Gnomon Master Classes Full 16 Classes | 16GB (2xDVD9) | English

Due to popular demand, we have extended our online Master Classes event! Each 2-3 hour lecture focuses on a different element of the VFX & Games industries in a private forum where the instructors have shared a variety of insights and answers to previous attendee’s questions.

Homepage: http://www.gnomonschool.com/master/index.php

Gnomon Master Classes Full 16 Classes (2xDVD9)


Traditional Art Values Applied to Digital Art
Instructor: Craig Mullins
Course Outline:
The importance of a variety of workflows and how to develop them
Appreciating the differences between a sketch and finished image
The importance of a liberal education for design work
The hidden drawbacks of digital tools
The hidden drawbacks of academic knowledge and training
The many aspects and importance of contrast
Thinking about and defining good drawing
How to increase sensitivity in your work, when to be precise and when not
Why life drawing/painting is so important for effectively visualizing from the imagination

Digital Female Character Design and Creation
Instructor: Sze Jones
This workshop will cover artistic and technical techniques and approaches to making a digital female character. Emphasis will be on how to bring life, attitude and personality to the female creations. Detail topology planning and knowledge for production will be discussed for effective facial deformation and animation.
Personal work flow for fast turnaround time with Photoshop, 3ds Max, Softimage, Zbrush and BodyPaint 3D will be shared. Lectures include Mental Ray skin shader and hair setup for realistic and stylized characters using various techniques.

Drawing From Design
Instructor: Feng Zhu
We work in a production and profit-oriented industry. The designs we do everyday will eventually make their way down the pipeline and become a product of some kind. Thus, as concept designers, one of the biggest challenges we face is to deliver original ideas which are not only cool, but that will also generate revenue for our clients. Typical clients always want something new yet generic enough to put to market. It’s our job to balance this fine line.
For this master class, I’ll demonstrate a few methods I use when approaching new designs. The goal is to come up with some cool stuff which looks different, yet is familiar enough to sell.

Sculpting Comic Book Statues and Maquettes
Instructor: The Shiflett Brothers
In this lesson we will sculpt a comic book industry style statue from armature to fully roughed out sculpture. We will use and discuss techniques and tools that we employ everyday. We'll also delve into our influences both sculptural and two dimensional, and we will comment on the slight differences in the way each brother works, while keeping the artistic vision consistent.

CG Survival Kit
Instructor: Jeremy Cook
Working hard and working smart are not the same thing. This lecture is geared towards intermediate to beginner audiences. We'll cover how to make artists work more efficiently and make smarter decisions.

Learn to work smart in a small and generalist pipeline, with speed in mind and making decisions based on your final output and time allowed. Knowing when and where to cut corners is a vital skill as most people over-build, over-think and over-work. There's no such thing as cheating when you're up against a deadline.

General Topics
Conceptualizing, layout strategies and keeping your final output in mind
Planning your shot
Keeping your 3D models simple with low poly counts
Digital matte strategies
Rendering passes for compositing in Photoshop
Polishing your final image

Modeling Topics
Saving time by only modeling what's in view
Working holistically
Keeping your details to scale
Using junkyards
Organization planning

Texturing and lighting Topics
Starting simple and adding complexity as needed
Rendering in Passes: The Basic 3 (Gobal Illumination, Diffusion and Specularity)
Photoshop Topics
Using passes
Painting in the passes
Painting with images
Color balance
Photo effects

Environment Creation
Instructor: Martin Krol
Martin Krol will discuss the creation of a 3D environment utilizing Modo, Cinema 4D and ZBrush.
Outline:
Creating individual assets that will be used in the construction of your scene
How to UV a variety of objects
Tips and tricks for using Zbrush for rock creation as well as larger elements
Using Modo as an alternative to Cinema 4D
Assembling your scene in Cinema 4D
Organizational tips such as how to use the object manager, the material lists, the attribute editor and more
Using a stand alone or Cinema 4D's ivy generator to add that little bit of spice to a scene
Basic Bodypaint 3D and Projection Man techniques for filling in gaps
When to use displacement notes and when not
Rendering instances and their advantages
Sky generator, rendering and lighting notes, and when to use which GI mode
Methods for spreading items around a landscape using both out-of-the-box tools in Modo and Cinema 4D, as well as the Spread Scape plugin

Character and Creature Design
Instructor: Neville Page
Unique design can be an elusive target. The goal of this class is to explore new methods for designing creatures and characters. A variety of techniques will be shared that are based on strong foundational skills.

