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3ds Max beta Tshirt

I help “drive” 3ds Max

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A cool tshirt from the 3ds Max development team : )

I love my job, making 3d “Stuff” all the time. I use 3ds Max for more hours every day than I care to admit.

I have been part of the 3ds max beta programme for 4 years. Last year I was very lucky to be a part of the 3ds Max “Charter” group and to get in touch with the developers and some of the best 3ds Max users around the globe. It has been great!

[image title=”3ds Max beta Tshirt” width=”544″ height=”816″ align=”center” lightbox=”true” icon=”zoom”] http://thelode.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/2016-05-17_Micael_Wentworth-Bell_3ds_Max-1.jpg [/image]

 

Michael Wentworth-Bell Wedding

Site Update – My Wedding and Honeymoon!

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My site has not been updated in some time – my Portfolio in particular. This is because I have recently gotten Married and have spent some time away on a honeymoon adventure with my Wife. We visited Paris and Morocco – 2 extremely different experiences and had the time of our lives!

Here are some photos from our Wedding and Honeymoon Adventure:

 

[image title=”My Wedding” width=”544″ height=”544″ align=”center” lightbox=”true” group=”Wedding” icon=”zoom”] http://thelode.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/16-04-16_Wedding_02_resized.jpg [/image] [image title=”My Honeymoon in Paris” width=”544″ height=”790″ align=”center” lightbox=”true” group=”Wedding” icon=”zoom”] http://thelode.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/16-04-16_Honeymoon_00_resized.jpg [/image] [image title=”My Honeymoon in Morocco” width=”544″ height=”703″ align=”center” lightbox=”true” group=”Wedding” icon=”zoom”] http://thelode.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/16-04-16_Honeymoon_01_resized.jpg [/image] [image title=”My Honeymoon in Morocco” width=”544″ height=”408″ align=”center” lightbox=”true” group=”Wedding” icon=”zoom”] http://thelode.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/16-04-16_Honeymoon_02.jpg [/image] [image title=”My Honeymoon in Morocco” width=”544″ height=”363″ align=”center” lightbox=”true” group=”Wedding” icon=”zoom”] http://thelode.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/16-04-16_Honeymoon_03.jpg [/image] [image title=”My Honeymoon in Morocco” width=”544″ height=”363″ align=”center” lightbox=”true” group=”Wedding” icon=”zoom”] http://thelode.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/16-04-16_Honeymoon_04_resized.jpg [/image]

 

The Riparian Project 3D animation

The Riparian Project DIY Kit 3D Animation

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I’m very excited to be able to share one of my favourite LODE projects from early 2015. This 3D animation was created to detail The Riparian Project’s goal of shifting grazing practices to improve river health.

Envisioned as a looping continuous video without edits, it shows the negative effect livestock cause to rivers and the knock-on effect this has on the entire ecology downstream and in the surrounding environment. By erecting fences along the river to keep livestock out, the river can repair itself and the land around it. Solar powered water troughs allow the livestock to still drink from the river from a safe distance.

This was created for Jen Rae’s PhD exhibition: Art & The Anthropocene on Thursday the 14th of May, 2015.

It will now be installed at the Yea Water Discovery Centre where it will loop continuously.

You can find out more about the Riparian Project on the official website.

I was involved with this project and took the initial script to an animatic, asset creation, animation, shading, lighting, rendering, compositing and the audio soundtrack.

I completed this project in May 2015 and used it as a qualifier for the fantastic new Alembic implementation in Autodesk 3ds Max 2016. You can find some more videos about the production process for this animation on my Channel.

Working for Dale De Silva - Oiltinman

Portfolio update – May 2015

By Digital Lode, My Portfolio, Site NewsNo Comments

I have recently added 3 projects to my portfolio – they are all projects I worked on for Dale De Silva – Oiltinman.

Here is a summary of what’s been added:

[list style=”list_1″] [li]Graduate Registration video – A Motion Graphics video for the Podiatry Board of Australia. I worked on this at Reel Pictures in late 2014/early 2015.[/li] [li]Inside Health – A 15 second logo animation for the Department of Health. I worked on this project way back in 2012![/li] [li]Web Accessibility – A motion graphics piece created for the Department of Human Services. Like the Inside Health animation above, I also worked on this project in 2012.[/li] [/list]

It was extremely fun working on these 3 projects. I have neglected updating my site and my portfolio for the past 3 years and look forward to sharing more projects soon.

Motion Graphics Backgrounds - Digital Lode

Still Frame – “Graduate Registration Video”

Screenshot - Inside Health Motion graphics project

Still Frame – “Inside Health”

Web Accessibility 3D Modelling - Digital Lode

Still Frame – “Web Accessibility”

BASF Mining 3D Modelling and Render

Updating the porfolio and website

By Digital Lode, Site NewsNo Comments

I’m back and determined to update my Website, Portfolio and Showreel after far too long. It’s been over 1 and a half years since I did an update to my Portfolio and this website is in need for some TLC. My last (and only) showreel was made when I was still in Uni in 2009(!) and updated only slightly when I graduated in 2011. So now it’s high-time for a new showreel.

