Digital Design:
In this age of 3D printing, laser cutters and roboticized manufacture, digital design is becoming an essential skill for any working sculptor. Since 2001, I have been using animation/3d modeling programs such as 3ds Max. I also am proficient with Photoshop, and have some experience with the Unreal/UDK game engine, audio and video editing programs, and some modest experience with scripting. All of my computer skills are self taught.
Projects shown here include virtual designs of physical sculptures, “Alien Moon” (see description below), a virtual rendering done for Utica College, and a number of portfolio pieces. There is also a gallery of hand-drawn sketches, which fits in best on this design-oriented page.
I can create the .stl digital files needed for 3D printed sculptures, should clients desire it.
In addition, I designed and built this website.
In this age of 3D printing, laser cutters and roboticized manufacture, digital design is becoming an essential skill for any working sculptor. Since 2001, I have been using animation/3d modeling programs such as 3ds Max. I also am proficient with Photoshop, and have some experience with the Unreal/UDK game engine, audio and video editing programs, and some modest experience with scripting. All of my computer skills are self taught.
Projects shown here include virtual designs of physical sculptures, “Alien Moon” (see description below), a virtual rendering done for Utica College, and a number of portfolio pieces. There is also a gallery of hand-drawn sketches, which fits in best on this design-oriented page.
I can create the .stl digital files needed for 3D printed sculptures, should clients desire it.
In addition, I designed and built this website.
Alien Moon:
“Alien Moon” began as a portfolio project in the UDK game engine which I intended to show to local video game companies. When those companies suffered layoffs early into my project, I shifted to creating products to sell on Turbosquid, the world's largest 3D marketplace.
By the time I was done, Alien Moon had expanded to include two short animated films, a distributable Unreal Tournament game mod, four products for sale on Turbosquid and hundreds of renderings. The project became a self-education in many aspects of animation and game design.
Turbosquid has a rigorous inspection process called “Check Plus Certification”, intended to inform customers whether products lives up to professional standards. I am pleased to say that my major product, the cinematic version of Alien Moon, received Check Plus Certification.
“Alien Moon” began as a portfolio project in the UDK game engine which I intended to show to local video game companies. When those companies suffered layoffs early into my project, I shifted to creating products to sell on Turbosquid, the world's largest 3D marketplace.
By the time I was done, Alien Moon had expanded to include two short animated films, a distributable Unreal Tournament game mod, four products for sale on Turbosquid and hundreds of renderings. The project became a self-education in many aspects of animation and game design.
Turbosquid has a rigorous inspection process called “Check Plus Certification”, intended to inform customers whether products lives up to professional standards. I am pleased to say that my major product, the cinematic version of Alien Moon, received Check Plus Certification.
Alien Moon, Cinematic Version
Done in 3ds Max, this is a stylized alien landscape that animators and illustrators can use as a background for their own content. The terrain uses a “composite material” that allows for fine detail without excessive memory use. In scale, the landscape is over 7.2 million square feet.
The textures are all original, and started as photos of cracks in roads, snowbanks, crumpled foil and so on. The sky uses Hubble photos of real galaxies and nebulae. Some animated content, such as fogs and a pulsing nebula, is included.
This project is for sale at Turbosquid. The sky and detail models are also available as separate products. The products can be found here:
The textures are all original, and started as photos of cracks in roads, snowbanks, crumpled foil and so on. The sky uses Hubble photos of real galaxies and nebulae. Some animated content, such as fogs and a pulsing nebula, is included.
This project is for sale at Turbosquid. The sky and detail models are also available as separate products. The products can be found here:
A 4 ½ minute animated flythrough demo of this world can be seen on YouTube. It is 1080p HD, but may run smoother for you at lower resolutions. Click the link below to view in a separate window:
Alien Moon, Game Version
The Unreal Development Kit (UDK) is one of the most popular game engines for independent game producers and students. UDK comes with sample content to help users learn the engine. I customized this content through scripting changes and produced a polished, standalone “game mod”, a variant of “Unreal Tournament”. The mod is a single player “bot match”, and includes custom weapons and vehicles, structures made from sample content, new menus, an opening narration, and in-game instructions.
