Macro Photography ~ Bug Study, Canon DSLR ~ I shot these photos with a Canon 7D and a 100mm F1.4 Macro Lens. I enjoy delving into the the life of creatures, in this case, bugs and a snake I saw at a Zoo. There is something so poetically beautiful, when you get up close and in person with a bugs life. There is so much detail on these creatures that is imperceptible with the naked human eye.
Concept Robot Buffalo Drawing, Daily sketch ~ My love for Robotics and wildlife series: I drew this while taking a mental break from animations and editing work on the second short sci-fi film, NaEEXUS II. I was inspired by the African cape buffalo, with a slight twist.
Quest: I am doing this as an exercise to continually put ideas to paper and to use it as an opportunity to practice mechanical and Wildlife anatomy.
My favorite GPU rendering engine is hands down Octane, now in its 4th, 2018 and 2019 versions. It’s made it so much easier for me to light and render the scenes in the episodes of Nkoza and Nankya, and for a number of my cinematics and short films. I render using Octane in both Maya and 3DS Max.
There was a time when I rendered primarily with Mental Ray, but once the industry shifted to GPU and realtime rendering, I pivoted to using GPU rendering as well. The demand to turn around 3D renders pretty quick has also driven my quest to find the fastest way I can realize my scenes both as concepts and final renders. Some of the challenges have been rendering things such as smoke, volumetric lighting, dust, and fluids, but all those issues have been addressed in the most recent builds of Octane.
Check out some of the renders I have done using Octane for the Nkoza and Nankya episodes. Series Website: www.nkozaandnankya.com ~ Subscribe to the Nkoza and Nanjya Youtube Channel at: https://www.youtube.com/user/NkozaandNankya ~ Visit and like the facebook at this link: https://www.facebook.com/NkozaandNankya/
You can see more renders at the Nkoza and Nankya gallery at this link: http://www.nkozaandnankya.com/gallery/
Concept Robot Drawing, Daily sketch ~ I love Robotics and wildlife, I drew this while sitting with my family sharing stories and taking a break from animations. I am doing this as an exercise to continually put ideas to paper and to use it as an opportunity to practice mechanical anatomy.
Iron man thinking, Maggots ain’t got nothing on me.. but tyFlow got something on me!! ~ This is my second test with this awesome plugin tyFlow for 3DS Max. I am using the target attraction node and taking the tyFlow worms scene a little further. I rendered the scene using Octane 4. Check out the video below.
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Every now and then, a plugin comes along with the potential to change the workflow of many CG artists, and sometimes it takes a while for said plugin to be adopted and for it to be embraced by casual and professional users ~ well, recently a new plugin for 3DS Max came along and it has been embraced enmass by many 3DS Max users, because it is easy to use and carries along a familiar glow, pun intended… 🙂 ~ tyFlow is like Particle Flow, pFlow’s new sibling that is growing in leaps and bounds and has the potential to replace it.
I did some tests with tyFlow and I must say I am hooked!!
Tyflow Animation rendering using Autodesk 3ds Max? and OTOY? Octane 4.0 ~ I finally got the animation rendered, check it out!! ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAkJHAn1NY4 ~ I loooove this plugin!!!
Wooohooo!!! I am officially a Sci-fi Film Director!! lol!! “N-aEEXUS”, the Short Film I Wrote, Directed and Animated as a one man team in partnership with Reallusion, using iClone and Character Creator 3, is finally online and I can share with you the amazing journey!! My wife acted in it as the female Major in the interrogation chamber!! I played the part of the Commander, and did the Voice acting for the Alien Lord and Commander as well. This was so much fun!! Check out the Feature tutorial on CGSociety at this link: https://cgsociety.org/news/article/4330/creating-a-3d-sci-fi-short-in-30-days ~ Dare to dream big, friends!!
I am so grateful to my wife for joining me on this adventure and playing a key acting role in the film.
The video below shows a side by side demo of me acting and the Alien Lord 3D Character with Facial Mocap from an iPhone X mounted on my home made head mounted Camera Rig, built on my wife’s bike helmet, captured in iClone 7 using Motion LIVE, LIVE Face and the Perception Neuron 2.0 motion capture suit for the full body mocap. This has so much promise as a combo solution for Indie film makers and storytellers.
A quick Tutorial showing how you can speed up your renders in 3DS Max using the Octane 4.0, featuring 2 of my favorite features: Denoiser and Dynamic Subdivision ~ I am using GPU rendering with Octane to render a short film based on Pacific Rim, and getting an average of 5 seconds to 10 Seconds per frame.
Don’t forget to Subscribe to My Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SolomonJagwe ~ Visit and like my facebook Page at: https://www.facebook.com/Art.of.Solomon.W.Jagwe
“Never ever be accused of not using your head” Katwe Style… I brought my old home made head mounted camera rig from retirement and updated it to support an iPhone X. I am now using it to do combo full body and facial mocap using Reallusion’s Motion LIVE and LIVE Face plus Noitomocap’s Perception Neuron 2.0 mocap suit. Sometimes technology shows up at just the right time and place. Taking the Nkoza and Nankya vision from dream to action. Friends, Dare to dream BIG!!! – www.nkozaandnankya.com
To create the Rig, I used my wife’s bike helmet, and attached a Flexible Universal Gooseneck Smartphone Stand with Clamp from a Haitent Retractable Adjustable Cell Phone Tall Tripod Stand Holder, using zip ties. Check it out at this link: https://amzn.to/2PDtEPd
Here is a rendered animation showing the combo result of both Facial and Body mocap.
This is a quick test I did using an iPhone X and Face Cap, I captured myself singing Amazing grace. I rendered the scene in 3DS Max using Octane with a single light to capture the mood. At least now we are getting back the features we used to love with Faceshift. Thanks to developers like Niels Alexi. Next will be to take this animation ability and apply it to the characters in my animated series, The Adventures of Nkoza and Nankya and Galiwango.
Don’t forget to Subscribe to My Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/SolomonJagwe ~ Visit and like my facebook Page at: https://www.facebook.com/Art.of.Solomon.W.Jagwe
