Hi, so this type of forum is new to me, so bear with me if I am clumsy.
To Mr. Brett Sinclair
the way I got here is one of intent on my part but it is also that thing of the planets lining up every now and then and the right pieces fortuitously falling into place at the right time. This business is larger than it used to be so there is certainly more opportunity and or at least better odds to getting in now.
Thanks for the knid words on the Mototerms, that was a great project fo me, the thing I have found through out being in CG is that the same choices I would make on a practical I make here in terms of the look and feel of the machinery. The one advantage from practical was that you could select parts from model kits and kind of assemble a collection of pieces that looked good together. In CG we do have a parts library which is starting to fill that same need, so again the practical/digital kind of merge for me in a lot of similar ways.
A lot of times when building models we do try to keep in mind an idea for how something might work, escape pods or flaps, cargo doors, etc… This is helpful to try to keep some sense of organization and purpose to what you are building even if it’s all fantasy it carries over when you see it. I come back to that language of mechanical things, that I always see when I am landing on a jet and you look out at the wing and it has opened up to reveal this amazing collection of tubes, boxes, connectors,etc… jsut in general I try to really pay attention to those mechanical elements just to set aside as a mental picture of what is in the real world and use what I can to help sell the movie model as a real thing.
Again, thank you for the kind words, Trek also was a lot of fun for us to do, very glad you enjoyed it.
John
To Hayashiox,
In portfolios, if you have CG work to show that is great, turntables of models and samples of your textture maps to look at are always good to have. I think it is also good if you have traditional artwork to show as well, that always helps to show a bit more of the person’s artistic capability. Models, sculptures, sketches, paintings are all valuable to show one’s range.
The question of materials and practical model shop education kind of go hand in hand. There is some practical model education available in some of the art and design schools which can be really great, but as you say a good number of people have just learned on their own, The materials are ever evolving and changing which is always fun to be trying the latest thing if you have the resources to get it. The other big factor is the digital technology which is becoming common place in many practical model shops. Items like laser cutters, water jet cutters, 3D printers, decal makers, and the use of CAD for a great deal of the design has been constantly changing and evolving the practical model world.
As far as books or publications, I always loved the original ILM book that came out years ago, also Lorne Peterson’s book Sculpting the Galaxy is a great reference resource. Cinefex magazine is great as a quarterly periodical that covers the most recent VFX projects and gives some of the deatils of both practical and CG work done on projects. I loved the recent article on the film Moon, a low budget film that achieved a great look using practical effects augmented with CG.
Materials to touch, there are so many, but some of my favorites are urethane foams for sculpting and makin patterns, styren or ABS plastic for a lot of the fabrication( look up vacuum forming, cool process), Plastruct company sells plastic tubes and domes of many sizes thatare a great resource. There are so many things available, plus I love to walk through hardware and hobby shops just to see what is around and looks like it might be useful.
John
To DEG
Thanks very much we will all keep trying to come up with new cool things and thanks for the encouragement.
John
