3d still collaboration - looking for training partners

#1

Recent News

We’ve almost settled on one of the character concepts. The male protagonist.

We have a lead on 2d artist to help out. More to come.

We’ve started gathering reference photos from various sources on the web. If our sources, authors or artists aren’t clear, please let us know and we will try to get you links, or leads to give proper credit to the media owner.

List of Interested Members:

Serum - Maya
Akademus - Ligthwave - 2d storyboards
Sycar - Cinema 4d, Zbrush - Prefers inorganic modelling.
3dway - 3dsmax - Prefers to model characters

Progress:
-Naval 3d still scene (possibly period, or fantastic, maybe even sci-fi, up to 2d artist and popular member opinion) based on story written by Serum.
-Story selected - posted on first page of this thread
-Voting on scene for all members to prepare any kind or quality of rough concept.

Short Term Goals:
-develop character concepts and model sheets
-gather reference material (please note, we’re looking at a historical/fantastic peice right now, but may be getting a 2d artist to help out, and that could take it in another direction)

original first post follows
Re-posted here from the general forum. I may be auto-deleted. I assue you that I’m not fishing since I don’t have anything to gain from any project started under this suggestion. While completing the project is very important, learning an effective method to complete a small group project with remote members is the only real benefit. This is actually more of a scope management experiment.

I know that everyone groans at the words group project, because they inevitably fail.

What I’m looking for is a couple of 3d training partners. In analog, when you’re talking about something like working out at the gym, you pair up with a training partner to establish a slight sense of obligation and to socially enhance the gym experience. Knowing that others are depending on you motivates you to attend and nurtures progress, while the improved social aspect makes the experience even more enjoyable. I’d like to do the same thing but with 3d.

Here’s my story:
I got interested in 3d as an architectural professional. I learned 3dsmax well enough to put an architectural still in front of my boss and convinced him to buy a 3d software package. I pushed for max, they bought viz.

Architectural modelling, it turns out, is a gateway drug. I soon became much more interested in organic modelling and found myself joining mod teams to have access to concept art. The advent of normal mapping suddenly put mod teams in need of high poly work. All of the mods inevitably failed to come to fruition because of dreamy, overshooting, ballooning scopes of work.

Since then I’ve switched a couple of jobs, and advanced my career (unfortunately, for personal time, but fortunately for the wallet) more toward the technical and project managment side of the world of architecture. I’ve also started a family and consequently I have only a couple of hours to myself each night after the boy goes to sleep. Where I used to be able to work on 3d projects in the evenings and on weekends, I’ve stopped all but thinking about 3d modelling.

What I would like to do is find a couple of like minded members who are over 25 and have about the same availability, who would like to practice their skills and accomplish small projects, just for the satisfaction of completing something artistic.

Ideally I would team up with a 2d artist, and other 3d artists and create still scenes involving one major element that each team member could develop.

If you search my username here, you will find one example of a character head. I know that modelling is of a pretty low standard compared to the pros and even hobbyists here, but I hope to improve. I need to catch up on things like mentalray, and zbrush.

my 3d app. is 3dsmax

I am interested in modo
I am interested in zbrush

#2

It sounds like fun, unless you are doing this for your financial benefits and I hope you don’t. I have a great deal of interest in learning more about character modeling/detailing/texturing, but never got much chance to do it. I use LW as modeler and renderer and zbrush too.

What would be good things to do:

  1. Have a some sort of story line just to be able to define characters.
  2. Have 2D artists develop character sheets
  3. Have 3D artists start building meshes and then bring them to completition.

This way a lot of people can benefit.
2D artists watch their creation turned into 3D. 3D people get nice original concepts. Perhapes riggers can come afterwards and make their suggestions about topology for animation etc etc

These would be a cool collaborative projects as long as no one use them in commercial purposes and, of course, give credits to each others portions of work.

#3

I intend absolutely no financial gain from this. I just miss modeling and I realize that my skills are stagnating. This wasn’t even cool when I started learning and you could get an industry job being self taught.

The course of the project would have to depend on the team members that come together. Ideally one person leads the charge and lays out the rules and topic of the project. I think that even this small amount of leadership is why challenges are so successful. We all need framework.

