AURIGA Texture Progression - ATHENA - Greek Godess or pasty bird with angled jaw?

So we move on to ATHENA, expertly modelled by Paul, unwrapped by Paul and handed over in good faith to my graphics tablet and fundermental grasp of the texturing process. On reflection the problem came when it came to appling the face. Unlike the other textures that are uniform, ie: Skin is Skin all over a leg, armour is armour all over but a face, what with lips, ears, eyes and all those senses, well that's a whole new ball game. Hence what we have is a desperate attempt to apply some 'digital' woman's face on to the beauty that is Athena. The results show for themselves! 

Athena wasn't worthy of a render so the texture map below will suffice.

AURIGA Texture Progression - THE CHARIOT by ME !

As a change from modelling I can honestly say I've enjoyed the time I spent texturing the Athena character and Chariot. As way of reflecting this I thought I'd post up the before and after of the task.

So below we have the unwrapped, but clearly labelled I must add, blank canvas for the Chariot.

As you can see Paul has done a fantastic job of marking up each section so it leaves me in no doubt what's what in the Chariot and should ensure wooden bits don't end up with metal rivets and so on.

So over to me to go from Photoshop novice to seasoned texture master, all in a mater of days.

What came apparent, is in an attempt to blend the areas the textures meet I've over cooked the brush work with the BLACK and this becomes evident in the finally 3D model once the texture get's applied. 

OR maybe it was driven through an ash cloud before being left over an open fire? Either way the reality is I've got to mark down my initial joy and settle for a 7/10 for effort. 

Anyhow here is a screen grab of the finished article. 

Anyone who may follow my blog, feel free to comment... 

Professional & Contextual Studies - Types of Self Employment

Professional & Contextual Studies
 

“A group of people get together and exist as an institution that we call a company so they are able to accomplish something collectively that they could not accomplish separately.” 1.

1. David Packard, Co-founder, Hewlett Packard)

During my further research to support class learning I have used the Business Link resource as a key ‘framework’ and guide map to follow as they focus on the most relevant and significant legislation and dilute the legalalities into key points that are understood by the layperson. 

I've compiled a snap shot of these for the purpose of the blog.

Any creative enterprise can be set up using a variety of different legal structures, for example as a self-employed sole trader, a partnership, a limited company, or community interest company etc. Selecting the most appropriate legal structure to support a business objective is an integral part of the business strategy.

There are advantages and disadvantages to all possible legal structures, so choosing the right one for your enterprise depends on the kind of business you want and what kind of success you want to achieve.

Options include: self-employed ‘sole trader’; partnership; private company limited by shares; limited liability partnership; company limited by guarantee without share capital; and a community interest company (CIC).

Options and Consequences

Choosing a particular structure may have short-term benefits but long-term drawbacks, so it’s important to think ahead and take professional advice.

There is rarely a simple ‘right or wrong’ answer.

It’s more a case of understanding all the options and consequences of each legal structure. You will need to assess the extent to which each structure could potentially support or hinder the development of your enterprise in line with your chosen business strategy.     

A few notes made on the day. Most Relevant to New Media Industry at top.

SOLE TRADER:

Seting Up - Money In Bank 9 6 months finance is usual)

Contracts- Pre-arrnaed contracts to guarantee work

FUNDING – Loans & private investors  / Bank overdraft facility / Charge up front to raise the capital

Freelance no registration fees

PARTNERSHIP:

Two or more sole traders working together

LIMITED LIABILITY PARTNERSHIPS LTD

Debt limited to the company

FRANCHISES – License to an existing business

SOCIAL ENTERPRISES


RESOURCE: 

BUSINESS LINK:

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk

Business Link is government's online resource for businesses.

It has been delivered by Serco on behalf of HM Revenue & Customs since April 2007.

It contains essential information, support and services for you and your business – whether you work for a large organisation or are on your way to starting up.

Simple to use, up to date and practical, Business Link is the first place to go to find guidance on regulations and to access government services. It also has a number of useful online tools, calculators, and best practice case studies; and provides access to funding options, as well as wider support.

Broadeye Show - New Media/Old Media

The publicity for the Broadeye Show included a mixture of new & old media 


For instance the show flyers designed by members of the Graphics class turned to their skill set to produce the flyers for the show. These we traditionally printed and distributed the old fashioned way by hand.  

