visualisation

here's the intro to my visualisation, think it looks pretty sweet however i could have done better by adding a better environment, however i was aiming for a virtual game instead of an actualy board game so i guess it works.

here's the building for the chess board project for visualisation i think it looks pretty nice and a has a futuristic look to it, however i need to add some wires going in and out of the building make it have abetter theme to itwith the whole robot theme or maybe make like a solar panel some where as an addition to the building to make it seem like the chess boards source of power is from the sun

Chess board- final

Here's the final look for my chess board with all pieces completed. I think it looks pretty sweet with all the materials added on to give it a futuristic look to it however it took nearly a whole 2 minutes to render this pic so i'm not sure whether its my computer or just too much reflectiveness going on.

any comments that may help me with this problem would be much appreciated

Maze

Here's the maze for my board game for animation, gonna create some hands aswell to move the maze around and hopefully have a crisp animation for the ball too.

chess board with pawns and knights ( knights on wrong spot ^.^*)

brass knight

here's the character's i've created for my board game for virtual environments, i've created them by simply creating spheres for the joints and extruding the centre polygons for arms and legs. I've also used mental ray for the materials with the brass material and applied it to the whole of the character which i think works really well.

a deeper meaning

this picture is desgined for the public to make awareness that these people are not wanting money but wanting a change in lifestyle. i think this intended design is very well layed out. the statement is a very powerful one and encourages a new way of thinking and has a deep meaning to it.

Hand

here's hand i animated at class, so what ya thnk? i found it fun and eductional as it helped with learning more about animation and kinetics

SSP task

“Using your own personal experience, write a few lines that describe how a personal contact has provided a creative opportunity for you”

When thinking about the how a personal contact has provided a creative opportunity for me the 1st thing that instantly came to mind was when i was at work before i even started the course at NTU on multimedia, my friend was at the time studying at NCN doing Multimedia there and wanted a hand with some work and with helping him come up with idea's and designs. When his end of year show came around i saw his work which was very impressive, in which encouraged me to want to pursue Multimedia at uni. I guess in a way, i never really thought that this would ever really become a passion or something that drove me, but what seemed to be a hobby, which infact it has really grown on me.

Trainwreck

here's my train, i haven't really played with it too much as i need to really sort out the materials for.

here's the stantard colours used, it looks rather dull but i think with some materials added on it would make it more life like.

materials- visualisation

here's a tree i found in the markey square, the importance of this feature I find is that it show's life in the centre of town, though everything seems busy when observing the city centre you can appreiciate the calmness of the tree's and grass that have been placed in the market square. The wood feels brittle and that you can snap pieces of easily with your hands.

Here's the bottom of a lamp in the city centre, i thought it looked really well designed with the patterns that has been put on it and the shape of the base of the lamp. i think this stands out rather well in the city centre as it shows signs of boldness and strength with it's shape and the material it is made of. it is hard, and feels cold when touching it.

Summer job....

so i've been looking for a summer job, though i have one a part time job at the momement i think it's a good idea to try and get into the multimedia industry at an early stage as possible to learn new things.

For my pathways choice i decided to pursue something in the field of virutal environments which include such things as animation and character, virtual worlds and game environments.

Now i've found a few vacancies in SquareEnix company who are based in london, one job role is an english online game tester which basically is testing out games, looking for faults or glitches and proof reading material to suit the english market.

a second job role is an english localisation tester which is to do with quailty assurance and is similar to the job role above.

I have not applied as of yet due to it being based in london but i am looking to get in contact with some friends to find me accomodation over the summer or try and find a summer job closer to home

ZOMG!!! WE ARE MOVING TO CANADA KIDS!!!!

Tax breaks are causing game developers to flee overseas to Canadian soil. Copy this link to find out more...


http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080528-game-developers-flee-uk-for-canada-tax-breaks.html

Pathways...

I've been thnking about my pathways pretty much since I was told about them, at first I didn't pay it too much attention as i intially wanted to something in AV production, however after having our identites project i was very keen in something in the area of games designing or character creating. Here's a link to something someone had made which i thought was very nicely done. The actions were smooth and the character's very well designed, Plus it was very entertaining.

Identites - changes made to box

I decided instead of using a vending machine for my Navigating Identites project that i would use something i made in photoshop with some screen shots i took of a few games charaters from final fantasy. I'll be using each character as a "box" in which you can click and go and enter something new such as AV, Pixilation etc.
I think i'll put my logo on this front page too, more then likely at the bottom left hand corner as it is going to be most visible there.

