Brad Wright ~ Animation/Art

I remembered I have a blog!

2011-09-30T20:14:00.000-07:00

Quick test render of a new project.

Blocking

2010-02-17T01:03:00.000-08:00

If anyone actually follows this blog, there should be a more complete update on this model either Thursday or Saturday. With Valentines day and President's day it has been a busy week at the restaurant, and I haven't had much time to really work because I've been at "work".

I have everything blocked out in this one. It's just a matter of getting a few things on the base mesh worked out, and working it in Mudbox now. Depending on my work schedule, I can probably be texturing and tweaking by Sunday.

All together I've already worked about 20 hours on this character (the Maya/Mudbox workflow is still new to me). The initial design worked on paper, but not in 3D space for me, so I redesigned the legs. The Idea is a bug-like character that has natural camo to blend in with a cave environment. It's legs would be able to arrange themselves to look like a stalactite. I'm still a little worried about the silhouette of the redesign, but at this time I'll wait for comments before another big redesign. If you are still reading I'm glad you care about what I'm doing enough to pay attention. Thanks, and keep watching!

WIP part 2

2010-02-04T15:39:00.000-08:00

Here's some further work on the Mantis character. The normal maps are still incomplete, but I'm going to move on the the abdomen section of the character before going back and finishing all the normal maps. This way I can make sure they all work together and fit the design.

Character WIP

2010-02-02T12:44:00.000-08:00

I needed a little break after graduation, but I'm back working. I've been learning a Maya/Mudbox workflow, and I'm ready to start a new character. I don't have a scanner right now, so I won't post the concept sketches (you're not missing much, they are pretty simple), but I've decided to post a WIP thread to show my process and progress.

I'm working on this character in stages since it is a segmented character. Here's the head. I'm still working on the Normal map, and I'll probably smooth out the chin some more, but I'm trying to keep the poly count pretty low and rely on the normal map for details.The body will be posted soon.

Oh yeah, Right now I'm calling this character Mantis...get it... MAN-tis...HA!

Done with school

2009-12-21T02:19:00.000-08:00

I have finally graduated! Oh crap. That means I need to find a job now. Tucson is too small of a place. I've grown up here, but when the only good job to be found is a new branch of
Sony Online, that is probably looking for someone with more experience than I have right now it sucks.

Time to turn my pet projects into gold and actually finish a short! I have two projects in the works right now that I hope will turn out the type of work that will get me a job. One is the flash short I've talked about in past posts. The 2 min. mark wasn't met in the class time, partly because it was an experimental class for the school, and partly because I didn't push myself hard enough to actually finish it. I did take the time to develop the story to the point where I feel like I need to finish it. The gags are mostly there, I know I'm still missing some opportunities, but if I don't do it I can't learn from it now. I also think I've found a cool art direction style for it that combines my two computer animation loves, Flash and Maya. It is written, so it must be done.

The other is a group project I'm starting with Mike Munoz and Briget Alese aka FishEisley.
It may involve more people in the future, but it's just getting off the ground right now. I'm pretty optimistic about this one right now. Even if it doesn't see the light of day, it will generate some good creative work, but as long as we keep it up it's gonna be cool. I don't know how often it will post on this blog, but it will keep me busy!

Flatbook

2009-12-03T17:35:00.000-08:00

I just realized I had never posted anything from my flatbook. Well here it is. I'll be graduating in 2 weeks! That also means I will be relentlessly creating new content, so before this version gets scraped I figured I'd share it. I'm pretty happy with the overall design, but crits and comments are always appreciated. Let me know what you like and don't like about it. I can take it. Really. I want then next one to be better so rip it apart!

Oh Yeah...the phone number on the bottom of the cover is not mine anymore, so I really don't care if you crank call it.

Flatbook 2

2009-12-03T17:33:00.000-08:00

Flatbook 3

2009-12-03T17:31:00.000-08:00

flatbook 4

2009-12-03T17:28:00.000-08:00

Quick Animation

2009-11-03T22:43:00.000-08:00

Here's a real quick animation from my short to give an idea of the limited techniques I plan on using throughout. The character is dead at first because the movie clip isn't on camera at the beginning.

Flash BG test

2009-10-24T20:59:00.000-07:00

I've been working on storyboards, and an animatic for the short I'm working on, and finally got around to doing my first background. It still needs a little fine tuning, but it's mostly done. Let me know what you think.

Flash short character designs

2009-09-20T14:12:00.000-07:00

Here are my character designs for the Flash short. These are the preliminary, so they may change when I get feedback. The hunter is a character I actually designed a while ago. If you flip through my archives you'll see him, but the turkey is a design that hasn't been posted before. Let me know what you think!

