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Gnomon Workshop Releases Character DVDs

The Gnomon Workshop announced two DVDs by character modeler Ian Joyner. In more than 11 hours of lecture, he shares his myriad techniques for creating compelling life-like characters. Using 3ds Max, BodyPaint, Photoshop and ZBrush, he discusses his workflow for modeling, detailing, texturing and posing a male character outfitted with clothing and props. While Max plays a key role in the development of the character, virtually all the methods utilized apply to any leading 3D application such as Maya or XSI.

"To be a great character modeler I think an artist needs to have a great eye for detail, form and a solid grasp of all the technical aspects of creating CG characters," stated Tim Miller, creative director at Blur Studios. "Ian really takes to heart the idea that what he's creating will become something alive and that the first step of that CG process begins with the character modeler. Few artists have the acuity of perception to add those little details that give characters character; that touch of asymmetry in the face....those old scars that suggest a life lived...that glimmer of wetness on the eyes that say living creature, but Ian manages to do that every time.

"Ian has been a trailblazer here at Blur from the moment he arrived, testing out new techniques and tools, eager to fill his bag o' tricks up as quickly as possible. Here at Blur it's not only important to create great looking characters, but to do them quickly and efficiently and Ian pioneered many of the techniques we use that improve both the quality and the efficiency of every character we create here at Blur."

Joyner has been a character modeler at Blur Studios for more than two years. In that time, he has worked on everything from feature films, ride films and critically acclaimed videogame cinematics. Before coming to Blur, he freelanced for various companies. He has also worked as a beta tester for a variety of high profile software packages, including ZBrush and Clay3D. Recently, he helped Softimage Special Projects launch the Face Robot software. In his free time, he entered and won one of the original CGNetworks Challenges. His work can be seen in many game titles, including X-MEN LEGENDS 2, BROTHERS IN ARMS, INCREDIBLE HULK: ULTIMATE DESTRUCTION, WARHAMMER AGE OF RECKONING and RISE OF LEGENDS.

DVD Descriptions:

* CHARACTER MODELING FOR PRODUCTIONCHARACTER MODELING TECHNIQUES WITH IAN JOYNER

In this DVD, Joyner shows you the tools and techniques he uses to quickly create a full character model in 3ds Max, leading you through the basic character production pipeline used at Blur Studio. He takes you through the process of building clean geometry using Max's built-in toolset as well as using the PolyBoost plug-in. He shows how to easily enhance objects with ZBrush, and how to quickly find the form and detail of your character. From there he demonstrates how to bring the geometry back into Max to make it animation friendly by retopologizing. After the model is finished, Ian covers how to set up hair using Hair FX as well as how to set up lights, cameras and a simple rig using Biped to pose and render the character. Finally, using Adobe Photoshop, he discusses how to present the character in a professional manner. This DVD is intended for artists with a basic under- standing of polygon modeling in Max, but is useful to anyone regardless of skill level or software. In this DVD he uses: Max, PolyBoost, ZBrush, BodyPaint and Photoshop.

* CHARACTER TEXTURING FOR PRODUCTIONMATERIALS AND TEXTURING TECHNIQUES WITH IAN JOYNER

In this DVD, Joyner textures and completes the game cinematic character he modeled in CHARACTER MODELING FOR PRODUCTION. In this lecture, he shows different techniques to UV map objects of various complexities quickly and efficiently using 3ds Max's UV tools and DeepUV. He covers both hand-painted and image-based methods to create textures for the character. From there he uses various ZBrush plug-ins to both block-in and finalize textures and he uses BodyPaint to fix seams and to begin new textures. He demonstrates a variety of other techniques incorporated in the Max>ZBrush>BodyPaint pipeline and shows you how to enhance the hair created in his first DVD, and take it to a more finalized level. Finally, he shows how you can reuse your rigs from character to character using Biped, and how to use Adobe Photoshop to add an extra level of professionalism to your final models before submitting them to a client. In this DVD he uses: Max, DeepUV, PolyBoost, ZBrush, ZappLink, Zmapper, BodyPaint and Photoshop.

Since 2000, The Gnomon Workshop (www.thegnomonworkshop.com) has provided artists and students with the educational resources they need to succeed as artists in the entertainment industries. Whether they're interested in design, modeling, effects, animation, storytelling or matte painting, these DVDs provide a valuable educational resource for students around the world. The Gnomon Workshop is the sister company of The Gnomon School of Visual Effects, which provides professional caliber visual effects instruction to students and professionals in Los Angeles.

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Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.