New Demo Concept: Digital Print in Progress

I have been busy brainstorming and conceptualizing my new demo. I have finally settled on a visual effects reel. The setting is in the himalayas with a tibetan temple. The opening scene is a semi-frozen lake with a water fall, and the temple is on a mountain behind. Blowing snow and wind gusts will be done with particles. Then we will cut to the temple shot and head inside. The camera will follow the perspective of a character walking down the hallway to a statue at the end. Only to find a ticking time-bomb about to explode. So the camera turns and runs out and flys down to the lake below. After which the temple explodes and debris goes across the whole mountainous valley and lake from the first scene. Here is a digital print of the opening scene, in progress. Just a quick sketch and some color paletes with a bit of shading.

Getting Ready for an Art Show

Today my school is putting on another art show and I'll be there showing my demo. Made a few changes and I also put together another little presentation of some of my other works from school. Also included some rigging and wireframe details from my demo.

Sample of other works from school from Russ Dedul on Vimeo.

Demo with new Cameras

Over the last few weeks I've been tweaking the cameras for my demo. One final cut before I start my new project(s). Here it is:

Final Cut of Demo with New Cameras from Russ Dedul on Vimeo.

New Cameras for my Demo

I've been doing some changes to the cameras on my demo reel. Slowing things down, more cuts. Trying to create a more subtle mood. Here's a pre-visual of the new angels and shots.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas everyone and Happy New year! This year I put my digital art skills to work along with some sketching to put together a small christmas card for my friends and family. But I thought I'd share it online as well.

Happy Holidays!

Sketch and draw app

Got this new app after playing around with on my friend Jenny's tablet. Its lots of fun. A bit clunky using the finger on the smart phone but still fun. Here 's a few samples of the quick sketches I did with the app.

After Effects and Fire Frustration!

Recently I re-rendered my character scene from my reel. This time I rendered the background, character, and torches all on separate layers. So I could apply a darker tint to the background behind my character in post, while keeping a brighter and warmer tint on my character and near the torches. Once they were rendered it was pretty easy to get the tint on the background. The problem arose when I bring the fire in. To preserve the crispness, I needed to keep the fire alpha straight and not pre-multiplied. But then I had an issue where the fire looked great inside the torch, but when it was overlayed on the background the tone faded and I had a wonder line when the torch base ended and the air began. So my first approach was to import pre-multipled versions of the fire and mask out the straight matted on the fire that was in the air. But that was so much of a headache to get the timing right, and wasted a couple hours. So then I started exploring more effects in program. Came across an alpha channel folder, and was able to adjust the alpha levels, and Eureka!!!

Here's some stills showing the before and after:


Before:

And After:

Such a simple solution, if only I came up with it first :(. But live and learn.