Cylman Test Render

Just a simple test render done in Modo. Starting to get busy with office work but I can't wait to get this thing done.

Cylman_WIP_03

Too much work, too little time. I decided to cut down the BG scene, focusing on character.

However, I've done the background, except the big main object there. For now I'll proceed with unwrap and texturing.

WorkRave

Workrave is a program that assists in the recovery and prevention of Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). The program frequently alerts you to take micro-pauses, rest breaks and restricts you to your daily limit.

Well for most of us, animators, designers who spend more than 8hrs a day in front of computer, I guess this is a good program for exercise hehe..

Just click the Title to go to the download page.

Toggle WireFrame <-> Shaded

A little script to save time. By default '4' is to display wireframe. '5' is to display Shaded mode. This script can toggle both.

I assign to '5'

//Toggle Wireframe <-> Shaded
$currentPanel = `getPanel -withFocus`;
if ( `modelEditor -q -displayAppearance $currentPanel` == "wireframe")
modelEditor -e -da smoothShaded -displayTextures off -displayLights "default" $currentPanel;
else
modelEditor -e -da wireframe $currentPanel;

ReVisit old website

Looking back 2 1/2 years ago on my website here

It was done in half days, rushing to get job in game industry during that time. Ended up never updated.

I laugh to see my old works, it sucks.

Maybe I'll laugh again to see my current work in the next 2 years.

Adobe Photoshop CS3 tryout

Just tested PS3 last nite. Overall I like it, especially the 3d integration. Still got a lot more to explore, but for now I would like to share this simple tips.

Back in old time it's quite troublesome to have a 3d object viewed with the wireframe.

In CS3, just import the obj file, and double click on the 3d layer, and chech the setting on the image.

There seems to be a lot of potential for enhancing workflow in the pipeline. The new Edit a video on a frame-by-frame basis could be really helpful in removing green matte for examples. Lots of stuffs, lots of fun..

Sadly, It doesn't run on Windows 2000...

Loo Chean Khiang demoreel 2007

One of my senior has just completed his website, with some demoreel. Worth a look :)

http://khiang.co.nr

Maya modeling technique

Before using maya, I was a lightwave user for about 2 years. Having accustomed to modeling toolset in LW, I cursed maya a lot when I just started to use it.

However, I found some similar technique which can be found in Max or XSI too perhaps.

Based on my knowledge and experience, these 3 are the technique I used the most.

1. Using proxy.
I used this the most. Previously maya below version 7 hasn't got this tool yet. Instead I used CPS (Connect Poly Shape). It's a script, which behave in similar way.

To use:
- select an object you want.
- click Proxy > Subdiv Proxy options box.
For more info, you can refer to help. But usually I would leave everything to default, except Subdiv Proxy Shader to Keep.



Once applied, you'll see there's a new object on top of it. If you check the outliner, There are now 2 objects under 1 group.




So how's it similar to LW? Did you see TOGGLE PROXY DISPLAY and BOTH PROXY AND SUBDIV DISPLAY on previous image? There's a default shortcut key, which is ` and ~.

Try this:
Select vertex on lowpoly, press `, move it, so now you'll see the hires is moving as well.

Okay, now I'm done with the modeling, how do I clean it up?
Well, you can manually delete the hires, unparent the lowpoly and delete the group node, but the simpler way would be:
select the lowpoly object, apply the proxy > subdiv proxy again.

Why manually delete? Sometimes I found proxy to be a little bit buggy.

Advantages:
- Easy toggle and editable. LW and Modo users will love this.
- History is properly kept.

Disadvantages:
- Sometimes buggy with mirrored objects.
- Sometimes you have to manually delete the smooth object (bug I guess)
- Smoothed object might have problem with render (investigate the render stats under attribute editor)


2. Active Smooth Poly (http://www.3dbe.com/ActiveSmoothPoly/Default.aspx)
This is another script I used by Tal Threstha. The purpose I used this mainly is for viewing hires object only.
You'll find out more in his website, I'll just summarize.

Advantages:
- Fast, I assign to alt+q, object smoothed, and you can still orbit the viewport
- Good for minor tweaking which do not require proxy.
- History is clean, since the script will automatically clean polysmooth node after it's deactivated.
- Comes with smoothing radius, so you can adjust the distance of smooth, good for slow computer.

Disadvantages:
- Once smoothed, you can't edit the lowres object like proxy mode.
- selecting object and activate the script is fast, but selecting vertex and activate the script seems to slow down performance.


3. HKSubDConvertor (http://www.henrykorol.com/Scripts/SubdToggle/index.html)
The last one here is not really my preferences, but it's worth mentioning. I occasionally use it.
Again, visit the website for more information.

Advantages:
- Smooth object look really smooth, because it converts object to SubD
- Good for detailing or finishing phase.

Disadvantages:
- Always delete history, not good if you'd like to keep bevel or such node.
- Personally I just feel it's not clean, even though it claims to be.
- Once in a while it would crash maya.
- Conversion would be slow sometimes, depending on your machine and poly counts.

hello..are u still awake? :P

Insert Edge loop tool tips.

Just in case most of you don't know, here's a little gem on insert edge loop tool, which I've neglected for a while, but now I use this tool a lot.





You can also check out the offset edge loop tool...

File Revision System using FileHamster

When working with scenes, we are aware that saving files incremently is extremely important. However, most of the times we end up losing the track/record of what we have done toward that particular scene and we often end up being cluttered by bunch of files inside a folder.

There are several ways to remedy this, one of them is by using attribute editor (there's a small comment box in the bottom)



I recently found a free software called FileHamster. What it does is basically save the backup of your current scene, and allow you to give comments, or notes, and also lock the file, so that it's not easily edited.



What you see here, is that I ask FileHamster(FH) to watch a folder called c:\Documents...\scenes, and in that folder I have only 1 file, which is test_V01.mb

test_V01.mb only have a sphere in a scene. I save the file.
The popup will appear, asking what comment you wanna write, so I write "a scene..."

Next, I add a cube to the scene, and save again. This time I still save the scene as test_V01.mb, instead of test_V02.mb, which was my typical workflow. The popup appear again, asking for comment, so I add "tambah cube".

I did the same thing again by adding cone.. and the process goes on.

The benefit here is that I only have a file on my working directory, instead of several versions, which is of course, neato!

There is a good example on using FH with Photoshop in their website, I suggest.. give it a try :)