Graduation!

Posted on June 14, 2007

Well, today is the big day…

I now have a Bachelor of Science in Media Arts and Animation from The Art Institute of California - San Francisco. =)

My website server has been acting nuts recently, so it’s been hard to properly update the site. However, later I will post some direct links to hold you over…

REEL, PDF PORTFOLIO, AND STILL IMAGES WILL BE UP SOON.

Wireframe Rendering in Maya Tutorial, part one

Posted on March 30, 2007

Rendering wireframes in Maya isn’t quite as simple as the “one click” 3D Studio Max method. You can, of course, resort to using a screen capture or the hardware render buffer. I’ve even tried using the “apply the UV Snapshot as your texture file” method.

However, I don’t think these can be quite “clean” enough for a portfolio that demands the best possible presentation.

So for all you fellow wireframe geeks and snobs, here’s the method I use to go about getting a crisp, flexible wireframe render.

Read more

Moonlit-Makeover

Posted on March 30, 2007

Well, I’ve finally given myself a crash course on Wordpress, Flash, and general web development and design. The result is this complete makeover.

I’ll be fleshing the sections in the coming weeks. I’ve already got the first of my new flash based galleries running in the 2d section, and the Links section is slowly but surely being filled.

Hope you like the new look!

Female Model Work In Progress

Posted on March 9, 2007

I’ve begun the modeling process for my female character. She is still totally a work in progress, but I thought it might be nice to post where I’m at right now.
Right now it’s all done with polys in Maya, but I went into Mudbox to throw some really quick hair on her just for fun. (By this I mean REALLY temporary hair…as in it’s not hair at all but just some 3d scribbles..)
Oh, and she is nude at this time, so no emails telling me I’m going to hell for not warning you. ;)

You can “right click > save as…” on the link below to download a 4MB QuickTime MOV turnaround.

And I’ll throw another little extra out at ya. Here is a small image of the skin shader I’m working on. No maps at this point, so the color is way too even, but none the less it shows some neato semi-translucent fleshyness.

Female Project Concepts

Posted on January 25, 2007

Some concept sketches below. Two female concepts for a 3D model/texture project I’m working on. Both done in Photoshop, the second one with some city and factory photos composited into the background just to give it a quick feel of what I’m going for. Now onto the modeling!

Mud Wrestling

Posted on December 14, 2006

Well, I’ve finally got to try my hand at the Mudbox Beta, ironically just as the first official 1.0 version is being released.

Instead of a combination of dirt and water, what we have here is a combination of a powerful 3d sculpting tool with an intuitive interface with viewport controls and workflow that are very much in line with Maya and Photoshop.

For 3D artists, Mudbox is just as sexy as it sounds. It really does feel more like sculpting than 3d modeling.
Here are some screen shots of things I’ve began playing with in Mudbox.

Character that I took into the ‘box for a bit of detailing (All screenshots from in the Mudbox interface)

Claw foot for a bathroom scene I’m working on

Quick head sculpt

Another quick one to test some things out

Hatching

Posted on October 16, 2006

The new website is finally almost up! I hope you enjoy the new “blog” format. I’ll be focusing not only on uploading my art to the gallery, but on adding tutorials, downloads, and links to our CG community.If you want to help out, please email all problems, threats, and love poems to me at matt@moonlitbasement.com

Matt Highison • Powered by Wordpress