[SHOWREEL] Maya rigging demo of a cartoon bird rig

My Maya rigging demonstration / showreel of a Maya cartoon bird rig with foldable wings and feathers, FK / IK switch and face control GUI.

created at University of Kent 2008 for the animated short "Ruffles".

Bird model was designed and created by Sun He, I just created the rig and animated it.

[SHOWREEL] My Maya Modeling Showreel 2008

[SHOWREEL] My Animation Showreel 2008

[VIDEO] Ruffles - 3d animated short created with Maya

We finally completed our Major Project for University of Kent, Ruffles a 3d animation created with Maya.

[POSTER] Ruffles 3d Animation release date

Well since our deadline for our final Project would have been August 29, this is when I upload the final result. Although we got an extension till the following Monday, due to our Uni network crashing all the time. Maybe because everybody is rendering.

Created a small poster with Photoshop by taking some screenshot from some final rendered clips.

[VIDEO] Final Scene of Ruffles - Maya animated short

This is the final scene of "Ruffles" our Final Project.

I just finished the facial animation, which is not included with this Playblast. Its 4am too tired to upload the update. Also the aspect ratio is not correct. This size is the result of the Playblast, the actual size will be 1200x520 , so when the bird attacks the camera it looks much better.

[VIDEO] new Maya scene for animated short "Rufflles"

This scene will introduce the magpie, that loves all kind of sparkling things, like coins.

[VIDEO] new Maya Playblast and updates

Just updated one of the scenes I earlier posted. Also got some new scenes for the animated short of "Ruffles".

here the updated scene, but it still needs some tweaking:

[VIDEO] Another Maya Playblast of a hunting scene

Another WIP Playblast for the animated short "Ruffles"

[RENDER] Victorian coin model with bump map

Hard to find a decent picture of Queen Victoria that is somehow suitable for a bump map.
Only found an old etching of Queen Victoria, but Im not very happy with the result.

The back is just an image of the English coat of arms, the two Shilling letters are just made up. It doesnt represent an existing coin.

[VIDEO] WIP Maya Playblast of a hunting scene

This is just a WIP playblast of some run cycles created with Maya. Once finished this will be one scene for our final animation project called "Ruffles"

Still needs facial expressions, lots of tweaking and fixing.

[RENDER] Maya test render of a steam train polygon model

These are just some quick renders of the "Iron Duke" steam train with some custom made textures and bump maps. The rust shaders are from highend3d.

[RENDER] Victorian town Maya test renders

These are just a few test renders of the Victorian town for the animated short "Ruffles".
The UV layout and textures have not been done at this stage, so every item still got the default lambert attached.

Market stalls, street lamps and other street props were modeled by Safa Tharib; his website can be found here: Kap13.com his blog link can be found in the link list.
Train, buildings, water pump and other 3d items that were posted in my blog were created by me.

The whole town, most action will happen at close up, so there are building with no back site to save poly count:

[3D] Maya Water pump 3d model WIP

Just a small update. This is a prop for the city and market place scene of the next animated short "Ruffles".

Its a water pump created with Maya.

[3D] Old fashioned Victorian bicycle Maya model

Just created a simple model of an old fashioned Victorian Bicycle for the next animated short "Ruffles" ( a.k.a. Victorian fury tales - working title )

[3D] Tree Maya model with ivy

Just created a tree model for the next animation short, now called "Ruffles" (Victorian fury tales was the working title)
Also tested the ivy generator on the tree. Its a quick test and the tree still needs UV layout and textures.

Here some quick rendered images:

the tree itself:


 

[VIDEO] Cartoon bird animation and rigging

The following animation is a WIP Maya playblast and not a final render. It just demonstrates a custom made rig on a cartoon bird including some sort of feather system. The wings including the feathers fold inwards when moving the arm towards the body.

The bird is a main character in the upcoming animation "Victorian furry tales" (Working title)
He is called Sparkles and is a happy magpie :)

[3D] more Victorian buildings made with Maya

Just some quick WIP renders of Victorian buildings for the "Victorian furry tale" (working title) animation.

[3D] more Victorian buildings

Just some more Victorian buildings created with Maya. All WIP.

[3D] slowly creating a 3d Maya Road

Created more Victorian buildings, the one on the far right is an imitation of "Chambers, Staple Inn, London, by Wigg and Pownall, 1842-43".

The next left to the Staple Inn is the "Legal and General Life Assurance Office, London, by Thomas Hopper c. 1838"

( source is the book: Hitchcock: Early Victorian Architecture in Britain , 1954 )

need to keep poly count low so its not a 1:1 copy.

[3D] Another 3d building

Just created another Victorian building for the next feature animation.

Could be used as a bank building or something else. It also consists of several parts that can be taken apart and then reassembled in a different way, like Lego.

[3D] Victorian building #2

Another Victorian building for "Victorian fury tales" (Working title)

It consists of several interchangeable architectural components that can be arranged in various different ways, helping to create a city faster.

