Hi all
I am about to undertake my greatest 3D project but i’m a bit unsure of the process behind the project… Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. I am only one year away from being released into the real world and I need to build my portfolio. I about 6 months to make this perfect.
Being inspired by avatar I want to create a unique creature. I want it to be as fantastical and as imaginative as possible. The creature does not have to make human sense ie. colours, structure… Then once I’ve created the creature, I wish to create an animation showing off the creation…
I would like to know everything from thinking the ideas to making an amazing animation. I work in blender, photoshop, gimp, corelDRAWx4.
Tips on rendering, materials, lighting, modelling, rigging, and any other aspect…
First of all,
welcome to blenderartists (I saw that this is your first post YAY)!
When you say that you are “I am only one year away from being released into the real world” … are you currently in prison? If yes, what did you do and WHY did you do it??
As far as the other questions go … Avatar is a great mile stone in the history of movie making and no doubt, it will inspire many to … think different
If I were in your shoes, I’d start by reading readin reading and collect all the video tutorials you can find and then, compile a library of everything that you want/need to know. After that, you can start modeling and texturing, lighting etc …
As far as animation goes, if you plan to do soemthing that looks realistic, you will need to work with motion capture which is … expensive and if you are working on a laptop … perhaps rethink the “big picture” and start with something smaller
PS: What ever you decide, NEVER EVER give up on your dream and vision … in time, you can succeed if you connect the dots right
To OP, I would actually recommend you purchase a book, a blender book would be helpful. You don’t need to know about everything right now, but you could use that book as a reference as you progress.
Also, you really should try to aim for some that resembles real life anatomy, otherwise it will be very hard to compare and critique the model while your working. Even the creatures in Avatar were based on real life anatomy.
I recommend Animating with Blender by D Roland Hess as a comprehensive guide to the entire process of making an animation. Of course character design is a completely different skill, but having a story is a great starting point.
Welcome to Blenderartists!
are you just starting with blender or do you know how to use it already? because learning blender itself could take a while, depending on the amount of time you have per day.
So you are confident using blender?
you just want to know how long it will take to build up your portfolio…
i guess it depends on your speed of working and if you have a developed workflow and pipeline.
by that i mean knowing “Okay, i have to do Step 1, then when that’s fully completed i move on to Step 2” etc. not like some amateurs do (such as myself, unfortunately ;)) just jumping around: “I’m bored of modelling now, i want to texture…i need some more action, i’ll skip to animation and come back to the texturing later… oh but the model isn’t complete, so i have to work on that…” eventually causing the whole project to fall apart, unless you are REALLY motivated.
I have read part of Roland Hess’s book “Animating With Blender” (online) and it seems like a good guideline for what your workflow should be. eventually i have to pick it up myself and read through it, i think my work will benefit greatly.
Hope this helps!
If you want to impress with your work than be creative and do not copy already existing work or create a variation of it. being able to use a software is not equal showing creative talent.
Drawing is not art, what you draw can be art.
The same is true to Blender.
If you only have 6 month left, but know Blender since 4 years, I would focus on what you think is in reach of your skills. Do not overtake yourself.
Rather have something small done well in depth than a great idea started but not finished to the level it deserves.
To get good Blender feedback you can use this forum, if you want good feedback for the work I would go to forums like CGTalk. Each serves a different need.
As a question what is your portfolio for - where do you want to go to.
A tough question. Always hard to answer.
If the answer is because it is cool forget it.
If the answer is because I can tell a story
it is much better.
A faculty once challenged me with one object.
It itself was not enough.
But presented in a different way and also multiplied
a simple shell casing jewelry got a lot more interesting
and story telling than a single shell casing with a pen in it.
The arrayed in a shape of a magazine communicating
power through the shell casing and the pen talks about
making decisions. The color of the pens can be connected
to a country. The country can represent a culture and and and.
This way taking a pre existing object modifiering it and finding
the right presentation produces a new unique piece of art.
BTW are you from the Netherlands?
What are their portfolio requirements?
I am sure they require creativity and story telling.
My school was looking for creative problem solutions
and story stelling. Portoflios often look for artistic potential
and not technical abilities.
talking about the sketch it has some anatomical issues besides being too much 2d.
for the elements of your animal ask yourself the following questions
what are references
what are inspiration
what is the meaning of the decoration of the fur
why is it there
why does it have that shape
is it needed
is it the right design
how does the tatoos talk to the rest of the character.
what is the form language you build up
does it go in sync with the way how the head is done
what is the meaning of the beard
is it male
is it old
is it wise
or a bump
if you look into the making of star wars, or avatar, or the game fallout 3 you will see that many references are made to our world.
in avatar the aliens are very native american like
living in sync with nature
being tribal and having a good society.
valuing live and animals and bonds.
all those are possible reasons why they made that reference to native americans
to give the aliens those properties.
keep in mind when you make a reference in infuse the information about what you reference to into the character you are working on. you trigger what the viewer knows and adds that to your work.
Wow! Thanks a lot for the insight! I’m defiantly going to put more thought than just drawing what looks cool… I am from South Africa btw.
I think I want these aspects of my creature:
Predator
Sacred Creature
Mystical
Unique
Skin not fur
Ancestral Markings
Fast & Agile
Perhaps Flying
Something to make it seem more than just a creature but a symbol
I will think more on the background and the features…
Oh and what books or dvd’s would you suggest? I’ve got Mancandy. What about Creature Factory & Mastering Blender?
