Enviroment Reel 2013

     Here is my Reel that I made at the Visual College of Art and Design (VCAD), if you've seen the previous posts regarding the Reel, then you should know what it's about. But here's a refresher;

     The first scene is some sort of warehouse that currently houses a Militia or rag-tag group of individuals who have stockpiled many surplus and sporting firearms.

     The second scene is a militaristic bunker run by some mercenary or privateer group. Since they are better funded, they can afford better gear.


     I'm still planning on fixing up both scenes and continue working on another scene that's more "verdant"...



Here on Vimeo

 http://vimeo.com/70193244

Here on YouTube too

http://youtu.be/GIdykIOUMEQ

Cheers

Mike

Taurus Judge

Taurus Judge: .45 Colt and .410 Bore,

    I think I first saw the Judge on YouTube, Hickok45, one of my favourite shooters, was playing around with one and I just thought that this revolver was the coolest. A revolver that can use a .45 Colt Cartridge, which is like a .45 ACP but with a longer casing, and a .410 Bore shotshell (proper name for the shell as opposed to 'gauge'), which comes in quite a few different loads such as buckshot, birdshot, slugs, and... other things that'll fit in the hull...

   In the US, there's a wee thing citizens can get called a carry license, Canadians can get one too only if they have a valid reason and there is no way they can have an officer protect them. Valid reasons may include a Ninja T-Rex with Predator's gear hunting you down, then and ONLY then could Canadians carry for self protection. Anyway, the reason why I brought up the whole carry thing is because of a small debate of whether or not the Judge would make a good carry gun.
    Because of the short barrel, the spread of birdshot and buckshot would be big, and loading slugs would essentially be the same as loading .45 Colt. So why wouldn't you just carry a semi-automatic that'll hold more rounds? Granted, the Judge has shallower rifling in the barrel that helps reduce the dispersion of the shot, but then that alters the performance of bullets or slugs, and Taurus does make the Judge with a 6 1/2" barrel. Most people carry pistols because they can't carry a rifle for self protection, so the premise of having a "shotgun" in their holster would lead some to believing in using that. Thankfully, various ammunition manufacturers have started making 'self-defence' loads in .410, for example; the Winchester PDx1 which holds a mix of buckshot and several 'disks'. The disks are most likely an attempt to simulate the expansion of a hollowpoint bullet.
   Taurus then released the 'Public Defender' model which has a smaller frame. On the other end of the spectrum though, is the Taurus Raging Judge... Now that's a beauty... This Judge comes with a frame from a Raging Bull, meaning longer barrel, bigger grip, and a ported barrel.

   You may notice that there are two different coloured Judges up there. Yep, the ones on the right are the run-of-the-mill stainless revolver. But the ones on the left is the special edition "El Juez" version. This one comes with gold plated hammer, trigger, and cylinder release. Only 1000 were made, so needless to say... they're sold out... The reason why it's called "El Juez" meaning "The Judge" in Spanish, is because Taurus originally started in Brazil.

    Never modelled a revolver before, while wanting to keep the prop low-poly, I still had to have the important parts of the firearm look weird or cube-y... The cylinder took the longest time to figure out but after that everything fell together.

 

Ambient Occlusion Tests 'n Stuff

    Playing around with Ambient occlusion in Maya, then used After Effects to put it all together. A Mauser C96 rotating with some 7.63x25mm cartridges and stripper clips.

I'm working on my FINAL DEMO REEL thing, so I am wee bit busy.

Playing Around with particles

    Here's a good ole Ingram M10 firing a .45ACP at a steel target. Not much more to say about it frankly. I was just doing some particle stuff in attempt to simulate a frangible bullet.

CZ 858

Canada's answer for the AK

   In Canada, any AK variant is classified as a Prohib firearm, meaning that unless you have the right licence there is no legal way to own an AK-47 looking rifle while living in Canada. Although there are semi-automatic AK variants out there, they are still prohibited because of their history, that's like banning all pit-bulls because a few eat children... So the good ole country Czechoslovakia, sent in some surplus parts to make a semi-automatic SA vz 58's. Us here in Canada ate it up, so much to the extent that Canada had started making a "Canadian" model of the rifle: real wood stock with a maple leaf engravings... The CZ 858 (and the vz 58) have no internal relations to the AK, the only similarities to the original rifle is the basic shape, reloading method, and caliber.

   It's a fun rifle to shoot, only problem is the recoil. I don't mean the recoil is bad though, it just that the iron sights seem to be a bit low, if you get the rifle with a wire stock or a scope mount, then there'd be less of a chance of being tapped in the jaw by the wooden stock. Also there had been many surplus rounds of 7.62x39mm that would corrode the metal if you didn't properly clean the rifle. Something about chemicals in the primer affecting the type of metal that the knockoff AK's and SKS's were made of.

   Making the CZ was ultimately fun up until I reached the area that covered the gas piston, and the front sight. I had to figure out how to model these parts with a low poly count and still make it look up to snuff. I can't complain with the results in the end.