Ian Hubert - Sketchbook

So a sketchbook is kind of a place to put random little things? That’s a really fun idea :D. There’s a lot of stuff I think it’d be fun to post, but I don’t really think it warrants its own WIP thread.

Been having a lot of sci-fi fun lately- slowly building up a kitbashing library. Following encouragement from MasterXeon, I’ve started playing with the BoolTool- such a fantastic addon! I first did modeling in Bryce, so I’m used to thinking with booleans. It’s really nice to be able to model negative space. There’s a few shapes in here I kinda overly-appropriated from Xeon, but with any luck he’ll forgive me.

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Very nice. This a Dynamo set piece?

Yeah! Been going nuts on some big sequences lately!! I got busy on some other projects for the last year, but we’re back working on that.

I’ve also been going through updating a lot of old elements to work in cycles- here’s the robot hat guy! Renders out nice, but not quick- the glass in the lens (that doesn’t even really show up well here), takes forever. Trying to see if there’s a way to optimize it, but the glass is such a big part of the model that I kinda wanna just go for it.

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Working on a scaffold library! Whenever I put walkways in a scene I always bash out a quick low-poly deal, but I’ve modeled so many of them over the years that I figure it’s worthwhile to put some time into a good one.

Right now I’m just exploring the types of arrangements I might want, and then I’m gonna start fleshing out the connector bits and details (staircases, ladders, fire extinguishers and such)

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nice work ian! I know you got more content than that!

Yeah stop teasing!

Always wanted to ask, the scenes in Dynamo that are the in the city. Specifically episode 1 where you’re coming back into Shade. How long does that kind of scene to render? Don’t suppose you have any wireframes or any other pics of that city?

Tyko, yeah! Since all the episode 1 stuff was rendered on a laptop back in 2011, it all renders really quickly on current machines (just did a test on one of the more complex shots (below)- 30 seconds).

Since I couldn’t handle that much geometry, I relied a lot on image textures and compositing. Most of the really big shots in that episode are just static matte painting type shots, with a lot of photoshop in there.

Actually, I’m not sure how much I “couldn’t handle that much geometry” and how much I just didn’t want to. Back in the day, the idea of modeling individual screws and stuff was ludicrous, whereas now I delight in putting beveled bolts and recessed screw holes all over the place. I think that’s a big part of improving for me- just an ever-rising perception of what constitutes “enough”. Going through and changing the textures on the hat robots last night, I couldn’t believe how low poly it was. I dumped a few more greebles in there just cause I could.

The downside is that everything takes a bit longer, but maybe not as much longer as you’d think.

MasterXeon, haha, thanks! Yeah- I’m trying to figure out how much to post here.


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Cool stuff! I’m glad to see you made a sketchbook, I always enjoyed your work.

I’d err on the side of more than less.

I’d err on the side of more than less.

Ok! :smiley:

Working on a trying to make a larger-than-life “boot up” sequence for Dynamo, so I made these big ol power connectors. There’s nothing in the scene to really give it a sense of scale (I’m working on putting in more subtle size cues in later shots), but with any luck the haze helps dictate that they’re not too tiny.



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This is all fantastic. I have really enjoyed Dynamo and quite like all of the aesthetic quality it brings to the table. Definitely appeals to my scifi tastes and this thread is rich in that style, can’t wait to see more!

How do you do your textures? I remember at one of the blender conferences you said you project most stuff, that still true?

Scanning area…
Analyzing data…
Amazing work detected!
:yes:

Tyko, yeah, mostly all image textures. Even when I’m putting something together in Photoshop, it always start with some sort of image source. It’s 1.) faster and 2.) if everything’s wrapped in photos, the end result is just gonna feel a bit more naturalistic, I think. I’m slowly learning more about setting up cycles texture nodes, though. Most every texture is a combination of diffuse and glossy, with the luminence values dictating how they’re mixed (and a little bit of displacement).

Nice work! Would love to see more of your work!

I’m addicted to Dynamo. Can’t wait for ep6

Yeah more hats!!! I want these guys to wear so many different hats.


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Quick kit-bashed extendable arm. I’m finally getting to the point where my library of cycles-textured objects can help me put stuff like this together really quick. Not good for a featured model, but something that would work just fine for background stuff.


A lot of copy and paste going on, but sometimes that’s ok. This is going to be the background for a 2 second shot. I was doin the usual “piles of pipes and cables” thing for the floor, and decided to break it up with a big solid piece. I think there’s a lot I could have done better on it, worldbuilding/design wise (at the very least, adding a little of grunge to the white), but it works to break up the environment.

I also like the “no parking” decal. Anyone who lives in a city is so used to seeing no parking signs that we just tune it out. I wanna put em everywhere. On benches, in space, the wings of airplanes.

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A part of today’s work! I’m enjoying putting the catwalks on everything- it’s a fun way to add more depth to a model, and show scale. The animation is currently render on the computers downstairs; about 4 minutes per frame. One computer is rendering the foreground model, and another (the slower non-gpu one) is churning through the background.


what’s your view port like? Looks like that might slow things down but it’s hard to tell. Love the lighting in that…