computer generated imagery
I want to be...
Did you ever daydream when you were little? Over the last couple of months I've been whittling away on these images for Getty, exploring the day dreaming of a toddler (our Jack). Working on them between commissions has meant progress has been quite slow and there are more images to produce for the series, but I thought I'd share the progress so far.
On Wednesday evening I'm presenting my work and, in particular the making of Space Baby, at the 3DS Max London Users Group. I'll be showing some of my workflow and how I created Jack's space suit with Marvellous Designer.
For more information go to - https://www.meetup.com/3DSLondon/
Come along and say hello over a pint.
If you've not been before you should, there's always interesting stuff being shown (this week being a perfect example) and beer - a winning combination!
At home we use ecotricity for our gas and electric. We like to tread lightly. A recent mail-out from them sent me spiralling off, thinking about an image and footage that I could create.
They will all be on sale soon via Getty Images.
People often ask me how does CGI work, or how do I create my images and I've always felt like I wasn't giving a particularly good answer so I've made this short video as an introduction for the uninitiated.
If you like the video be sure to follow us on Facebook - facebook.com/WhitakerStudio/
and Instagram - instagram.com/whitaker_studio/
And signup for our newsletter to receive a 3D model of the cup - whitakerstudio.co.uk/how-does-cgi-work-newsletter-signup
A free piece of 3D software for you to play with is Sketchup - sketchup.com/
I have had a bit of an obsession with Thomas More's Utopia for years now. The text is wonderful, and parts of it have a real poignancy in the modern world. More wrote the book back in 1516 and, for anyone who hasn't read it, it largely comprises of a conversation between More and a traveller, Raphael Hythloday, who has just returned from the island of Utopia.
Almost every made up name in the book is a pun or reference, so Hythloday is a Greek compound meaning expert in nonsense and Utopia is derived from the Greek prefix ou-, meaning not, and topos, meaning place. No-place or nowhere. Utopia doesn't exist. And so computer generated imagery feels like the perfect vehicle to explore Utopia, and 2016 felt like an apt time to start this series as a means of reflecting on the political atmosphere in the UK and Europe.
The image above is the first from the series and is based on the portion of text copied below:
...entry into the bay, occasioned by rocks on the one hand and shallows on the other, is very dangerous. In the middle of it there is one single rock which appears above water, and may, therefore, easily be avoided; and on the top of it there is a tower, in which a garrison is kept; the other rocks lie under water, and are very dangerous. The channel is known only to the natives; so that if any stranger should enter into the bay without one of their pilots he would run great danger of shipwreck.
It is my intention to finally exhibit the series, although it will take a little while to reach that point.
A recently completed image for A-Zero Architects of a house that they're currently working on on the edge of the river Thames. (Car choice was critical for the French client.)
Following on from the image that I shared back in July here is another image from the series.
I've just been experimenting with producing content for Facebook 360. This first test is rough but quite good fun I think. Check it out - https://www.facebook.com/WhitakerStudio/videos/1198693146830632/
At the start of September I spent some time in Cloud & Horse’s photo studios shooting with actress Jennifer Dawn-Williams. The shoot had been meticulously planned to allow the resulting photographs of Jennifer to be blended seamlessly with computer generated images of a penthouse apartment in Tokyo.
With the photographs taken they were then composited in Photoshop to achieve the stills that I wanted and this video shows a quick breakdown of that process.
The complete set of images can be seen on my website.
This visualisation is of a new development in Elephant and Castle by A Zero Architects. There will be a nursery at ground floor with three town houses above. Construction work is due to start in Autumn 2015.