Of course the first active team member could be writer. A writer could write a short scene, which gets pared down to a simple narrative that can be captured in a single image. A 2d artist could do this distillation or work from a thesis derived from the written work by someone else. Once the 2d artist nails down the scene, it can be divided up and handed out to 3d team members. The 2d artists can continue to work into the 3d phase by doing character turn arounds and modeling sheets (I don’t know what the industry calls these, front and side to model from, character map, whatever).

The perfect scene would be a set, and two characters, maybe a vehicle or animal, or prop. That makes a team of three or four 3d modelers, a writer, and a 2d artist. That’s about as big of a group as I’d care to assemble to keep communication good and progress fast and avoid having to dedicate one person to just project management. Project Management is for 8am to 5pm. Of course member turn over is to be expected, but hopefully it occurs from project to project i.e. after completing a scene one or two may move on.

The real challenge here is assemble a small group who are mature and motivated enough to drive a project to completion before that initial enthusiasm wears off.

My predicament is that I need eye candy to lure in talent. I would be an adequate writer if I were still a high-school kid and I’d be an adequate 2d artist if I were still in grade 8. My 3d skills are probably not much better, but I’ll give myself a little credit and say that I’m good enough to know that I’m not very good and to want to be better. Hence the need for training and partners for that training.

I’ll post an example of my work as a gauge so anyone who is even close to considering joining can determine if they’d like to learn with us or even for someone who is pious enough to be very skilled and to come share what they know at the same time as pulling the quality of the work up.

#4

Here’s a character head I did.

It was from pictures of The Birdman of Alcatraz I Google image searched.

I’ll dig out my more recent character work images for mod teams, once I get my storage space figured out.

#5

Hi 3dway.
Check your PMs

#6

Hi 3dway. I have a story you can use if you like. Please check your pms.

#7

In case it’s not obvious, at this point I’ve started a list of members expressing interest. I’ll keep updating it in the first post of this thread. If I miss adding your name, or if it’s not obvious to me from your post, just PM me.

Thanks to anyone who has shown interest. I hope we have some lurkers who may come around.

I’ve purchased webspace for my personal use. I’ll be using the space and bandwidth, at the very least, as a place to hot link media to these forums. Whether or not I get around to, or want to dedicate the time to making a website is another issue. Actually as I think of it, I probably prefer to maintain the thread here for the benefit of the community.

#8

I can’t see the list. All I can see is:
edited adding list of members expressing interest edit

Serum
/list

??? Add me in (if you already haven’t)

Thanks

and another thing. i have huge 300GB of hosting i’m not really using (at hostmonster.com). I can park unlimited domains and have ftp. if you need any of these I’ll be glad to help!

#9

Ok, here goes. I’m going to test my new webspace… and my very old html skills.

One of my partially finishes architectural images

Turns out the tools here are good, and knowing the directory helps. Don’t need my broken old html.

In short, webspace = GO.

#10

Guys, this is the story I sent to 3dway.

The Sacrifice

Erik stood on the deck of Storm, and gazed at the reflection of the moon scattered across the sea. Off the starboard bow, the mountains on the island of Miro thrust up like spears into the belly of the sky. Thousands of stars glittered coldly above, oblivious to the plight of a woman about to be given over to a clan of savages. Looking at the letter for the hundredth time, his eyes focused on the last line. We require a taste of your noble young. But there had been more. Absently, he fingered the frayed edge along the bottom of the parchment. It was a reminder that his eyes were not privy to any more than the king would have him know. He recoiled at the sudden splash of the anchor plunging into the water.

“It’s time,” said Thero.

Erik turned to face the dark, lanky man. He had narrow shoulders and a derisive grin shared by most of the crew. Erik couldn’t remember a commission when he had felt so uneasy. He slept little, and made sure to keep his knife within reach when he did. Tucking the parchment into his breast pocket, Erik followed him to the captain’s quarters unsteadily. He felt like vomiting or throwing himself overboard.

They found Captain Leir seated in his cabin, poring over a map. He was a heavy man with a face creased by a thousand storms at sea and as many secrets. He indicated the lone chair across from him with sausage-like fingers. “Sit down, lad, sit down,” he smiled. Thero stood against the wall as Erik took a seat.

The captain leaned back and sighed. “Your father used to say that making peace is a dirtier business than making war. He was an honorable man, but he understood one thing. The only thing that matters. The greater good of Frisia.”

Erik sensed it was his turn to speak. “I understand my duty, captain.”

