Relating relatives!

Today morning I started to write a small wish list. It was nothing more than a list of games that I wanted to play. But to my surprise upon visiting Latiff’s blog I saw his wish list. Although the lists are different in nature the concept of two people thinking alike is strange.

What made it stranger was when Michelle during our brief MSN chat session yesterday asked why Latiff and I asked her the same question at the same time. Incidentally all three of us were having individual conversations with one another.

I used to think these coincidences as flaws in our understanding of our own nature. We deem ourselves different only to find ourselves more alike. I used to have a theory about this, I call it relating relatives. But upon reading the holographic universe, I have gotten a deeper understanding on this matter.

Anyways I am not going to bore you any longer. So here’s the wish list I made this morning.

1) Halo 2 (Xbox)
2) Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith lords (Xbox)
3) Star Wars : Republic Commando (Xbox)
4) Need For Speed Underground 2 (PS2)
5) Dead or alive ultimate (Xbox)
6) Fable (Xbox)
7) Doom 3 (PC)
Half Life 2 (PC)
9) Otogi 2 (Xbox)
10) Prince of Persia 2 (PS2)
11) Jade Empire (Xbox)
12) Viewtiful Joe (PS2)
13) Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (PS2)
14) Gran Turismo 4 (PS2)
15) Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (PS2)
16) WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW (PS2)
17) Devil May Cry 3 (PS2)
18) Evil Genius (PC)
19) The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-earth (PC)
20) Metroid Prime 2 (Gamecube) although I do not own a cube.

Blank videos and a ludicrous theory.

Today was the day Michelle was supposed to come to my house to export the video she was doing for her gym. She was coming to my room to use my pc. So being the impressionist that I am, I quickly got up early and sought to the task of making my room more hospitable.

The doorbell rang just as I was about to taste my food. I quickly opened the door to let her in. In Indian customs it’s bad to keep anyone waiting outside your doorstep. Though I do not believe half the crap my Indians fore fathers had said I do believe in doing the right thing because I always put myself in other people’s shoes. How would you feel if you rang someone’s doorbell and just stand there for someone to finally open the door. It’s not a very pleasant experience.

What strikes me the most was that she bought drinks again. Sasi and Coke. She knows that Sasi is my favourite drink.

Anyway there she stood looking at me as I spoke gibberishly. Sometimes I just don’t know what I am saying. It’s like my brain is telling me one thing, and the mouth is says another thing.

I ate my food as quickly as possible and invited her to my room to use my pc. She was nice enough to say hello to my grannies and even had a small chat with me ma.

My mother offered her Indian sweets and a glass of coke. And it’s not the one she bought incidentally, I went to shop before she arrived and bought 2 bottles of coke. Later she was treated to a homemade pizza my mother had made for us.

Soon she got down to work. I offered my help. But I soon realized that I was getting in the way, so I gentlemanly offered my pc for her to use. Although she did say I looked pretty bored, I was actually day dreaming.

When she took out a cd album if that’s what you call it, I was amazed at her organization. No wonder I picked her to be my producer. She knows how to organize her things. Well organizing was never my strength; it was more evident when I was rendering multiple files for my animation Akiro. My naming convention made no sense what so ever that I spent more time finding the right files than editing the final video.

While she copied her files over, I showed off several of my games I had. We even poked fun at Spiderman 2’s animations. We played a head to head race in need for speed underground. But the game that impressed her was Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

After converting all the files, we proceed to export the video. But as fate would have it, the video turn out to be blank as it did in her com. My first impression was that the codecs were not installed. But I soon realized that the codecs were indeed working because we could view the file with the media player. And I checked it out with my codec finder software.

As it was getting late, I told her or was it a promise, never mind that, that I would figure it out for her. After she left, I began scouring the net for any information concerning the matter. I searched the many forums for an answer but to no avail. When I actually found something or real value the explanation was vague at its best.

So I put my thinking cap on, I managed to decipher the problem by eliminating possibilities; I soon arrived at a reasonable conclusion. The source file was viewable but corrupted during the export process. So I decided to try to convert them into mpeg to and reinsert them into the Adobe premiere.

