31 Days of 'Bots for #BOTOBER

[SteveTalkowski]

Hello everyone!

I've been evaluating Keyshot for 2 weeks now and am using it in conjunction with Maya and ZBrush to create a robot a day for the month of Botober.  Below are the first 9 days of output.  You can follow along with my progress via http://www.instagram.com/stevetalkowski

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and opinions,

-Steve

--

Steve Talkowski
Design. Create. Animate.
http://sketchbot.tv
@stevetalkowski

[Chad Holton]

These are really good! A few may need to res-up a bit more though. Are you going to render out the Pumpkin Giant with KeyShot as well?

[SteveTalkowski]

Thanks Chad!

By res-up, are you referring to subdividing the geo?  I've noticed that, yes.  I'm box-modeling these quickly in Maya, then hitting the 3-key "smooth preview" before saving.  I then import into Keyshot with tesselation set to 1.  There are a few instances where I know i'm going to have faceting, so I'll apply a smooth level 2 or 3 before saving.  Any additional tips/tricks for Maya importing?

Regarding the Pumpkin Giant - I tested out the GoZ plugin and was able to import all of my hi-res polypaint textures and highest subdivision subtools over to Keyshot flawlessly.  Here are a few test renders of that:

[Chad Holton]

Thanks Chad!

By res-up, are you referring to subdividing the geo?  I've noticed that, yes.  I'm box-modeling these quickly in Maya, then hitting the 3-key "smooth preview" before saving.  I then import into Keyshot with tesselation set to 1.  There are a few instances where I know i'm going to have faceting, so I'll apply a smooth level 2 or 3 before saving.  Any additional tips/tricks for Maya importing?

Regarding the Pumpkin Giant - I tested out the GoZ plugin and was able to import all of my hi-res polypaint textures and highest subdivision subtools over to Keyshot flawlessly.  Here are a few test renders of that:

The subdivisions look fine to me - it's the amount of time rendering that I mean. Not sure if you're doing screenshots or advanced style. If doing screenshots, I would let it bake it little longer.
Pumpkin Giant is looking good too. 
How long are these robots taking to model on average?

[SteveTalkowski]

Oh! Render time - yeah, most of these were screenshots, but I hear what you're talking about.  A few (especially the arctic dog #7) are a bit grainy.  For #5, I used render passes.

I'm trying to keep model time down to 2 hours tops.  Just simple box modeling, then spend another hour fooling around in Keyshot.  The hardest part is deciding on the final color palette for these.  It's too easy to get lost with trying out a multitude of materials!  I find that - for this project - if I settle on a background color first, it will dictate how I color up the figure.  I'm also treating these as quick concept sketches because of the fact I've committed to doing one a day.

-Steve

[RocketNut]

Mr Pumpkin head look's like my boss.

[Chad Holton]

I know what you mean about getting caught up with the colors... Not wanting you to go mad but try some of the rusty paint, galvanized or zinc out. With rusty paint and galvanized, you can DND new colors on (be sure color blend is on under diffuse) using the colors from the color library.

[PhilippeV8]

I love the bolt !


... no seriously, these bots are nice !

[Josh3D]

SO Fun!! Love it Steve!!

Josh

[Chad Holton]

Been checking out your website - great stuff!! Always loved the TruGreen "Magic commercial 
I was always curious how the dandelion afro was done.

[TpwUK]

What an amazing portfolio Steve - My fav bot of the month is Octobot so far, but need to see em all at some stage if you get the chance.
Pure curiosity begs the question of what do you think of KeyShot as an animators tool and how easily do you find it slipping into your workflow?

Martin

[SteveTalkowski]

Thanks everyone!

Chad: The dandelion was a PITA - I went the full geo route, which gave me a better end result render-wise, but was extremely heavy to animate and render.
TpwUK: I haven't tried any animation yet.  I'm wondering if I'll be able to export Maya animation out via FBX and have it work that way.

[SteveTalkowski]

"Search Party on Patrol!"

EDIT: I uploaded the version that went through a specific Instagram filter.  I prefer this version.

[thomasteger]

Awesome work! So much fun!

[PhilippeV8]

They should audition for Pixar