Thursday 25 October 2012

Final Tree Model

For this concept I had the idea of a withering tree on the brink of death trying to stretch and reach out to the other trees for help. I think this could have come out a lot better if I wanted to included a background or scene. I'm also a little disappointed that the full detail cannot be seen with the bark texture applied.

Here is the Tree Model:


And here is the turntable render:


Tuesday 23 October 2012

Tree Rough Sketches

Here a couple of pages with a few sketches and rough drafts. I haven't got anything solid yet but I hope to towards the end of the day:



Thursday 18 October 2012

Final Surrealism Scene

Here is my final surrealism scene. This turned out a little worse than I would have hoped it to be but overall I think it made the mark in what I wanted to show. It was a tough decision deciding which of the four concepts to use and really I think they would all work well. Perhaps in the future I will go back on this post and make them all into full 3D scenes.



Here is the turntable of the scene:



Tuesday 16 October 2012

Surrealism Sketches

To gather a final idea for my surrealism brief I have designed 4 different concepts that have been drawn from my research and understanding of surrealism. Surrealism is a very broad subject to work with since there really isn't any clear definition about it and the main aspects of surrealism I enjoy is the vast emptiness or the lack of sense. Here are my designs:

Concept 1: The Painting's Thoughts


During my research of surrealism I noticed quite a few paintings/pictures had more than one perspective inside of them and I wanted to play around with the idea of portals to a new perspective. The picture isn't exactly a portal to a new perspective but the viewer's perspective. This has been done many times before, however I mixed it up slightly by changing the time of day inside each instance of perspective.



Concept 2: Occupied Space


One view I have on surrealism is that a surrealistic scene can contain normal objects in a strange position. In this concept I decided to depict the idea of a house in a vast open space. There isn't any walls, just all the household appliances and objects scattered around. I liked this idea a lot since the initial space looks abandoned but the footsteps leading to and from the mailbox shows indication of life.



Concept 3: The Passing Moment


For this design I wanted to have something interesting to look at. In the research on surrealism I conducted I noticed a lot of depictions of houses or towns are built or placed in impossible positions, such as hands or monsters or human heads. I decided to try something similar and place a town on a draining hourglass. I also put some town ruins in the bottom of the hour glass, perhaps representing the past and future.



Concept 4: A Lost System


I came up with this concept since I liked the idea of changing the sun, something we all know too well and would find it a little strange to see it changed or replaced. So I decided the sun should change into a desk lamp. I then thought it would be interesting to have the individual planets buried in order next to the light to depict the solar system. Of course the planets in the sketch aren't scientifically accurate, they don't really have to be, but I would still like to include the full solar system if I expand on this.

Thursday 11 October 2012

Final Robot Concept

For the final work result I decided to expand on one of my previous concepts whilst mixing and matching the other ones into one piece. This is the resulting sketch:



I then used this sketch to build my final 3D model, which is an automated robot which traverses the ocean floor at top speeds to deliver cargo. Navigating precisely using a combination of it's huge camera lens, and two sensor modules on the front.

FRONT VIEW:



RIGHT VIEW:




LEFT VIEW:




BACK VIEW:




TOP VIEW:




PERSPECTIVE SHOT:





Tuesday 9 October 2012

Robot Concepts

To get a sense of my final robot, I designed 4 different concepts with one goal in mind: Automations designed for helpful usage. These are the results:

Concept 1: Underwater Express


Since the tentacle assignment I still had the ocean fresh in my mind so I created a very slow moving robot that is capable of traversing the ground underwater. The reason for the amount of legs this robot has is to enhance it's grip on the ocean terrain. I also wanted to explore a robot made from scrap, different pieces of different plates bolted onto the main chassis as if it was built on a budget. I quite liked this design and would like to see it expanded upon.


Concept 2: Coffee Heater


In 1983, Doctor Robert Markus discovered that if he left his morning coffee alone for 10 minutes, it would soon go cold thus spoiling his much wanted brew. So he built a moving bipedal cup warmer.

I love the idea of small automated contraptions being built from everyday objects whilst still retaining their use. Like this lighter for example, It can move and hold coffee and do things a normal lighter couldn't do. But at the same time it can use it's regular lighter function; sparking a flame. Combining these two attributes made the interesting result of a small robot that can probably do more than just heat coffee.



