Thoughts and Work of Late
Lately, I have been getting to know Cinema 4D. And I think that I am finally starting to make some progress with it. The other day I decided to model a DNA strand. This is actually a pretty simple modeling design. To do it, I used a cloner on a slightly flattened cylinder and then used larger flattened cylinders on either side, like a ladder. The whole thing was placed under a null named DNA and then I applied the twist modifier to it.
From there, I’ve been poking around learning to render out of the program. I’m familiar with the idea of rendering in passes from my previous work with both 3DsMax and also Maya. I’m still getting the hang of the new system of doing things, but I think I’m going to like working with this program in the long run.
So here is the DNA I made yesterday.
And then today, I started animating the models, and playing with some moving particles in the background, so hopefully soon I’ll have an animated piece to share from this!
It’s funny. I had the pleasure of attending the Austin City Limits taping of Radiohead last night (and I swear I’m going somewhere with this and not just saying that to brag). As I watched them play, I couldn’t get over how well rounded of musicians they were. Back when I first started listening to them, I’d thought that they wouldn’t be a very good show live because I thought that most of what they did happened in a computer. They are so technically proficient, and they use such a variety of instruments, they couldn’t possibly actually play all of those instruments live on stage, could they? Oh yeah, they can and do. And while I’m watching this, I’m thinking about the level that some artists hit where tools/instruments… they are just exactly that. We spend so much time trying to learn to use these tools, to master them. But for everything that comes with that, it’s what we want to do with that expertise that really matters. I want to be the kind of artist who can use a multitude of tools. I want to be the kind of artist who can pick up a new tool for the purposes of particular piece. I want to reach that.
One of the things that has been so nice about working at Sapling Learning, is the sheer variety of what I get to do from one day to the next. And as frustrating as it can be, having to switch tools when you know something else better, I love that feeling that comes when you start to get a handle on a variety of tools. The focus, it shifts back onto your message again, where it was back before you knew how to do anything, only now you can get it out.
Anyway, I’m not quite there yet. But I’m working on it. Getting to work with a variety of subject matters really suits me too. For all the times I’ve been told that this trait makes me unmarketable as an artist, I’m finding that it does serve me well in other respects. Get ready, I may be on the verge of breaking out the paints here in Austin soon!