The idea was just crazy enough for it to work. But first I need to find software to convert the videos. After a brief downloading session I soon got down to work. Although the software did its job, it was rather slow in converting the file. I later found a more reliable and effective converter.

I performed a test and would you believe it, my method worked actually worked. Only downside was the quality suffered a slight loss. I managed to bring a 451mb avi file to at mere 81mb mpeg file. So I spent the whole night until 4am converting all her files.

Although we chatted at late at night, she apologized many times for making me do her stuff and she felt guilty. I told her it was nothing and I would gladly do it for her. She has helped me so many times that I am glad to have had the opportunity to help her.

I remember the time she helped arrange a recording session with one of our lecturer’s band. She was not even in my group. But she took the initiative to help me. Those moments will not go unappreciated by me. Overall it was a very fun day; I am sure going to miss these moments when I enlist for national service.

Somehow I just know National Service isn’t going to be any fun.

So you really wanna be a 3D Artist?

Does Drawing Help?
Ask this question on a public forum if you want to start a war. The fact is that nothing learned is a waste. Learning to draw properly helps you to understand form and proportions, which can help you a lot in modeling. So yes, I do strongly believe that drawing can help a lot.

I am crap at drawing. Does this mean I’ll never be a good CG artist?
Despite what I have said about drawing being beneficial, there is no real reason why you cannot be a good CG artist if you cannot draw. Even I cannot draw as well as I wished. However, people who are very good at drawing and do so regularly are likely to find the process of modeling a bit easier, as they are trained to deal with proportions, space and shapes. If you wish to improve your skills, just start drawing.

How difficult is it to get a job?
To be blatantly honest, the industry is heavily saturated. This doesn’t mean that you cannot get a job, but what it does mean is that you have to be very good if you want a job. You cannot expect to start applying for work just because you have modeled your first head and a few axes and now think you’re going to make a great addition to the team at Blizzard. You have to be realistic about these things. Since there aren’t many avenues in Singapore, try to look elsewhere to land your dream jobs.

Take a look at the quality of work in films and games at the moment. If you honestly feel that your work matches up to it, then go ahead and start sending out some show reels. Don’t be disheartened if you do not hit the jackpot straight away. If your work is great, you will eventually get a job. So keep practising real hard, slowly but surely you eventually become better.

Why do Studios Always Want Experienced Artists?
Having experience is a lot more than simply having been doing 3D for a long time. An artist who has actually worked in a studio before has had to adjust to specific pipelines, crazy deadlines, working in teams and various other things that an artist simply working from home has not necessarily experienced. This is why experience is a major plus factor, even if some of the work that an artist has done in a studio is not exactly the best. The fact is that they nevertheless have gained certain experience in doing so.

Does it help to know people in the industry?
Many people have said that if you are looking for a job, then it comes down to who you know and not what you know. This can definitely be true in many circumstances. Networking and making good contacts and building up a good reputation as an artist can do half the work of landing yourself a job.

How much money will I make?
Frankly though, if you want to be stinking rich, then CG is not really the ideal career for you. Sure, you can earn a great living, and if you can get together the capital to start your own studio that then becomes very successful, then of course you stand to make a lot of money, but generally working as an artist on the pipeline you cannot expect to one day own a mansion.

What is a good file format for rendering to?
This depends on what you are going to do with the render. If you are going to be uploading it onto the web for other people to see, then you will need to save it as an .avi (Windows Media) or .mov (Quicktime) file. These file formats are for clips, as opposed to single images.

When you need to render to a single image, one of the best file formats is Targa. A 32-bit Targa file also includes an alpha channel that ignores the background of your render, so you can then put the model onto a different background in a 2D program like Adobe Photoshop. From Photoshop, you can then compress the image and save it as a JPEG file if you wish to upload it to the web. When working on an actual production, you generally render animated sequences to images as well.

What is the best method of modeling?
Again, this is something that varies from person to person. While there are certainly guidelines as to ensuring good polygon flow in your model, there is really no “best” method of modelling anything. You must use whatever method you feel most comfortable with.

