http://mdavid.cgsociety.org/gallery/ mdavid's gallery of images en-us 120 http://mdavid.cgsociety.org/gallery/632191

"No one in town expected to be visited by aliens. In fact, half of the residents didn't believe in them. Until one day, someone published an invitation on the internet."

This was my entry in the Uplift Universe challenge. I'm very grateful to a heap of people who offered ideas and suggestions. That feedback influenced this image a lot and as is usual around here, taught me a lot!

I drew the main environment on a sheet of A2 paper using an ancient technology called a pencil, and then scanned it into my computer. Then traced the linework onto a new layer. After that, everything, including all the humans and aliens, were drawn and coloured in Photoshop.

In order to keep the neatness of the linework I kept it on its own layer throughout the entire illustration. Please feel free to click on the image to see it in high-resolution - you'll see a whole lot more detail that way
]]> Fri, 16 May 2008 11:55:04 +0000 http://mdavid.cgsociety.org/gallery/576222

My entry in the Strange Behavior challenge.

The story is that people do strange things after too much time alone. This guy went through a hippy phase before some mysterious accident killed him. But the ghost of the astronaut continues to climb out of his cockpit each 'day' to suntan from the rays of a nearby star.

Modeling was done in Cinema and I used different layers in BodyPaint to build up the hippy paintwork and layers of grime. Different bits of the space craft were rendered separately and brought together later in Photoshop. Thanks to all the amazing people during the challenge who offered encouragement, ideas and crits.]]> Mon, 24 Dec 2007 00:20:03 +0000 http://mdavid.cgsociety.org/gallery/575750

Every year on December 26 a large fleet of racing yachts sails out of Sydney Heads in the start of the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. It's a really big deal and the race is considered one of the world's most significant annual yacht races. So each year my employer (The Australian newspaper) gets me to model one of the yachts for a giant double-broadsheet-spread information graphic.

It's great fun being able to spend a bit of time to visit the boat, take photos of it, and then to come back and build it inside my computer. I used Cinema 4d and rendered it using hdri plus a single light to simulate a bit of sunshine and shadows.

The yacht itself is an astonishing piece of design and construction. It's a Bruce Farr design (those New Zealanders sure know how to design boats). 100 feet long. Maximum speed: well who knows? But 35 knots (65 kph or 40 mph) is not unreasonable for a boat like this one. Yes folks that's enough to not only water-ski but you'd get a speeding ticket on Sydney's roads too. Hard to remember we're talking about sailing.

It took me 2 weeks to produce this image and it appeared in the 22-23 December 07 issue of The Weekend Australian.

I always appreciate your comments. Thanks for looking]]> Sat, 22 Dec 2007 00:50:37 +0000 http://mdavid.cgsociety.org/gallery/508397

Ever wonder how those stretch limos get around those tight corners? Well now you know!

This was a quick illustration made in Cinema 4D R9.5, using models I'd made for other illustrations. Lighting is hdri with an extra light thrown in to simulate a bit of sunlight.

As always, comments and crits are welcome]]> Mon, 18 Jun 2007 12:37:55 +0000 http://mdavid.cgsociety.org/gallery/503064

One of these drivers is going to have to reverse his limo all the way back down the mountain. Let's hope he has an understanding boss.

This image was pretty much all modeled and rendered in Cinema. There's a bit of ZBrush in the drivers' hair but you'd hardly be able to see that and I didn't put any real time into that either. Most of the time went into the rock wall, to get the kind of cartoony look I wanted.

Thanks for looking. You can see it in higher resolution by clicking on the image. As always, comments and crits are welcome]]> Sun, 03 Jun 2007 03:42:06 +0000 http://mdavid.cgsociety.org/gallery/490582

The ace pilot heads off to do heroic stuff...

The plane and its fearsome pilot were modeled and rendered in Cinema 4D. The main clouds and trail of exhaust smoke were painted in Photoshop. The lower clouds are an aerial photo I took ages ago, painted over in Photoshop to better match the look of the rest of the image.

Feel free to click on the image to view a higher-resolution version. As always, comments are welcome]]> Sat, 28 Apr 2007 09:02:47 +0000 http://mdavid.cgsociety.org/gallery/477846

Inspired by EON, a novel by Greg Bear

This was my entry in the EON challenge. Apologies to Greg Bear for taking this along a path about as far removed from his beautiful hard-sci-fi approach as possible.

I was trying to push my 3D work further and further towards my 2D cartoon style, hunting for a solution that combined the colour and whimsy of my drawings (mostly kids' book illustration) with the eye-catching depth and sparkle of 3D.

This scene was modeled in Cinema 4D and glued together in Photoshop. Thanks to all the folks who offered support and wonderful ideas along the way.

The competition's been judged now, and my congratulations go to the winners.

As always, any comments or crits are very welcome]]> Sat, 24 Mar 2007 00:40:19 +0000 http://mdavid.cgsociety.org/gallery/484138

I was wondering how big cruise ships will get because they just seem to be getting bigger and bigger. So it was time to fire up the computer to find out.

Here's a glimpse of the future - 70,000 passengers traveling in luxury, or 1 passenger traveling in crazy luxury. Fuel consumption is measured in oil fields per hour, until a cross-breeze blows it onto its side.

I used Cinema 4D, hdri lighting (with a couple of extra lights to add some highlights and shadows).]]> Tue, 10 Apr 2007 11:00:31 +0000 http://mdavid.cgsociety.org/gallery/459537

This image is a 3D version of one of the cars in my 2D illustrated children's book Crazy Cars. The book is in a cartoony 2D style and I wanted the 3D version to have a similar feel.

