MrT3D - A Digital Sketchbook: Elliott Mitchell - Hybrid Artist

Strolling of the Heifers

noreply@blogger.com (MrT) — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 16:57:00 +0000

Went to Strolling of the Heifers in Brattleboro, VT this morning. Lots of fun. I met Monte from WRSI the Rive r 93.9 and 101.5 FM. I want him to call me and give me advice on what games I should make on the air. Come on Monte, Please?

Monte Belmonte

I also saw US Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT). My wife would not let me bother him for networking oppertunities! :(

North East Digital Artists Group - First Meeting

noreply@blogger.com (MrT) — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:01:00 +0000

North East Digital Artists Group - Thanks to the primary organizers and sponsors Brad Porter and Hedi Jelev (Great Eastern Technology), organizer Ezra Cove (Mt Ida College) for hosting and 3D Designer Gustavo Fontana for presenting.

Gustavo presented “Design and Prototyping Workflow: mixing Nurbs, Meshes and SubDs - with Modo, Rhino and T-Splines”. Gustavo demonstrated the process of designing a cool pair of goggles. His workflow was fascinating. Modo's toolsets and interface seem very efficient and freeing. The retopo tools looked amazing. Gustavo exported his prototype to Rhino to do any boolen operations and convert polys to NURBS which worked ok. He then demonstrated using T-Splines to convert polys to NURBS. T-Splines did an amazing job! It was very accurate. Gustavo then passed around the audience a prototype 3D print! I'm not sure what was used to print the goggles but different resins were utilised to create clear lenses, rubbery connectors and a strap.

Can't wait to attend the next event in September.

IGC East

noreply@blogger.com (MrT) — Fri, 22 May 2009 15:23:00 +0000

IGC East rocked! I missed GDC for the one and only time (if I can help it). Being relatively new to game developer universe IGC East was a super cool networking, education and exhibition (game demo night) opportunity. I do wish there was a little more about the art side of game development. I highly recommend making it next time if your an indie or looking for work.

Boston Indies

noreply@blogger.com (MrT) — Fri, 22 May 2009 15:16:00 +0000

I thoroughly enjoyed the Boston Indies gathering at Beta House. The intimate setting, open and constructive critiques (Heritage and Living Playsets), frank and honest advice, diverse yet connected crowd and a wonderful setting (Beta House). Being more of an artist, I for one learned much about running an indie company that night. I met lots of programmers, artists and founders. I rarely find artists to talk to at Boston Post Mortem but it's a different type of venue.

Kudos to Scott (Macguffin Games), Eitan (Fire Hose Games) and Jon & Brian (Beta House) for a stellar night!

Old Demo Reel Circa Early 2008

noreply@blogger.com (MrT) — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 14:57:00 +0000

This is my old demo reel targeted to a film production teaching position early last year. It was a real rush job. I had a few days and lot's of shots to render, composite and edit. It turns out the search committee never saw the reel. I found out and applied for the position too late. The search had to fail before any new applicants would be looked at. I new reel is in the works to showcase recent works.

Here is a link for a better quality version if you have the bandwidth. Click play and when it does start to play you may want to pause.This is so the video can buffer in for while first. The file is large.

Otherwise watch the lower quality version below.

Dragon Rigging Pose

noreply@blogger.com (MrT) — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:00:00 +0000

The dragon is mostly rigged thanks to the help of Raf Anzovin. Raf set up a custom rig using The Setup Machine 2 and his own magical Maya abilities. I need to finish painting weights and create facial blend shape expressions. I also need to tweak the hi-res mesh for displacement and normal mapping.

I haven't done much but recover from a nasty stomach flu for the past few days. It hit me the afternoon before a presentation and completely floored me for several days. I now have mental associations between using 3d apps and nausea /vomiting. I'll get over it eventually :)

TAD Day 28 - Homepage

noreply@blogger.com (MrT) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 16:09:00 +0000

I missed the final day deadline for TAD. I had the flu and was pretty much useless. I did make a temporary home page for my business website www.VermontDigitalArts.com.

TAD Day 27 - Got my back covered by Mr. T on my Carhartts

noreply@blogger.com (MrT) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 16:03:00 +0000

This project was a little more involved than I expected. The original head faded after two washings. It would have been better to do it all at once. There is always my next pair for the summer.

Mr. T Carhartt Coveralls Stencil - Photo by JuJu

I have documentation of this process I’ll post on my blog later.

I used adhesive paper for kitchen shelves as the stencil material.

I thought maybe I did not have to repaint Mr T’s head, so I projected my collage on to the back of the Carhartts to the scale of the preexisting stencil.

I then covered the coveralls with the contact paper and taped it down. I should have removed the backside of the adhesive paper first. Next time.

Next I cut the stencil right on the back of the Carhartt coveralls. The razor whent throught the stencil but didn’t even scratch the coveralls. Wow they are tough!

I removed the stencil and the backside of the adhesive paper.

Then brought the coveralls fixed to an easel (thanks Ron) on to the porch. I reapplied the stencil, taped the edges and painted with another kind of spray paint.

Afterwords I knew I had to redo the head. I didn’t have the original stencil or file so I tried to do another. I made it on regular paper. It’s not exactly what I’m looking for but there is promise.The double head image is a little blurry.

Mr. T Carhartt stencil detail - Photo by JuJu

I will repaint the whole suit once a year when the old image is faded away. I bet this will we very cool five to seven years from now.

I think I’ll call him Minny T.

Check on my blog for further developments in the future.

