Friday 11 July 2014

Day 1 done - 800 bits - the challenge is officially on!

Well, day one has ended.  However I broke my own number one rule - not to be too ambitious and try to keep things simple and achievable.  It started out great, but then it managed to slide down into my usual 'perfectionism' trap, followed by a mind that keeps coming up with more ideas and going off track very quickly.

Thankfully I put the first image up - however with so many ideas I want to create, I let the first one become a huge daunting task that went haywire at the start.  So as day one finishes, its time to self-reflect and enforce some rules for myself so I don't get caught out again.  Essentially - its time to start breaking some habits when it comes to my own personal projects...

Reference and planning

I did actually do a lot of initial brainstorming and research...  I felt I was fully prepared, had everything I needed at least churning away in my cranium...



I did a handful of thumbnails - I even have an overall plan for some structured shot layouts when it comes to a few.  I finished the 3D model - great, so it should have just spun off from there and been done in just a couple of hours...



BUT...

I went and started to refine details, after which I modelled a few other items in for the next few images.  I had an idea in my head for the composition, but of course next thing I know, I'm deciding that I want to make something else because my brain is seeing possibilities - a dangerous way to work.

Generally, here's what happened...

What I did with the first image was to  

(a) decide to start with my first computer (that was the hardest part - truthfully!).

Then...

(b) I did a quick grab of reference images I've been collating and built a 3D model.

This was actually the easy (and quick) part of the project


That was actually real easy (heres a timelapse video showing the modeling process).  I then...

(c) collated a lot of items from other projects (my ZX Spectrum projects - Tapes, cables, cassette cases)

and built new textures for them based on classic ZX81 games I had back then.  Where time started to get wasted was when I...

(d) started to fumble about with my composition.

I moved cassette models, I tweaked the camera, I placed lights, I tested a few things...  It just became a case of fiddling way too much.  However I opted on two camera angles...  I rendered them out.



Finally...

(e) I did some post grading on them

... with a little lens distortion, abboration, vignette and grain - plus a dash of subtle sepiatone and compiled the images into my bubblegum card template.  Upload - and I was done...



until I...

(f) discovered I'd not paid attention to a few cable details

...which I wouldn't have had to worry about if I'd just done the machine on its own like I'd originally planned, and quickly adjusted my 3D scene, re-render and update the one online.

KISS

One of the challenges with CG is of course to meet deadlines, often under a lot of pressure.  Time pressure will be my daily job during the week, which in itself can take up almost 12 hours of my day when I include travel to and from home.  That's going to put a lot of stress on meeting that daily deadline.

Part of the plan is to definitely "keep it simple, stupid".  Composition will play a big part in this, and I've decided that I can definitely focus on key details that don't require me to model a vastly complex mesh.  As much as I'd love to build a fully detailed 3D object that I can render from any and all angles (such as this ZX Spectrum) I know just how long a project like that takes.

Keeping my compositions focused on the key subject matter using effects like Depth of field and building a themed layout will let me lower the complexity and hopefully retain the visual appearance I'm after.  That's just going to have to be how it is from now on - come up with some pre-prod at the start of the day just to clarify an idea and then stick to it.  There's no more first-day headache of changing direction as I go...

It doesn't actually take THAT long

I built my first new asset for day 1 - my very first home computer, the Sinclair ZX81. It was less then 40 minutes from start to end.  I limited the details down on the model - based on the composition not seeing them.  That shaved a lot of time down.

Textures are also mostly colours and bumps.  That in itself shaved plenty of time not having to manually paint up image maps.  (Here's that timelapse link again, as well as this lovely 22 second timelapse of the little work it took to surface the model (its so short, but it indicates just how easy and quick the process was))

Round, eh, I mean day 2 and onwards...

Day 2 I'm going to continue with this initial history.  I'll make use of models I've already built in the past rather then reinvent the wheel as it were.  Its going to be a test and a half, but there's 99 days to get good at it.

My process from here on...

I figured its worth noting a little about the process I've decided to go with here. 
Obviously I can't muck around like this every time I make an image.  So the general process from this day on will be

(a) Make sure once I'd done my pre-production thumbnails... I STICK with the one I plan to do and do not deviate.
(b) Reuse what I can from my own personal library (ie. my work, I'm not one to use free 'stock' off the net)
(c) Model anything new based on composition
(d) Render, grade and slap it together.
(e) Upload, and then prep up for the next one...

Its part (a) that's the clincher really.  We'll see how we go for tomorrows challenge...

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