Website

Homepage

I ended up making the links to each page as a bar along the top. I did this so I could hover over any of these links and the text would turn white over a black box, which I really like.

I have added icons for my Blog, Vimeo, YouTube, DeviantArt and Twitter, which are like the app icons on the iphone and ipad.

Portfolio Page

For this page I have used a piece of my artwork and fit it to the stripes. Underneath the image are the links to the different sections of my portfolio which I created in photoshop, I made these as hotspots.

Art Page

Photography Page

Film & Animation Page

Posters & Illustration Page

About Page

I have put some information about my education in the stripes using photoshop. I like this as the text is opposite to each stripe. If I wanted to add any more information about myself I could add a next button to get to a new page with the stripes with new text.

Contact Page

I have used photoshop to add my E-mail address on one of the stripes. I tried making a message box but I struggled in creating a script so the messages would be sent to my e-mail address.

Design for my website

I decided to combine the idea of stripes with the circle, I created this on Photoshop. I have used just black and white as I think its bold and simple.

Homepage

Rough plan

Web Design

Online portfolio design ideas.

These are some of my design ideas for my website. I liked the idea of stripes to create bold, stylish design and I also liked the idea of using circles instead of the usual boxes for a layout.

I was inspired by the design used for the titles of 'The Culture Show'.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cultureshow/archive.shtml

Mood Board

I have collected images from the internet and used some of my own to create this mood board on Photoshop. I've made this to inspire me when creating my website. I have used images of things I like such as films, music and art as well as fonts which I find interesting like 'Rude Tube' which is made up of cubes of different videos.

eXistenZ

Narrative: The film constantly switches between the game world and reality but we are never quite sure what is real. It is full of twists, at the end we find out that the whole story relating to eXistenZ is part of the game transCendenZ. The characters are absorbed into a world they accept, they believe is real that they can do what they want, but in doing so they begin the question reality.

Interactivity: The film is constantly making us think, we are taken into the concept from the very start of the film and we are the ones who are questioning what is real or not. The fact we are unsure what is real makes the us feel tense, we have no idea whether getting killed in the game world could easily be in reality. The film makes us question the world we live in, how do we know it's real? a very similar concept in 'The Matrix'.

Convergence: The convergence of reality and fantasy can be overwhelming and confusing. We have to think more about the film than being about the relax watching it.

My Animation

I managed to create a liquid metal character with eyes, nose and mouth. The eyes took me a while to make as I had to create two sphere shapes, get them the right size and place on the head. I also made two small pupils which were difficult to attach to the eyes.
I made my character smile and bounce by stretching certain parts using 'Vertex', I made my character squish as it hits the ground before it bounces again, which I really like.


Liquid Metal Character 1 from Chris Thorby on Vimeo.

I made my character roll in, which was quite difficult. I had to turn it slowly as I moved it forwards. I have made it bounce and squish as it hits the ground, showing its not a completely solid shape. This took me quite a few days to create. I had to get the timing right for the bounce, not making it too slow or too fast.


Liquid Metal Character 2 from Chris Thorby on Vimeo.

I have used 'Melt' to make my character become a puddle of liquid metal and I have made it re-form into the letter 'C'. I could only create the 'C' from the character itself so you can see the eyes and mouth distorted. I would like to have made it a smooth 'C' shape


Liquid Metal Character 3 from Chris Thorby on Vimeo.

I have attempted at making the 'C' more of a smoother shape and I've made it instantly form the 'C' as it comes from the puddle instead of becoming the character first. I like this one much better as you can't see any distorted facial features.

I was inspired by the T-1000 from Terminator 2: Judgement Day (Directed by James Cameron). I loved the way it can bend and morph, turning from a liquid to a solid shape.

3ds Max

I've had my first seminar using Autodesk 3ds Max and I have found it really hard to use. The program is so complex with so many features.

I followed a tutorial given to me in the seminar to create a blob character. I had a few problems, one problem I haven't been able to change is the shape of the inside of the mouth, it came out distorted - the back of the mouth is not straight and flat.

Morph Test on 3ds Max from Chris Thorby on Vimeo.

I have been trying to learn more about the program by watch tutorial videos on YouTube. I followed a tutorial about how to create a morph animation and tried to make a sphere stretch and bend to the letter 'C'. I got a liquid metal texture from the internet as I wanted to create something similar to the T-1000 in 'Terminator 2' (Directed by James Cameron). This took me all day to make and is only 3 seconds long, what I would like to do is make it so it forms into solid 'C', instead of looking like this stretched blob. This is my first animation on this program.


Morph Test 2 on 3ds Max from Chris Thorby on Vimeo.

This is my second morph test, I used the melt modifier to start off with so the 'C' forms from a puddle of liquid metal, which looks much more interesting. I have used text to create the letter 'C' and made it 3D with 'Bevel', I have animated it to make it spin. I tried to make my liquid metal morph into the text 'C' but it didn't work, I hope to learn how to do this. I would also like to create a metal character the 'C' can morph into or have the character morph into the 'C'. I made this animation last longer by adding more frames. I have used 500 frames for this, I used only 100 for my first morph test.

My liquid metal creature I created. I made it with one eye, but I don't really like it being black and white as it doesn't fit with the liquid metal look. I need it to be completely metal looking including the eye but I need to show a pupil.