Back to School

2009-09-17T17:25:00.000-07:00

I've just started my last semester at school! Almost done. I'll still be working on the high poly stuff, but for the next few months it will have to take a back seat to a Flash short that is a class assignment.

I love 3D, but I have a lot of fun with Flash as well, so this will be a cool class project for me. The assignment is to have a fully finished 2 min. short done while completing other assignments as we learn. The start of the class is just going over stuff I already know, but it will give me a chance to get better and pick up little tips along the way. I'm sure after getting past the initial "getting to know the tools" part of class I'll learn a lot of cool tips and ways to improve my Flash workflow.

I'm working out the story right now, but I'll post my progress on this assignment, and any 3D work I do in the meantime.

CRAP!

2009-09-04T02:24:00.000-07:00

I just realized that my computer is having major issues rendering displacement maps in mental ray. I'm following the instructions from Mudboxhub.com, which is the best site for Mudbox help I've found, and my computer keeps crapping out when I try to render my maps in Maya. This is really pissing me off! I don't want to finish my model if it can't be animated. Time to do some research. That sucks because the art side of things is making me happy. There is always some annoying hurdle when you get some momentum going. Oh well, I figure it out.

Mudbox WIP

2009-09-02T13:45:00.000-07:00

Here's the latest experiment with Mudbox I'm working on. Taking a simple base mesh from Maya, modeling all detail in Mudbox, and bringing the displacement back into Maya. I still need to figure out how to get the results I want in Maya- my early tests made me realize I need to learn how to optimise displacement map settings in Maya. Time to do some research!

This model has 3 subdivision levels so far. I plan on adding much more detail to it: veins, skin texture, wrinkles, etc. This is also only part of the creature I have planned (my scanner died on me or I would upload my concept sketches) , the rest will be attached to the spine. I think I will get rid of the eyeball up front, because it wasn't built into the original mesh and it won't deform correctly. Maybe I'll just retop the original if I can figure out how to make it work with the displacement map that I will export from Mudbox. I'm having a lot of fun with this new high poly workflow. It opens up a new level of freedom when modeling!

I almost forgot to add that I got some inspiration for the design from my friend Emmett's drawing.

Mudbox Tests

2009-08-20T21:55:00.000-07:00

Here are my first two modeling experiments with Mudbox. I'm breakin' in to the high-poly stuff. I'm starting with Mudbox (coming from Maya it is much eaiser to teach myself), but I plan on learning zBrush too. I didn't get into too much detail yet, still figuring out all the tools. My next model I plan on putting as much detail as possible. The attempt at a Meats Meier-ish wire character taught me a lot. It's not a very high poly model- the renders are from Maya- so I may play with that type of model for the next one, but make it much more detailed.

SIGGRAPH

2009-08-08T21:08:00.000-07:00

I just got back from SIGGRAPH '09. It was an exhausting and inspiring week. If
I had any doubts about being in the animation industry, they are all completlty gone. Now it's time for me to work hard, step up my game, and get a freakin' job! I will have new work posted soon so come back!

New Demo reel rough cut

2009-07-25T23:07:00.000-07:00

Here's the rough cut for my new demoreel. A lot of the content is the same from the last version, but it will get a major overhaul soon. I've been working on some new stuff. This one is basically just a little prettier than the plain version I posted before with a few changes. Crits and comments are always helpful.

New Prop

2009-06-30T22:34:00.000-07:00

Here's a peek at a new set piece for a short I've started working on. More of a scene than a full blown short, but I'm pretty happy with how it's coming out. Still working on the texturing, but it's pretty close to being done.

Tatto!

2009-06-30T22:31:00.000-07:00

For those of you out of Tucson, I got my first tattoo! I got it a while ago, but just figured I'd share in case anyone hasn't seen it.

2009-06-13T23:17:00.000-07:00

I don't know if anyone really watches my blog, but if you do, I know I haven't posted in a while. I've been on vacation, and had a slow start getting back into the swing of things with work and a new, animation-less class schedule, but I'm working on some new stuff, so stay tuned!

demoreel v2

2009-05-02T13:47:00.000-07:00

Here is a shortened, revised demoreel. I still don't feel like it's done(it probably never will be), but it's the latest version.
-edit I'm currently redoing this...hopefully I'll have a version I like soon!