Practitioner presentation

Hironobu Sakaguchi, a games designer is most famous for his creation the final fantasy series selling over 80 million units of video games world wide.

Sakaguchi was orginally a part time worker for the new company Square, when Sqaure became an independant company Sakaguchi had moved up to being a full time mployee and as the Directing of Planning and Development.

His 1st project was unsucessful and decided to risk it all on his final attempt of making a success by using the rest of the companies money to fund his final work in the industry, naming it final fantasy. It was a very popular across Japan and the Final Fantasy was developed into a franchise under Sakaguchi's supervision. Final Fantasy series has now reached up to number 12 and is in the process of finalizing number 13 which is to be released on the playstation 3 in sometime in 2009.

Sakaguchi is now the president of Sqaure in USA and in 2001 he founded a new video game development studio anmed Mistwalker which in 2004 got financial backing from Microsoft and has now worked along side with Microsoft Games studios to create 2 RPGs for the Xbox 360 (Blue Dragon and Lost Odyyssey).

Sakahuchi has been a big inspiration for me as he creates such amazing games with great detail put into each games, character/s. The amount of games he has been involved with and the number of units they have sold has put Sakahuchi in the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences' Hall of Fame.

Here are some of the games he has been credited for with some SS too

Lost Odyssey-



Kingdom Hearts



Final Fantasy XI



Chrono Trigger

My site

hers my box, hope you like it. I had an intial idea of creating a cending machine for my box but i decided to use an image i had made through a few screenshots etc.

Hope you like.

E:\Box~ ident\box.html

hackey-sac!!!!

My logo

Was thinking about my logo and something that represents me or identifies me and the first thing that came to mind was my name, but a simple Jason Liu would be too boring as a logo so i decided to use my family name instead printed in chinese as it is the only word i know to spell besides 1-10. Shoclking indeed!!

I tried to draw it on paint, it'sabit messy but ill tidy it up and add some flare to it

My Box

So i've come up with several ideas for my "box" for the 2nd project and here are a few of them that i presented to the letctures in my assessment week

Idea 1- Fridge- The reason why i thought about this idea was on the basis of it being in a similar shape of a box itself and also because it was something that is part of my everday life. We all depend on the fridge to store our food and from it being spoilt. Plus i thought it'd be something new and exciting to attempt on doing as a project.

Idea 2- Vending machine - Another thing which i thought would be of similar to the fridge idea but would have more of an interactive appeal to it as you can choose pick out which item you would like and it will then either play/animate. Plus another reason why i thought this was a good idea was that it also relates to the pathways choice at the end of year one, as we are open to choice.

Idea 3- My sketchbook- It shows my ideas and thoughts which i thought would be a good way to present to the world my work and who i am, my pictures and sketches not only shows what i can do but some also represents what mood i am in, how i feel.

Idea 4- Computer case - Another thing that i heavily depend on as an act of entertainment, interaction and education. It stores alot of things that is part of me such as photo's, music, video's, work, video games. If i were to have chosen this i would make it viewing the side of the computer case opened so it show's us the function of it and how it seems like a living being.

My design ideas for my avatar and environment part 6

Here is a sketch i drew of the final design of my character and here is what it looks like on 3d studio max...

Doesnt look exactly like the pic, but you can see some resemblence.

My design ideas for my avatar and environment part 5

heres a picture a drew from a cartoon, "The Boondocks" i like the characters from the cartoon and it has a funny plots. This character think could be fun to do on 3d studio max as there doesn't seem to be much detail on his facial features and the crazy hair looks like it could look really fun.

My design ideas for my avatar and environment part 4

Heres somethign i sketched up during a long shift at work, it was somthing i drew to describe the day and how i felt.

My design ideas for my avatar and environment part 3

So here was my orignal design idea in which i thought i was gonna use to create for my avatar, but i decided to go against it and use a differernt idea.

My design ideas for my avatar and environment part 2

Heres a second design idea that i drew, another Guy Mckinely creation with a change to the hair style

Thought this looked really cool and would a fun prjoect if i were to have designed something like this. But with little knowledge of 3d studio max i think i'll create something less complex for now and decide later on in thr year whether or not to play around with 3d studio max and try and attempt to design this.

My design ideas for my avatar and environment part 1

So i never got around posting my pictures that i drew/sketched up for my avatar. So here they are...

