John Hall

Windmill and Gas Station Updates

2009-03-12T17:10:00.000-07:00

So, I've finally gotten to the point with my windmill where I feel that I can post updates for it. I think it still needs 10-20 hours of solid work, but it presents as a nice piece. Thank you to Bill Brown from Sucker Punch, and everybody from DigiPen that did a crit on these for me!

Gas Pump Updates

2009-03-10T23:47:00.000-07:00

Here are some update shots. I finally figured out how to have transparency maps work with Mental Ray lights and Ray Trace Shadows. OMG what a PAIN! tell me what you think...

Gas Pump

2009-03-08T13:38:00.000-07:00

I tried doing this in Max a fairly long time ago... there might even be an image of it left in this blog (not sure). But here is the Maya version! There are only about 10 materials in this scene (Big shout out to those of you at 'cgtextures.com' , you guys ROCK!). I tried to make everything really cheap so that items could be instanced pretty heavily in either a renderable scene, or game engine. I'm going for a worn and dirty kind of feeling. The next step is to fill in some of the areas yet untextured, and add decals like stickers and grime. I'll update when that's all done.

Another Update

2009-02-19T11:12:00.000-08:00

Here is another update for the Windmill that I'm working on.

Woohoo, small update

2009-02-05T00:08:00.000-08:00

Here's a small update on the windmill project. This is the beginnings of blocking out the camera (I know I'm gonna get heat from some of you for not doing this earlier... oh well). Now that I've got that started I can begin filling in the rest of the scene. Wish I had more time to devote to this project...

My Current Project

2009-02-01T13:02:00.001-08:00

So besides all of the Infinigon work and Real Work that I'm doing, I've got a portfolio piece that I'm working on. Here's a quick Maya render of the file.

Some New Infinigon Material

2009-01-26T23:14:00.001-08:00

So, for those of you interested in what I 'm working on currently, here is a sneak preview. These are a few of the models that I've created for the new street level in the game. As of yet they have temp texture which are kind of ugly (thus why they are not on the models at the moment). Everything in the game is seen mostly the front of the buildings.

I think that working in Maya everyday at Sucker Punch and then coming home to work in Max on this project is eventually going to give me a stroke. Anyways, there are about 10 more building models that I'll be posting when Infinigon is past Alpha and plenty more street related objects as well...

Some New Work

2008-12-09T17:36:00.001-08:00

I've finally finished a few pieces! It seems like that's totally impossible but its true!

All Sorts of Awsomeness!

2008-10-29T01:31:00.000-07:00

Well today I had an interview with a company right in the area (no names until I hear back from them). The team was really great and doing some really cool things in their engine... makes me want to kick the Infinigon stuff into fifth gear. But anyways I'm hoping to hear back from them later in the week to see whats going to happen.

I have also just finished revamping my website! Check it out at OptimizeDesign.net, Its got some newer images from what I'm working on right now and some of my traditional stuff. Looking forward to some Sunday soon when I have a chance to head down to Seattle and sketch for the whole day. Get ahold of me if you guys want to go as a group, (mentaly pointing at several Digipen Students.)

As for other interesting things, I've just finished working out the pipeline for brining (to scale) maya files into max, and having them work with whatever rig you might have on a character. Good news for you Juniors. I also finished up the simple quadraped game rig for the projects class and will be starting on blocking out an environment for him. I'm also going to be making available my reference library to anyone who wants it (now looking to be over 13,000 images of characters, creatures, environments, and more.)

Expect an art update soon. I just couldn't wait till then to post.

Current WIPs

2008-10-20T21:46:00.000-07:00

Its been a really long time since I've posted anything here. Doing all sorts of work for classes and team projects takes a long....long.....long..... time. So here are some renders of projects that I'm working on. Both Characters in the scenes were painted/modeled by Dan Moyer from Digipen.

Sketches for The Infinigon Project

2008-10-20T15:00:00.000-07:00

Team Infinigon

2008-09-27T17:36:00.000-07:00

So here is the short after effects animation for FLM 250. The idea behind this is for it to be used as a company name intro. Does that make sense? Let me know what you think of it.

Presentation Material

2008-09-23T14:18:00.000-07:00

I wanted to put together some pages for a presentation today. Its some of the concept work I have scattered around my sketchbook. (I'm sooo bad at keeping things in order... it always makes sense to me though). Tell me what you think.

Infinigon Update

2008-09-23T13:38:00.000-07:00

I've started laying out the scene so that it looks interesting but not to cluttered to understand. Tell me if you see any tangents, or areas that aren't working, or if you don't know whats going on in a certain situation. The game works from a fixed camera, so the player won't be flying around the scene, but instead sliding from the left to the right. My idea right now is to put some small objects in the foreground to keep an interesting pattern, but not too much that it obscures the player from well... playing.

Some Photos From My Recent Trip...

2008-09-19T23:25:00.000-07:00

I took over 1000 photos of my trip this summer. I only saved about 600. Here are some of the cool architecture ones.

Junkyard Population

2008-09-19T12:48:00.000-07:00

I've started creating assets for the junkyard level for the game I'm working on. Trying to build models that are low poly and interesting enough that they work well as silhouettes has been a lot of tricky. The next step is building a car and a few other pieces for one. I think ripping apart a Jeep would serve as some personal dramatic irony after everything mine has put me through.

After some of these get put into the engine I'll start painting some textures for them.. With normal mapping as an option, it's gonna be great to add specific detail while keeping things in a comic book type style.

Back to Painting

2008-09-18T00:03:00.000-07:00

I was so frustrated from painting my ART 401 piece that I spent about an hour and a half doing some simple studies just to get out some of the kinks from spending 6 weeks in New York.

Tell me what you think, I really value any input you might have! I painted the eyes for convenience sake, expect some building studies next.

First ART 401 Assignment

2008-09-18T00:01:00.000-07:00

So I haven't taken the time to modify this painting yet, but here it is. Expect an update...

My First Post

2008-09-18T00:00:00.000-07:00

I've spent at least ten minutes sitting here, writing different posts and deleting them. I always feel like I need to say something momentous the first time... well fuck it.

I suppose the first thing I should post is screen shot of some assets I'm building for the game that I'm working on.