BLOG

Bobby Parker 7/19/14 Bobby Parker 7/19/14

Elmstead & Close - A short film by Andrei Shah

A four season piece representing the phases and beauty of life.

Elmstead & Close is a short CGI film, created by Andrei Shah.

OFFICIAL SELECTION: Watford Live Festival
WINNER: UH Animation Expose - '3D Award 2014'

Written & Directed by: Andrei Shah
Sound Composed by: Arthur Gallon

For further info, including shot breakdowns:
andreishah.co.uk
vimeo.com/83603579

Contact via:
@Andrei_Shah
andrei.shah@gmail.com

Did you enjoy this article? I would love to hear your thoughts, so don’t be shy and comment below! Please don’t forget to subscribe to my RSS-feed or follow my feed on Twitter, Google+ and Facebook! If you enjoyed the following article we humbly ask you to comment, and help us spread the word! Or, if you would like, drop me an email.

Bobby Parker 7/18/14 Bobby Parker 7/18/14

Quick 1-point Perspective Sketch

Bobby Parker 7/9/14 Bobby Parker 7/9/14

The Architecture Academy - Official Trailer 2

Discover how to create Architecture in Blender

Archi-viz isn't just about making buildings. It's also about photorealistic materials, using light to convey emotion, balancing a scene using harmonious elements and breathing life into a static scene.

These lessons and techniques are applicable to almost any field.

Architectural Vizualization teaches you:

How to use limited subject matter to tell a story
Frame and present a scenes in it's best light
Create realistic hardsurface materials
Inject personality into your renders

Bobby Parker 7/7/14 Bobby Parker 7/7/14

Colored Pencils to Draw this Amazing Picture

One of the coolest Messi tributes we’ve seen in quite a while…

There have been millions of tributes to Argentina’s Lionel Messi since he burst on the scene over a decade ago; photos, collages, murals, paintings etc but this American artist has done a very special one.

JOE’s drawing skills are dependent one whether or not there is a ruler available to us. It’s not the prettiest but it could be considered as modern, new-age art (we can’t draw) but Heather Rooney is a different kettle of fish.

Heather clearly has remarkable talent and she made this time lapse video of her drawing Lionel Messi from scratch, it’s really brilliant…

Bobby Parker 7/4/14 Bobby Parker 7/4/14

Why Chasing Fame Won’t Make You a Better Artist

Artist Michael Grills has developed a unique portrait style and has an endless list of glowing testimonials from happy clients. Yet, he’s never tried to chase fame and puts his success down to hard work and staying true to doing what he loves.

His story begins back in high school, when he got his first gig painting a mural aged just 16. After that, he went on to art school before becoming a video games artist for Bioware and working on a wide range of best-selling titles.
Everything was going well, but it took the birth of his children to make Michael re-asses his life and his art career. Having decided to make the move back to his native Calgary, he set himself up as a freelance illustrator and began developing the unique style of work that you see today.

Although he’s since gone back into the workplace, he still maintains a balance between producing work for other people and his own projects. His story is an inspiring one, which reflects the very real struggles most artists face when trying to market their work and generate a decent income from their creativity.

How Did Michael Develop His Unique Portrait Style?

While working as a video games artist, Michael devoted his time to mastering rendering and composition. At the time, not many other artists were doing this, so Michael saw this as his chance to establish himself as one of the best in this field.

However, despite throwing himself into this challenge and enjoying it, there was a nagging feeling in the back of Michael’s mind: He’d never be truly happy until he broke out of his comfort zone, developed his own unique style and started producing the work he really wanted to make.

Luckily, some downtime at work meant he was able to start work on achieving his dream. When Adobe made huge changes to Illustrator, its industry-standard vector drawing software, Michael found a new and exciting outlet for his creativity. He discovered he could combine his Photoshop working methods (such as layers and rendering), with the precision of geometric shapes and subtle color transitions.

He began working on a sketch which eventually turned into his first finished painting in this new style. Michael worked on this piece constantly; obsessing over the marks he was making and putting everything he could into it. However, instead of feeling drained by this intensive process, Michael felt revitalized and eager to start the next painting. It was at this moment that he knew he was onto something big.

He proceeded to start work on some large-scale portraits of his family, putting his new-found direction into practice and loving every minute of it. Rather than feeling forced to create something, he was now liberated and producing the work he loved. And it showed. The subsequent exhibition was a huge success, and Michael knew he’d made the right decision.

What’s Michael’s Advice For Artists?

In Michael’s opinion, too many up-and-coming artists think more about fame and recognition than their own art. He feels that every artist needs to think more about the reasons behind why they make art and concentrate instead on how to market themselves effectively.