[3D] WIP Victorian House

This is still WIP. It is a rough Maya model for the stage design created by Sun He , which can be viewed here
The house consists of various components that can be taken apart and assembled together in different variations. This allows us to create a city in shorter time. At the moment the house is still straight, but will be further modified with lattice deformers to match the cartoonish set design

[VIDEO] Some custom made rigs and walk cycles

here my submission video for a group work project, that did not get finished. I just created some rigs and a few pushing and pulling cycles as well as an archer shooting his bow. Nothing really exciting :)

[3D] 3dvia Porsche 914 car model

Just uploaded the low polygonal car to 3dvia, the youtube for 3d models.

Requires their 3d plugin to be able to pan around and rotate the model. Might also work better with Internet explorer.




Direct link

[3D] Updated steam train model

A while ago I added more features to the steam engine train the "Iron Duke".
This 3d model is hosted at 3dvia and requires their plugin to be able to rotate the model around.

A textured version can be seen here : link

might work best with internet explorer :( also requires the 3d plugin



Direct link

[GAMES] update of the custom car for Trackmania

Just updated the textures of the Porsche 914. They now got an alpha channel, which determines where the car is more or less reflective. So plastic parts and the tyres are more matte and less reflective than the metal surfaces.

[GAMES] custom made car online test

well it works :D

From blog images backup

From blog images backup

From blog images backup

From blog images backup

From blog images backup

[GAMES] successful import of the Porsche 914 to Trackmania

Well just managed to import the Porsche 914 to Trackmania. It was modeled with Maya, however had to be exported to 3ds Max, where it was cleaned up and then exported to a .3ds file.
Finally it could be converted into the Trackmania .gbx file. The textures were exported as .dds files

some in game shots. Still need to adjust the alpha channels, so its not too shiny :D

The car painter in the game:

[RENDER] low polygonal Porsche 914 with textures

Just finished the UV layout and texturing of the low polygonal car, that will hopefully be imported to Trackmania.

[3D] low polygonal Porsche 914 model for games

Just creating a low polygonal model for the game Trackmania. its a Volkswagen Porsche 914 / 6 GT. Wiki link

Still needs the shadow pass, UV mapping and textures. At the moment it has 2140 vertices, only 2500 vertices are allowed for online gaming.
The polygon model has 1763 faces ( 3306 triangulated faces )

[3D] WIP "Iron Duke" 3d Maya model

This model is created with Maya. Its still not finished yet, needs UV mapping textures and other details. This train will play a key role in the next animation "Victorian furry tale" : info
The train is called "Iron Duke" a replica is in the Railway museum in York. More info to the train.

[VIDEO] Animatic of Victorian furry tale ( WIP )

This is an animatic for the next animation project. Its called Victorian furry tale, playing in England during Victorian times with a rabbit, a cat , a magpie and a policeman as the main characters.
This is still work in progress, release date of the final animation is end of August 2008.





HD version

[CONCEPT] Concept sketches of a rabbit

Here some variations of a character design for the next animation short.

[VIDEO] Mime exercise sneezing character

Just a mime exercise using Maya and Realflow.

University of Kent 2008

[VIDEO] Lip sync exercise 2008

This is a video short of a lip sync animation. Its Philip Seymour Hoffman's voice from the movie Charlie Wilson´s war.

[VIDEO] Walk cycles EL835 submission video

This is my submission for the EL835 walk cycle course. These are various different cycles, from bird wing flapping cycle to horse canter cycle and riding bicycle cycle.

The bicycle was rigged by myself. All other rigs were created by using Anzovin The setup machine (TSM)for Maya.



HD version link

The cycle can be individually viewed an my youtube webpage

[VIDEO] Harrys Fairy tale animated short 2008

This is the result of a groupwork project of Msc Computer Animation with the Msc Visual Effects.
It is called Harrys fairy tale:

[VIDEO] some Realflow from 2007

Some early Realflow tests from 2007.

first RF test, simulation of around 50000 particles:



Second render try, took around 50 hours to render on my old computer:

[VIDEO] animated logo for my original webpage

Before I created this blog I used to have a webpage hosted with a free webhosting service. However this service went bankrupt , so my webpage got inaccessible one reason why I started this blog.

Here the short intro video for my old webpage. Created in early 2007 using Realflow, Photoshop and Maya.

[PHOTOS] Vintage Car day FFB 2005

Each year there is a classic car meeting at the abbey in Fürstenfeldbruck (FFB). Here some photos from the 2005 meeting

Complete gallery: LINK

[PHOTOS] IAA in Frankfurt 2005

The 2005 International Automobile exhibition ( IAA ) in Frankfurt

Complete gallery: link

[PHOTOS] Coys Classic Car auction in London 2004

In 2004 Coys held their vintage car auction at the Royal Horticultural Hall in London. highlights were a original 1973 Porsche 911 2.8 Carrera RSR, I think it sold for half a million pounds as far as I remember and Richard Burns (R.I.P.) WRC.
Here the whole list of offered cars at that time.

Complete gallery: link

[PHOTOS] Classic Cars Live Alexandra Palace London 2004

Some images from the classic car event at Alexandra Palace in London in 2004.

Complete gallery here on Picasa

[PHOTOS] Introduction of the BMW 1 series in Munich 2004

In 2004 the 1 series of BMW was introduced in Munich Germany just near the Olympic Stadion opposite the BMW Museum. At that time the museum was closed due to BMW building their huge "BMW world" ( exhibition hall .

Just near this location:
View Larger Map

Complete gallery here on Picasa