Glitter Breakdown

Here's the shot breakdown for the smoking spot.  We used Houdini and Nuke for the project.

Glitter Ad

Here's the final for my shader class.  Me and my friend Ethan Estrada collaborated to make this.  He did the effects simulations.  I was responsible for 3D tracking and camera creation along with color correction and compositing.  Ethan used Houdini and I used Nuke.  This spot was written by Summer Holm, Kylie Cox and Kristin Scharf from the advertising program.  It was directed by Andy Brimhall and shot by Casey Wilson, both film students here at BYU.

Warrior

Here are the final tests for the warrior I worked on this summer.

This first shows off the blend shapes.



This second shows a simple animation with him.

Here's a spec ad for reebok.  We hope to make the project Fall of 2012.

RSL Brick Code

These are 4 samples of different looks created with a brick RSL shader that I wrote.  RSL stands for renderman shading language.  It's a way to write shaders out as code that can then be modified to create the desired look.  I'll post the code soon too.

Render1

Here's my test render for the other scene.  There's a lot of things still not working right conceptually, but that's what a test render is for.  Let me know what could be better.

Render2

Here's a test render of my second image in my still life series.  First still to come.  This might end up being my final one.  I kind of like where it's going.

Discus Thrower

This is a test render of the miniature of the discus thrower for my still life.  I think this will end up looking pretty good.

Marble shader

Here's two versions of marble that I built in slim as shaders.  These are renderman shaders right now.  The hope is that they can be used in my still life that will feature a lot of marble statues.  But if it will work or not is still to be seen.


The first shader is smoothed marble and the seconde is broken marble

Earth Zoom test

Here's a test shot I'm working on for the film "Estefan".  It's still pretty rough, but let me know of anything you think should be improved.

Bust test

Here's a quick render of the bust for my still life.  There's still a lot to fix and make better, but I think it's going in a good direction.  Critiques are helpful.

Warrior Vector Displaced

Here is a progress shot of the warrior.  I had a breakthrough this weekend.  I got mudbox to export out sculpt layers as blend shapes in Maya.  The result of this will be a very high level of detail at a very low polygon cost.  I have the face blends shapes done and am taking time this week to add muscle blend shapes.  Here's a shot of him with what I have so far of his costume.  This is rendered in Maya through mental ray with a vector displacement map.

Warrior Turnaround

Here's a turnaround for the current state of my warrior.  I still need to model the jaguar head to go on him, but we're getting there.

Candlestick WIP

So, this is very much a work in progess, more so than I would usually post, but it's exciting because I got vector displacement maps to transfer seamlessly between mudbox and maya and really wanted to share.

The map I'm referring to is what is making all of the fine detail on the candlestick.  You can see that the base and legs don't have any "sculpting" on them yet.  When it's done, the whole thing will be sculpted.  For now though, you can see how awesome these maps are by looking at the detail on the handle.

More to come.

Hammer

Here's a hammer that I made for my still life.  I'll probably put two or three hammers in -- I'll just change them a little bit so they look different.  This is also WIP, so any critiques would be helpful.

Fruit WIP

Here's the lemon that I programmed in slim for my shader class.  It's still in progres -- but I like the direction.

Calipers

I'm designing a sculptor's bench right now for my 3D modeling class.  Here's the first render of one of the tools that will be featured in the picture.  More to come.

Warrior Turnaround

Here's the design for the warrior I'm building.  Painted and unpainted.  As you can see -- no face yet.  We're getting there though.  Check back for updates.

Warrior Concept

For my 3D animation class, we're to design and make a character this semester.  Here's the concept art I did for this character.  He's a warrior from a much bigger story that I'll get around to putting down someday.

3D Anim Test

For my 3D animation class, we were commissed to do forward jump to show we can animate.  Here's the jump that I animated.

3D Fruit Concept

For my shader class we're doing fruit this semester.  I'm drawing inspiration from a series done in the seventies called incredible edibles.  When I have those photos, I'll post them for you to see.  They're actually really cool.  I'm starting by making a lemon.  Here's the concept art I did for it.  I'm no good at digital painting, but I made a valiant effort.

Two new commercials

Here are our two summer projects for this year.  They represent a lot of hard work from a lot of people.

This is a commercial made for the car sharing program at BYU.  I was the director and creative force behind this video.



This is our promo for the library this year.  I am credited as the visual effects supervisor and 2nd camera op.  This is true.  But doesn't really capture the whole spectrum of what I ended up being responsible for because I ended doing all of the post production work.  But you know -- all in a day's work.

Animation program

Great news: I made it in the program. It was a lot of hard work, but it happened. And I couldn't be happier. I wouldn't have made it without the support of the faculty, my classmates, my friends, my siblings, my girlfriend and most importantly, my parents.

I'll be taking four classes this fall: intro to java, 3d modeling, 3d animation and shader programming. I plan on doing some really cool things this semester. And I'll be sure to post them here. If you want a preview, google sea dragons.