He explains: “Fame isn’t what it’s cracked up to be. If all you’re concerned about is winning awards and becoming famous, you’ll lose sight of what really matters to you as an artist. And, it’s important to remember that you’ll still have to hustle just as hard to find work.”

Michael’s speaking from experience, because he’s had first-hand knowledge of what can happen when those dreams of fame get in the way of carving out a sustainable career as a successful artist. His dad is an accomplished guitarist who joined in a band in the 60s.

His band started to take off and it looked like the big time was calling. Michael’s dad hung out with rockstars and started to think seriously about living the dream. However, it was only when his band was on the verge of signing a record deal that he was brought back down to Earth with a bump. His bandmates had joined for fun and didn’t want to take it any further. They jumped ship, leaving him to abandon his dream of fame and go back to being a regular guy.

Michael’s father could have become a professional musician. He could have gone to college, learned how to read music, and form the foundations of a lasting career. However, his early thirst for fame caused him to run before he could walk. He had the big dreams, but he hadn’t thought about how he could use his natural talent for a more enduring career in music.

Treat Every Gig as Your Number 1 Priority

Michael says: “No matter how big or small the project, your current client is the most important thing. You need to blow their minds with the work you produce for them, so get on the phone and promote it to people. Remember to keep your career moving!”

“Don’t worry about winning awards or getting into Spectrum at first. Instead, worry about getting into art school and perfecting your skills!”

Michael is a huge believer in treating your art career as a business. He loves to read about art continuously, but every second book he reads is a business title about marketing yourself. He explains: “I think about art and business every day, but I never think about fame!”

He re-entered the workplace because he says the time and stress associated with looking for new projects was starting to get in the way of making art. Now, he does his regular work in the week and balances this by producing his own work at weekends.

Although he seems to have found the perfect formula, Michael says there’s still one area of art he’d love to pursue. He’s a huge fan of street art and Banksy, and says he’d love to work on a mural in the near future. Let’s hope he gets to do this real soon!

Listen to this week’s show and learn:

Why it’s more important to focus on your skills rather than fame
How to find the right balance and make the art you really want to
Why making it as an artist isn’t about winning awards

People on this Episode:

Mitch
Michael

Mentioned in the episode:

Michael’s Website
Michael on Facebook
Michael on Twitter
Michael on Google +
Michael on LinkedIn

Thanks for listening to our show! We’ll be back next Wednesday morning 8AM EST.

Cheers,

Mitch

PS, there is also Pencil Kings content on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

- See more at: http://www.pencilkings.com/michael-grills/#sthash.6D2ehrbX.dpuf

Bobby Parker 7/2/14 Bobby Parker 7/2/14

Insanely Detailed 3D Model of a Castle

Have you ever considered creating an accurate and detailed 3D model from 2D photos? Probably not, it's incredibly difficult. Now, if you try to do it on a truly massive scale and have a huge castle as your subject, it makes it almost impossible to do by hand. The guys at Pix4D took it as a challenge to their software and not only modeled the outside, but also the inside of the castle, all in one interactive 3D model. To prove that it can be done by anyone, they decided to use only consumer cameras (GoPro, DSLR and a Mirrorless).

Chillon Castle ("Chateau de Chillon") is Switzerland’s most visited historic monument and one of the most complex structures in the country, which is why Pix4D chose this location to test out the software (Pix4Dmapper) they developed in the past few years. The software is capable of automatically processing normal 2D photos, and produce a very accurate 3D model. No manual work is needed except for choosing the images the software is going to analyze.

“The goal of this project was to do a fun and instructive project to use the latest features of our software (Pix4Dmapper) and publish a white paper on it. These latest features are the use of the GoPro, Fisheye lenses and combination of both aerial and ground imagery in one project and were introduced with V1.1 of Pix4Dmapper in late April of this year.”

To read more about the project and how it was done, check out Pix4D project page.

Bobby Parker 7/1/14 Bobby Parker 7/1/14

Artist draws incredible illustrations with no prior sketching whatsoever

Kim Jung Gi is one of those rare illustrators that can conjure up any scene he wants out of thin air, without any sketching and in record time. There are no tricks here, just an amazing visual memory, raw imagination, and a perfect command of the medium. Watching these videos of him working is a real pleasure.

Kim Jung Gi is a South Korean artist born in 1975. He studied fine arts at the Dong-Eui University of Busan and served in the army' special forces section during more than 2 years, which allowed him to memorize an amazing number of vehicles and weapons. He's a professional illustrator and comic book artist.

You can follow his work on his website and Facebook.

