The 2003 Blanks series continues with "Yellow". The pavers and reflections came out really nice in this render. I ended up using one of my Vegas photos for the environment map, it really seemed to fit the theme.

A continuation of the 2003 Blanks with "Blue". Two more to go, I wonder what I'll call them.

Time for something a little different. I'm starting a series of Minimate images titled "2003 Blanks". The name comes from the common description of the first batch of two-inch promotional Minimates released in 2003. Coming in four different colors, these were no-frills Minimates without printing apart from the occasional copyright line.

Here's the first image, titled "Green". (Click img for larger version.)

To date, DST has made four different versions of the MAX Stealth Jet. What's one more?



Here's a little video of it in action. It only looks slow in the video, I had to slow the video down so you could recognize the jet. If I showed you at full speed, all you'd see is a gray blur. It's proven that the shark head nose art increases speed (and awesomeness) by three orders of magnitude.



I'd love to see this as an actual, produced version. They could include several more stickers with all sorts of iconic nose art.

Time for another Minimate video. Like all the others, when the idea for this popped into my head I figured it wouldn't take too long. And like all the others, I was wrong.



When I started it was an excerise in deforming a model with shape keys. I just wanted to see what it could do. How it got from "Can I hinge the torso?" to the final video, I'll never know.

I had to recreate all the Spider-Man image maps because they didn't have a high enough resolution for the closeups. Now they're all up to 4096x4096. The table texture took some work as well. It's the most realistic wood texture I've made.



I love that keyboard and surprisingly it wasn't difficult to model. Once you create one key the rest are either simple duplicates or duplicates with a bit of stretching. The front row did need some rework, but it was quick. Look for this model to reappear in later projects.



The pen is what ate up most of the time. The modeling was simple, but the rendering and material tweaking just about broke me. I had a problem where I couldn't get the transparency clear enough, yet still visible. After a long back-and-forth series of tweaking and test rendering I discovered the problem wasn't the transparency but the reflections. I gave it a slight mirror finish to catch reflections of the desk and Minimate. Foolishly, I also applied it to the interior surface of the tube. All of the inner-reflections clouded the tube and caused much frustration. It also added to large render times.



Please don't go cutting open your Minimates looking for the eyeballs. I still hear the screams.

Another series of images I found while cleaning out my hard drive. I think I've been watching too many movies about fighter pilots. The dual color version at the top is the best but they all could be useful in one way or another. I have no idea what I'll use them for though.

Posted this on Twitter a while ago and recently realized it never made it here. Doom seems to be a Donkey Kong kind of guy. Although I'd imagine his personal arcade would have a few more machines.

Another day, another Minimate turnaround. This is the MAX Pilot from the Stealth Jet Animation that I posted previously.



I never was real happy with his hair so I didn't include it here. This model was completed before the World War Hulk project where I got much better at creating Minimate hair (see Dr. Strange, Mr. Fantastic.). If I use this pilot again I'll give him a much better 'do'.

The Minimate Multiverse Cover Contest made its return this year and I decided to take a stab at it and create a 3D entry using Blender. After some difficulty deciding on which cover to replicate, I settled on World War Hulk #4. It had five new Minimates that I hadn't yet converted to 3D models along with a few opportunites for special effects. This is a fairly image heavy post that shows each step that I took to recreate the cover.
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