If you're reading this, then you're someone ive gained support from. So thank you. It's made a world of difference to me.

Animation Portfolio

I just applied to the animation program here at BYU.  I should hear back in a few weeks.  Here's my complete portfolio for your viewing pleasure.

Final Lizard

Here's the final image of the lizard

Work in Progress

Here's a test render of my 3-D lizarrd project I've done this summer.

A Personal Note

DISCLAIMER: This blog generally serves the purpose as a look into my portfolio. However, this is a rare instance that I feel it appropriate to let it serve as look into my soul. Feel free to pass over this post.


Death is not something to escape. This is a bold statement to make and I don't mean any disrespect or insensitivity to anyone by saying so. I usually sit at a funeral and react the way I would at a fundraising meeting or corporate health insurance training. Or so others have accused. But it's not that I'm not affected by a monumental event -- I just process it differently than most people I know.

I have been somewhat preoccupied with the idea of death for the last year. I try to be the kind of person who is constantly learning. I've become a victim of being so "open minded" that things are spilling over the edge, sloshing into doubtful and half finished conclusions. I've noticed that answers that used to be all encompassing have as of late proved too small and shallow to even hold nostalgia. It's a part of growing up -- I accept this. But I can't help but think that we each go through this maturation process differently. If this wasn't true, then I don't know why nature wasted it's time making all of us as individual as snowflakes. As they fall from the sky, not a single flake ever could take the same path. I'm not saying this as a scientist -- I'm saying it as a dreamer. I have to assume that the individual shape, size and weight of a snowflake causes them all to fall in undetermined, hectic and INDIVIDUAL patterns. This is different then other forces of nature -- like rain. Every raindrop can be paired up with an undetermined amount of twin drops. They must even take the same course through the coordinate sphere we live in -- they only travel in straight lines.

I think it's obvious that the human heart is far more like a snowflake than a raindrop. Every breath we take pushes us in a new direction from our peers around us. A person's identity is seen through every day they live, every chance they take.

I can't remember when this happened or who it happened with. But I was having a conversation with someone about artistic direction in a film. I spoke highly of a movie that I can't remember now. But I remember specifically not being able to find a word for how I wanted to describe the formation of the work. I hopelessly tried words like the director 'crafted', 'directed', 'formed', 'sculpted', 'painted', 'designed' his work. None of these verbs approached what I felt about the job he had done. But despite my frustration, I came up with the verb I wanted: orchestrated. That's what he had done. He had orchestrated the work into something beautiful.

Music is something that I understand enough to be properly stumped, awed and generally confused about the very nature of it.  An individual note produced in a clear, unspoiled tone is a simple building block.  It can come in many colors, textures, contours or any other descriptor you can find.  From there, those blocks are put together to create a melody.  This process repeats so many time until you are left with a complete orchestra.  But you will never hear a symphony performed the same way twice.  This is due to the fact that the brick layers are all embracing the moment as an opportunity to sing their personality.

Our lives are orchestrated by every building block of time they span.  Every person we meet is another counter melody to our theme.  Some produce dissonance.  Some parallel our song.  But we all hold out for those whose blend with our and create harmonies that soothe our souls and bring us to tears.  To connect with another person is like listening to their symphony through their own unique voice.

I think about the symphony that my life has been.  There have been boring parts.  There have been daring parts.  It's amazing to think about everything that has been packed into 25 years.  I started off unable to see, walk, talk, eat or do anything at all for myself.  In just 25 years, I've experienced so much.  I've met so many people.  I've been wrong so many times.  Just like live performance -- we're not granted the luxury of going back and fixing a mistake.  We can only press forward in a way we haven't done so before, trying to make the future more beautiful than the past.

We usually don't know when the concert is going to end.  We aren't given a program on our way in.  The lady next to me with the mink stole that smells like mothballs tells me that other concerts generally end after a certain number of years.  I can hear the fellow behind me with the cubic zirconia cuff links say that the most beautiful part of these things is when kids enter the picture.  People fumble with flash bulbs on cameras or waxy records, trying to capture as much of it as they can to revist after the fact.  Someone in the back brought a kid that clearly would rather be at a circus than a concert -- how could he understand what he's about to witness?  He's only a child.  Children don't value a concert like an adult does.  I've been to parts of other people's concerts.  Some of them have only a few instruments while others have performers being elbowed off a stage that creak under the weight of so many people.  I haven't liked everything I've heard.  Sometimes I've had to wait in my chair for what seems like forever while the musicians are tuning.  The conductor just won't take charge.  Other times I have been refused admittance to the performances.  No matter how I beg and plead at the door, I'm not let in.  I don't know why.  Is it insecurity that the music isn't good?  I won't shout out boos or cat calls.  Maybe the hall is already too full.  But that's silly too cause I take up hardly any room.  I wouldn't be in anyone's way.

It seems like that the only thing that is the same in all the shows is the beginning.  Just the first note.  That's the same for everyone.  But from the moment that the doctor slaps the baby into life, things are different for everyone.  But getting back to the matter at hand, they all end.  Often unexpectedly.  And in that moment everyone reacts differently.  Most say the same thing -- why did it have to end so early?

I resent that.  Why is that the first thing we think?  Why did it have to end so early?  I feel that the subtext is "I'm not satisfied".  Get over yourself.  It wasn't your symphony.  Instead of saying that you wish it would go on, realize that you didn't even understand the majority of what you heard.  Now that it's over, you can begin to digest what you have been given.  Did it move you?  Did it change you?  It should have.  You should have let it.  Put your stupid cell phone away during the concert and listen.  Listen to what's going on.  It's beautiful.  The mournful cries.  The triumphant crescendos.  You were just treated to a masterpiece, full of theme and variations, counterpoint melodies, modulations of wisdom.  Did you decipher even a single progression?  Have you ever resolved a three chord that way?  How many keys did we pass through?  You want the song to keep going on?  You didn't even get the cost of the ticket out of what you just heard.  Even though you were presented with fortunes.

The real reason I wrote this is because of what I'm going to write about now -- how I want people to react when I die.

I don't know when it will happen.  That doesn't matter.  The worst thing someone could say at my funeral is "he had so much life ahead of him".  That's not true.  I didn't.  That was all I had.  Say instead "he had so much life behind him".  Don't mourn that fact that there isn't any more -- instead focus on what was accomplished during that time.  In my life, I have excelled on the piano.  I have ran more races than I can count.  I have skiied in the Rocky Mountains.  I have swam in every ocean, except for the freak ones on the poles.  I guess that makes it only 3 out of 5.  But that's more than half.  I've run on the Great Wall.  I've cliff jumped in the Mediterranean.  I've kayaked in Alaska's seas.  I've listened to Native American Rock Opera in the shadow of Mount Rushmore.  I've loved without being loved back.  I've withheld love from those who loved me.  I've grown up in the care of two Titans.  I'm one of 6 world changing children.  I've believed in myself.  I've given up on myself.  I've embraced myself.  I've realized my dreams.  I've failed.

The symphony of my life has been more than I could have ever dreamed on that July morning that I came into this world.  I saw light for the first time 25 years ago.  I still don't have any idea what it is.  But I love it.  I love life.  I love being alive.  When it's done -- it's done.  That's okay.  The show was great.  It will echo in deep places on this earth for a while.  But even when the very last strains cease to find listening ears, I will never forget my song.  I will listen to it over and over and over again.  I'll love every missed note and every broken string.  There won't be any part of it that I will let go of.  And I'll bask in the overwhelming concert schedule I'll have for the rest of time.  When I feel it's right, I'll interject one of my own melodies that I wrote in a way that I don't understand now.  Don't mourn me when I'm gone.  Celebrate the time I had.  Celebrate what we shared.  When we connected, we forever wrote each other into our song.  Listen to it again.  It was beautiful.  I will.


So when you see me at your funeral not crying, it's not because I'm thinking about work I'm behind on.  I'm not smiling because I'm thinking about the lunch waiting for us.  I'm not staring at the window because I'm wishing I was somewhere else.  I'm just listening to the song another time.  It really was great.  Thank you for it.  Thank you for filling it with life.  We can't possibly live everything ourselves.  We can't be every snowflake.  Thanks for giving a tiny peek into what it's like to be your snowflake.  I'll love you for that.  You are celebrated today -- whether you're dead, alive or waiting for your turn.  I hope you celebrate me too.

The real tragedy of life is that we get only one.  Death as a rebirth -- did the Mayans have it right?  A dying star as the afterlife?  Beautiful.  Tragic.  Wonderful.

Hey -- you're great.  I can't wait to hear your symphony.

Faces

This week we were supposed to find an image and draw it 5 times.  Once realistically and 4 times caricatured.  Here are the full peices with a couple of enlarged pictures of my more favorite parts.

I really like caricatures a lot.  And it find it to be easier to make something look 3 dimensional when I'm doing it cartoony.  I wonder if that's typical or not.

Oh yeah.  And yes -- that is Hitler.  We were supposed to pick one male and one female.  And there was no rule against tyrannical nahtzees.  So I went with it.  He has a face, just like everyone else.

The female is for all those nerds out there.  For Narnia.

3 Point Perspective

Here's a 3 point perspective drawing I did for Joe's class.  I wish I could have spent more time on the markers, but I'm mostly happy with the line work.  Not perfect -- but getting closer.  I think there's something beautifully tragic about the entire gothic style.

This was made with tech pens and prismacolor markers.  And little magic from Photoshop.

Utility Vehicle

Demo Reel

Sketches

It has been quite a while since I did a sketchbook update.  Here are randomly selected drawings.