Sketchbook, Inc.

In 2008 I was approached by Coke to model and render out some Emeco Navy Chairs in several colors. It’s nice to see that this project became a reality! As you can see here Coke partnered with Emeco to develop a line of chairs that is made from recycled Coke bottles. Here are some photos from the launch: And below if one of my rough original renderings. I need to dig up the finals. Will post soon.

Had a moment to play around in Zbrush for an hour yesterday. Started from a sphere and made this demon head. I don’t know why I tend to make evil looking faces. Probably because I love scouring zbrush forums where all the character designers and modelers hangout. I don’t think there is a market for fluffy cute things. It’s monsters and demons that are all the rage

It’s bothers me that I can sculpt pretty well but can’t draw worth a crap.

Here are a few test  stills from an animation done for Euro RSCG for a Barclays iShares microsite. I think it’s been about a year since working on this project. That’s how behind I am on posting work! The site was comprised of 3 sections, each with a different 3d animation at it’s core.

The first section was a stack of cards, the second a bucket with water, and the third a dartboard & darts. Cards animated with c4d’s mograph module. Realflow and Vray also used heavily.

Here’s a fun little image that was modeled in Zbrush with Z-Spheres, and then painted with Bodypaint. it was intentionally modeled very low poly, with the hopes of smoothing in Unity 3d for an Iphone game. This was going to be something akin to a music machine. All animated with each part moving and producing music. In the end Unity could not smooth the mesh (doh!), nor can it use much of the rigging that I had built to animate this. So I now would like to go in and sculpt the crap out of this little sucker. Maybe convert it into something totally different…

Sketchbook is looking for some seasoned 3d artists who are highly skilled in Cinema 4d and Vray. Experience with Zbrush, AfterEffects, and Realflow is also a plus. Email joe at sketchbookinc dott com if you are interested.

Projects will start out as freelance offsite with the potential of turning into full time positions at the studio.

One of my goals last year was to learn Zbrush. It’s one of the few goals I accomplished! Unfortunately my projects don’t often need Zbrush. So I sneak it in when I am able. Still am fairly beginner at it. I’ve been pushing my clients to adopt Zbrush and displacement as a standard for a lot of 3d product creation, but it’s a slow sell. Only a matter of time. Here are a few images created recently of some Nike on body product. Note the insanely low poly base mesh which renders with displacement at render time like butter! Vray and Zbrush make a great team!

Another Columbia Sportswear animation done in Cinema 4d, and rendered in Vray. This was a modeling challenge. The sheer number of polygons on this boot is out of control.

Columbia Bugathermo Heated Boot from sketchbookinc on Vimeo.

See full Resolution Quicktime version here

Here’s an animation we did last year for Columbia Sportswear. Rendered in Cinema 4d using AR. Water simulation done in RealFlow.

Columbia Omni-Tech 3d Fabric Animation from sketchbookinc on Vimeo.

Here’s another illustration Jason and I we worked on for Columbia. Jason sketched some initial concepts and I helped realize the idea by building these mini 3d environments which show each tread type that is used on Columbia footwear. Renderings were done in c4d using AR3.

My office mate Jason just showed me this illustration we worked on last year for Columbia. They’ve started using it in their catalogs. Not online as of yet. Jason produced sketches at inception, and I modeled and rendered this crazy complex insole. Holes, grooves. Insane! Renderings created in c4d using AR3.

Above are 3 fabric technology illustrations done for Columbia Sportswear. Omni-Shade, Omni-Tech, and Blood-n-Gutts. Jason Laramie created some preliminary sketches for these and I built the rest in 3d. I later animated these 3 fabrics using realflow for the rain and the stain. These were rendered in c4d’s AR3, with GI, and then composited in Photoshop as well as Aftereffects.

Here’s a frame I developed for the opening of a Nike soccer animation we have been working on. I like the way it turned out. More later on this animation.

We recently modeled a high rez Nike Shox shoe for a Nike spot that was created by Ryan Rothermel (Decoy) and Spilled Karma. Linus Jodwalis textured and animated the shoe in Maya. Great work to all!

Nike Mobius Portal from sketchbookinc on Vimeo.

Here’s a rendering of some nike packaging just finished for Big Giant. These boxes are crazy high rez. Built them from scratch with thickness, etc. Renders done in Vray.

This project is still being tweaked – but here are some small renders of the progress.

Update:

Busy Busy Busy!

Several new projects.

A couple retail renderings for Big Giant. Almost done with the 2008 chicago marathon space that they built out last year. They didn’t come away with good photos, so I will be rendering the space in 3d. Also need to work on a smaller rendering for BG. This is the second largest retail space I believe I have ever worked on, aside from the Nike Factory store. The amount of product in this scene is pushing my computers to their limits. Vray Proxy objects being used at will!

My goal is to use a lot of this product (which was ported over from c4d renderer), and I will be going back and re-rendering a lot of my old work in Vray.

Also working on a 3d illustration for BSSP in SF. 

On the back burner are a few Nike projects as well, that I probably won’t get to till the end of the month. 

Lastly some wine bottles for Dot Zero.

Will post some images as soon as I have them done.

Final illustrations for Columbia.

Little late, but what the heck.

1. Brand Sketchbook. (have hired an external entity for this, as I am my own worst client)
2. Create a website (flash and html)
3. Design out this blog. Depends on how functional the site ends up.
4. Seek out design focused projects first
5. Learn Zbrush
6. Re-learn actionscript and object oriented coding
7. Start painting again
8. Rig a character in 3d. If you have a character you want rigged – speak up
9. Get significantly better in after effects
10. Ride my bike to work at least once a week (30 miles round way)
11. Sell my motorcycle before I kill myself. Downgrade to 50cc scooter.
12. Exercise an hour a week at minimum

Second set of illustrations for Columbia commissioned through BSSP. These are the sketches which were signed off on. Finals on this are just about done. Possibly getting approval tomorrow.