Avatar Video

Now, I was unsure how to present my avatar. I didn't really wanna just plonk a picture of him down as my showcase already has 2 print based elements. So I decided to create a sort of mini music videoy thing.

I think it showcases my avatar quite well. It shows the detail I went into to make it look as realistic as possible.

I'd like to point out now that I detest 3Ds Max and as I'm not going to be doing virtual environments next year, I've probably not given as much time to this object as necessary. However, it has taken me weeks and weeks constant work to get to this point, so even though it looks fairly basic, it's actually taken a lot of man hours! haha.

The Audio Visual Object

Here it is! The first version of my audio/visual.

The video represents an ideal view of what New York could be like. The voice over helps to create an atmosphere of the heat, the fun, activities and the friendly citizens.

The song I've backed to the video is Alphabeat's Fascination as the song works really well with the theme as I'm trying to portray New York as being an incredible place to be.. or you could say, a fascinating place to be!

Showcase - Flash

Showcase by ~sammarshall20 on deviantART

Here's the Showcase as it stands at the moment. The buttons will become clickable once all the content has been assigned to them.

Audio maybe edited to sound a bit more New Yorky, but this is the idea at the moment.

Showcase - New York - Render

Here's the latest render of my showcase, as you can see I've added some signs, cars, lampposts and widened the street a bit.

Website Completed

Website by ~sammarshall20 on deviantART
Here's the final version of my website! It's fully complete however the videos and audio don't work through DeviantArt so you'll have to just imagine what it'll be like when i load it onto my own website.

5th Object Design

I decided to create a "visual CV" to show what I would be taking with me to New York, and to promote myself as a media supplier when I get there, as it were.

This is the first draft of the print based advertisement. I may also be taking more photos for different ad ideas and I may accompany it with a video ad as well.

This is finally becoming a reality!!!

This is what I've been aiming for ever since the beginning of the project. You can finally see my little avatar walking down the street. Watch the video and focus at the end of the street and you'll see him bobbing along.

I'm thinking of adding in some lampposts, cars and other people walking along... not sure yet tho!

My concept for the Identities project.

I’m using the New York City street as an idealistic world I would love to live in and my elements will reflect this in one way or another.


Each element will directly link to the idealistic dream and identity I’m trying to create.

Showcase – New York, where I’d love to live.

Avatar – Me, now.

Website – Shows a history of what I’ve done, taking experience with me.

Audio/Visual – Up-tempo music video, showing best bits of New York, creates an ideal image of what New York should be like, which may not be true in reality.

Logo – Speech bubble emphasises the friends and family I’ll be leaving behind.

Walking Avatar

Here he is! Me! Bobbing along, shuffling around his own little world.

Obviously, there's no camera movement or textures yet, they're to come!

Website and Final Ideas

Here's the initial idea I have for a website.

After deciding to choose the online environments pathway, I thought it would be a good idea to experiment with making a website on photoshop.

The website will feature a timeline in the portfolio section for all the work i've done, under the year's I did them and then include a preview of each piece and my thoughts about it.

Having done this first idea, I think i'll use it as my 5th and final identities object.

So here's my final list:

AV -40 Min D-GEM Radio Clip

Logo -Speach Bubble

Avatar - Myself, now

MY CHOICE - "Bolt" Soda Can

MY CHOICE - Profile Website

Car Render

This will be so useful if I choose to do the New York city scape as I will be able to import various versions of the car into the city scape to create a more realistic looking street. Here's a quick example.

D-GEM Radio Clip

Here's the first draft for the radio clip I'm creating as part of the identities module. This will construct the audio/visual aspect.

It's only 1 song long so far as I've just been playing around with it. Hope you like it!

D-GEM Radio came about in 2004 when I owned the station and created an online environment for users to listen to their favourite music, as well as requesting their own tracks. Unfortunately, the station was closed down as I had other commitments such as GCSE's and then A Levels.

I wanted to pick up the station and give it a new spin with this opportunity I couldn't miss! Each song reflects something in my life. The songs lyrics tell you something about me as I chose songs for their lyrics, not their fame value.

Press play below to listen.

Soda Can - 3DSMax

Here's the first render of my Soda Can.

I chose to do a Soda Can as I thought it would be cool to model an object in SMAX and to design my own drink. :D

I chose a blue background to represent water and the green, mixed with the stars shows a vivid and exciting side to the drink which would represent the fizzy bubbles inside.

Logo - The Final Idea

Here it is! The final idea for my logo.

I think this is the idea i'm going to go with! I really like it, its eye catching, simple and bold.

The blue represents a clean and solid approach to design. The speachbubble itself represents me, as I love to socialise and catch up with friends. I also know I'm quite a possitive person with a lot to say, so it fits well! The divisions inside the logo are the thoughts and interests that goes on inside, as well as representing all the aspects I talk about and ideas I express. Obviously, some ideas are bigger than others, and that shows here.

Logos, part 2!

Here's some more ideas I've been playing around with.

Logo

Here's the first version of my logo.

My design style is that I love simple but effective graphics, and I think this really captures that.

The colours are my favourite design colours, using the cream and browns in this way make them really work together. Plus, the darker brown around the edge of the logo adds a bit more depth.

The letters are my initials.

I used the stars begind my initials to show a bit more of my personality, a more fun and "superstar" style. The stars add more to the logo by lifting off the letters a bit to make it a bit more 3D and apealing.

Interactive Showcase

Here's a render of my city scape. As you can see, I've removed most of the reflective surfaces so they look more industrial now. Not only does this speed up the rendering time by about 4 times, I can also render it at a bigger file size, better quality and it's still an hour faster to compile. Also, the more "solid" feel to the buildings gives it a more realistic feel, at the end of the day, not all buildings are made of full glass are they?

Interactive Showcase - Hiccup!

Here is the video I produced of my New York city scape.

The quality is very low and it only lasts a couple of seconds, however it took over 2 hours to render.

Having rendered this small file, I'm having second thoughts about how exactly I will go about this project. I'm going to have to create a less dynamic city scape to be able to render the images quicker. This is quite anoying as I'm really proud of the work I've done.

I'll try and keep my original idea, that you're presented with the first image and then you click a window or something and then it zooms onto that window, however it's going to be quite difficult to reduce the quality.

Interactive Showcase

After attempting the tutorial to create the building, I then applied the same techniques to create my own New York street with the same textures, which I think i'll keep if this is the idea i'm sticking to.

I love the way the light shines through between the buildings, looks beautiful. Only issue is, it will take so long to render when creating it for flash!

3D S Max - Spider

Here's a spider I made on SMAX as a little project, it's kinda cute.