TAD Day 26 - L. H. O. O. Q. 2009

noreply@blogger.com (MrT) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 16:00:00 +0000

Looking at my photo’s from yesterday I noticed something I was unaware of. The figure of a woman in the center of the photo has a hot a$. Come on. I mean I can see her butt crack is visible and it’s glowing white on the infra red display! When I took the photo I wasn’t really paying attention to others. I was taking a self portrait. Anyway the title ” L. H. O. O. Q.” is a tribute to Marcel Duchamp’s 1919 ready made Mona Lisa. The title when pronounced in French, puns the phrase “Elle a chaud au cul”, translating colloquially in “She has a hot a$s”.

Judge for yourself.

TAD Day 25 - Self Portrait Photography

noreply@blogger.com (MrT) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 15:55:00 +0000

After a meeting in Boston I went to the Museum of Science. I had my cruddy generic camera. I took a series of self portraits around the exhibits.

Straight shot into mosaic of mirrors.

Unedited shot of enhanced realtime infrared display. White is hot, blue is cool.

I have a bunch more I’ll post on my blog later. Some are very cool and others not so much. I had fun in the museum.

TAD Day 24 - More Dragon

noreply@blogger.com (MrT) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 15:53:00 +0000

Dragon update. I miss Maya. I am so tired of ZBrush crashing when I light and or render. I can’t wait to make a sss skin shader for mental ray for my dragon.

TAD Day 23 - Business Cards

noreply@blogger.com (MrT) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 15:50:00 +0000

I needed new business cards in a hurry. I designed this card and sent it online to be printed. They were back in time for an important business meeting Wednesday.

Why is Wednesday always business time anyway?

TAD Day 22 - Creative Plow Repair

noreply@blogger.com (MrT) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 15:47:00 +0000

Here comes a flood of late posts. Sorry, my business takes priority.

Last Sunday was a good sized winter storm here in sunny Vermont. The tractor hydraulics had been damaged and one of the tires chains broke. I collaborated with my neighbor Sam to Jerry rig the tractor. This is an art. I’m guessing this is a way of life for many Vermonters.

It’s hard to see but I had one new hose (a different size than the original ofcourse), two new connectors joints (forgetting the proper term) and lots of rope. For the chains (photo later) we used random extra linage and zip ties. Well it worked! A proper fixing in in the near future.

TAD Day 21 - Final Detailing on 3D Dragon

noreply@blogger.com (MrT) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 15:45:00 +0000

Have to finish modeling pronto. This is a render in zbrush not textured to highlight the untextered form. Next stop polypainting.

TAD Day 20 - More fun with Maya and Photoshop

noreply@blogger.com (MrT) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 15:43:00 +0000

More fun with Maya and Photoshop

TAD Day 19 - Fun with Paint Effects

noreply@blogger.com (MrT) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 15:40:00 +0000

Today I’m posting three images. The past few days I’ve been trying to complete a bunch of projects for work. I have some new work coming down the pike. Subsequently TAD took a back seat for a few days.

This image was done in about 15 minutes using Maya paint effects.

TAD Day 18 - Textural DigiPainting

noreply@blogger.com (MrT) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 15:39:00 +0000

Decided to paint a little in Maya paint effects. I like it for painting better than PS. It’s a little more naturalistic.

This is a bit abstract. I wanted a grayscale textural digiPainting.

Total time 10 minutes.

TAD Day 17 - Redux - Covered Bridge

noreply@blogger.com (MrT) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:57:00 +0000

Managed to upload a different way. I think something is up with the server still.

TAD Day 17 - Covered Bridge Logo - Reinterpreted by the Internet

noreply@blogger.com (MrT) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:55:00 +0000

I wanted to make a covered bridge logo / icon illustration. For some reason it looks wierd when I upload it. I’ll call it “Reinterpreted by the Internet”.

TAD Day 16 -3rd Eye

noreply@blogger.com (MrT) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:52:00 +0000

Thinking of icon designs / stencil designs.

TAD Day 15 - Martian Doodle 2 - Digital ReDraw

noreply@blogger.com (MrT) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:08:00 +0000

Martians change form to represent what humans most desire to see. In this Martian Doodle 2, Digital ReDraw, I used only the value of the negative space to rework the image. I desired to see a human form in 5 minutes and the martian obliged.

TAD Day 14 - MartianDoodle

noreply@blogger.com (MrT) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:05:00 +0000

I drew this for an hour while watching The Martian Chronicles. I wasn’t really looking at the drawing while actually drawing. I moved my hands as I watched the film.

TAD Day 13 - Mr. T Carhartt Update Drawing

noreply@blogger.com (MrT) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:02:00 +0000

Quick drawing. BTW I was modeling Jason from Friday the 13th and decided it was too negative. Imagine that.

TAD Day 12 - Mr. T Carhartt Stencil Plan

noreply@blogger.com (MrT) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 15:58:00 +0000

Too busy yesterday to do TAD. Today I mocked up a potential stencil plan for Mr. T on my Carhartt coveralls.

The white area will be cloth material color. I’m wondering about projecting the pattern onto the suit and painting the white areas with hot wax. Then spray paint the suit. Later take the wax off. Batik like. What do you think?

Working on something for today’s post now.

TAD Day 11 - Oooops!

noreply@blogger.com (MrT) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:08:00 +0000

I missed the deadline. I just returned from the monthly Boston Game Developers Post Mortem at an Irish Pub. It’s a haul. Right Matt? It was cool because 6 teams from Boston area took part in a challenge to create video game that could be played in five minutes. They had 48 hours and had specific themes. The results were pretty amazing.

I had an incident modeling my dragon a week or so ago.I changed order of points that define its surface. Since this is already to technical I’ll just say my model exploded in some parts an was fine in others. I wanted to strategically simulate that “effect” again. I did my little process and whamo -