Sculptris Test

Hi all,

I thought I’d post a quick picture of my first (half-complete) Sculptris model.  He’s just a alien concept I through together pretty quick.  I’ve got about 30 minutes tied up in the work on this guy.  So far, I like Sculptris pretty good.

I’ve had it crash a few times, so I just try to save my work often.  Otherwise, it’s a great little app.  Check out my alien (modeled in Sculptris and rendered using Blender 2.5 Alpha):

Sculptris: www.sculptris.com/

It’s been awhile…But I’m back!

I’m sorry, it’s been entirely too long since I have made a post/update/or even anything.  Time to change that.

I’m starting to head in another direction with my personal art endeavors.  For starters, I’ve finally gotten serious and set myself down and have decided to learn how to use Blender.  In the process, I’ve stumbled across a couple of great applications.   Sculptris is the first.  I love it.

Sculptris is basically in the same vein as Zbrush.  I’m not familiar with the toolsets included in Zbrush, so I can’t make a comparison at this time.  But for what it is, Sculptris seems to do a great job.  It makes 3D sculpting pretty simple and easy to pickup for beginners.  I am a complete newb when it comes to 3D design/image software packages.  Learning Blender has been a little tough, but I’m loving the new interface in Blender 2.5 Alpha.  And I can’t wait to see what I can to by mixing these two great apps together.  The other great thing about Sculptris…It’s completely free.

Check out Sculptris:

The second app I’ve stumbled across was MakeHuman.  The goal of MakeHuman is pretty simple: make fairly high resolution models of the human figure.  These models can then be exported from MakeHuman and brought into most of the well known 3D software packages for further editing.  Basically, it’s a kind of slimmed down version of Poser.  The difference: MakeHuman is free and open source software, and is cross platform (Mac, Windows, Linux).  The way I see it; most anybody with a decent computer and an internet connection can have access to free tools that they can use to learn about 3D model design and creation.  It costs nothing.

Happy Surfing!

For more information about the software mentioned above please visit their respective websites (listed below):

• Blender            http://www.blender.org/
• Sculptris         http://www.sculptris.com/
• MakeHuman  http://www.makehuman.org/

*Note: MakeHuman does display anatomically correct human figures in the nude.

openArtist: Art Software + Open Source Software

Check out openArtist.  I frequent one of my favorite Linux websites every couple of days (Distrowatch.com) and this morning I found a link to openArtist which looks very promising for fans of open source software.  Personally, I have found some really good open source software.  Some of which rivals it’s commercial counterparts.  I have had a blast with a mod for Gimp which sets it up to look similar to the Photoshop UI.  Which makes it a little easier to transition between the two.

After looking at the package list that is included with openArtist it looks pretty promising.  I am already running Ubuntu, so installing another Linux distro is probably out of my plans for the near future.  But I will try to install some of these packages on my Ubuntu install for testing and let everybody know how it works out.  In the meantime, if you are curious feel free to drop past their website and give it a try: openArtist.

Ipod Touch and Art: Friends at Last!

Well, after downloading Paintbook for my Ipod Touch a few weeks ago, I finally got around to messing with it the other night.  At first glance it only makes sense that there be art and drawing apps for the Ipod Touch.  Why not?  Not different than using a tablet stylus pen, right?

I must be honest, when I first started playing with Paintbook it was a little strange.  Literally drawing with my finger tip.  However, after about 5 minutes, I seemed to get oriented pretty easily.  Paintbook has a lot of versatility that you can easily pick up after playing with it.  To be fair, I haven’t tried some of the other art apps in the App Store.  Paintbook is my first.

Check out this clip of the app in use:

Also checkout my first Paintbook pic:

Quickie Sketch-Done in about 3 minutes

If you have an Ipod Touch, look for it at the Apple App Store.  It sells for $3.99, but so far it has been a fun addition to my Ipod.  I spend a lot of time traveling for work.  And I used to carry around a small pocket sized sketchbook and pencil for quick thumbnail sketches incase an idea hit me in the middle of the day.  And this app has replaced my traveling sketchbook.

A neat feature the app includes is the ability to turn your image into a PDF and upload it to the Paintbook website.  There it is stored within their online gallery which is made up of posts of artwork uploaded by other users as well.  The Paintbook website also utilizes Twitter feeds that will update to your Twitter account (if you have one) and let your followers see when at what you have just uploaded to the Paintbook site.  The Paintbook site also allows you to favorite and follow other artists as well.

The images created within Paintbook are stored on the Ipod and are made available through the ‘Photos’ menu as well.  You can even setup a ‘virtual sketchbook’ in the Paintbook app to organize your images.

For more information on Paintbook check out their website at: http://paintbook.ca

New post from my Ipod!

Well my birthday has come and gone. My wonderful wife bought me a 16GB Ipod Touch 2G that I have absolutely fallen in love with!

I was able to find this great WordPress App in Apple’s App Store (which is free btw). I do have a blog over on Blogger @ Techie.Smarts @ Blogspot.com so if anybody has any recommendations as to which app works best with Blogger, then drop me a line or leave a comment. Who knows maybe I will just relocate it to WordPress. We’ll see. Well until next time!

Great Photoshop Tutorial Site!

Well, I was a little bored this evening. So, I decided to scoot across the web and try out a few Photoshop Tutorials. And I stumbled across a site that I can honestly say ‘I never knew existed’.

But now that I know about it, this site will become a regular stop on my browsing habits. It is called: psdtuts.com and it is a very wealthy source of Photoshop tutorials. Featuring mostly photomanipulation tutorials, there are also a handful of digital painting resources scoured across the site as well.

Many of the tutorials are written tutorials, but there are also several well made video tuts available as well. PSDTUTS also offers a paid subscription service for $9.00 USD a month. However, there is more than enough free content to keep you happy for a while.

Check out what I made with just a few minutes alone with the PSDTUTS site:

The Ghost In The Ink

Swing by and check it out sometime!

Comic Review: The Joker (DC Comics)

The Joker

I have a confession to make. I am 26 years old; but I still like comic books. Comic Books seem to have grown up with me as well. I haven’t followed them as closely as I had growing up until the last six months or so. I guess it is the spur in all of the comic book related movies that have been (and are still to be released) that helped draw me back. And as one of the more recent ones I have read: ‘The Joker’; written by Brian Azzarello is an awesome return to what makes the Joker such an interesting character.

I have just finished reading through ‘The Joker’ and I must say that they creative team behind the book did a fantastic job! Everything from the line art through to the story was great. Mr. Azzarello has done a wonderful job of writing a story that featuring the legendary villian without relying too heavily on the aspects of Batman’s presence in the story. Batman is there, but the main focus is The Joker, and what makes him tick.

The concept is that The Joker has somehow convinced his doctors at Arkham Asylum that he is no longer insane. So, he is release; and almost immediately the story hits the ground running. Plus cameos from other characters within the DC Universe shows up as well with supporting cast from Croc, Two-Face, Penguin, and even the Riddler. The way these characters play into the overall story is wonderful, making subtle an supporting appearances to the main character..

Major props have to be given to the entire team: Brain Azzarello (writer), Lee Bermejo (art), coloring by Patricia Mulvihill and inks by Mick Gray. They did a great job and is a very worthy addition to the Batman/Gotham mythos. If you liked the Dark Knight, you’ll definitely get a kick out of this one! This is a definite must read!