Other ideas raised were adopted by others within the group, for example Natasha went on to create a Facebook page that I became one of many ‘members’ with the idea to grow the publicity through our own Facebook friends.

Using social networking like this is a very New Media way to promote an event like the

 BROADEYE DESIGNERS SHOW 

Broadeye Show - Marketing

Claire Chick attending the 2^nd meeting allowed the pre-show marketing to be completed in time for the publicity bandwagon to get started. Claire asked for ideas from us that she could use in aiding her with the publicity. This included ideas as to whom the show would appeal to so she could prepare the marketing to appeal to the ‘target’ audience. In response to this request I e-mailed Claire with my thoughts. 

As a result Claire included my ideas in the press release 

Showcase for new designers

A town centre exhibition highlighting work by a group of Foundation Degree students from Stafford College known as the Broad Eye Designers is taking place from 3-6 May at the Pie & Ale House in Crabbery Street, Stafford.

The exhibition has been described by lecturer Neil Brewis as “A very exciting opportunity for anyone interested in the world of new media. It shows the technical and creative skills developed by people who intend to work in the fields of interactive media, graphic design, film and animation, web design, computer games design or 3D modelling.”

Work from up to 20 students will be featured in the free-to-view show, which will include moving images projected onto screens in the first floor of the building. 

One of the students taking part in the exhibition is Martin Evans. He explained that the Broad Eye Designers have used a vivid image of a colour spectrum wheel on promotion for the event: “This symbol has been chosen not only because it is something familiar to graphic designers but also because we want to showcase a wide spectrum of new creative talent,” he said.

“The exhibition gives an insight into the standard of work produced by current students on the Foundation Degree course, including people of very different ages, backgrounds and interest. We expect it to have a wide appeal to fans of 2D and 3D design and employers hoping to spot new talent as well as people who might be considering the Foundation Degree as an alternative route towards a higher education qualification.”

Fellow exhibitor Mary Hemingway, whose photographs and collages are inspired by buildings in and around the town centre, said that organising the event had been a very positive experience: “It has shown us what it is possible to achieve with limited time and budget”.

Work by the Broad Eye Designers can be viewed at the Pie & Ale House on the evening of Tuesday 3 May and throughout the day from Wednesday 4 until Friday 6 May. 

8 Head Rule

Drawing with Katrinka (Week3)

Today’s morning session was held with Katrinka whose aim was to teach us basic figure drawing while using an 8 head rule.  We started by sketching out the simple outline of the human body, drawing in lines for they neck, shoulders, nipples, belly button, bend line, knee & ankle lines.  This ties in nicely with the proportion work of the last few weeks.

** SCAN IMAGE FROM SKETCH BOOK***

Apparently fashion students employ a 9^th head that is shown in the lower half of the body to signify a longer taller thin line of the body.

We quickly moved towards stick figure drawing where we were trying to capture the basic line of the figure in various poses. Although this sounds simple it really made you focus on the line of the body and how it was posed. Translating this onto paper was tricky and the easiest way to visualize a pose was to ‘strike’ the pose yourself.  I had a little success with this and enjoyed the task. We have been assigned a variety of poses/moods that we need to capture over the Easter break. These include…

Standing /Running/ Falling/Leaning/Ninja/Happy/Miserable/ Proud/Scary/Frightened & Sitting.  In each sketch I should look to get the proportion & weight distribution correct!

Working on from the stick figure we looked to block out the figure using a selection of basic shapes.  These would focus on squares, oblongs (legs) circles (joints)

Each sketch needed to show a ‘centre of gravity’ point and a ‘contact’ point.

*** INCLUDE SCANS from the Sketch Book!

Finally we introduced ‘single point’ perspective or ‘one point’ perspective on a ‘vanishing line’

Another fundamental that helps with ‘foreshortening’ & was demonstrated by using a figure sitting at a desk. I found this a little tricky and need to work on this if I am to show any improvement. It was great to work in a small group and now having worked with Katrinka over a few weeks, a feel for her style of teaching.

The simple rule of the 1 perspective was to emphasise the foreshortening and so the nearer the item to you the wider it is in the drawing.