Some people like to box model, some people like to model poly-by-poly, others like to model with splines. There are so many ways to do any one particular thing that as long as the end result looks good and can move (if necessary) without problems, then the method you used to get there really doesn’t matter at all.

What are NURBS, polygons and sub-d’s?
(The following explanation is taken from the 3D buzz website)
While box modelling and spline modelling are defined as modelling techniques, you can think of NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines), polygons and sub-d’s (subdivision surfaces) as building materials. They are like the bricks that make up a wall. Polygons are basically the three- or four-sided (sometimes more, then called N-gons) shapes that make up models. NURBS and sub-d’s are similar to polygons in that they also generally have three or four sides, but unlike polygons, they can curve - a polygon becomes non-planar when you try to bend its shape, while NURBS and sub-d’s can bend easily.

Think of a polygon as a piece of metal - if you lift one corner of it, at least one other corner will lift as well. While NURBS and sub-d’s can be equated to something like fabric, that can bend as you wish. Polygon modeling is the most universal modeling type, while sub-d’s and NURBS are suited more for organic and technical models, respectively.

How should I begin with modeling?
Start with simple things, such as household items. Chairs, tables, etc are a great starting point, especially since you have plenty of reference right at hand. Once you are more comfortable with your tools, it is important to challenge yourself with more complex modeling, or else your skills will stagnate. Move onto organic shapes, and perhaps even simple characters, once you have successfully managed to create basic to intermediate items.

A Elder long, a Sakura, and a whole new universe

When I woke up today, I knew I had to meet my wonderful friends for King Arthur at Orchard Cineleisure. As the time came nearer to leave my beloved home, I was still struggling to write my latest blog entry. But I eventually saved a draft version of the document and prepared myself for my little outing.

After saying all the goodbyes, I found myself rushing for the MRT. I didn’t want to be late. To me my punctuality is important; it’s a showing of my self discipline. I never really cared if my friends came late but I hated those who didn’t turn up after promising they would do so.

Well as I was trying to find a seat on the MRT which by the way I didn’t, I met this young American guy by the name of Elder Long from California. I must admit that he freaked me out by asking how I was. It’s not everyday that some random stranger asks how you are doing, everybody on the train just ignores one another.

So what started out as I simple greeting went on to be an engaging conversation. He mentioned that he arrived in Singapore yesterday and was on the way to a church. He also said that he was sent here by his church in California. He was even kind enough to share his family military background with me.

Being an Indian does have its benefits. We just can’t keep our bloody mouths shut. So by the time the train arrived at Newton station, he had now learned that there is indeed a Zoo in Singapore and about the various tourist hotspots in Singapore. I even threw in a bit of the ezlink card history. He was surprised I knew so much about Singapore and shook my hand before he left the train. Well Mr. Long did brighten my day.

After arriving at Cathay Cineleisure, I just wondered around. Soon Latiff and Michelle join me at the Burger King. We had our lunch while Michelle went for a snack. And later we proceeded to watch King Arthur. The show was great. The production of this movie was in excellent hands. I really enjoyed King Arthur and so did my friends.

I can’t see the reason movie critics rated this movie so poorly. I for one have already made my opinions on critics known. These are people who can only talk and can’t walk the walk. I am really frustrated towards the attitude of some critics; the simply ought to be shot for their bloody ignorance.

After the movie, we made our way down to The Hereen. My two good buddies bought some movie vcds. While I did see a few surprising selections at the HMV store, I was largely disappointed with the catalogue they carried. With my tummy growling for food, we decided to eat at a place of Latiff’s choosing.

Before going to fill our appetites, Michelle found a vcd set that she purchased on the spot. It was her favorite actor from the Korean drama show. Damn, he’s name slips from my tired mind right now. Anyway we made our way to the Sakura Cuisine. There we had a nice meal and chat. I also passed the movie Latiff was eagerly waiting to watch, ‘Monty Python and the Meaning of Life. And for Michelle I passed a bunch of cds that she might enjoy.

