Random Update

Nothing too interesting... really...

I didn't have the time to update anything recently since I don't have time to do much "cool" stuff. Why is that, you ask? Well, it seems that me and Stef are moving out.

We're staying in town, but we're changing apartments. We're sick of upstair neighbors and basement apartments, so we're moving to a better apartment. The catch is that it's only one bedroom instead of two rooms like we currently have. But it's brand new (a few months old only), it's very well isolated, sound proofed, backyard patio, storage basement, space for Washer & Dryer... everything but the missing-room is better. Although it's only one room, it's a lot bigger then a traditional "one bedroom apartment".

So we're packing... packing... and more packing. I don't have time to do anything in Maya, and I barely play any video games at all (since most of them are packed).

I might post pictures once we're moved in.

In the meantime, I finally got my Phantom Hourglass Stylus.

The Full Moon Show Interview

I recently got the opportunity to be interviewed for Insomniac Games' Podcast "The Full Moon Show" Season Finale. You can check out the newest episode (Episode 18) and hear James, Ryan, Brian and Rolf on the Podcast with Ted Price, me, and Ben Kaplan as guests.

Season 2 of The Full Moon Show starts January 17^th, 2008.

masteringMaya: The Fundamentals - Earth Done

That's right. After a PS3, the new Ratchet & Clank title, overtime at work, and so much more, I finally finished the Earth Shader for Project 2 of masteringMaya: The Fundamentals.



The current series of lessons is called Advanced Shaders and it's not for nothing. There's a few hours of work and three (somewhat) complex networks.



The Earth (top), clouds, and atmosphere Networks

Not having a simple file texture slapped on the sphere really opens up a new world of detail. No matter where the sun hits, on the night side of the Earth, city lights will shine through. The Earth also has added attributes for control over Mountain Height (controls the bump depth), Self Illumination, City Lights Intensity, Cloud Intensity, and Atmosphere Intensity. This level of control allows me to really tweak how I want my scene to look.

To show the complexity of those small details, I created a small demonstration.


Link to Video Page on Youtube in case the video doesn't load

I had a lot of fun making those Networks. But the lessons are not over. The spaceship and the alien still needs to be shaded.