John Pearse's Design Journal

London model

John Pearse — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 15:50:54 +0000

Ahoy!

While cleaning up the model I made some new renders.

John

Z-Brush tutorial videos

John Pearse — Fri, 26 Nov 2010 15:19:33 +0000

If anyone’s considering learning Z-Brush and looking for somewhere to start, you can’t get much better than these two training videos from 3DBuzz. Unlike a lot of video tutorials that might just have one person talking slightly nervously to themselves, these take the form of two guys having a conversation as one explains the interface to the other. The first video covers the basic interface and 2.5D drawing, while the second video gets down to the 3D sculpting.

Football + Battlestar Galactica = ?!?!

John Pearse — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 17:38:26 +0000

Back in the summer during World Cup fever I put together these images as a laugh. I’m not really that big on nationalism or patriotism, but I thought it’d be fun to slap some English flags on my viper models as a bit of footy-related flag-waving.The BSG font is “Gayatri”, by BigYellowBiohazard.

And finally, a render I liked, but didn’t take any further.

Re: Launching

John Pearse — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 17:18:30 +0000

Another self-initiated project now, for an image I’ve had in mind for a while now. The rocket is loosely based on the Apollo rocket, though it’s meant to look a little more advanced, with beefier (Soyuz-FG style) engines, while the launch platform is based on a variety of NASA hardware used for launching shuttles and rockets.

From a Plane Window

John Pearse — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:59:36 +0000

Was flicking through my holiday snaps again tonight and noticed something I hadn’t when I took this photo. Hmm.

Made in Cinema 4D with some post work in Photoshop. Just a spur of the moment thing with my still-yet-to-be-completed Viper model. I don’t think the lighting’s quite right, though I did use a bit of artistic license here and there to make it look snazzier.

Hangar Bay III

John Pearse — Wed, 20 May 2009 14:25:46 +0000

This is a quick render I made the other day for my deviantArt page. I originally just planned to have the hangar bay empty to save time, but it looked rather bare, so I composited the Viper in afterwards. Hence, the lighting might be a little off as I rendered the bay using Global Illimunation and the viper without it. Also, I completely forgot to include the cockpit I spent ages making… lol! All in all, though, it’s my best render of the models so far.

You can see the full ID image on my dA page here:

http://snazz84.deviantart.com/art/hangar-bay-large-122963760

Back to the Future

John Pearse — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:06:59 +0000

A year ago I made a CG model of central London for a university project (above) and recently I was commissioned to expand it in size by about 10 times. Luckily the new area didn’t need to be quite as detailed as the original, so it took a lot less time, but it still came out pretty well.

The model includes a few buildings that are planned for the near future, although thanks to the whole credit thing a few of them are now delayed or on the verge of being canceled. At the time of the original modeling this was reflecting London as it was expected to look in 2011. It’s hard to say how far off this vision is now.

Bit of a shame, but at least the most exciting buildings look like they’ll still be built. We’ll just have to do without the mobile phone and the boomerang, and make do with a slightly smaller cheese grater.

Anyway, the model now stretches from Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace in the west all the way over to the Excel Centre and beyond in the east.

Click images to embiggen and see how many landmarks you can pick out!

“What does this button do?”

John Pearse — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:49:29 +0000

“Uh, we’ll need that to live…” (best Simpsons episode ever)

Haven’t had much time lately to work on my Viper, but I’ve found a few stray hours here and there to put together the cockpit. This is the most exciting bit so far to make, although it can get a bit tedious… so many buttons!

Anyway, I’ve pretty much modeled it all and I’m almost done on the texturing.

The way the window connects with the rest of the ship isn’t quite right, so that’s something to sort out, but over all I’m pretty happy with it so far. Can’t wait to finish it off and add it to the full model.

Speaking of which, I finished the engines a while back:

It’s funny. The engines were the thing that really put me off trying to model this craft for a long time, but when it came to making them it was surprisingly straightforward. Okay, they’re not perfect, but they didn’t take too long to make, a lot of the details are repeated and the rest can be done in textures.

The exhausts will take more work, but they’re off to a good start too:

The Viper has landed!

John Pearse — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 18:59:45 +0000

Landed… but not finished with yet. I’ve made the landing gear, cockpit window and finished modeling the nose section. Still got the gridlines to finish off (the bane of my CGIing existence :p) and the scary complicated engines to build. Oh and a fully detailed cockpit… But once that’s all done I’m looking forward to moving onto the texturing.

Viper Update II

John Pearse — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 17:35:06 +0000

Well it’s coming along. I’ve made most of the rear section (those engines will be tricksy, I think). And I’ve made a start on the difficult front section. Lucky me, the grid lines are way easier than I expected.

I’m not too experienced yet at making more fluid shapes, so I’ve been apprehensive about starting the front section. So far, so good. I’ll probably take a few shortcuts when I get to the cockpit by taking elements from my Mk II cockpit.