Adventures in 3D Blocks...

Well, it's been a busy couple of weeks for me in the real world but the end is near! Finally I can catch up and give some feedback on some of the awesome releases at TMU. It's been too long!

There was a new challenge sprung by the Wolf and Dulci Hour - the Building Blocks "Make-a-Castle" Challenge. Great radio show, by the way - get to chill with fellow iCloners and learn some stuff about iClone. Highlight of an otherwise dreary Monday night. :)

Well the timeframe was tight for me - two weeks. And of course I had a major presentation to prepare for at the same time. But in any case, I came up with something and sent it in. It was great to try to build something with the 3D blocks - props that I'd overlooked because I couldn't really see how to use them. Now I find that I'd be looking at things and wondering "How can I break you up into nice little 3D blocks and recreate you?" :)

It's the texturing that got me though - frustrating as hell sometimes. I think I just need some more practice and to look into really understanding how the UV map works. Different blocks would texture differently depending on how I arranged them, or grouped them or resized them - oy! Then there's the whole planar, box, cylindrical bit! I guessimated my way through it but I still have more learning to do on the subject.

But all in all - great learning experience to open my eyes to the possibilities, especially as I look towards working on my next film. There's a lot of stuff that would require extensive set design but now instead of scouring the web for already made props, maybe I can look about building my own!

Here's some pics of Castle d'afterThought. :)