Art of another Kind...

By: smiller Mood: full of life Date: 07/31/2008 18:18:12 Music: None

In the past I have created a lot of digital art, used for print or animation. Today I converted one of these animations to a Flash Video and thought I would share it. It was done for an organization that explores the Creation/evolution debate. Below is a still image of that animation.

I modeled, textured and set up the lighting on this junkyard scene using a software called Lightwave 3D. For anyone who is curious about the digital/3D process, I have briefly described the process below. Here is a link to the actual animation.

The modeling process is something I really enjoy. I have not as yet got my hands into clay (I really want to), but I would compare modeling with Lightwave to working with clay in the real world. Through the software you basically push and pull on the vector meshs on the screen until you "model" the desired shape or object. Usually the more organic the object, the more difficult to model.

After the modeling process, the model is textured, usually with digital images, either created in PhotoShop or real-world textures shot with a digital camera. For example, I shot the sides of old rusty dumpsters and large rusty tanks to get good images to texture old cars, etc. Once the objects are textured, they are arranged in the desired "scene" and then various "lights" are setup within the software to light the scene. These lights can be colored, be like spotlights or pretty much like anything in the real world. I have found that lights can be used like the painters brush to color or tint the objects in a scene.

Once all the objects and lighting, or any dynamic atmosphere is in place, the rendering begins. During this process the computer compiles all the information- lights, shadows, movement, etc. and renders a sequence of frames. Below are some stills of what I have called the "Texas Tornado" (to see animation, see link above)