Design and Visual Communication of Vehicles
Instructor: Scott Robertson
Scott will explain his approach to designing a variety of vehicle types for video games. In addition to the design basics of creating an original and memorable "hero vehicle" he will share his visualization techniques which range from sketching with traditional media to the use of collage and custom brushes in Photoshop. Scott will then cover how both of these methods can be integrated back and forth throughout the process within 3D modeling programs.

Dark and Stormy Nightmares: The Art of Dreaming on Paper
Instructor: Iain McCaig
Every night, we sleep and dream amazing stories, populated with beautifully crafted characters, all perfectly modeled, animated, lit, and rendered, and speaking dialogue that could have been written by a pro. And every morning, we wake and convince ourselves that we don't have the skills to do this.
Join veteran storyteller and artist Iain McCaig as he shows you how to tap into your dream-mind while wide awake, enticing your nighttime storyteller to grab a pencil and dream on paper. All participants will leave with the bones of their own original story, and the tools they need to bring it to life. Previous drawing or storytelling skills are NOT required.

Environment Modeling for Production
Instructor: Reo Prendergast
In this class Reo Prendergast will walk you through his process for creating highly detailed organic and hard surface environment assets. Reo will explain his concept design and layout process, then show his process for creating clean, detailed meshes. Reo will also cover his sculpting process in Mudbox.

Workflow for the Animation Process
Instructor: Nick Whitmire
Outline:
Creating a shot — Blocking, gathering reference and assets
Animation Passes — Progressing through the different stages and passes
Building Facial — Tips and tricks for lip-synch animation
Motion Capture Workflow — Brief description of starting and editing a shot
Pipeline Progression — Visually describing how the animation workflow ties into production

The Digital Creature Creation Pipeline
Instructor: Alvaro Buendia
In this class Alvaro Buendia of Blizzard Entertainment will explain his personal pipeline for creating digital creatures. First covering the conceptualization process, Alvaro will then move on to anatomy and structure, then what works for the 3d world. He will then cover modeling and will show his understanding of how to interpret the original concept for the creation of a cg character, from proportion and structure to topology, and finally how to sculpt for production.

Overview of the Feature Film VFX Process
Instructor: Jeff Okun
From the job interview, to the script breakdown, the storyboards, the budgeting, the running amock on set, the politics, the editing room, the DI and the premier of the film, Jeff will share the dirty secrets that form a complete visual effects project.

Creature Development
Instructor: Alex Alvarez
Doing pre-production 3D creature development in collaboration with a designer is mostly about ideation and exploration. In this capacity it is also important to have a generalist's skill-set that includes modeling, texturing, shading, rigging, lighting, animation, integration, effects and most importantly, speed. For example, being able to rig, animate and render a creature animation in a day. Granted it will be rough, but it helps guide the design process.
Just as a sketch can still convey an idea without being fully rendered, a 3D artist can also use their toolsets to block-out a designer's 2D concepts in order to explore a design's form and function. In this workshop I will discuss this process and the diverse range of tools, in Maya, that I regularly use on such projects with an emphasis on shortcuts that speed up workflow.

Mastering ZBrush 3.5
Instructor: Ryan Kingslien
Harness the power of ZBrush 3.5 for character, environment and concept design production pipelines with Master ZBrush Artist Ryan Kingslien.

Music Video Post-Production
Instructor: Ergin Kuke
Ergin Kuke will discuss the methods, pipeline, budgeting and client expectation management of 3d/post production work in a small studio environment. Case studies on 3 music videos will be covered: Anjulie's "Boom" (MTV Music Award's Best Newcomer Artist Video), Regina Spektor's "Laughing with God" and Beyonce's "Sweet Dreams".

The music video industry is not the huge money maker it used to be. One of the reasons they still get done is as a creative outlet and a means to "make a name" for the studios and directors involved. It tends to be a more freely creative environment, especially when young musicians and bands are in play.

Budgets are tight, deadlines are very tight and managing the layers between production houses, directors, musicians, music labels and the post-production house is a risky business. How to actually get the job, what creative input does the post production company have, budgeting of time and money, managing client expectations, pipelines and delivery methods.

Ergin will go over 3 case studies and explain how a 3-5 man studio finished 6 music videos in 2 and a half months. Results are sometimes great and sometimes less than great. Successes and shortcomings will be analyzed in an attempt to share the experiences and what was learned from them.