Fly, baby, fly!

Here we go. Graduated school. Parties, booze, and lack of sleep for about a week to celebrate, and then...

Finally get to work on things I decide I want to work on! What an amazing feeling, one I hadn't realized I didn't feel for a helluva long time. But enough rumination.

The fly modeling and texturing and shading for the practicum short "No One" is finished! Of course, creating an organic swarm of these buggers will be another challenge, but there's no doubt that the effect will be done (and done well). It's just a matter of continual finessing and massaging until it really sings.

The foolish observer may ask, "But Radek, why model so much detail in a fly that will not only be briefly visible in the film, but will most likely be either a) out of focus, or b) blurred beyond recognition due to the erratic flying?"

To that I answer: Yep. There's no GREAT reason for making the fly as detailed as I did; I could probably have gotten away with much less. Here are the reasons in defense of my tainted judgment:

1.) I love doing it! It's fun, and I I find that once it starts looking good I can't stop work on it. I just have to keep laying in the fine brush strokes. I can't turn it off even if I tried. Walking down the street from the gym I couldn't help but think about how I should add small hairline fractures and imperfections on the wings, how the head needs some nasty fly hair just like the thorax and abdomen, how the crystalline chitin of the wings seemed to scatter light in a pattern that created small blooms of orange and yellow coloration when the light hit it at just the right angle, and how I could create this effect with a custom shader... (all of which I immediately implemented upon returning home). I should note that these details are the result of a lot of due diligence and collecting of both internet and self-filmed (yes, I went out with my camera and filmed real flies... I'm not a loser, really, I totally have a girlfriend...) reference material... it is impossible to call into mind such subtle nuances. Besides, maybe subconsciously, these details DO register when a person watches a CG object onscreen, making it more realistic. Who knows.

2.) It'll look better on my modeling reel.

3.) I could probably stick it on TurboSquid and sell it to make a few bucks more than if it was a low resolution fly.

Okay, enough foreplay. Here're the shots. Email me or post comments if you need to vent. Profanity is welcome and encouraged.