MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!!!

Well its christmas day and I wish you all a joyful one :) Have a super day everyone, hope you get what you asked for :p

Ah the question you might be asking is why am I up at 00:01am, well im not, (I could be) but this post was written out before hand. Scheduled posts are quite impressive :)

Have a great Christmas everyone.

Ataque de Panico!

This is taken from BBC

A producer from Uruguay who uploaded a short film to YouTube in November 2009 has been offered a $30m (£18.6m) contract to make a Hollywood film.

The movie will be sponsored by director Sam Raimi, whose credits include the Spiderman and Evil Dead films.

Fede Alvarez's short film "Ataque de Panico!" (Panic Attack!) featured giant robots invading and destroying Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay.

It is 4 mins 48 seconds long and was made on a budget of $300 (£186).

So far it has had more than 1.5 million views on YouTube.

"I uploaded (Panic Attack!) on a Thursday and on Monday my inbox was totally full of e-mails from Hollywood studios," he told the BBC's Latin American service BBC Mundo.

"It was amazing, we were all shocked."

The movie Mr Alvarez has been asked to produce is a sci-fi film to be shot in Uruguay and Argentina. He says he intends to start from scratch and develop a new story for the project.

"If some director from some country can achieve this just uploading a video to YouTube, it obviously means that anyone could do it," he added.

YouTube recently revealed the most watched videos of 2009. Britain's Got Talent star Susan Boyle topped the chart with more than 120 million views worldwide of her debut on the show.

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I found this to be an amazing way to be given a job! Posting a video on YouTube then being recognised over the space of a weekend! Amazing Stuff.

Update: Petrol Station Scene (2)

Started the scene again, with less objects and more extrudes and bevels. No lights yet, will be updated again soon. Fridges have been added to the interior of the petrol station, and a glass front has been added.

Update: Petrol Station Scene.

Ive added two rough 'car' shapes to give sense of scale. Also a 'price' board thing has been added.

Quick Render of Petrol Station

Well I made a quick block render of a Petrol Station which I could use, I have put a slight bevel on everything to give it that more realistic look and feel, also ive given a realistic directional light.

Incase you cant click the image to make it full screen heres the direct link:
http://img693.imageshack.us/img693/9708/render02t.jpg
Well yeah Ill be working on a shopping center later but due to this slow laptop I have got maya installed on it might be painstaking, stick with me :)
Thanks. :D

Petrol Station Research/References

Shopping Center Research/Reference

Ideas for 'UnCanny/UnHomely' Room.

Ideas 08/12/09
A Bar,
Caravan in middle of no-where,
A Stage with its curtain Drawn,
Shopping Mall/Center, <-- Taking Further..
Library,
Cafe/Diner,
Shop,
Hotel Room,
Bedroom/Bathroom,
Restaurant Kitchen,
Boat on a lake,
Petrol Station, <-- Taking Further.. Garage

The Stepford Wives

The original story came from a book by Ira Levin. A couple who have moved house from the busy, noisey streets of New York City, to 'Stepford' a quiet 'village' with a few homes. The husband joins a group, The Mens Club, which is secretly turning all the mens wifes in the village to dummy like beings. Thus becoming the 'perfect' wife. Cooking, cleaning, looking smart everyday.

This film is quite disturbing thinking that all females could be turned into these 'robot' like things and would do everything asked and not argue with anything. The film is then brought to the exciing climax which we find out who has been turning the wives into dummies. The 'black' humor to of the script is handles very well.

Repulsion

This film was very disturbing indeed, I dont think I have ever seen such a dodgy film in my life :P The strange'ness of the walls, with hands coming out of them, melting walls..

All the way through the film Carol is pacing herself from outside life, and living more a quiet life in her (Sisters') apartment. She is slowly going insane and having 'nightmares' It seems as though the first time she is 'abused' it seems like its a nightmare but infact it turns real. Then when the man bursts into the apartment she batters him with a candle stick (Carol, with a candlestick in the hallway, anybody? Lol) and the next abuse ends up with the LandLord being slashed and stabbed a hell of a lot by Carol, who then puts both bodies in the bath ? strange place to put dead people. She is found at the end of the film by her sister, laying underneath a bed and is then 'rushed' to hospital. This is where the film ends.

Invaders From Mars

Gee Wizz I've put this up a little late but it's still here :)
Invaders From Mars was a strange film, extremely funny as we look back at old technologies. The 'aliens' had green body suits on with a zip running along the spine, which was extremely obvious. (Following Image 'borrowed' from Jordan Buckner) :P

I thought the words the child kept saying "GEE WIZZ" was the best line of the film, 'Gee Wizz Dad' I did like the 'sets' of the film though, the interior of the alien cave thing was quite symetrical and the aliens always ran around in pairs, and had a 'dodgy' walk :)

Whats Your Set-Up?

Well im interested in seeing what other people's 'set-up' for their computer/consoles are like, mines below..