I orginally did this car without a background and put the image online but figured it really needed to be seen in the context of a cartoony environment.

This car might not be fast, but it sure has luxury. Three storeys of accommodation plus a pool make things comfortable for the owner. The power source is your average family dog. To get enough power to the wheels the dog's exercise wheel has to turn quite a few times before the axle makes even one revolution. But hey, why hurry?

The scene was modeled and rendered in Cinema 4D and came out of the renderer pretty much how you see it (no post-work needed). I used the Hair module to produce foliage. Lighting was hdri with a couple of lights to show up the dog better and provide some specular highlights and shadows. The cobbled road is a done with sub-poly displacement.

A high-resolution version is available by clicking on the image. As always, comments are welcome. Thanks for looking]]> Sun, 04 Feb 2007 03:56:26 +0000 http://mdavid.cgsociety.org/gallery/451400

This image was for a newspaper graphic, appearing in The Australian. The brief was to show the basic workings and structure of ABN AMRO One, a Volvo 70 racing yacht. My reference was a few photos and also a wonderful illustration drawn from a similar angle. I wish I knew who did that illustration so I could give full credit.

My brief was do the yacht in 3D, without the crew standing around. I would have loved more time to model this amazing yacht.

As for the graphic, it was published as part of the newspaper's coverage of the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. ABN AMRO One was doing really well in the race too - in fact it was leading the fleet, when it came off a wave and lost its mast. Such a shame, because the yacht had proven how tough it was by having already won the round the world race. Just goes to show you can never predict anything in sailing]]> Mon, 15 Jan 2007 05:59:11 +0000 http://mdavid.cgsociety.org/gallery/414182

This 3D car is loosely adapted from one of the illustrations in my cartoony 2D kids' book called Crazy Cars. This one is dog-powered. I admit it's slow - that exercise wheel has to turn quite a few times to rotate the main axle even once - but hey, have you seen the price of oil lately?

After I'd spent so much time doing 2D drawings I was keen to see how some would look if I added that extra dimension. Surprisingly the 3D, for all its visual appeal, made it more difficult to understand the workings of the machinery. That seems to be because when working in 2D I find myself 'cheating' with the perspective, linework and shadows and stuff in order to show exactly what I want. I only realised how much I'd done that when i tried converting some of them to 3D.

I used Cinema to model and render it. I lit it with hdri plus a couple of lights to pick up some detail and specularity.

Any sorts of comments are welcome. Thanks for looking]]> Sat, 07 Oct 2006 00:15:03 +0000 http://mdavid.cgsociety.org/gallery/364254

Here's my entry in The Journey Begins Challenge.

The story I decided on went pretty much like this: The lab rat and mouse are fleeing the laboratory and setting to sea in search of the mythical Rodent Island where mice and rats run free in the sunshine. It's a tough call to say whether or not they'll make it though. I mean, the ocean's pretty big out there.

The scene was created in three main sections (out-of-focus foreground leaves, foreground main elements and watery/seashore background). Software used was Cinema 4D. The fur was created in Cinema's Hair Module. Final comp work was done in Photoshop. The high res shows where a lot of my time and effort went so please feel free to check it out.

Comments are always welcomed and have played a big part in this work already. Many thanks to all concerned]]> Wed, 31 May 2006 01:35:30 +0000 http://mdavid.cgsociety.org/gallery/365841

Here's a detail from my Journey Begins image, showing the critters and the Cheddar Warrior. The fur was created using Cinema's Hair Module.

Click on the image to see it at full resolution (very big)]]> Sun, 04 Jun 2006 01:29:33 +0000 http://mdavid.cgsociety.org/gallery/335984

I modelled this boat for a large newspaper graphic. To research it I visited the yacht and took a lot of photos. One of the crew members kindly got himself winched up the mast to photograph the deck layout for me. The interior of the boat really is as bare and empty as the image shows, except of course they store some sails in there while they're racing.

Modeling was done in Cinema 4D]]> Sat, 25 Mar 2006 06:36:14 +0000 http://mdavid.cgsociety.org/gallery/335989

Here's the second yacht I modelled, for another newspaper graphic. Like the first yacht, I visited it and took lots of photos for modeling reference. I also got some basic plans for the deck, hull profile and rig, which saved me a heap of time. The actual yacht is amazing - 99 feet long and VERY fast.

Modeled and rendered in Cinema 4D]]> Sat, 25 Mar 2006 06:42:51 +0000 http://mdavid.cgsociety.org/gallery/374505

This was just a fun job, running with the idea of visualising the kind of place where some corporate policies come from. The scene was modelled and rendered in Cinema 4D. I used BodyPaint to map the windows onto the knotted building and the demo of X-Frog to make the trees]]> Mon, 26 Jun 2006 23:05:49 +0000 http://mdavid.cgsociety.org/gallery/362227

This was my entry in Renderosity's Cinema 4D Challenge: 'In the Court of the Frog King'. I was doing my 'Journey Begins' challenge here at the same time and so I was determined to take a break from realism.

So, that's the frog king running to the ball. Those little guys in the pram there are the frog prince and his friend who's staying over for the weekend]]> Fri, 26 May 2006 00:00:43 +0000 http://mdavid.cgsociety.org/gallery/368981

This is one of my fairly early Cinema 4D images. I did it for the fun of it. Well, okay, partly for the fun and partly because I wanted to have a go at a texture with a lot of stuff going on - bump, specularity, reflection maps, transparency maps and of course colour. Fish scales/fins were perfect for that.
I used BodyPaint to unwrap it and get a start on the texturing and then enhanced the maps in Photoshop.
The reeds were done using the Hair Dept plug-in]]> Mon, 12 Jun 2006 00:02:34 +0000