After dinner, we headed to Borders where I purchased a book Latiff strongly recommended. It was entitled The Holographic Universe by Michael Talbot. As it was getting late, Michelle and I left Latiff to his fate, and headed to the MRT station. I opted to ride with Michelle to city hall in the opposite direction because I wanted a seat all the way back home. Upon Michelle’s departure, I quickly sought to the task of reading my new book.

This book is just extraordinary. I am glad Latiff introduced me to this book. Upon my completion of this book, I shall write a deserving review for it. Seeing that everyone on my msn messenger is offline now, I have so cruelly become aware that it is time to sleep.

So You Wanna be a 3D Artist?

The first overwhelming conundrum facing any beginner is that eternal question - what program should I begin with? The answer to this is pretty tricky. This is because every person is different, and has different ways of approaching things. While one artist may totally swear that the program they are using is the best, it might not necessarily be the ideal package for another artist.

Of course all programs have their advantages and disadvantages, but when it comes to the most popular of the mid-to high-end packages (I hate using the term “high end” but I guess people know what I mean by it), most of them are pretty much capable of the same things, which means that at the end of the day it really comes down to the individual artists themselves.

Someone who has no skills will not be able to produce anything of any worth, no matter how “good” the program they are using is.

Once you have grasped the basic fundamentals of 3D, you can always move to another package since the basic principles apply across the board.

Learning too many programs simultaneously when starting out will probably end up confusing you and will most likely end up with you taking far longer to get anywhere than if you choose to focus on a single piece of software to learn the fundamentals.

“This Program was used on that Film”
This is a very commonly-said thing on the internet and around school campuses, but it really is one of the worst things that anyone can use as a basis of deciding which software they should begin learning on.

The people who insist of using this bit of “logic” often tend to forget:

• that it takes a massive team of highly skilled and experienced artists to take the software and create anything seen in a blockbuster film like Lord of the Rings ;
• that the software used in films has (more often than not) been altered with many proprietary codes;
• And lastly, that many different software companies boast that their software was used on the same films (and often is - many large VFX houses use a number of packages to get their work done).

So basically this line of thinking is not really worth wasting time on if you were thinking of taking it into account when deciding what package to settle on. Just because someone on the web tells you that you should learn Maya because it was used on blah blah blah film, doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to take the program and make exactly the same kind of stuff.

If you like 3Dmax stick with it. If you don’t try out other softwares and pick the one that suits you. There are more than enough choices for any beginner to choose from today than there has been 10 years ago. That brings me to my next point. Demos.

Trying out Demos
The best way, in my opinion, to figure out which program is best suited to you, is to try them out. Makes sense, doesn’t it? These days, most of the popular packages have very cool demo versions available that allow you to explore every aspect that each package has to offer.

Since 3D programs are generally quite expensive, this also ensures that you won’t spend an obscene amount of money on some program just because somebody recommended it to you, only to find out that you hate it.

Generally it is wise to always give things a whirl before handing over your cash. Try out all the programs that seem interesting to you, and see if any of them suit your style and workflow. Most demo versions come with tutorials (or links to tutorials) that you can use to explore the capabilities and toolset of the program.

Try out as many programs as you like - it never hurts to keep your horizons broad. Here are some of the most popular 3D packages professionals use.

• Softimage|XSI Experience
• Discreet 3D Studio MAX
• Alias Maya Personal Learning Edition
• Maxon Cinema 4D Demo
• Side Effects Houdini Apprentice
• Lightwave

I strongly do not recommend Side Effects Houdini Apprentice for absolute beginners. Although it’s the premier industry software, it requires the user to have an in depth knowledge of 3D.

Some of these demos have certain restrictions or limitations (often they watermark your renders (Maya PLC has watermarks.), which means that a small to medium-sized logo of the application will appear on all rendered images), but this is a small price to pay for the free use of the program, in my opinion.

All of these programs have great toolsets and any of them that you choose will be worth taking the time to learn if you are keen to develop some basic skills. And since they are all advanced packages, you’re not likely to find yourself feeling frustrated after you have gone past the basic stage.

