BLAST Orb ship model kit progress...

Here is a quick snapshot of the Orb ship model kit from my book BLAST, page 103. I'm doing this in collaboration with Industria Mechanika. Michael Fichtenmayer is now adding the last details as I'm not a great 3D digital modeler and I did not have the time or patience to add them in the digital modo model. You can see by the image that it's a healthy size and I think it will look great all painted up. I'm eager to see it in person and how Michael will finish it up. His other works are fabulous and I'm sure this one will be as well. The Orb and the front blade are both hollowed out so adding an interior and interior lights should be much easier for anyone wanted to do a little extra work to sweeten the build. We will also be adding a figure to the model like in the illustration. More images as the model nears completion.

tutorial: "modo materials" used for sci-fi suit concepts

Here is a little tutorial I provided to 3D Artist magazine for the current issue, #43. Pick up a copy and check it out. Any questions for me post them in a comment to this post. 3D Artist on Facebook.

digital quick sketch demo

Today I recorded a quick digital sketch starting with a few custom brushes. Then a little refining of the head for phase 2. This one might make it into the rendering book as an example of another technique to use when quick sketching digitally.

Photoshop bot rendering demo 1

I just recorded the entire rendering of this bot this afternoon for our upcoming iPad app. It could of course get more detailing etc. but it accomplished the educational goal I was shooting for. The base sketch is three images back near the middle of the page. A written step-by-step will most likely find its way into my educational rendering book also being done this summer.

weekend sketches

Here are some sketches from my first weekend of sketching in 2012. Only took me five months!

bombs away

A few more modo 601 "texture bombing" experiments. This time on a simple speed form volume.

Next books...

I'm happy to share that I'm finally getting around to finishing my educational books over the next four months. They will be titled, How to DESIGN, How to DRAW, and How to RENDER. Thomas Bertling who I have co-taught with over the years will be assisting me with the drawing and rendering books. We already have a substantial amount of content collected from my 17+ years of teaching these subjects. In an effort to make these the most helpful books on the subjects we thought it would be a good idea to set up a forum where you can get a little preview of the books as we progress and you can post requests for topics and techniques you would like to see in the books.

So don't be shy this is your chance to influence the books for your own benefit. The forum is free and open to all. Head on over and register to start sharing your ideas with us.

drawthrough forum

Thanks,
Scott and Thomas

BLAST techniques today at Art Center

Hope to see you at Art Center today!

I'll be breaking down a few Photoshop rendering techniques from BLAST and previewing one of my next book projects. Q+A plus book signing to follow. It's open to all, 1pm in the Los Angeles Times auditorium at Art Center College of Design.

BLAST Orb ship nears completion

I'm almost finished with my Orb ship model for Industria Mechanika.

Check out more renders on the IM site link. Finished kit should be here in July.

BLAST: Los Angeles shipment arrived!

Los Angeles portion of the BLAST book shipment has arrived! The bulk is still on the way to our east coast warehouse. If you want a copy first I'll be delivering 4 boxes to Art Center when I take Sparth there on Monday, April 2nd for his 1pm presentation in the LA Times Auditorium. DSP will start filling the website pre-orders, including Comic-Con orders beginning the week of April 9th. Be sure to enter this coupon code: BLAST2012 for 40% off your order. Thanks again for all the support.

more modo 601 "texture bombing"

Here are a couple of experiments from last night. The two suits with the perforations were created by using the photo I took of a scooter's exhaust. The other was created by using a warped rendering of one of my space ships from the book BLAST.

the full LAmUG #3 presentation...

Here's a link to the entire 29 minute presentation I made last night at the LAmUG meeting about how these suits were created in modo.

Scott's modo suit talk at LAmUG #3.

modo 601 rendering tests

Working with "materials master" Yazan Malkosh of 9b Studios I ran a few modo 601 rendering experiments yesterday for the LA user group meeting last night. Yazan recorded my presentation, so when it is ready I'll post a link to it here on the blog. We were testing out how the new "texture bombing" techniques in modo 601 would work on one of the latest suits. Pretty interesting so far. 601 seamlessly tiles the picture shown onto the chosen mesh. You can then tweak the mapping controls for endless variations of "controlled chaos." Still much, much more to explore with the new refinements to the replicators in 601 and the new particle clouds. Not sure I'll have much time to do it though as work on my other projects will be keeping me very busy over the coming months.

2 more modo 501 replicator suits

I've been busy showing these suits at a user group meeting in San Francisco last week and at the LA modo user group meeting last night at Gnomon School of Visual Effects. Both of these suits were done quite awhile ago in modo 501 via the "replicator" method of duplicating geometry across a mesh. Both have have quite a bit of Photoshop work done after the base rendering was done in modo.

BLAST is on the way!

Advance copies of BLAST have just landed here at the studio! Bulk shipment is on the water now, arrival in a few weeks. By the way if you like hard covers then get your pre-order in soon as we did not print that many and we will probably not reprint them, as we will do with the soft covers. Pictured are both the hard and soft covers, hard covers shown with and without the dust jacket. Glossy finish on the soft covers and matte finish plus spot gloss on the hard covers.

R - MUHR: a collection of sci-fi suits

I thought I would share an idea I'm kicking around to test the waters and see if anyone is interested. I've been exploring more sci-fi suit designs using a variety of techniques which would be revealed in a short-form oversize book. The book would be around 32 to 48 pages, soft cover, oversized at 14" tall x 12" wide printed on heavier paper stock than any of the other Design Studio Press titles. Estimated retail $19.95 to $29.95. Which means you will be able to get it on Amazon for probably around $13.25 to $19.75. This short-form oversize book would feature my sci-fi suit designs with explanations of how they were created.

Interested? Post a comment here or over on my FB page.

Thanks.