Concept 3: Automated Interplanetary Technician


Whilst designing this robot I wanted to try out a humanoid robot. I didn't quite get the proportions right but I think the concept is still depicted clear. The advantages of having a humanoid robot with all the functions of a human would be that special tools and equipment wouldn't have to be designed along side it, instead it can just use already established well known concepts of tools. Such as screwdrivers and wrenches. Which is why the idea of a technician robot felt so appealing whilst drawing this.



Concept 4: Seeking Roller


For this robot I had no real function other than it included tank treds and a lens attached to it's servo with a small weapon all powered by a small energy source like a battery. I think it could be designed to help people who are otherwise unreachable by humans or maybe to find lost objects. If I were to expand upon this I think I would add a definite function but I think the beauty of such a simple robot is that it can do so much more than it would seem.


Thursday 4 October 2012

Final Tentacle Creature Concept

Here is my final tentacle creature concept, which I based off my first design 'Ocean View House Monster'. It took a lot of fussing around in Mudbox to get the detail I wanted but I think the result turned out pretty well. If I could I would like to come back to this project and expand upon it much more into something like a small village, or perhaps making the Ocean look more believable.

Here is the original design:


Here are some stills of my final creature:

FRONT


BACK


LEFT


 RIGHT


OVERHEAD


And here is a turntable video of my final creature:





Tuesday 2 October 2012

Tentacle Creature Concepts

To imagine what my final tentacle creature's qualities or actions would look like, I created 6 different concepts for a tentacle monster. Each moderately different than the other. With the mood board alone I didn't have a solid idea of my final creature but now with these sketches I think I have a pretty good idea of how the monster is going to look.

Concept 1: Ocean View House Monster


This design started as a giant squid emerging from the water, but I wanted to try something different. The monster instead has a house for a head, with one occupant. I tried to shape the head into a small island rock with some wildlife and plants growing from it to act as a sort of weird safe haven. The two eyes are the windows from the house and above them is the door.

I think is idea is one of my favourites because I could expand on this to make the entire creature a small village. With the main house being the creature head, and the other houses hanging off the individual tentacles.



Concept 2: Arachnid type tentacle creature


For this design I wanted to combine a spider and a creature with tentacles. Spider legs move like most insect legs do; Place on ground, Grip surface, Move body, Lift leg. With this creature I wanted to explore a tentacle monster having the same surface gripping properties as a spider but with each tentacle being able to move and twist into any direction, making the tentacle monster startlingly agile.

I didn't complete much of the body for this design but If I think it would be an interesting result if I were to expand on this concept.



Concept 3: Giant Armour Plated Squid


For this concept I wanted to keep the squid's ink trait in the tentacles but at the same time create an exoskeleton for the tentacles. This was an interesting idea to explore since now the natural movement of the squid would be limited due to the armour or exoskeleton. I only did create one of the tentacles but If expanded on this I think it would be an interesting task to design the exoskeleton of a giant squid.



Concept 4: The Fisherman's Pet


In this sketch I wanted another helpful tentacle creature, one that didn't necessarily attack but helped people out. I wanted to include the ocean again however I thought that the ocean tentacle monster had been overdone a little. So instead I based the monster in the sky. I also wanted to draw as many tentacles as possible to reveal the true size of the creature in the sky. I think I like the contrast between the looming creature overhead turning out to be helping a man have a fishing session at sea.

This is probably my second favourite concept and I would really like to see where this would go if I were to expand upon it.



Concept 5: The Hermit Monster


Still sticking to the sea theme, I wanted to design a creature similar to a hermit crab. Rather than a tentacle monster living inside a shell I think it turned out to be a tentacle monster that had taken over a hermit crab's shell and made it's home there, making holes to accommodate the many tentacles. I like the idea however I do not think I will expand upon it.



Concept 6: Fridge Monster hungry for Apple Juice on a Jet pack whilst being filmed


And this is the design where I completely ran out of ideas and combined things to see what worked. I have no idea why the monster is coming out of the fridge, why it has an insatiable appetite for apple juice, why the apple juice is strapped to a jet pack or why this entire situation is being filmed by a flying camera. But what I do know is that I probably will not be expanding on this. Ever.

Monday 1 October 2012

Tentacle Moodboard

Here is a mood board to start off the development of my Tentacle concept: