San Francisco 1937

Landis · Posted: Wed Oct 18, 2006 11:54 pm Post subject: San Francisco 1937

Hey everyone! I just wanted to share a test render of some work I did for a side project I worked on with Roger (he modeled a merry-go-round so you will have to bug him to see that...pretty cool). Anyways, I am now using this for a personal project of San Francisco in 1937. The trolley is all I got so far and was modeled in about 17-20 hours. Polys. Anyways, here it is (sorry about the compression)...

http://www.LandisFields.com/trolley_turntable_half_HD_01_001.mov
(1.6 MB Quicktime File - 1/2 HD)

Not sure if I will end up texturing the ol'' girl or not (knowing me I probably will) but I am definately going to use this as a modeling peice for a section of the city around powell in market during 1937 so keep checking in.

Shannon · Joined: 14 Apr 2006 Posts: 71 Location: Wellington

Nice job man, seriously, this is a nice portfolio piece. I would however render out for your TT a few close ups cause it looks like there is a lot of really nice detail that can't be seen from that distance. Maybe have that full render on one part of the screen and have a few closeups on the bottom showing detail work. My buddy from ILM does this in his reel/TT's and it makes a HUGE difference, I am definaltely doing it in all of mine from now on.

Keep kickin ass...and send your shite to WETA!!!

Roger · Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 99

Animators and there silly little models, ) seriously look s amazing. I would like to see it filled with people and eaten by Godzilla! Haha Keep it up man, Your detail is amazing and I agree with Shannon on Some closer shots with Wire frame, So people know there or no textures on this, its actual geometry.

JohnL · Joined: 07 Aug 2006 Posts: 8 Location: San Francisco

Wow Landis. Out of all the 3D people in San Francisco its nice to have finally seen a Trolly. Same comment with the details, and cant wait to see the TT with the window shader. What I dont understand is- how is there a smooth model but the wireframe is so basic, low wireframe? I know that you had said its a poly model but is that from Sub-d mode?

-JohnL.

Landis · Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 1:30 pm Post subject:

Thanks guys! That really means alot. Yeah I will definately bring the camera in for some closeups on the final TT to show off all of the detail. JohnL, you are correct, the wireframe you are seeing is the low-res and the shaded version has 1-2 levels of smoothing applied depending on the surface which happens at rendertime (in mentalray and renderman). This is pretty much standard. You want to show the low wire so that people can see the modeling choices you made...showing the high (smooth) wire is confusing and uneccessary. Employers know that a mesh will be smoothed/displaced at render time...what they want to know is that you are capable of generating a "light"/manageable/animatable mesh that when smoothed will yield accurate results. If you are concerned with the wireframe not accurately matching the surface of your smooth shaded model within your TT's (like with the corners of the roof on the trolley in this test render) then all you have to do is render a garbage matte pass of the smoothed version (using a surface shader or mayas render layer "matte" preset) and use it as a holdout for your wireframe in the comp using shake/after affects....that way any parts of the wireframe that fall outside of the shaded render (like my roof corners) will be clipped against the background. I am sure you already know this...if not cool...if so hopefully someone else will find it useful.

Landis · Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2007 3:08 pm Post subject:

Well, its been a while and I have been very busy with work/school, however, I thought I would resurrect this old thread and give you some updates as to what I have had stewin' in that crazy head of mine. Basically as some of you may know I have been working on modeling a 1937 rendition of San Francisco at the corner of Powell and Market St with people, cars, pigeons, and all! As of right now I have myself in all of the clothing (but no hair yet...hehe), a 1934 packard automobile that I am doing in Nurbs for hardsurface modeling class which will later be converted to polys, and ofcourse the trolley. All of the people that will be featured in the scene will be family, friends, and fellow artists. Most of the buildings should be familiar to those of you who live in the city, however, quite a few things have changed since that time. Anyways, I will definately keep you all VERY posted with its progress/pipeline here in this thread which is now called "San Francisco 1937". I look forward to sharing this journey with all of you. I will post some previz of the scene this week and, in addition, I will be sharing some of the mel scritps and other tools that I have developed while working on the project here in this thread as well.

Take care and wish me luck,
Landis

Roger · Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 99

Soooo... where do I get in line to have me be in this scene? I have plenty of reference just check out the hippopotamuses on 3d.sk to catch my facial features, and the elephant should provide enough skin texture to cover most of my belly and breast area. hahha can't wait to see this thing in all it's glory keep us posted!

Landis · Posted: Mon Mar 26, 2007 9:55 am Post subject:

Dude I cannot tell you how hard I was laughing while reading your post at work.

Shannon · Joined: 14 Apr 2006 Posts: 71 Location: Wellington

LOL....freakin' Roger, I read your post and spit out the milk from my cereal all over my keyboard....seriously.

YohimbeArts · Joined: 23 May 2006 Posts: 45 Location: San Francisco, Cali

Sweet as Pie! I'm glad John had the balls to ask about the TT rendering of the wire frame becuase I was wondering the same thing. Thanks John. Nice little tip on the garbage matte too. Can't wait for those close up veiws though.

Oh and seriously Roger, you might wanna' get some of that Oil of age defying cream. That stuff will buff out a crater in the moon so it might do some good on your rough exterier. Hahaha

osx

Landis · Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:40 pm Post subject:

Roger · Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 99

Sweet do they sell that stuff by the gallon? Serously, All you need is some scan data of a bean bag and i can provide the head!

Sorry ! i know this scene is going to be awesome landis! Can't wait!!!

Landis · Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 3:02 pm Post subject:

Ok, so its been a while I know but I have in fact been plugging away with this in between work and I thought I would share some progress with all of you. Below are some images illustrating where I am at as of right now, this minute, however, I will be finishing up quite a few odds-and-ends throughout the day (luggage rack, headlight/taillight mounts, license plate bracket, dash board gauges, etc.). My goal is to kick off a turntable by Friday so the render can simmer over the weekend. Anyways, heres some OpenGL screen grabs from the Maya view port so far...

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Just a quick topology disclaimer... these images are obviously of an overly smoothed version of the model for display purposes only.... for the actual render I will be using mental rays approximation feature on a much lower resolution mesh so please overlook the excessive tessellation within the wire frame images since what you are looking at is the mesh in its post render time state.

Cheers,
Landis

Roger · Joined: 12 Apr 2006 Posts: 99

Dude looks a littel over tesselated! You might want to lower the res.....hahaha Looks freaken amazing Bro!! Serously, can't wait to see this thing in all it's glory. This side by side with the trolly and all the people....Man you may want to put a disclaimer to consider wearing dippers becouse once poeple see the final scene,.... Well you know!

Shannon · Joined: 14 Apr 2006 Posts: 71 Location: Wellington

Man, that looks great, lots of character. Can't wait to see a Turn table with some nice occlusion.

Keep it up bud.

-S