Theres mine, I have my Tower PC to the left of my desk, specs:

Intel Core 2 Quad cpu, Q6600 @ 2.40ghz + 2.40ghz

2gb ram. -.- wanted more..

32bit system,

NVidia GeForece 8800GT @ 1680x1050 resolution.

5.1 Surround sound set up for computer.

PS3 connected to the 21" monitor, inputs for ps3, ps2, pc, freeview, normal tv.

Stereo, Bass Reflex 2x (3 Way Speaker System), three cd changer, which my ps3 connects to, awesome sound when playing immersive games. :)

Ah and my laptop. Just an ordinary pants laptop :P

Let me know about yours people :D

Texture 'Repeating'

Phill has shown us the light on creating tileable (correct spelling?) textures.. Heres how I got on..








Well yeah todays lesson has been fun learning a few new tools and stuff so yeah taterz..

3rds on films/games.

Alan has given us a bit of homework today, to look into 'thirds' of the film / games worlds. Heres two quick examples I have found so far.


This first example is from Final Fantasy 3. The Characters are very clearly in the 3, thirds of the screen. The character in the middle is bigger and stands out a slight bit more than the other two characters.
This next example is from Saw VI (Hmm.. 6), and doesnt really show the thirds that well but from what I can make out, top middle square has the foreground characters' head in it, the middle section of thirds. And the background character is taking up the lower right portion of the screen.


I shall look into a few more and upload at a later date. ;)

Texture Class Maya 01

Well done the texturing bit quite fast today. Was nice and simples :)

Then the camera task setting up Pitch, Rolling and Panning:

Ex - E.T.

An animation Alan showed us today, was quite funny, cool twist at the end blah blah :)

Hmm wont let me embed video but heres the link


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fce5uG18ZTI

The Uncanny.

The Uncanny, a conncept of an instance where something can be familiar, yet foreign at the same time, resulting in a feeling of it being 'uncomfortably strange', thought up by Freud. Because the uncanny is familiar, yet strange, it usually creates a conflict within experiencing the subject due to the paradoxical nature of being attracted to, yet repulsed by an object at the same time. This conflict often leads to an outright rejection of the object, as one would rather reject than realise.

The Uncanny Valley

The Uncanny Valley was very clever indeed, below is the 'uncanny valley' created by Masahiro Mori. It shows how the more realistic to humans things get the more un-easy we feel about them.

The following is an example of what was said previously, this is actually a robot, Repliee Q2 Made by the japanese. To make the face of the Q2, several Japanese females were photographed and then merged together to create the perfect Japanese face.

Invasion of the body Snatchers Review.

I liked The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers as the strange characters, most of which were very 'shady' I thought most of the acting was quite funny at times as I am much more used to the newer films 1990-2009 as this is my 'time' If I had the choice of watching the film again in B&W or in colour, I would definately choose B&W as it keeps the classic look and feel. Whereas if it was in colour it would lose the feel of a classic.

A review from another source:

A quintessential, black and white B-picture, it was precisely-executed and packed with action by director Don Siegel, plus a scary musical score from
Carmen Dragon. The subtle, low-budget film (at about $420,000) is very effective in eliciting horror with slow-building tension, even though there are no
monsters (just indestructible plant-like pods), minimal special effects, no violence in the take-over of humans, and no deaths. The film had a few
preliminary titles: Sleep No More, Better Off Dead, and They Came From Another World before the final choice was made.

The theme of the cautionary,
politicized film was open to varying interpretations, including paranoia toward
the spread of a harmful ideology such as socialistic Communism, or the sweeping
mass hysteria of McCarthyism in the 1950s and blacklisting of Hollywood, the
spread of an unknown malignancy or virulent germ (read fear of annihilation by
'nuclear war'), or the numbing of our individuality and emotional psyches
through conformity and group-think. Yet its main theme was the alien (read
'Communist') dehumanization and take-over of an entire community by large seed
pods (found in basements, automobile trunks, a greenhouse, and on a pool table)
that replicated and replaced human beings. And it told of the heroic struggle of
one helpless but determined man of conscience, a small-town doctor (McCarthy),
to vainly combat and quell the deadly, indestructible threat."

^http://www.filmsite.org/inva.html^

Finally made the maya house..

Took my time but finally got around it. I only rendered the images in 640x480 as it rendered quicker.

Final Painting #3

This last painting is of:
The Hall of Bright Carvings.

Final Painting #2

Gormenghast Castle, The first image (Blue'er) was the first attempt for the right time of day but I then thought it would look better being sunset/sunrise :) here they are.


^ First Attempt ^

^ Final Painting #2 ^

In this painting I decided to make a different time of day, I chose sunset/sunrise, I also tried adding a glow to everything by using the 'colour dodge' brush and layer settings. I think there is still something wrong with this painting though, but I cant work it out, Any ideas?

Final Painting #1

The Room Of Roots:

I feel quite acomplished with this painting, the thing I am most proud of, is the big tree to the left :) not much going on though.

Another Painting in the works.

Well ive been working on another painting.. Heres how its going.

Another Painting