Model Complete!

The spider-mine model is finished, and ready for baking onto the low-poly mesh. I've just purchased the Quixel Suite, and intend to start using it to unwrap and texture the model. I've had a few lessons come through from my hard surface modelling course, so I'll take care of that first. Best get to it!

Part 3 Finished!

Here's some more progress on the spider mine model. The mesh looks a little scruffy in some areas because it'll be baked later on. I'm debating refining some parts of the model when I've finished the whole thing, so I can put it into a scene with the Bulldozer model I've been working on. If I made a decent environment, all the models could go together quite nicely.

Progress as Promised

I managed to get a quick bit of the gas cylinder finished up tonight. I'll aim to have it refined with some detail work tomorrow. I still think I can get the whole thing finished by the weekend.

Spider-Mine Part 2

Well that's part 2 taken care of. I've got just enough time each evening to squeeze out thirty to forty five minutes of 3ds Max work before sleep deprivation ruins my concentration and I have to go to bed. I intend to start on part 3 of the spider-mine tutorial on Monday, and I want to have the whole thing finished by the end of next week. I've got other things to build!

Keeping Up the Momentum

I promised myself I'd push myself to work harder and utilise every free moment to continue working and improve my skills. Here's some progress with the spider-mine. I wish I could work on it for longer tonight, but I have to get up at 5am.

Spider-Mine Part 1

I've started constructing a spider-mine from a lovely free tutorial courtesy of Eat 3D. This is part one, of four complete. I'll be constructing this whenever I get a free moment in the evenings, If only I had 3DS Max on a PC at work!

Beautiful Clay

It was pointed out to me by a friend of mine that 3D Studio Max now has a rather fetching clay setting in the viewport options. I've never seen this feature before and I love the way it looks. Here's a quick crop of it on the Bulldozer W.I.P.

Hard Surface Complicated Details

The most recent Grant Warwick Mastering Hard Surface tutorial is focused on some of the more complicated details that any serious modeller is sure to come across. These little bite-size 3D puzzles have been really fun to make. Not only because I've learned so much on constructing complex parts with clean geometry, but also because they've challenged my problem solving skills. I've even attempted to improve on the tutorial by using some of my own methods to make the construction both easier and faster. (Not to mention the geometry even cleaner)

That First Step!

So I officially began my career in the games industry as of the 11th of August this year. I'm proud to say that I'm working for the Creative Assembly in Horsham as a QA Tester Intern! I've not posted anything significant for a while because all my time and energy has been spent on job hunting and improving my skills as a tester. I'm amazed by the love and support I've received from those close to me, and I finally feel like I'm getting somewhere. I've got a backlog of work to post in the coming weeks, and intend to update at least once a week. Now that I'm "in" the games industry, I can start to spend more of my time focusing on artistic study and refining my 3D modelling skills.

Mastering Hard Surface with Grant Warwick

I've just signed up to a Mastering Hard Surface modeling course with Grant Warwick. I'm pretty excited about it, and it should give my modeling skills a serious boost! Good things will happen!

http://www.grantwarwick.net/mastering-hs/

The Dozer - Cabin

The bulk of the shape and armor is finished on the cabin. With the majority of the detail on the back finished I'll focus on building the intricate pieces that cover the cabin on the top, front and sides. I've also looked out a few HDRI images to use for lighting and rendering the whole model when it's finished.

The Dozer - Half Way Home

I've just hit the mid-point for this model, It's starting to shape up into something that resembles a bulldozer. I'm tearing into modeling the cabin now. I just need some nice render presets to do the model some justice, the default max lighting is terrible.

The Dozer - Track Covers

Starting to pick up a bit of steam with 3ds Max. The interface feels a little more comfortable now. Time to crack on with building the cabin.

The Dozer - Engine Covers

The design is starting to get a little more complex as it progresses. It turns out I read the tutorial list in the wrong order, I've had to build the engine covers and the track covers before I can build the cabin. More updates soon!

Back in the Saddle

I'm back and ready to put my nose back to the grindstone after a well needed break. I've been so caught up in chasing a CG career that I haven't taken a holiday in over four years. I'm refreshed, reinvigorated and have a new plan of attack.

2014 is going to be my year!

All I have to do is prove it.