there I began building the wire frame, or the "skeleton" of the model, which is the pair of lines in front of the image plane.

Hope to get a lot more done soon. I'm daunted by Maya right now and moving very slowly, but I can't wait until I get past the basics and really start to have some fun with this.

Digital Tutors

Just got my DT account today. Dove in and started off with some tutorials (mostly watching videos on basics of navigation and tools, nothing created yet, because I'm a complete Maya noob) and have been playing around. Here's a...sort of tent thing I made. I wouldn't count on it in bad weather. Or even slightly disagreeable weather. 

Have started watching the series of bike videos (the first real model we will be designing.) Learned more basics, the difference between polygons and NURBS. I plan on beginning the model itself before class tomorrow.

Masterpiece #1

So, second day of class in modeling. We learned our way around Maya (this is a scary, scary place to someone who has only worked with things like Photoshop) and made goblets, as seen below:

That's mine. There's my goblet. My first Maya creation (not technically, but my first Maya creation in which I had any inkling of an idea as to what I was doing.) Pixar would be impressed, dontcha think? It's covered in a picture of a dog sitting in grass.

Maya and I aren't friends yet. In fact, I'd say we're more like tentative allies. If Maya were a person, I wouldn't sleep in the same room with her without one eye open. I'd make her sleep down the hall. But maybe, with time, we'll become better friends and learn mutual trust. 

I'm an Artist

Yeah. One of those people. The ones you see lurking in corner tables of Starbucks, leaning over their sketchbooks like modern-day Notre Dame hunchbacks. If you dare to request a peek at whatever we're drawing, we snap at you. Like rabid dogs. For all those of you who are wondering "how we learned to draw like that," there is a fairy that comes to us at night. She carries a bag of magic pencils disguised as ordinary #2 writing devices. Sort of like Santa, only this fairy doesn't have toys and she isn't fat. She picks just a select few as keepers to the magic pencils. We're the Chosen Ones. Yeah, us. Not you.


Now that you've gotten a solid, accurate introduction on who I am as an artist, I'll follow up with a description of what this blog is about. I am now enrolled in Jeff Price's 3D Modeling and Animation class, also known as the OMG-I've-Been-Waiting-For-This-Class-For-About-Four-Years-Now course. If you're curious, it's located at Oklahoma Christian University. Throughout the semester, we're required to keep a record of our progress in the class. I look forward to blogging, as it's something I've never done before, and I hope to learn a lot from Jeff.


But I haven't actually started any assignments yet. So clear off, everyone. Nothing to see here, move along.