Leir’s eyes narrowed as he shifted his weight forward. “She will be gagged and blindfolded, of course. But you will hear her muffled pleas. You will see her struggling against her bonds.”

Who is she, captain? Has her father consented to this? So many questions hung in the air unasked and unanswered. “I will row her to shore.”

The captain leaned back again, seemingly satisfied. “Your father would be proud. Not many of my men would have the courage to set foot on that cursed island. Thero, is it ready?”

Thero grunted in affirmation.

“Good.” Leir pointed to a spot on the map. “Remember to leave her beyond the tide, lad. They’ll find her soon enough. Let’s be done with it.”

Erik followed Thero to the rope ladder hanging off the side. She was already in the boat below. Several sailors snickered, and one of them clapped him on the back. “Don’t be too long now, boy.”

He climbed down the ladder and carefully stepped into the small boat. It was fitted with foul-weather sails and oars. She was wearing a plain black robe, and her hair was clumped in sweaty ringlets. Below her blindfold, dirt streaked her high cheekbones.

Erik sat opposite her, slid the oars into the water and began to pull away from the ship. The pale moon hung low in the sky behind her, outlining her features yet keeping her face recessed in shadow. To her credit, she did not cry out or struggle. She sat quietly, back erect, as he rowed her toward another island overtaken by cannibals his countrymen no longer had the stomach to fight. She would be raped and worse, he knew. It would be far less cruel for him to drown her in the sea than to deliver her to them. Yet he rowed on.

He closed his eyes for awhile to block out the view of the ship as his arms fell into a rhythm. His thoughts drifted to his father’s deathbed.

It had been a cruel spring. Everywhere, life was renewing itself, emerging from a long winter. His father had refused to allow anyone save his mother to look upon him. But she had called for Erik at the end. Norik, the man who had once borne him upon his broad shoulders so easily, who had worked his way from deckhand to captain to one of His Majesty’s most trusted advisors, had turned into an emaciated skeleton. Erik felt a lump rising in his throat. His mother covered her eyes with her hands, praying fervently.

His father’s forehead had been covered in sweat. Erik knelt by his side and wiped it away gently. Norik turned his head to face his son, and though his breath came in short ragged rasps, he smiled, his eyes clear with purpose.

“Son, promise me one thing,” he croaked. “Don’t live your life the way I’ve lived mine. Some burdens can never be borne by titles or accolades.” Then he had closed his eyes for the last time.

His mother burst into tears, and Erik had staggered out of the room sobbing. He hadn’t had a chance to make the promise. Not one week later, Captain Leir, a man who had fought side by side with his father against the Skarls, Cassels, and a dozen others came calling. Erik was a young man of promise, a man destined to continue his father’s legacy of service to Frisia. His mother had protested-

Erik opened his eyes. She was still there, silent and calm. Looking back over his shoulder, he saw the island looming, waiting. On impulse, he pulled the oars out of the water and laid them on the floor of the boat. He cleared his throat.

“Please,” he said, “don’t be alarmed. I’m not going to hurt you. I’m going to untie you. Please nod if you understand.”

For a long moment, the woman did not move. He was about to ask again when she nodded slowly. Erik stood up and took two steps toward her, careful not to rock the boat. He leaned over to work the knots of the blindfold and gag loose behind her head. She stiffened when his arms brushed against her hair. When he was finished, she looked up at him with stunning green eyes for the first time.

“Now your wrists and ankles,” he said hoarsely.  She watched calmly as he finished untying her.  He sat down uncertainly.  He had half expected her to kick him or dive into the sea.  He wouldn’t have tried to stop her.

They floated in silence for awhile. Rubbing her wrists, she surveyed the boat, the island, and turned to look at the ship. Then her eyes rested on him. He was mesmerized by those eyes. “I’m Erik,” he said finally.

“I’m Calla,” she smiled. “Thank you.”

It was a strange name for a Frisi, and she had an accent he couldn’t quite place.

“Calla,” he said, “I don’t know how, but I’m going to take you home.”

She gave him a puzzled look and pointed to the island. “That is my home.”

#11

Rather than trying to capture the entire story in one image, we could just pick one scene…as far as scenes that would hold a visual interest and not provide too much of a challenge, some ideas…

1-Erik holding the letter, leaning out over the ship looking at the water in the beginning of the story…
2-The conversation with the captain…lots of props, but we could make them simple…
3-The couple in the rowboat, with Erik looking over his shoulder at the island, and the girl still blindfolded.
4-The conversation with the father.

