What I've been up to

This semester has mostly been me going between two projects, with designing a logo and look for myself in between. The car that I first created back in my first semester of 3DS Max looks like someone took a hammer to it, not to mention the lack of lights, mirrors, or a hood. So project number one has been to improve the model to a more professional level, now that I've got a few year's experience under my belt. All of the modeling is done in 3DS Max. For the dents, however, I prefer to use ZBrush's smoothing brush over 3DS Max's tools. I almost had this model done, but had to start over due to my external hard drive crashing.

Project two has been to learn ZBrush by doing a self portrait. It's a requirement to know the program for pretty much any 3D modeling job these days, especially for organic models. I started my self portrait in 3DS Max before I decided that I even wanted to get into ZBrush, but I quickly realized that I couldn't get the level of detail I wanted, especially in the hair, with 3DS Max. My teacher, unfortunately, doesn't know the program at all, so Digital Tutors and the Pixologic forums have been a life saver.

In between these two projects, I've been revamping the site to go along with the design I created for myself, and I've gone and met with three people, two game designers and one architect, and had a designer interview with them. They gave me some great advice, and I hope to be able to meet with them again for a portfolio review.

In one week's time, I'll be participating in my very first game jam, the Ludum Dare. I'm really looking forward to working with some of my fellow, very talented students, and making a fun game to play.