Bobby Parker 6/28/14 Bobby Parker 6/28/14

Prismacolor colored pencil drawing of Johnny Depp

Prismacolor colored pencil drawing of Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter. Music: Alice's Theme by Danny Elfman

Bobby Parker 6/27/14 Bobby Parker 6/27/14

Free Cutout Images of Trees and People

Would you like to download some free cutout images of trees and people? Well, now you can! The guys of a studio called Vyonyx, just made available a lot of these images for download. Besides the trees and people, they have free textures too.

All you have to do is visit their website and choose the images to download, no registration is required. This is a very good resource for architectural visualization!

Bobby Parker 6/17/14 Bobby Parker 6/17/14

2014 CGarchitect 3Dawards Film Festival Teaser

2014 CGarchitect 3Dawards Film Festival Teaser from CGarchitect on Vimeo.

On July 5, 2014, CGarchitect will be showing some of the best submissions to our 2014 3Dawards at the Mundos Digitales Conference in La Coruna, Spain.

Bobby Parker 6/10/14 Bobby Parker 6/10/14

10 Commandments Color Theory

Make Your Projects More Enticing With Color Theory

Color combinations can be difficult to get right.

When matching with clothes, it’s easy. But for projects, ad campaigns and posters, the millions of colors to choose from can be overwhelming. Working under a tight deadline forces many people to choose safe or dull colors that lack substance.

For those who are not well versed in color theory, there’s this infographic.

The diagram shows brief descriptions of the foundational colors of the rainbow and indicates when and how to use them properly. The best part about the infographic are the samples. Since all of the samples are on one visual, making comparisons of color combinations can be quick process.

If you don’t know where to start in using the guide, start with the questions and work your way from left to right.

Explore more visuals like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually.

Bobby Parker 5/31/14 Bobby Parker 5/31/14

GRID Virtualized Graphics Acceleration

Take the free GRID test drive and experience virtualized graphics acceleration delivered from the cloud.

Experience the NVIDIA GRID Test Drive from the comfort of your PC. It only takes a few minutes to register and you get immediate access to the secure NVIDIA Test Drive site. Once there, you have 24 hours to experience some of the most demanding applications running from the cloud.

You will see how NVIDIA GRID:

Delivers a better experience for remote desktops and applications
Can run graphics-rich applications in a virtualized environment
Handles complex graphics files and images

Important note: the Test Drive is for North America only

- See more at: http://www.nvidia.com/object/trygrid.html#sthash.qQrgZHGt.dpuf

Bobby Parker 5/30/14 Bobby Parker 5/30/14

Coolorus 2.0 for Photoshop®

Coolorus is a Color Wheel Panel for Adobe Products (Photoshop and Flash) and all native Mac apps that uses native Apple color picker.

Coolorus is for creative people who would like to improve workflow as much as possible. Reducing clicks to the minimum, learn about Color Relations, Gamut Masks and the power of triangle HSV representation.

Bobby Parker 5/30/14 Bobby Parker 5/30/14

Learn How To Use Your VRay Camera like a DSL.

Shutterfly’s New Interactive Guide Teaches the Basics of Capturing Better Images

There’s no such thing as too many resources when it comes to learning how to render out an awesome image. And here to prove this statement is a neat little pseudo-interactive web guide put together by Shutterfly for those among us who are just starting out. Called How to Take the Perfect Photo, this web-based guide is a simple-but-efficient tool for anyone looking to get a bit more .

Use these tips to create a better composition in your 3DSMAX scene.

Bobby Parker 5/28/14 Bobby Parker 5/28/14

The Right Perspective And Field Of View

By watching the tutorial below, you’ll be able to see how to make subtle changes to your images when using wide angle, long focus, and zoom lenses in order to truly be the master of what you capture.

Bobby Parker 5/19/14 Bobby Parker 5/19/14

V-Ray Mag - Issue 1, 2014

Get an in-depth look into the world of V-Ray with the new V-Ray Mag Issue 1, 2014.

VRay Magazine

Bobby Parker 4/23/14 Bobby Parker 4/23/14

Advance2000

I am benchmark testing a desktop as a service (DAAS) called Advance 2000, and thus far, I am impressed! The company has been around for awhile, so they have a solid understanding of the needs of the Architecture, Engineering & Construction (AEC) industry.

The scene I used does use one plug-in, which I have uploaded here. I am in the middle of the test so I will post the results soon. I am using Chaos Group's V-Ray. and Autodesk's 3ds Max®, for my testing.

My Advance2000 cloud render, running 2 Intel Xeons, took 1h 29m 32.7s. You can see the computer specs under the above final render.

