Untitled Death Mask Project – Research into Techniques
In order to successfully create the effect I have in mind for my primary Msc Project, it is essential that I create 3d imagery that is believable as a real world object. My research lead me to consult a number of sources, such as:
- Mastering Maya 2009 by Eric Keller
- ZBrush Digital Sculpting Human Anatomy by Scott Spencer
- Character Rigging: The Puppet Rig by Carlo Sansonetti.
At present, the most useful tutorial resource I have found is Creating a Photo-Realistic Render in Mental Ray; Rendering Digital Sculptures with Ryan Kingslien. This expert level training, from one of the world’s leading 3d graphics instructors, has enabled me to learn the specifics of what is required to get a photo-realistic render out of mental ray. However, it covers setup for rendering still images. I will require a lot more tweaking and research in order to attain the same quality results in an animated sequence. Here are the results of my learning:
[...] Some time around the end of Semester One, I created the following digital sculpture. It was intended as a test of a visual idea I had been working on in my mind. Elaborating upon the Uncanny, especially that of Jentsch, and contemplating the nature of reality and dreaming, I created this sculpted dreamer as a way to express my thoughts. At this point, I wanted to take the work to a new level, but didn’t know quite which way to take it. I filed it away, waiting until I knew the time was right to work on it further. [...]