Riveting Stuff.....

So, here's an update on my BumbleBus.

As I mentioned in a previous post I've based some of the styling of the BumbleBus on an Airstream caravan, those classic chrome trailers you see in the movies, and I've spent a bit of time this weekend detailing the exterior of the BumbleBus to resemble the panels and rivets of the Airstream.

It's not quite done yet but I figured a blog post was overdue!!

Each panel has been broken and overlapped along the lines of rivets (the white dots) which, even though they were created automatically along a path, have had to be moved individually into position.

Obviously I was able to duplicate from left to right but that's not the point... I've moved freakin' hundreds of rivets and believe, that over the course of the process, I may have lost a certain degree of my already tenuous sanity!!!!

Only kidding, I love rivets!

Ha.. haha.... hahahaha!!

Rivets....

A Bit of Progress......

So I had a hideous morning at the dentist today and have spent the afternoon trying, through the pain, to relax into a bit of modelling and make some progress on my BumbleBus vehicle.

Since the other day there are now pistons on the doors and some steps to the cabin door, these have been automated and attached to controllers through set driven keys. I know it's a bit of a small imall image but hopefully you get the idea.

Here's a close up of the steps and the part of the storage door piston. I've tried to apply a touch of Art Deco to the steps in their styling but have kept the piston fairly utilitarian.

This shot is really to demonstrate the pistons on the cabin door, a bit of the interior is also visible.

A closer view from the exterior to the interior highlights some of the detail on the model. In keeping with the Deco styling the chair that I have built for the BumbleBus is a Kem Weber classic spring chair. I like the design and it's styling is reminiscent of the seating in older public transport with it's chrome tubes and leatherete cushions.

I have also made a luggage rack to further illustrate that this is a local transport type vehicle, the design is based on that of a railway luggage rack from the 1930s.

I'm making good progress with this model and hope to have it completed in the very near future.

The BumbleBus

So, no posts for a couple of weeks.... it's been busy times at Polygon Soup towers.

What am I doing to aleviate this dorught of creative output then..... Well, I've started a new mini modelling project that I've christened "The BumbleBus"! I know, awesome name eh!

To put it as simply as possible, this is a transport vehicle, like a bus that flies, who's design is based upon... that's right, you guessed it.... A bumble bee, the good old Bombini Bombus.

My thinking took me along the lines of those silver Airstream caravans crossed with a Devon split VW camper, a sprinkling of steam punk and a dash of Art-Deco.

Here's what I haeve so far....

The external of the craft, barring some detail and the workings of the flapping engine, is pretty much complete and the inside compartments have been constructed but are yet to be populated.

I'm undecided as to whether the vehicle will have a pilot and passengers as this was just going to be a hard surface modelling exercise but I think that there is potential to create a really nice scene using this model..... I think I'll just play it by ear.

Anyway, that's what I'm up to at the moment and I'll do my ut-most to keep this project alive until it's completion.

Shadow & Light

I made this short for Leeds Light Night 2012, my recent research and investigation into particle simulation using motion capture, Realflow and Maya were fully utilised in it's creation. The festival version of the clip was created to be played in a loop and had no title or audio.

 



Splash-tastic

Just a quick addition to my previous post in which I have now meshed the particle simulation and rendered the sequence with a dielectric material in Mentalray.

Enjoy :)

Super-MoCap-Fragile-Pixels-Explode-All-Over-Us

Here's another development test, this time using a mo-cap file as the source of motion. My computer is a little long in the tooth and was having difficulty processing any more than about 30000 particles on this one so, to get the most out of my processer during simulation, I ran 3 passes and by making small adjustments to the particle and geometry interaction attributes managed to create something much more detailed than would have otherwise been possible.

 

Because each particle simulation is cached separately there is the issue that they don't interact with one another but this is a small price to pay to be able to run a few hundred thousand particles in a clip instead of a number in the tens of thousands.

 

 

Melt City

This is a more refined melt created using the same method as the particle splat video but with a little more consideration over the melt control and a mesh rather than naked particles.

I'm still not 100% happy with the look of this but I'm learning more about the workflow between Maya and Realflow and am confident that I will be able to improve the effect with a little further experimentation.