Jim Crafton

I found 3D Palace last week, and since I had time off from work, found it a lot of fun to follow along with their tutorials. Here's the first result: From Learning 3D From Learning 3D From Learning 3D From Learning 3D From Learning 3D From Learning 3D From Learning 3D From Le... (more)

This is a quick walk through explaining how to get your ZBrush 3.x detailed model to render properly in Houdini 9/10 using ZBrush produced displacement maps. I found a number of links about this, but some were a little confusing as they talked about how to do this for older versi... (more)

More refinements to the alien head, added eyes, and played with adjusting materials From Learning 3D From Learning 3D From Learning 3D ... (more)

I think we all know where this is going to be leading... From Learning 3D From Learning 3D From Learning 3D If I get real motivated I'll document how I model it in Houdini. For rigging I'd refer everyone to check out the Technical Rigging DVD's at 3D Buzz. ... (more)

Some more ZBrush sculpting: From Learning 3D From Learning 3D Turntable: ... (more)

I got inspired by this image: Balrog-lord-of-the-rings-4801000-1920-1200.jpg and made a stab at a head sculpt in Zbrush: From Learning 3D From Learning 3D From Learning 3D From Learning 3D It will be interesting to see if I can bring it into Houdini and add the fire, lighting and... (more)

Here's some more shots of the Mandy model, add hands, feet, and adjustments to the face. Still got a ways to go... From Learning 3D From Learning 3D From Learning 3D From Learning 3D Head shots: From Learning 3D From Learning 3D From Learning 3D Ref image: From Learning 3D So... (more)

This is a quick set of notes/instructions explaining, for complete Houdini/ZBrush newbies (that would be me), how to move a model from ZBrush to Houdini, and to ensure that textures and normals make it along the way. This will include the creation of a very simple shader network ... (more)

The Death Droid (or Felix the Chicken, as my wife likes to call him) is now done, for now at least. Some shots: From Learning 3D From Learning 3D From Learning 3D From Learning 3D From Learning 3D From Learning 3D ... (more)

Our little droid now has arms, with rigging in place. From Learning 3D From Learning 3D Here's an example of the back curving forward. The Line SOP that drives this gets resampled into a number of points, which in turn get used to place the various spine elements and shoulder str... (more)

Got some work done on the robotic form I'm tentatively calling the "Death Droid". Yeah, that's original! From Learning 3D The model now has more rigging on it, based on an technique that I picked up from the Houdini TD series at 3D Buzz. The hips, knees, ankles, foot, and toes c... (more)

Woot! I finally broke down and bought my first 3D app (Houdini HD is next in line): ZBrush! Here's some first stabs at things: A 4 fingered quasi-alien hand: ZSphere phase: From Learning 3D Adaptive mesh: From Learning 3D After some modeling and subdivision: From Learning 3D Touch... (more)

I've been viewing a number of the Maya Advanced Modeling videos at 3D Buzz, and one the latest has been a model of a human female. Since I didn't have the actual profile shots that Zac was using, I decided to base it (roughly) off of the comic character Mandy by Dean Yeagle. You ... (more)

I had an image in mind for a sort of mysterious Terminator like robot. However instead of a humanoid face, it would be blank, expressionless. Built as a kind of assassin for the military until it went AWOL, it clothes itself in some sort of robe with a hood or cowl, hiding it's m... (more)

For now at least... This was fun to work on :) I'm not very happy with the materials that I have on it, however that's a whole new can of worms to deal with. This version shows use of sculpt nodes and several different subdivision SOPs that refine the initial subdivisions even mo... (more)

Working from a set of lessons at 3D Buzz, I was able to duplicate the spider geometry below using Houdini. The lessons themselves were done with Maya, so hopefully I didn't lose to much in guesstimating the equivalent tools to use in Houdini. It's not quite finished, but I was pl... (more)

Playing with some shaders, using Houdini's built in Lava, Ice, and Glow shaders: From Learning 3D From Learning 3D From Learning 3D ... (more)

This is a test of animating the camera along a path, and then animating the path itself. Also played with animating an L System tree by animating various properties based on the current frame value. ... (more)

1st video in Houdini! Not horribly exciting, just a test to see the animated channels put to use: ... (more)

Without further ado, I'm proud to present the initial model of CodeProject's Bob, moved into Houdini and ready for rigging! Hopefully after going through the rigging tutorials at 3D Buzz I'll be ready to set him up for animations! From Learning 3D In the meantime he's some screens... (more)