Too Many Posts?

Is this too many posts of almost the same thing? :P

Just Another Update

Another Mandy Scene Update

Here is another update for the Mandy model scene. I changed the windows to be a little more warehouse like. Then I played with the lighting and texturing.

Reel Updates

Here are the latest updates for my reel including a rough cut. Everything needs a bit of tweaking and adjustments, but its looking good. Some feedback would be great.
I still need to do a little fixing on the Hera scene, especially where the grass meets the platform.

I also need to ad some damage to Optimus and I will probably ad some foliage to the mountain.
The Mandy scene needs to be dirtied up a bit and corrective blendshapes need to be created for some of Mandy's more extreme poses.
All of these scenes are now set up for animation too. I just need to sit down and do it.

Mandy Scene Update

Continued...

Mandy Scene Update

Here is the Mandy scene once again with some textures.

Mandy Scene Update

OK. Here is a better update of the lighting on the Mandy scene. Mandy, if you do not know, is the nude figure I modeled, textured, rigged, etc. This is the scene I will be placing her in. I decided to go with the art studio to keep the project artistic and not pornographic. All of this is lit using Maya's Sun and Sky with Global Illumination and Final Gather. This lighting is probably pretty close to what I will be using on the final scene. Right now, everything just has a white Lambert shader applied to it and no textures yet.

Mandy Scene

Here is a test render of the scene I built for the Mandy model. Everything just has a white Lambert assigned to it and then rendered out using Sun and Sky. Expect a better render tonight.

Updated Optimus

Updated Optimus lighting test. I am getting mixed reviews about the rails and platform.

Hera Comp

Still working out the kinks but this is what I have so far. I have to work on the render layers.

Hera Scene

Here is the scene for Hera. This is almost 100% complete but I am planning to use Mental Ray for everything but the Paint Effects. For that I will have to use Maya software. I want to use MR because I want to use Final Gather and Global Illumination on the final animation for my reel. Plus, Hera is set up with the Maya Fast Skin Shader which uses MR (not shown in the image above).

Reel Intentions

This is another version of my reel that I am currently working on along with some stills of what I have been doing to improve on it. As you can see, I have been trying to tie everything together using the hovercraft ship. I am going to drastically change what I have here since this version was not that well received. I have to figure out whether it is worth it to tie everything together or if I am just creating more work for myself. Every idea I have come up with has seemed forced.

Here is a quick run through of what I was trying to do here and what I may do now.
After the intro animation with the hovercraft, I was going to tie the next project with the Optimus model using a hologram wireframe effect through the ships "monitor." The ship would see the toy lying in the street next to the garbage cans and then pull up its "data" on the ship's monitor. This would then fade into Optimus on a lift up a mountain. He is damaged and on his way back to base.
I was then thinking of having a pair of headlights pass Optimus as he is on the lift. This would then fade into the Mandy scene as lights pass an open window in her scene (I am no longer planning to have her posed in front of the mirror in the bathroom). As you may have noticed, I skipped the handgun section of my reel. I am actually considering taking it out or moving it after the Mandy scene. I think I would place the gun next to Mandy which could possibly hint at some sort of "assassin girl" alter ego. This would then play into the handgun animation. If I take out the handgun animation, then I think I would go with the picture frame or television transition into the Hera scene. Although, that seems a little cliche. I was then tying the Hera scene back the the beginning with the ship coming down and observing Hera at the edge of the mountain.

I am also including some stills I have available that show where I am at with these projects. Some are still a little out of date but are the closest I have at this minute. Some are lighting tests and screwing around with Global Illumination and Final Gather in the Optimus scene. The other is a still of the Paint Effects grass for the Hera scene.

New Reel Cut

Here is another version of my reel. Of course, it is still low quality and is mostly for just brainstorming. This version is already extremely out of date and most of the projects have been updated. I am not sure how to best tie everything together. Should I tie everything with the intro animation? Or should I tie everything together per project? I just don't know. One idea was to have the hovercraft ship passing through all my projects. Along its way it would spot the Transformers toy or maybe pass by an open window to see the Mandy model (nude women). I will have future posts with more ideas.