Free Art Lessons Online

Learning Arts online, from drawing cars to colouring
http://www.creativespotlite.com/

boast ur spirit~
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/great-tips-becoming-accomplished-artist.html

another good source of lighting study

itchy animation

Sg Cinema

click image for short preview

Recently went to Sigapore. Watched an Animated movie called "Dragon Hunters". but so sad that Msia didnt hav that in the Cinema. very fantastic. i love their designs! award winning in europe. shall watch. but the economic is so bad now. the cinema only has 2 families watching including my family...

Official site:http://www.dragonhunters-themovie.com/

click image for trailer

and Sg also created their own budget 3D animated movie called "Sing to the Dawn". spent 4 years and US$5 million. but i missed it...

Holography- showing the maya scene infront of your eyes!

if u r free, check out this. in Chinese is called 全像摄影/ 全息摄影

Holography needs to be seen under laser, and u will see the 3d thing infront of you, just like those star trek movie effect showing the space ship, or thing we see in Maya, but no need texture lighting rendering bla bla bla, it is jus taking the real scene infront of your eyes! (click image for the original site)

Holography uses no camera. Instead, two beams of light from a single laser shine on a piece of film. One of the beams reflects from the object.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Holography course

SHIOK Technology!!!

Studio Lighting Tutorial- Learn how to lit a character as well

This is where i learn to lit a character. cos i think the way of lighting up a character is very close to studio lighting. its about make them look gorgeous.

basic always comes first.

http://lumitouch.com/benstudiotutorial/benji1.html

want to be a good lighter? learn some science first

some links that make u understand wat a lighter should understand


Interior Lighting In Mental Ray, Tutorial 1: GI+ FG
http://www.treddi.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=8436

Lighting and Shaders
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=21&t=650761

*******************************************************************
some other nice link

Art Tutorials, Theories, and Book Recommendations
http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?f=166&t=226083

Adjusting LCD- important for digital artist

recently i was suffering from color problem of my LCD... the white looks like yellow in photoshop... big problem for painting. so i hav to find ways to adjust it

there r several LCD adjust software. but for ppl who cant afford to buy it, can try this website:

Tha Lagom LCD Monitor Test Page
http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/


and below is a "super detail" of how ur LCD is working...and more solutions and topics offered. but... i really couldnt digest it ^^" but still, it is a good site that i feel i should promote~

Making fine prints in your digital darkroom Monitor calibration and gamma by Norman Koren
http://www.normankoren.com/makingfineprints1A.html


for friends who r chinese backgrounds, the site below is shorter and easier to understand~
http://www.xfbbs.com/ArticleShow/213/Article_Show_59272.html


after done the series of checking, now i only get the rough idea of what "gamma" is and the importance of it

some artist

today read some pages from D'artist-- matte painting.

the author was the Senior Matte Painter on "Lord of the Rings"-- Dylan Cole

his work was inspired by several artist n some group, like

Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902)

best known for his huge, panoramic landscapes of the unsettled west.

click image to view Albert Bierstadt Gallery

Frederic Edwin Church (May 4, 1826 – April 7, 1900)

was an American landscape painter born in Hartford, Connecticut. He was a central figure in the Hudson River School of American landscape painters. While committed to the natural sciences, he was "always concerned with including a spiritual dimension in his works". (quote frm wikipedia)

click image to view more

Hudson River School

was a mid-19th century American art movement by a group of landscape painters, whose aesthetic vision was influenced by romanticism. "School", in this sense, refers to a group of people whose outlook, inspiration, output, or style demonstrates a common thread, rather than a learning institution. (quote frm wikipedia)

*******************************************************************

some other artist

Caravaggio

dramatic and tenebrism lighting

useful links

GENERAL


VFXY
alot alot of informations abt vfx~ u can find info of companies, schools, tutorials, etc etc~
founded by groups of vfx professionals who wants to keep n share useful informations online
http://links.vfxy.com/index.php

CG education
full of Pics n description, detail on explaining the concepts
http://www.neilblevins.com/cg_education/cg_education.htm


