10/30/13

Cucurbita Maxima 2013

I have to admit that having two children under the age of 2 sort of drains my desire to do fanciful holiday crafts.  However, I've set the bar too high for myself, I suppose.  Anyway, this year I decided to do a rendition of Robert Downey Jr. ala Iron Man 3.  I recently got to see the movie for the first time (the reason: two kids under the age of 2) and really enjoyed it.  Actually, I really like all the Iron Man films, so I think this is a fitting tribute.

 The time waster

The time waste-ee

I had to put in a shot of my daughter's pumpkin

Click here for my comprehensive guide on how to do one of these. I think next year I might try carving one of these out with a rotary tool.  No joke.  I would love to know how to make these go faster.


10/3/13

Mark 3 Suit - Grunging it Up

Even though NASA might be shutdown, that doesn't mean that I have to stop working (yet... but that's another story).  In the mean time, I am at home doing some work.  I finally got the chance to take the Mark 3 suit into ZBrush to do some fine detailing:


After I got to putting back in the seams and wrinkles that didn't show up from the laser scan, I went back and created some grunge maps with added dirt and yellowing of the material. I even programmed in some controls for the rig so you could determine the level of dirt and weathering of the suit to fit whatever needs you had.


Now to test it out in an animation.  The rigging on this uses Modo's full body IK system, which doesn't always work out for the best.

Let's hope this shutdown doesn't last too much longer.