Bricktastic!

After what seems like an eternity since my last blog for which I can only apologise, here is my latest. Over the past few months I have been rather busy. I haven't stopped working on my Cambodia project but I wisely went on holiday and took time out from my Cambodia scene and worked on my station piece for a while. Its now full steam ahead on this project, as much as full steam can be with a full time job working on Elite Dangerous and doing other things in between.

Anyway  I'm really enjoying getting back to this project. i have loads of other stuff i could show but for now here are a few ruined wall sections i did this weekend. i also made a quick screen shot of the layout, all the green objects have all been sculpted in Zbrush and shows that I now have quite a bit ready to Retop and get in to UE4.

I have decided to go with Unreal Engine 4 after all the Crytek troubles which unfortunately are all too common in the industry these days . the Engine quality is getting better all the time which is great to see too and i'd feel safer using it.

So i'm really looking forward to starting to get stuff in game soon. and seeing this finally come to life :)    

Revisiting an old friend

Along time ago in 2006 in fact I made this Station which everyone liked. so now being 2014 I decided to remake it  ( the original can be seen on my web site www.innerrealm.co.uk). I have re sculpting much of it creating lots of things I never had the time or hardware capable of doing in the past.

but still there are always improvements as that I can and will add from here on in.

i have no idea why blogger has made the top image so neon white

Stone Bases

This weekend i have made some stonebases, I have one more to do of these, but they are on there way. i still may brake these up some more before i bake them down to low res meshes. 

Trims and Roof

This weekend I made some tiling trim and roof sections for my scene. I also had some time to put a few pieces together and do a quick paint over, next up will be the base sections and pillar.

Cambodia : Panels and Walls

 

This weekend i have spent some time working on the panel and tiling wall sections .  the first image of the statue has yet to have any damage added to it, the rest have. There is a very fine line here with damage i could have gone further and made it all completely ruined and broken. The temples in Cambodia however always seem to hold up with at least one part smooth eroded with little damage to it. i am hoping that this comes across in the sculpts as they are well crafted block structures which have stood since 113 BC

EDIT : i have now added damage to the statue panels still may tweak some part but for now that will do.

Cambodia Blockout

Its been a good month or two since I showed any progress with my Cambodia scene, i have now made significant progress with the layout most of the pieces here are duplicated throughout the level so when this eventually goes into engine it should be cheaper and above all less work for me. Even so it is a very big scene and so will take a while. almost  everything will eventually be worked up in Zbrush and baked down to low poly meshes. The layout is beginning to feel right and once all the foliage trees are made it will make it. 

Anyway next step is doing the other side which will again be more duplication but with some changes and possible a few more pieces. then its getting it into engine or starting on the high poly elements.

Final Christmas Card Design

Here is the final Card design, I would have like some more time on it but i had to stop as it needs to be printed  and sent out to people for Christmas, anyway thanks for everyone's feedback.

Christmas Card (Update Four)

OK here it is update number four, quite a bit has gone in over the weekend, still would like to add in loads more but sadly time is running out and i need to render out a monster image big enough for 300 DPI. there are still a few tweaks i want to make / try before that. one is rendering out the snow at the bottom of the image with a mesh smooth on it. i originally intended to sculpt all the snow in Zbrush but I haven't had time. i think its acceptable as it is, not amazing, but time is a factor here.

The other thing which might not take that long is to add a few bits of snow on the door crevasse  this i think might add a bit and integrate the door and the scene more.

The falling snow needs work, but i quite like it, may add some turbulence although it presently does have a peaceful quality to it.

The next stage is to find some people to paint over. i'd really love to sculpt some but that would take far to much time. so i am on the hunt for some wintery silhouettes. the other option is that i dont add in two figures at all and just finish it up, this may happen.

Your welcome to post a comment, i'd love to hear people thoughts   

Christmas Card (update three)

As you can see I now have made the satined glass window and the wreath. this is probably going to also be the angle i make the final render, i may still take it from a higher vantage point. moving the camera up will lose a bit of the path which is a shame, but it should make for a better card which is that main purpose here.

Next to go in is the snow, the wood and improving about a million other things . the wreath is getting some lost now in all the light, i will therefore drop the brightness of the leaves and make specs for them all to offer more clarity. its funny looking back at update two its looking pretty bare now in comparison.

Christmas Card (update two)

I have been working most of the weekend on the card which has mainly consisted of Ambient Occlusion bakes on most of the large models this took a fair amount of time as I rendered them at a large resolution with a high degree of sampling. once that was finished then i started on the texturing. I still have a lot to do, eventually it will look much more wintery with snow on parts of the door and step etc. the areas next to the path will be snow covered with some missed shovelled parts still on the path.  I am thinking of adding a few lights along it possible coloured candles to give it more focus, it should also make it feel warmer and more enchanting.

I still haven't made a single specular map yet for this, that's on my list i also need to look into the lighting from the window, the Christmas wreath and a few other things that i am not to happy with.  

I have yet to decide upon which angle, however that is the beauty of modelling it I have the option to render it out at any angle to get the best looking christmasy feel :)  

Christmas Card Update

Here is a quick render of the porch, still loads of problems with this with a few inconsistencies. i am still contemplating which angle to use. originally i wanted to have it face on, but i'm not so sure, face on would suit a traditional Christmas card better but the view from the side would be more interesting.  For now I am just going to get the rest textured and make the reef and bring in a few bushes in for the pots. it was 2am last night when i rendered this and felt to sleepy to correct the issues and make another render. i will render a few more over the weekend and post them up with better lighting and the proper stained glass. so far so good though :)   

Christmas Card (WIP)

This weekend I have mostly been working on sculpting. This scene will eventually be the setting for the Horizons Childrens Sailing Charity Christmas Card that I create every year. This time i'm tring to give it a Narnia feel but at the same time it will be very Christmasy. still lots to do here and some bits were rather rushed as i have a great deal on my mind right now.    

Cambodia : Statue section update

Here is a quick render of the Statue section. now with alot more damage. still not completely done here i have noticed a few areas that i want to work on.

Cambodia : Statue section

Quick post about this statue section, I have taken the straight section and adapted  it (in Zbrush) into an out crop for a statue or a pillar. this will be placed eventually on top. I still have loads of damage & height variation to go into piece yet, its a very first pass version so stay tuned : )

Cambodia Update

I haven't updated my blog in a while so thought i best do so. recently i have started making stuff for my Cambodia scene , this is just a Dirty Zbrush Paint over at the moment of a sculpt of a tiling trim sections. eventually this will look way better with full textures maps and a proper AO bake.

i am still working on the sculpt of this before i can use it as a base for other sections, but feel its heading in the right direction :)

Infected Mushroom Runner up :D

A few weeks ago I entered the Talent House Infected Mushroom poster Competition, its my first ever entry for the site and i was lucky enough to come in as the runner up :D. very surprised as i really didn't think this stood a chance as it was a very rushed and a last minute entry. i am ever so grateful to everyone who voted for me. Apparently Infected mushroom really liked my poster design and may use it in the future. one part of the prize is a bit of exposure on the Infected Mushroom Facebook gallery which is really cool! so thx again to everyone, there were some really great entries I've not counted how many there were in the end but there must be have been well over one hundred. 

Cambodia

So here is quick two and a half hour sketch of my next project. i am thinking of doing some Ancient ruins in Cambodia using Max and Zbrush this will be great practise of organic and Hard surface modelling and just poly painting in ZB.

Here is some Reference i have found looking on the net. these broken temples are amazing as well as the tree roots that are growing all over the stone carved Structures.  I'd love to go to this place i believe its called Angkor Temple. will keep posting my work as i do it. think first I'll start with the Stonehead i think that looks like fun. i may even put this into CryEngine or UDK 4 eventually (if its ever released and mess about with them)

Methragor's Skull

Here is an image i made for Will Doyle and his D&D website Beholderpie , I used to work with Will At Frontier, Will has since moved on from Frontier, but during that time we both worked on the open world game The Outsider and the magical Kinect Disneyland Adventures  


For the image Will has kindly let me use the words he has written about the skull . its a great piece of writing i really like it and is entitled  Methragor's Skull

Methragor the Red was famed for his mastery over humankind. Though young, his path to power was carved by an immense network of spies, robbers and assassins, many of whom had no idea they were working for a dragon. Methragor's Machiavellian schemes made him a deadly adversary, but it was his cruelty that finally brought him to the attention of Orcus, Demon Prince of Undeath. The dragon's penchant for periodically eating his most favoured servants appealed to the demigod, who offered him lichdom in return for undying service.

Stripped of his earthly body, Methragor now appears as nothing more than a jawless dragon skull. Such appearances are deceptive though, for in death as in life, Methragor relies on his puppets. When the dragon's skull is worn as a helmet, Methragor immolates his victim and raises their body as an undead vessel for his mind. In battle he surrounds himself with devout orcish warriors, each one sworn to sacrifice their body should his current vessel fail him.

Today Methragor serves Orcus, but his scheming ways are far from over. He longs for a way of escaping his servitude; and with an eternity to plot, remains confident he shall someday find one....

Salvage

So, i added a focal point and loads of other stuff. still not entirely finished but for now it'll do. Called it Salvage seemed fitting as that's what they are doing.

Inside a deep chasm a ship crashes leaving behind only wreckage. Months later the ship is finally found, the salvage operation of the precious ship begins, watched far above by the transports assigned to bring her home.  

Saturday Night doodle 3

That is as much as I'm going to do on it tonight. Will start adding more detail, a focal point and story over the weekend and some vegetation. I want to change the top of the image and make it a little more interesting.

Saturday Night doodle 2

More doodling this evening added more rock detail, the floor and two little people for some scale.

Saturday Night doodle

I should be out partying but The Starcraft 2 OST and Famous Grouse brought me here.  May continue with this one at some stage.

The Taming

The second is called The Taming. This idea is of a dragon being tamed by a mage with a vast fortress in the background.  Still very much wip this one and want to change it quite a bit probably knock back the mountains in the background, and add in another light source and switch about the colours.

also contemplating putting chains around the dragon which are attached to the fortress walls, hill side and platform.

The Departure

Currently i have two pictures on the go, this is the first and have called it The Departure. Had and idea for hanger with a ship beyond with it raining outside.  I liked the idea of adding blue lights from underneath the hull of this beast as well and loads of little repair bots welding the outside of it with exposed panels.

However Marc Cox had a nice idea to maybe have it suspended way up in the atmosphere. i liked this as well least then i can add in an amazing landscape with other docks and ships.

KDA Image Credits

I have now added image credits to some of the Kinect Disneyland Adventures Images on my portfolio website www.innerrealm.co.uk. With most big games their are a great deal of people working on them and alot of the time you end up taking over other people tasks or them taking over yours to meet deadlines, fix problems or just to get the job done.

KDA was no exception to this and at every stage of the game we had to see who was available and which areas needed to be focused on.

It therefore seems only fare to add credits to some of my images and i'm more than happy to do this, if you have worked on any of the images on my website and wish your name to be added. please feel free to get in touch.

Hello!

Yes I now have a BLOG. its about time really. Here i can upload loads of drawing works in progress experiments, ideas inspiration, bits about Life! anything really. keeps me motivated aswell to create new things.

i finally decided in the end to go with Blogger as my Blog. Tumblr seemed nice but it was rather heavy and seemed to have loads of stuff i didn't need, none of the themes took my fancy either, same with Word press.  

so thanks for looking. i'm still a BLOG noob so in time i should get more into this thing.