CGVisual (chinese)
full of tutorial, in chinese~ ezier for friends who r chinese background
http://www.cgvisual.com/





Blender

many things u can find, including nice free texture link

http://www.blender.org/





TEXTURES DOWNLOAD

http://www.tellim.com/texture_cd/html/menu1.html
http://www.imageafter.com/
http://area.autodesk.com/index.php/downloads_textures/textures_list/
http://cg-india.com/free_textures.html
http://free3dstextures.com/
http://www.m3corp.com/a/download/index.htm




RENDERING & COMPOSITING

Rendering in passes and composite AE (chinese)
http://www.cg-forum.com/main/viewtopic.php?t=2049

Rendering several maya scenes and camerasTutorial
http://www.highend3d.com/maya/tutorials/rendering_lighting/general/261.html

compositing 101 - if you dont know this it will change your life- The Black edge
(settle the black edge problem, say bye to magic wand!)
http://www.highend3d.com/maya/tutorials/rendering_lighting/general/302.html

some example of composite CG together wf real life footage
http://www.juztn.com/compTut10.html





SCRIPTS

Organising your downloaded scripts
http://www.highend3d.com/maya/tutorials/using_tools_scripts/320.html

Modeling scripts--- screws, nuts~
(why spend time on the "little detail" that ppl will hardly notice? work smart)
http://www.highend3d.com/maya/tutorials/using_tools_scripts/316.html





MATTE PAINTING

Matte Painting tutorials frm Matte Painting.org
http://www.mattepainting.org/vb/showthread.php?t=4245


SHARING FRM WEI JIAN

http://www.animationmeat.com/
http://pixarblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.craftanimation.com/index.cfm?objectid=27B47796-AC74-49F2-5BCB089111A3FC5E

doing character set up today

today lets learn some tips about Smooth Bind:

1. for smooth bind, u can always add joints to make it maintain the shape under extreme deformation~ but remember to parent the joints into the spine~

2. add influence objects and set driven key
skin> edit smooth skin> add influence
parent the influence obj into joint, so it will move wf the joint
parent the influence obj's base as well~ find them in Hypergraph or Outliner~



**************************************************************
i've been working in character set up
i've learn one thing about how to work:
get the right material will make u learn fast
today borrow some books frm my fren
abt rigging and rendering~
clear and easy to understand~

sometimes i think
find the right teacher (or tutorial books) is much more better than soaking urself into thousands of tutorials floaded in the web~~***

why photography? lump sum of new vocabs~

i love photography
bcos i like to see things in many different perspective
however, i always wonder,
how do i make photography more than just my hobby?

found the ans frm the Visual Effects Supervisor of Speed Racer, Mr JAKE MORRISON:
the original article is HERE

*****************************************************************************

1. Train urself to CREATE EMOTIONS or UNFORGETABLE MOMENT
capturing beautiful moments or unusual locations by photography,
use this to train urself to create a certain emotion
- anger, compassion, fear, vertigo etc. ,
making ur audience feel what u want them to feel.

*******************************************************************************************************

quite happy to find the new defination of why i want to take photo~
it really doesnt matter what camera u r using
for me, there are also masters who done well in lomography or phonography
using the limited tool to create unlimited possiblelity is gorgeous!

what i learnt from the post is also lump sum of new vocab ~

2.5 D (something between 2D and 3D?)
"Faux Lensing"
"Pano Bubbles" (a way of compositing)

"Circle-Of-Confusion" is a direct story point of Speed Racer...
a special selling point~
cant wait to see what is it about~ XD

opening~*

i m a 3d animator
who is very passionate working in lighting and rendering

this blog will mostly be the sharing of what i m doing or what i have found~
or anything relates to my career~
hope it helps u as well~
if u get the information u want here i will feel happy ")
link me and let me link u if u have the same passion in cg arts, photography or anything interesting XD

it would also be the "digital notebook" for myself

A TECHNIQUE A DAY

haha~

just some sharing~
relax and enjoy :)