Which Program is the Easiest?
There is no absolutely cut-and-dry thing is “the easiest” program to learn because everyone has a totally different definition of what is easy and what is difficult. Different programs generally require different mindsets, and each one offers a slightly different toolset, some of which make certain tasks a little more efficient by providing you with more control, or by automating certain tasks for you.

Some programs may seem a little more complex at first than others. Maya, for example, has a lot more menus and things to click on than Max. It doesn’t necessarily make the program harder as such, but it may make it seem a lot more intimidating at first. But in the end, there is no easy way to learn 3D. No matter which package you choose, you have a hard road of learning ahead of you.

Where can I find tutorials and learn the program I have chosen?
Start off with your software manual. Most programs come with manuals that are suitable for beginners - don’t be afraid to read them. Many people are put off reading manuals because they feel that they are boring or might be too technical. Hogwash. Your manual was included in your software for a reason, so use it.

Lots of packages also come stocked with a horde of tutorials and other learning materials. Go through them! Tutorials are a great way to learn programs, especially if they explain why things work the way they do. Check your software documentation and discs to see if any learning material was included.

The internet offers a vast wealth of learning materials for software packages. Google is a great place to start. Using a search engine can yield great results that should keep you occupied for hours on end. Participate in online communities. These Sites are fantastic for getting help and for learning from the techniques and advice of others.

There are many other forums on the net that offer loads of information for all artists, both beginner and veteran alike. Don’t be shy to register with some forums and ask questions, even if they seem a bit silly.

Many experienced and professional artists hang out on forums and are happy to share advice and help you with your learning process. The most popular one is CGTAlk. And For tutorials or VTMs (refer to previous post) head on over to 3DBuzz.com.

Take Some Initiative
It is very important to have initiative and tenacity if you wish to succeed in this field. If you encounter a problem, try a few things to solve it or read your manual to see if you can find the answer. Don’t give up on something the moment it becomes difficult, or you will never get anywhere. If you never learn to take the initiative of working through problems, you will buckle under the stress.

Should I study for a Degree in CG?
Another hotly-contested and debated subject is that of education. Some people are really in favour of it, while others are deadset against it. In my opinion, nothing learned is ever a waste, and thus I am in favour of education myself. If you can afford to go to school, then go for it. The advantages to going to school far outweigh the disadvantages that some people claim.

Sure there are many people who are self-taught; who are fantastic artists, but not everybody has the discipline to push themselves at home to work hard at developing and improving their skills. A good school, on the other hand, will keep you challenged with constant assignments.

It is also very IMPORTANT to receive criticism for your work, and your instructors at school can provide insightful and constructive feedback to ensure that your work constantly improves.

Another good reason to go to school is that education can be an issue if you move to another country. The VFX and animation industry is one that is growing rapidly all over the globe, and many artists like to travel to other countries to go work in studios there.

Immigration officials are much more inclined to issue work permits to people who have formal education (this is a fact). In light of this, a qualification in the field could be essential in some cases.

However, in terms of actual studios, not many of them require a formal education. In most cases, experience and skill are the most important. As in Singapore your choices for CG School are very limited, if you are serious them you have to look abroad to get that education.

I would like to stress that a self-taught artist is in no way inferior to a schooled artist. My point here is that education can occasionally be an issue, and that if artists have the opportunity to study, it is something that they should definitely consider. Many artists will continue to learn on their own upon completion of their studies anyway.

How Long Does it Take to Get Good?
This is entirely up to you. Some people take a few years, some a few months. People learn and develop skills at different rates. Don’t feel bad if you have been working at it for two years but aren’t as good as some other people who has been working at it for the same time.

Everyone is different. While it is important to challenge yourself, remember not to jump in at the deep end too soon, as it will most likely only end in disappointment. Practice makes perfect.

What Defines Good Work?
An artist who takes pride in their work, is able to accept criticism, works hard at their skills and strives to constantly better themselves, generally produce good work. Watch some films with great VFX or play a game that has spectacular graphics, and compare your work to that.

Set yourself goals to achieve. Develop an attention to detail, and push yourself to create great looking stuff.