3D Character Animation-Heavy Lift

2009-04-13T14:50:00.000-07:00

Here's my heavy lift for my Character Animation class. I had 2 weeks to work on this one, and had a "Holy crap, nothing is working right!" moment 2 days before it was due and started it over. The do over turned out better than the first version, because I had a clearer idea of what I wanted to do, but I wish I had made that decision a little earlier, so I could have polished it a little more.

New Character-Baby Bird

2009-04-13T14:43:00.000-07:00

Here are the reference images for my newest model. It's almost done, and I will post it in the next couple of days.

Bone Commander Rudolph

2009-04-06T15:00:00.000-07:00

***I'VE NOTICED ON SOME BROWSERS THAT THIS IMAGE DOES NOT DISPLAY CORRECTLY. FIREFOX SEEMS TO SHOW IT WITH THE RIGHT COLORS***

This character design was done by Mike Macropoulos. A fellow student at the Art Center. He is an amazing artist and character designer, as well as the creator of the underground comic "Spook Girl"

Anyways, here's the model I made of his character.

Horney the "Don't Do Steroids" Demon

2009-03-24T15:11:00.000-07:00

This is a model I did for fun yesterday. I'm trying to speed up my workflow, so I'm planning on doing a bunch of quick models in the next few weeks. This one took about 8 hours from starting to sketch to where it is now. I wasn't too concerned with staying perfectly to the sketch. This was more about making quick choices and finishing a decent model quickly.

I'm going to move forward with a new model now, but I might come back and tweak some things on this model later.

If anyone out there has any character designs they would like to see modeled, just email me, and I'll give it a shot!

Style Test

2009-03-04T16:02:00.000-08:00

This is a style test I did in Maya. I thought it looked kinda cool so I decided to upload it.

3D Character Animation - Step Up

2009-03-04T15:52:00.000-08:00

Another assignment. This time an upward step. I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. I think I'm getting a better grasp of the 3D animation workflow, and I'm really enjoying the process.

3D Character Animation - Attitude Walk

2009-03-04T15:37:00.000-08:00

This was for a class project "attitude walk". One of the 1st assignments in my 3D character animation class. Still a little jerky, but I learned a lot doing it.

Tucson Toros Animation

2009-02-24T12:00:00.000-08:00

This is the first paid animation job I've done. It's for the minor league baseball team here in Tucson. I did everything but set up the skeleton, my friend Mike Munoz did that since he is much faster than I could have been and this was a quick job.

I learned a lot doing this, and found ways to streamline my workflow in the process. All in all I'm pretty happy with it.

2008-11-12T18:50:00.000-08:00

low rez body

high rez w/ head

I'm finally getting around to building a body for the head I made.

Brainless

2008-11-12T18:30:00.001-08:00

This is pretty much how I feel this term in school.

quick update

2008-10-22T20:58:00.001-07:00

A little closer. I like this fat guy a lot better.

sketches

2008-10-22T18:08:00.000-07:00

These are some characters I'm working out to animate in Flash. I did this drawing in Sketchbook Pro with a wacom. The pencil tool in that program rocks!

I'll post some updates soon, because they are both going to change. I don't quite like the proportions of the skinny guy, and the fat guy looks kind of buff, not fat, so I gotta change the shape of his body.

Alien Trooper

2008-10-10T09:38:00.000-07:00

4 armed alien character.

Flash Fun

2008-10-08T16:39:00.000-07:00

This is a short clip from a Flash animation I am working on. I did this in about 5 hours just messing around, and I like it, so now I'm working on creating a story around it.

Siggraph Mascot for The Art Center

2008-09-29T20:44:00.000-07:00

This is a character I modeled for an opening to my school's demo reel at Siggraph. The design and animation was done by Sean Coleman, and it was rigged by Mike Munoz.

To check out the animation use my link to "Sean's Animation Station" and go to his Agust '08 archived page.

Head Model

2008-09-29T20:34:00.000-07:00

Just a head.

Baba Yaga's Hut

2008-09-29T18:04:00.000-07:00

This is my first matte painting

Dr Frankenstein's Lab

2008-09-29T17:52:00.000-07:00

This is a 3D environment I did for class.

DinoTank

2008-09-27T09:14:00.000-07:00

This was an experiment I did to learn how to combine Flash animation with 3D in a single character.

Zombie Austin

2008-09-26T16:40:00.000-07:00

Here's a friend of mine I turned into a zombie in Photoshop.

concept artwork

2008-09-24T19:16:00.000-07:00

These are a couple of pieces of concept artwork for a short that a few friends and I are just getting started with.

EDIT- The project died because the group fell apart when one of the members got a real job, the bastard.