As I work on my showrell, I’ve gone back to late 2012 and i’m adding my favourite projects since then one-by-one. I’ve started tonight with a 3D image I created for a BASF print advertistment in October 2012.

[image title=”The final BASF print Ad ” width=”544″ height=”681″ lightbox=”true” group=”BASF”  icon=”zoom”]http://thelode.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/BASF_Poster_3D_Artwork.jpg[/image] [image title=”Final 3D render – Closeup view” width=”544″ height=”460″ lightbox=”true” group=”BASF”  icon=”zoom”]http://thelode.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/BASF_Poster_Crop_01.jpg[/image] [image title=”Closeup of one of the ‘spores’. Wireframe view from 3ds Max viewport” width=”544″ height=”305″ lightbox=”true” group=”BASF”  icon=”zoom”]http://thelode.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/BASF_Poster_3DS_max_nitrous_viewport_04.jpg[/image]

I’ve made a new page for this particular portfolio item. You can view the final image and read more about it here.

Looking forward putting some new work out there!

Returning from Holidays after a busy start to 2013

By Digital Lode, Site NewsNo Comments

Unfortunately over the last few months, I’ve fallen into the trap of neglecting my website and have failed to keep it up to date! Since my last post in December, 2012, I’ve had a good start to 2013, working on a few very exciting projects right up to the start of February when I enjoyed a month off.

I spent my 1 month break travelling overseas with my girlfriend, celebrating Chinese New Year with her family and friends in China and Hong Kong. This was followed up by a week’s stay in Bangkok.

I’ve now been back at work since the start of this month and definitely look forward to updating this site. There’s new portfolio Items to add for my recent projects, a showreel (been working on that for over a year now) and a couple of video tutorials i’ve been dying to finish off for a while!

 

Thanks for reading, I really want to work on the LODE and share my projects and tutorials online. I hope you find this site useful!

French Island Camping

Been M.I.A

By Digital Lode, Site NewsNo Comments

This is my first update to the Digital Lode site in a while! I’ve spent the last couple of months on a few projects back-to-back with very little spare time. The spare time i’ve had has been spent with my family and girlfriend.

I worked on a 3D animated project for Siemens/Fed Square, Melbourne, I helped create animated content for a large 9+ metre wide screen at a Melbourne Zoo Exhibit and helped create 3D animated graphics for the upcoming opening of a new Toyota Manufacturing plant & new 4 Cylinder engine reveal. One of the bigger projects has been the creation of 3D Art for a BASF print Ad Campagin.

Siemens Fed Square 3D Animation

Still Frame from 3D animated content for Siemens & Fed Square

I’ve then taken a holiday for the last week where I took part in a developmental course with Boy’s Brigade Australia. 3 Days of the week were spent mountain biking & camping in French Island with my oldest mate, James Eynaud, very fun and a very rewarding physical challenge in the intense heat of last week!

French Island Camping

My campsite along the beach in French Island

I’ve also invested many hours over the past few months into expanding my craft, particularly lighting, rendering and digital sculpting. I’ve recently added Zbrush to my toolset & am having too much fun creating odd sculpts for 20 minutes each day as I come up to speed with the unique interface and tools. Will be uploading a few work in progress character sculpts soon.

I’ve also finally started preparing and recording some video tutorials for the Digital Lode again – i’ve released my first video tutorial since my After Effects Motion Blur tutorial from early 2010. My most recent tutorial covers the new Vray Embree Helper for 3DS Max. Looking forward to add some more.

Things have finally started to slow down to normal and so i’m now putting some time into updating the Digital Lode site. I’m hoping to share some excerpts from the projects i’ve worked on these last few weeks, a couple of quick video tutorials and my first showreel since 2009 – which is finally almost finished!

New Content – Portfolio & Archives

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My spare time over the last week has been poured into the LODE website and i’ve added some new content to the blog, my portfolio and the LODE archives.

 

Here’s a quick summary of the new content this week:

The LODE Portfolio

Tony Robinson’s London Games Unearthed – 3D Zeus Animation – Live action & CG animation created for a recent London Olympics Documentary on the History Channel.

Shaping Education – Henry Bastow Part III – created over a period of 5 months in 2011/12. I created a 3D cafe and filled it with about 3 billion pieces of junk!

The LODE Archives

A series of four 2D animations I created in 2008 – created as part of my 2D animation class in first year uni. Each animation focuses on a different 2D animation technique.

Experiment 091637 – filmed and edited in 2005 (7 years ago!) when I was in year 11 highschool. Included in my archives for a bit of fun!

 

 

As of August 2012, the LODE site is still a fair way off from being officially finished, but I am close! Before I complete ‘version 1′ of the site, I look forward to uploading a 2012 Showreel, add and refine 9 portfolio pieces and upload content for the ‘Motherlode’ tutorials section of the site. The Showreel is my main focus at the moment, and I hope to complete and upload it very soon.