My local render farm, running 5 Intel i7s , took 1h 7m 58.9s. You can see the computer specs under the above final render.

So, we are almost running neck to neck, but in their lane is 2 rigs, and on my side is 5 rigs. Mind you, my rigs are about 7 years old and have already paid for themselves 10x.

Bobby Parker 4/20/14 Bobby Parker 4/20/14

How Quickly Our Brains Can Redefine Normality

So let me show you how quickly our brains can redefine normality, even at the simplest thing the brain does, which is color. I want you to first notice that those two desert scenes are physically the same. One is simply the flipping of the other. Okay? Now I want you to look at that dot between the green and the red. Okay? And I want you to stare at that dot. Don't look anywhere else. And we're going to look at that for about 30 seconds.

And I'll tell you -- don't look anywhere else -- and I'll tell you what's happening inside your head. Your brain is learning. And it's learning that the right side of its visual fieldis under red illumination; the left side of its visual field is under green illumination. That's what it's learning. Okay? Now, when I tell you, I want you to look at the dot between the two desert scenes. So why don't you do that now?

Your brain is seeing that same information as if the right one is still under red light, and the left one is still under green light. That's your new normal.

So, what does this mean for context? It means that I can take these two identical squares, and I can put them in light and dark surrounds. And now the one on the dark surround looks lighter than the one on the light surround. What's significant is not simply the light and dark surrounds that matter. It's what those light and dark surrounds meant for your behavior in the past.

Bobby Parker 4/15/14 Bobby Parker 4/15/14

Construct GTC Teaser

Construct GTC Teaser from Kevin Margo on Vimeo.

CONSTRUCT is a Sci-Fi short film advancing the art of filmmaking, VFX and virtual production.

This teaser was presented as part of a tech demo at Nvidia's GTC conference March 25, 2014. This is a work in progress intended to illustrate recent advancements in graphics hardware and software capabilities.

Watch how we're pioneering new filmmaking and virtual production workflows.
youtube.com/watch?v=nnaz8q6FLCk

Special thanks to Chaos Group, NVIDIA, Boxx, OptiTrack, iTooSoft, Just Cause Entertainment and the AMAZINGLY TALENTED team of artists, actors and stunt performers who've supported this project.

1. Rendered using V-Ray RT GPU 3.0 for 3ds Max
2. Rendered with NVIDIA K6000s and K40s on 3DBOXX 4920 GPU Edition
3. Typical video RAM usage 6-7GB
4. Typical render time 5-10 minutes (DOF and motion blur are all rendered in camera)

CONSTRUCT in its entirety is coming soon...

For more info:
constructfilm.com/
facebook.com/constructfilm
twitter.com/MargoKevin
kevinmargo.com

Bobby Parker 4/15/14 Bobby Parker 4/15/14

Optical Illusions Show How We See

Beau Lotto's color games puzzle your vision, but they also spotlight what you can't normally see: how your brain works. This fun, first-hand look at your own versatile sense of sight reveals how evolution tints your perception of what's really out there.

“Beau Lotto is founder of Lottolab, a hybrid art studio and science lab. With glowing, interactive sculpture — and old-fashioned peer-reviewed research—he’s illuminating the mysteries of the brain’s visual system.”

Why you should listen

"Let there be perception," was evolution's proclamation, and so it was that all creatures, from honeybees to humans, came to see the world not as it is, but as was most useful. This uncomfortable place--where what an organism's brain sees diverges from what is actually out there--is what Beau Lotto and his team at Lottolab are exploring through their dazzling art-sci experiments and public illusions. Their Bee Matrix installation, for example, places a live bee in a transparent enclosure where gallerygoers may watch it seek nectar in a virtual meadow of luminous Plexiglas flowers. (Bees, Lotto will tell you, see colors much like we humans do.) The data captured isn't just discarded, either: it's put to good use in probing scientific papers, and sometimes in more exhibits.

At their home in London’s Science Museum, the lab holds "synesthetic workshops" where kids and adults make abstract paintings that computers interpret into music, and they host regular Lates--evenings of science, music and "mass experiments." Lotto is passionate about involving people from all walks of life in research on perception--both as subjects and as fellow researchers. One such program, called "i,scientist," in fact led to the publication of the first ever peer-reviewed scientific paper written by schoolchildren ("Blackawton Bees," December 2010). It starts, "Once upon a time ..."

These and Lotto's other conjurings are slowly, charmingly bending the science of perception--and our perceptions of what science can be.

What others say

"All his work attempts to understand the visual brain as a system defined, not by its essential properties, but by its past ecological interactions with the world. In this view, the brain evolved to see what proved useful to see, to continually redefine normality." —British Science Association