The project I was particularly struck by while looking through 3D artists is called “Transit” and was created by Michael Kim, or maikoolk, as his social media handles read. It’s a render of what is supposed to look like the inside of a train car, with certain labels of the train car being changed to represent details relevant to his personal life, or simply to take on personal meaning to him. Across the walls of the car are writings in graffiti, that also seem to carry personal meanings to him.

All in all I found it admirable that he took his talent in creating 3D graphics and
used it to create a piece of artwork that held personal meaning to him, in a way
creating this unique and personable artifact for himself. Besides that, it was very cool to see the amount of detail that he was putting into his work. Everything from the detail in the lighting to the texture of the walls and seats. There seemed to be a very particular grainy and moody look he was going for in his work and it all came out very nicely.

Within 3D computer graphics there are many different applications and possible uses for the various modeling programs that are used to create them. One person who works in 3D computer graphics is Mike Winkelmann, also known as “beeple”. Beeple is a digital artist who works with many different programs to create 3D images as well as drawing 3D images himself. He has been a digital artist for over 20 years and has done projects like “Everydays” since. Specifically, these “everydays” are digital art pieces in which he forces himself to create a new one everyday. I admire these projects because they’re all so different and oftentimes very bizarre. The algorithms that he uses are in programs like ‘Blender’ or ‘Toon Boom’. These programs are so powerful and allow him to model very precise things and produce high quality renderings at the end. He’s a very unique and outgoing artist and these sensibilities really manifest themselves in the crazy ideas that he creates. This specific image is one of those everydays that I like most. 

Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/24/arts/design/christies-beeple-nft.html

Lunar Gala Backgrounds, Danny Cho, 2020

I had the great opportunity to meet a senior designer here at CMU who did very interesting 3D computer graphics. Specifically for the Lunar Gala Collectiva show, Danny Cho created a series of computer generated 3D graphics to become dynamic backgrounds for advertisement and each fashion line. I really admire the attention to color and detail in each of these backgrounds. They were truly thoughtfully designed to fit each and every line, and they feel so immersive and polished. Each asset was carefully rendered in Cinema4D and then spliced together by a team that worked under Danny. I think that the final product is a testament to not only Danny’s work, but work of the entire team, as well as a celebration of the Lunar Gala Designers.

For this week’s project, I chose a project is the 2009 sci-movie called Avatar by James Cameron. I chose this project because I am really astonished by the hyperrealistic yet magical graphics present in this project. For example, the facial graphics of Avatars, the ‘Pandora’ environment, the majestical animals present in this said environment etc. All these amazing photorealistic graphics present in the movie are computer generated using technologies like motion capture animation, which were developed with a lot of effort and thought. The facial expressions of the Avatars were created by designing customized skull caps for each individual actor which different small scaled technological objects embedded in these caps, which collect data and transmit it to the computers.
Elements like the environmental lighting for ‘Pandora’ and highlights and shadows etc. are made using new systems that were developed using computational algorithms and motion and performance capture tech.

Link to the movie ‘Avatar’ by James Cameron – https://www.avatar.com/movies/avatar/

Project Title: WarNymph

Year of Creation: 2020

Artists: Dylan Kowalski

I admire how the project allows Grimes to have a digital version of herself because I feel like the virtual world is the exact place where people can be who they “truly are” without the confinements of real world expectations or circumstances. Though the character is kind of scary, I admire how genuinely eerie the 3D baby looks because it aligns well with the grim messages it speaks (in some videos, WarNymph talks of the end of the world). I know that Kowalski did the 3D sculpting partly on his “home desktop” and with ZBrush (digital sculpting application), but I can’t find much else on the algorithms or mechanisms that generated the work. Kowalski’s artistic focus lies in making incredibly detailed 3D characters, which is clearly exemplified by the baby’s intricate wings and leg tattoo, which accurately matches Grimes’ tattoo.

The project I am looking at this week is called “Momoplanet | Inner Peace Animation” by Zigor Samaniego and his team in 2018.

I really admire this project specifically because I think it is so well crafted. Part of the part of this project was to incorporate many styles into one animation seamlessly and it not only is well done but it also elevated the story it conveyed.

Because of the many styles, the animation must of been created with multiple programs to effectively combine every medium. The team used not only 3D graphics but also “retro-futurism, illustration, stop motion, hand-drawn illustration in 3D-graphics…” So, to bring all the styles together the team must’ve used an animation software to piece together each scene.

Overall between the level of craft and certain style you can tell this work was influenced by Samaniego.

Link: https://zigorsamaniego.net/momoplanet-inner-peace-animation

I’ve chosen to investigate the early stages of mainstream animated movies – I found a cool video of the early development stages of the movie Toy Story, just when “3D” animation was taking off.
I’d imagine that the process for animation back then was different than it is today – we have programs like Maya and Blender to help us render, process, and rig 3D models now.
Toy Story looked a lot different in this video than it did on release, and we can see the character design process (Woody was almost a villain!)
Tom Hanks seemed to have played an important role in determining the direction of the plot and characters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2ejwJ0QXvs
Toy Story
Various Animators – Andrew Stanton & Pete Docter (named in the video)

I really admire the work by artist and designer Jon Noorlander. He explored 3D
generative forms in a beautifully fantastical and fun way. One specific example of his work was his piece entitled “Slime.” The piece itself is simply a looping aninimation of two balls of pink slime mushing and pulling across the canvas. However, it is very satisfying to watch, and is simply a fun animation. Noorlander engages bold, strong colors to create pieces that are engaging and exciting to watch and discover. While I’m not sure exactly, I imagine that the piece was rendered in Cinema 4D similar program to achieve the surface texture and reflections.

Slime. – Jon Noorlander | Design & Direction

Jon Noorlander – “Slime”

A piece of 3D computer art that I find inspiring is Synchronism by artist Andreas Wannerstedt. This piece is a set of three looping videos that show the synchronization between moving elements. I am familiar with Wannerstedts work, and what I love about all of his videos is that they create a very short yet satisfying loop that is visually beautiful. Each element is perfectly timed, and the pieces are so dynamic that you have to watch the loop a few times to really understand all of the parts. A lot of his graphics are also extremely photo representational and seem like they could really be sculptures or installations. From the look of the video, it seems like a 3d computer software was used to create these pieces. In his process, you can also see that he sticks to a certain graphic style that mixes bright colors with textures from nature or more industrial materials.

Piece: Synchronism
Link: https://andreaswannerstedt.se/synchronism

After looking through many different types of 3D computer graphic artworks, my personal favorite is Game Buildings by Gustavo Henrique. I really admire this artwork because I think it’s so interesting how Henrique manipulates his photographs of cubes to make them look softer and rounder. I feel that using computer graphic techniques create an interesting mood to his artworks. When I first saw the artwork, I didn’t recognize it was originally a photograph because the objects looked so smooth and soft. Henrique uses different programs to render the original photographs he takes. The creator’s artistic sensibilities are manifested in the final form by working with geometric shapes and models to create a building that has a soft atmosphere to it.