Since this mod uses copyrighted content from Epic Games, Inc., I do not sell or distribute the game; it is a portfolio piece. However, a version with the Unreal content stripped out is for sale at Turbosquid with the permission of Epic Games. This version is a functional, ready-to-use environment that developers can add their own game content into. It can be found here:
Since this mod uses copyrighted content from Epic Games, Inc., I do not sell or distribute the game; it is a portfolio piece. However, a version with the Unreal content stripped out is for sale at Turbosquid with the permission of Epic Games. This version is a functional, ready-to-use environment that developers can add their own game content into. It can be found here:
I also did a demo video of the game; it started as 2 ½ hours of screen-captured game play that was edited down to 11 action-packed minutes. You may find it entertaining, and it shows off the various features of the landscape. The demo is on YouTube; click the link below.
Digital Design
This section show images of virtual designs done in 3ds Max that were used to build actual sculptures. Renderings of the digital designs are paired with photos, to show how the finished product compared to the computer design.
I only design sculptures digitally when they are complex enough to justify it. 3Ds Max lets me take virtual measurements that are accurate to 1/1000th of an inch. In some cases I print templates from the virtual design to use in making the models. These renderings also help my clients make design choices before the project is begun.
You will notice that many of these digital images are not “textured” - they do not have realistic detail, but texturing 3D models is a time-consuming step that isn't necessary if I'm mainly using the virtual models to generate dimensions for a sculpture.
Projects shown include several of my models for the NYS Bureau of Historic Sites and the arch from last year's Festival of the Dead.
I only design sculptures digitally when they are complex enough to justify it. 3Ds Max lets me take virtual measurements that are accurate to 1/1000th of an inch. In some cases I print templates from the virtual design to use in making the models. These renderings also help my clients make design choices before the project is begun.
You will notice that many of these digital images are not “textured” - they do not have realistic detail, but texturing 3D models is a time-consuming step that isn't necessary if I'm mainly using the virtual models to generate dimensions for a sculpture.
Projects shown include several of my models for the NYS Bureau of Historic Sites and the arch from last year's Festival of the Dead.
Other Digital Projects
Projects shown here are mainly from the early 2000s. They include:
- Pastel sketch of Sci-Fi Dancer, repainted in Photoshop
- “The Queen's Champion” - a low poly portfolio piece. Done in 3ds Max in 2003, with normal maps recently added
- Original, unused design for Festival of the Dead arch, 2014 – females rigged with Biped and skin morph modifiers
- TV studio concept and large-scale rendering for Audio Video Corp. /Utica College
- “Hravenkyrka” cathedral - view of custom game level for “Rune” (video game), Unreal engine.
- “Metalmoon” - view of custom game level for the original Unreal Tournament
- Untextured Revolutionary War soldiers for NYS Bureau of Historic Sites, work in progress
- Pastel sketch of Sci-Fi Dancer, repainted in Photoshop
- “The Queen's Champion” - a low poly portfolio piece. Done in 3ds Max in 2003, with normal maps recently added
- Original, unused design for Festival of the Dead arch, 2014 – females rigged with Biped and skin morph modifiers
- TV studio concept and large-scale rendering for Audio Video Corp. /Utica College
- “Hravenkyrka” cathedral - view of custom game level for “Rune” (video game), Unreal engine.
- “Metalmoon” - view of custom game level for the original Unreal Tournament
- Untextured Revolutionary War soldiers for NYS Bureau of Historic Sites, work in progress
Sketches
It's rare that I draw for the sake of drawing. I usually only draw to show concepts for sculptures to my clients. My sketching style is admittedly simple.
Nevertheless, for much of my early career, sketching and traditional drafting were all I had available to me for designing my sculptures and models. A sample of sketches for projects found elsewhere in this website are offered here.
The “Frankenstein” one was my initial concept for the Creature in the Festival of the Dead laboratory installations. “Nova Scintilla” was intended to be the followup to Screamin's “Cylena” - the company closed before I got the chance to sculpt that figure. Two of the shots here show photos of finished models superimposed over design sketches.
Nevertheless, for much of my early career, sketching and traditional drafting were all I had available to me for designing my sculptures and models. A sample of sketches for projects found elsewhere in this website are offered here.
The “Frankenstein” one was my initial concept for the Creature in the Festival of the Dead laboratory installations. “Nova Scintilla” was intended to be the followup to Screamin's “Cylena” - the company closed before I got the chance to sculpt that figure. Two of the shots here show photos of finished models superimposed over design sketches.
All Images In This Site © 2015 Jeff Brower. All Rights Reserved. No Reproduction Without Permission.