Any other ideas? Or we can skip this story and try something else…

P.S. Vojislav, maybe you could help us out here with your storyboarding experience? Your website is very impressive.

#12

I dig this story. I’d like to be involved as well.
What I suggest is to assign certain number of people to do bits and pieces and go on with this. Anyone who’d like to participate can join after he/she states what would like to do in here.

Here is my skillset:
I can divide this into scenes and prepare it for filming.
I can make rough sketches of scenes.
I can model (characters and envirovments).
I can texture, paint.
I can do lighting preliminaries.
I can animate hard surfaces (not characters).
I can composit and video edit.

I think we should go on and do storyboards and character sheets. Good thing would be to do this at the same time. Post some sketches and ideas and than see what like or not.

I have a good feeling about this.

Cheers!

P.S. this is my last day at work, yay! So I’ll have some more time over next couple of months. I’ll do some quick and dirty storyboards, just to roughly visualise the story. I’m traveling back to Europe next week, so I have very little time in the next few days to sort the things out (and to enjoy the sun).

And yeah, how about setting rough deadlines (nothing specific). Like, let’s try do do storyboards before Christmass?

#13

Wow, that’s great! Why don’t we start with a sketch of a scene? I think you guys are much more experienced than me, but the problem I see with an animation is that we all use different 3d packages. I feel comfortable modeling simple things. I have a simple website at www.kmoeini.com.

#14

well i am a sucker for a good story. count me in!

#15

RE: animation. I had intended to do a still as the output from the project. I think that the closest that we’ll get to animation is rigging to pose characters. I don’t know if you can export a posed mesh or not. I would assume so. I’ve never tried.

Shall we vote for a scene?

I vote couple in boat looking seaward. This means, ship, rowboat and two characters plust the sea, sky, moon (don’t know why but I pictured a night scene)

Once we get a scene selected, we can to some 2d mocking up, then leave the 2d artwork to the expert?

Sound right?

I’ll update the member list later. Be sure to post your 3d package and what you want to work on, and I’ll add it to the list.

#16

Sounds good to me. I’ll vote for that too.

Software: Maya
I’d like to model a character.

#17

Oops. Double post.

#18

Ok, I’ve put a synopsis in the first post so we know where we are and where we should be headed. Please let me know if you would like any of the details modified. Sycar, I still need your specs, and I would like to make sure that everyone has stated what sort of 3d work they like to do most. I posted that I prefer to do character models… but a big ship is really eating at the back of my mind. I digress.

Right now, based on team suggestion, we should all take a rough crack at a scene storyboard. Akademus has offered to storyboard the scene and he is our best shot at it based on his website; unless anyone else has 2d work that I haven’t seen. I would like to suggest that we all do something really rough (or if you can, do something polished, but we’re only asking for rough), then Akademus can harvest the best ideas from everyone and assemble them into something that reflects eveyone’s ideas. I’m nervous that it’s not nice to ask one artist to be just a melting pot for everyone elses ideas (you ideas included), or to ask everyone else to submit ideas that may not be used by the storyboard artist, but it felt like a good way to keep the piece close to everyone. I see that it risks making the peice close to no one. I’m just hoping that it works out in a way that everyone had input and their ideas were respected. If we had a dedicated 2d/concept artist I would probably put the whole task to that person. I think we’ll do just fine either way.

I’m hesitant to go “recruiting” a 2d artist. My past experience has been, places like conceptart.org, take asking for free work as an insult. I assume that the 2d threads here are the same. On the basis that I don’t want to impose our passtime project on anyone, I’m hoping a 2d artist will stumble on us. If this were business I’d be hiring for the position. I think we can get by on what we can do oursleves unless we get a knock on the door.

Always interested to hear from everyone and make sure what I’m writing here is in line with what everyone else is thinking. Please correct me. I can take it.

#19

Ok…just put this together…

#20

Simple yet effective.
How quick was it?
I thought of asking you to pull the camera in a bit, but it ocurred to me that we could do that once it’s modelled. This because I think that we’re going to want to show detail on the characters at least. The second point of interest for me is the ship. I think that it’s the next most likely candidate for focus and detail, but the characters are definately at the heart of the story.