Exterior ref shots (maybe)

Bored at work, so trying to look up interior design references for the Psyc ward game. There's a band, or was one, named psyc ward.
I didn't have any luck on interior, but these are from a hospital built somewhere out in the boonies. The shots are acutally the worker's 'homes' built a quarter mile away from the hospital, as there wasn't enough housing in the surrounding area for the workers. one of the buildings caught on fire at one point, which I felt was a possible neat touch for the game, depending on where the story goes.
I have forgotten what the time period of the game is, but these 50's-60's block homes could fit many periods, depending on the level of decrepid-ness.
Kyle mentioned a city, but maybe this could be a hike or a load screen/bus ride away. I guess sand box and load screens don't really go together. Blah.

Skinny sink

This is the sink with the first, in-maya pass at the skin. I need to work the UV map a bit more to get the details to work, but this is a good start to work from in photoshop for the real skin, then bump map...
They won't all be bloody, but that's just a matter of swapping skins I believe.
I'm assuming that I'll be able to use this in Photoshop, we'll see...

Some work, and Some news

I hopped into the ole saddle and mozied on down the tutorial path some more today; working on skeletoning. They had some stuff I'd seen before and some I had not. The next chapter is on attaching the skin, which has always seemed like a dark art portion to me, but after seeing some to the graphics looks fairly simple. We'll see.

On another front, I was poking around Blizzard's help wanted page today, and found something to warm my heart. In addition to having great 'What to have in your reel/resume/coverletter' stuff, they describe the depts and jobs within. And in that description is a preference for generalists who can help out on various parts of a given pipeline. Instead of excelling at one part so they can stick you in one spot on an assembly line, they want you to be able to jump around and help on story and tech and lighting and rigging and modeling and concept and maybe even quality assurance :)

This thrills me, as I am drawn to learning all sides of a creative effort, not just excelling at one. The stuff I'd been reading about the movie industry suggested that a niche specialist was what was wanted, and that made me a little sad.
The little catch being I haven't played WOW and it or making mods for it are mentioned on most of their "preffered" sections... right now I really cannot afford it, either, in time or money. But it's not like I'm going to be job hunting this next year...
We'll see if I can get better at being a 'functional addict' with the gaming, using a timer to limit my binges and keeping up the rest of my life before I try the Wow crack.

Starting with the kitchen sink...

After an hour's trouble with getting Maya to work in the lab (I needed to delete and have maya remake my default projects folder and the Library stuff) I made a little sink. 160 some tris, 20 min of work, no reference photos, no skin yet... but it's an ice breaker away from the summer time goof off haze that has gripped me. Now if I can just go to the lab instead of napping/gaming all afternoon every day...

Creepy Med ward ref pics

These are reference photos from the internet of hospital settings and creepyness. This last one is for a possible visual effect of a drug the hero is forced to take that makes everything look cel shaded or cartooney and bright.

Psyc Ward Game

I forgot what the exact working title of the game is, but it is a 3d puzzle/adventure/shoot down the bastards who killed your family and erased your memory as soon as you find them game.

Kyle Umbenhower has been heading the project in his 'copious' spare time for a little over a year now. For one-man or volunteer work they're come along the road a fair bit, and 4 publishers have expressed interest in a demo run/reel thing.

Kyle's letting me come play.

My first projects are:

• Model props for some of the Psyc ward rooms (then figure out how to import them...) meaning sinks computers phones office stuff. Very low poly.
• Concept sketch out then model props and furniture for the Med ward section
• Dive into the AI they've scraped together from the Internet and figure out how it ticks.
• Change the AI so it can be either 'NPC' or 'Nice guy in lab coat yelling at you and firing an AK until you get back into your room.'
• Bug Kyle to set out a clear concept for the demo, then list out what needs to be done to get it off the ground, then get 'er DONE; thus increasing the chances of funding for the project and maybe me.

Vague goals list for summer

My to do list for this summer will be vague enough to enjoy some time off before knuckling down full time on Grad level classes next term.
By end of this month, finish the tutorial book.
By end of summer (september), finish pre-work on Puppy.

On the side I'll be working with Kyle and others on the Sanitorium game. I don't know how much or when, but I'll add hours to the schedule for it.

Oh yeah, schedule.
Not counting my during-help-desk work sessions, I plan to Art lab from 2-5 pm two days a week, and game lab the other two days, and friday off for Crysis, or finally finishing Gears of war.
If I hold myself to that, I'll expand the hours, or get another paying job (that'd be nice, money wise) or something.

Non work or project summer stuff: read books I haven't read before. Journal. Hike. Explore on foot or bike. Find new house or new roommate for old house before the Middle of July. (anyone looking for a room? $350/month including bills, w/d, house with back deck and pond, secure wireless, gamer friendly etc...)