Substance Designer Stone Path Node Tree

...And heres the tree that grew that stone path/walkway

Substance Designer - Stone Path

Here's my stone path Substance Designer.  The albedo and height were really challenging in getting this to look right.  Whew...

Substance Designer Work

Getting familiar with Substance Designer.  Taking a great workshop by Pete Sekula on Mold3D.com.  In this current example using multiple textures to create a broche.  Using 3D output images -  ID masks, Normal, Height and mask images (from 3ds max).  Next, creating a black marble, a bone ivory(for the foreground bust), a pewter metal and last gold material.  I highly recommend Pete!  It's a great workshop - tons of cool tips and workflow help! Learning SD to implement into pipeline for upcoming Heavy short.

Heavy Project

Beginning a personal project that will end up in a short starring the big man above.  Stay tuned!

30 Minute Bust Practice

VRay 3.5 Render - Mustang Bullitt

More work getting to know VRay.  This little project was a doozy.  Also done in VRay 3.5 for Maya

VRay 3.5 Maya Render - Jack Daniels Product Shot

Sharpening my skills in VRay 3.5 for Maya.

Great reference for listening and reaction

Great animation reference for listening and reaction from John McMurrough on Vimeo.

Ashley Parker, White House reporter, has some really interesting facial gestures as she tries to make sense of what she's hearing from Sean Spicer.  Great stuff.

Assignment 2: Expression Change - "Dead?"

Assignment 2: Expression Change - "Dead?" from John McMurrough on Vimeo.

Just finished this guy.  Please let me know what you think.  Thanks!

Also, stay tuned next up im going creature!  I'm planning a body mechanics creature shot.  More details to follow soon.

Animation Rigs by Mr. Figgins - Boing!

Kyle Figgins has a great resource for animators.  He's created many top quality rigs for games, personal or Demo reel purposes.  What are you waiting for?  Click the image to head over to his store and jump start your new Demo reel or personal project! Sign up to receive info on new rigs and get access to free rigs! Added bonus is this great free Deadpool rig once you're there!

Animating Cameras for Games

Robotoki's Simon Unger gives a great talk on understanding cameras and composition.  Soak this up!

My First Marvelous Designer Piece: Jacket, Shirt and Pants

Here's my first Marvelous Designer piece.  I created the jacket, shirt and pants.  I rendered and comped the piece with Maya and Photoshop.  I followed a great tutorial created by Flipped Normals instructor Morten Jaeger.  The turorial was great!  Morton did a great job explaining his process.  It was fun and got to the root of MD.  I highly recommend this tutorial if you feel like getting up to speed on MD.  I pulled the background of the internet - credit goes to Josh Van Zuylen.  And the gun is from my previous work with Substance Painter(seen in my last post)

Substance Painter - Overwatch Tracer Gun

Getting familiar with Substance Painter.  I followed along with Wesley McDermott's great tutorial by Lynda.com - Substance Painter Essential Training.  I would highly recommend this tutorial as Wesley does a great job getting you familiar with all Substance Painter has to offer while keeping it fun.

I took it 1 step further and exported the maps into Maya VRay and finished up post in Photoshop.  I'm happy with the results and will be diving into more SP!

The model was supplied by the tutorial and comes low and hirez.  Whats pictured above is the low rez game model with normals.

Great Share On How To Animate Quadrupeds by Felix Sputnik

Quadruped Locomotion Tutorial from Felix Sputnik on Vimeo.

Really Great Stuff!

KHAN ACADEMY - Pixar's -The Art Of Storytelling

Khan Academy is offering The Art Of Storytelling created by Pixar!  Totally free and amazing!  Further lessons on Character coming soon!

How Do You Get Into Animation?

Super excited to volunteer on a couple presentations for Nepris to both middle school kids and high school seniors looking to know more about the awesome career of being a character animator!

Assignment 2: Expression Change

Up next...

Transition from 1 facial expression into another.  Closeup staging, 2-3 seconds.  Bid Time:  2 weeks

ALSO,
I thought I would give some notes on important things to consider while animating faces.

Assignment 1: Head Turn

Assignment 1: Head Turn from John McMurrough on Vimeo.

Simple head turn focusing on closeup staging and change of attitude.
Bid Time:  1 Week

CGBreakdown Rigs

WOO!  These rigs look super nice.  Muscle systems and animator friendly!  To get the full lowdown click here.

My Winter 2017 Reel

Reel Winter 2017 from John McMurrough on Vimeo.

Thanks for viewing!  Adding a few more pieces, taking some out...  Stay tuned more new animations are on the way!

David Pimentel's Evoke

This book is amazing.  David captures the attitude and personality of life in his quick, clear style of gesture drawings.  Pure awesomeness.  If you want to own one(there also signed) for yourself click the image.  

Tip de Jour Continued - Previous Key Example

...and here is the last example for Previous Key set up.  Enjoy!

Tip de Jour Continued - Next Key Example

Loomis gives examples of  Next Frame and Previous Frame code.  Here I added an option for Next Key.  Same principle just giving you a look at what the Hotkey Editor would look like once you finished entering your new Hotkey.  Also, make sure you override the default Hotkey once you create your custom Hotkey(You'll see a maya yes/no option once you go to save your new hotkey, just click yes to override).  You'll need to click on the image to see better.

Tip de Jour - Using Frame stepping without recording to history undos

Boom!  This will come in handy to those of you who like to step through your animations with Alt + ./, and not to have the history record these steps! Frame Step

Morgan Loomis created some simple code either to go into hotkeys or as a command residing on your shelf.  Take a look at his numerous other great scripts for speeding up your animation workflow.  If your use it give him a shout out and say thanks!  Thanks Morgan for all your work in helping me speed up my workflow!

Screentakes is great for animators

Screentakes gives you an immersive multimedia experience into understanding how great screenplays create great movies through focused discussion on plot, character and theme.  

As a character animator, I'm always looking to develop my skills and grow as a storyteller.  What makes a memorable character performance?  How do I create a "true" moment?  How can I get the most entertainment out of my scene?  These questions are just a few that we struggle with daily.  Going through Screentakes will open your eyes to new ways of thinking while you animate your way through a shot.  Its a great tool to add to your ever-expanding arsenal.

To visit Screentakes site click on the image above and see for yourself!

Free Judy Hopps Rig

Creator Mahmoud Youssef put up a free rig.  I'll be muncing around with this and see how she performs.  Thank You Mahmoud for the rig!  Looks fun.

GDC Tips and Tricks for Animation

Cool stuff!