This was something i found in a book, a guy named Guy Mckinley drew it orignally and i thought it looked really nice attempted to draw it myself. I like anime/manga cartoons and i thought i could attempt to design something like this on 3D studio max

V-side week 2

This week my plan was to explore more into the world of v-side and the features it has to offer to members of V-side. As far as i know it seems to be a general community for people to log in and communicate with new people and meet new friends, current friends and enjoy the surrounds. I asked a few random people what they seemed to like about using V-side and it seemed that most liked the fact it seemed a more interactive way of communicating with friends then using instant messenger and face book.

I also found out that you had to pay real money for "creds" to purchase new clothes on v-side which in my opinion seemed really ridiculos due to the fact its not real, but many members seemed to do it because when i was walking around many could tell that i was new to the server due to the clothes i was wearing. There seemed to many that were attracted to other avatars from their virtual apperance, which led my to my next question.. Had anyone become partners through their virtual avatar?

It seemed that there were infact a few who had become real life friends and some even couples in real life by meeting through V-side. Which seems really bazaar, but i guess theres a long process before people actual become close.

From my experience on V-side i have noticed that its basically used as a social centre for people around the world to new meet, listening to music and explore around the virtual world. I would not say that i particualry enjoyed it has there didn't seem to be much for me to do except walk around and talk to random strangers. In my previous posts i have mentioned that i am currently playing an MMORPG made my Square Enix, Final Fantasy XI. In theory it too could be used just the same as V-side except not based on clubs and music but fantasy and adventure. I did notice one similarity in that in both V-side and FFXI people are judged on their clothing/gear, and if not dressed in a certain way they are judged negatively and in a way outcasted by those who are well equipped.

V-side...week 1

Hey hey hey its me... as a pixel, started my second self on v-side as 2nd life seemed to be giving my compter problems every time i tried to d/l to software. so i've been on it for a week now for ranging between 10mins to 30mins a day depending on what there is to offer @ the times i log in to it. This week what i was aiming to do on V-side was to find out about what there is to do on v-side, and to do that i've been walking around and chacking out the environments there. It seems like there are several zones in which you can go into, and some seemed to be locked, so i'm not sure whether the server is being under construction on whether its for the members who pay for their subscription which may give them a better package.

Here are some shots of me in v -side and convsering with other virtual people.

and here's a picture of my avatar...

seems that you can change your clothes whenever by clicking on on the avatar buttonand also skin colour which seems very amusing as i can get a tan within 5 seconds, oh the wonders of today.

I've made a few friends and mainly by accident due to asking them how i do several things like walking, entering differnt zones and what is the meaning of their existance in v-side.

It seems that mainly most people join v-side because they felt lonely or wanted a new experience of interaction instead of the usual facebook,myspace, and instant messenging.

Next week i aim to meet some people, ask them a few questions about v-side and see what there is to do for fun besides do funky dances, which brings me to my final pic for today's post

check the moves... i'm like a young Michael Jackson lol

change of plan

So... i was looking into the idea of making my avatar as a computer model, but when working on the idea and playing around with 3d studio max, i began to enjoy making a 3d model of one of my idea sketches that i made. So far i've completed the body and now working on the head soon, however i find it really weird how some times when you have ideas in your head it doesnt come out the same way on paper, but this is like what i plan on paper doesnt actually come out the same way as on 3d studio max. But hey, lets not frown upon this as its my 1st time using this software, and i throughly enjoy every minute of it.... so far

I'll post more updates of my up and coming work when i feel there is more to explain or when i have done suffient amount of work to jot down my thoughts.

It's all about memememememe.....

So... haven't posted in a while so thought i'd let you all know i'm still alive and have been thinking long and hard on what i want to create as an avatar. I've seen a couple of things that i like and i've done a few sketches on design ideas which i will be posting in the week when i can reach a scanner.

I'm torn between 2 ideas at the moment which i think represents me quite well.
1.) a avatar that is made out of hardware from my personal computer. i.e monitor = head, computer case = body.
Reason why i would choose this as a possible avatar would be because it is something that is apart of me as i am surrounded by computer technololgy, whether it be at home,work or in school. Another reason why i would choose this design idea would be because it is something i enjoy spending my time on as it has various uses such as research, communicating with others via e-mails or instant messaging, entertainment and also to build a social network between myself and millions of different people around the world wheter it be friends or strangers i have never met.

2.) Another avatar design that i am quite keen on was a 'MANGA' me, from a young age i have enjoyed manga/anime/western cartoons as they have always appealed to me. And what could represent me better as a 2nd self then another me ^-^

anywho.. i'll be posting some of my designs once i reach a scanner