print portfolio

[Evaman]

Hey Render,

On that photo displaying all of those projects; are those all projects you have done before you went to a university or from after attending?

[renderhjs]

I just counted,- I did 31 of those 49 before attending the university. That is because here at the university I have been investing more time into 3dsmax and alike tools instead of flash.
Before I applied at the university I was still working with a side job at a multimedia agency- hence the reason why I was more into flash back then.

[Evaman]

Now how beneficial to you has it become that Flash is now enhanced with the features of more 3D elements for projects.

Seems rather interesting. I wonder if those GTA:2 engines went anywhere with your work.

[renderhjs]

I have mixed feelings,- it´s not real 3d they implemented. You still need to write a own camera model - only the triangle texture filling has been automized (the way you get textures on your triangles of your 3d object)

But I wouldn´t say that flash player 10 supports 3d, it as some 3d rotation properties for sprites but that´s it. No common 3d file format support or alike.

The one big think I hate about flash and the reason why I shifted more into 3d is that for Flash there is only 1 company and 1 product (flex doesn´t count).
It´s a great product overal but I am to much binded to a company that sometimes abuses it´s position (think of european CS3 prices 200-300% more expensive as the US version). The GUI performance is the worst ever (and ugly) and there are certainly other things I dont like.
If there were more competion like on the 3d market (max, maya, xsi, cinema, silo, zBrush, mudbox, blender,...) i could pick the right tool for my taste, e.g a fast reactig tool instead of a eye- candy looking one.
And the other big plus is that like every few month´s there is yet a new software piece to be discovered - I like that.

well like I said I have mixed feelings,- after my graduation (2 semesters to go) I´ll propably apply in booth fields but propably more into 3d because of the flexibility.

[Googooboyy]

SURELY you can't hate flash, can ya?

Anyway, what would you say of Silverlight then?

(OMG.. is this slowly turning into a mock prospective job interview?)

[renderhjs]

Anyway, what would you say of Silverlight then?

not worthy of a discussion (and that in multiple ways)

[Googooboyy]

I wish I'd stayed on in the 3D realm (back then it was Max 3.0!!), but I've moved onto the Printing industry.

3D is still cool though. So show us some 3D thingys already!

[Evaman]

Believe me or not but I agree probably a hundred percent.

I still remain ignorant to many features of the 3D side of Flash, however I thought that the cameras were integrated within itself without a load of killer coding; or at least that is the opposite that I perceive MAX to be like.

Still all the thumbs up on your portfolio though: I need to start getting to work on mine.

[designtraffic]

coooool

[m_andrews808]

nice work featured in the portfolio

I thought it would be nice to have a one-click page turn facility rather than forcing your user to drag each page over (in addition to being able to drag). I also thought the contents page could contain links to jump straight to the relevent section and some mechanism to jump back to the contents page to aid overall navigation.

Its a faithfull reproduction of a book/magazine, but why not take advantage of the delivery platform to add some simple enhancing features?

[renderhjs]

well the original portfolio is the print one- but because I wanted to show it online I quickly scratched it together.
I will update the print portfolio and a complete redo of the online version this winter- if I´d stick to the book idea I´d propably include the things you mentioned like direct links, 1 click flip and other things.
thx for the input

[m_andrews808]

you're welcome

seeing as you're good with your eyes () if you've a minute or two spare could you glance at my problem: http://board.flashkit.com/board/showthread.php?t=776722

any help appreciated

[Clownfish5]

Great artwork! You're very broad in your skills!
I like the semi glossy effect when you turn the pages! One idea for the book engine (although it's not new, and easier said than done!): Different behavior depending on where you grab the page. For starters, more bending of the page if grabbed on the very edge. Vertical pulling could have its effects, even ripping of pages!

[tiGRAN=-2001]

I think the progression in the portfolio is impressive, however if this was not for school but for the real world, I would recommend showing the best work, and more of it. For example the Ford Puma? It might mean something to you, but compared to your other work it doesn't belong there..my opinion :P Otherwise I really like the layout and turning effect...just not the gradient behind it.

[renderhjs]

...but for the real world, I would recommend showing the best work, and more of it. ...

I am in the process of redoing my portfolio this time as the final one for graduating- booth as a print and online concept. And I will refine the selection but also add lots of more stuff and reconsider older thing I haven't included back then.

in general I like the idea of porting the print version to the online version so that I can save layout, structure and content. This means for me however that I want to focus on the online version on the way it behaves because the expierence will be different anyway - so why not making it as exciting as I can online.
My general idea I have so far can be described with a simple illustration:

you can flip pages like a real book in a 3d alike view with popping elements of items. The main idea is to to highlight each art content more as a single item instead of having some loose focus because of the integration in groups on each page.

mockups
this is a quick mockup so far how I could imagine it could look close like in the end (text content is just roughly made up). The book itself is a screengrab atm. from 3dsmax so there is no antialiasing and texture filtering but that will be different in the end because textures will the look smooth and edges wont have stairs in them, so like I said its more a quick mockup for now.


when you click on a single item you would get a bigger and un-distorted version like this:

and clicking back on it would return to the page flipping or book mode. At the upper panel where it says 'ink graphics,...' one could alternativly tab previous or further ahead lying pages.

I plan to use this semester time for developing booth the print and online version (as a project) and have it done by the end of this year. Layout and texting will be done in InDesign and be printed again as book. The online version will be written in Actionscript3 and propably use XML as layout container for the images to be loaded and meta text information to be displayed.
The last year I have been programming a few 3d engines in flash so that I feel confident that I can pull this off resulting into a smooth and quick to be loaded web application - because what matters for me is to have a unqiue portfolio with unique content and a unqiue engine that differs from anything else that's online.

[tiGRAN=-2001]

That looks pretty sweet, I like the zooming in option, and the fact that there is a global navigation bar (if that is what the top text area is intended for). Coding everything for the portfolio sounds pretty amazing, what is a good book to learn AS3 for that purpose?

[Evaman]

Completely stole my mentality! This was an idea I wanted to engineer from inspiration from the original.

Die Gedenken sind frei....

=P

[renderhjs]

little progress for now:

online demo (first online snippet):
http://www.renderhjs.net/portfolio2k9/dmo1/

inDesign putting stuff together,- finding a style



flash: writing the new book flip engine:


maxscript (3dsmax): writing another script to export my 3d vertex animations from 3dsmax into my engine at a tiny size:


at the end (soon to come) I will hopefully have booth some printed books and the online version ready for my application.

[renderhjs]

edit:
another screenshot of max,- some new models


magnifier has been added to the online demo