Zander Erasmus

Portfolio Webpage

2008-08-21T17:47:00.000-07:00

In the next few weeks I will know whether or not I've been accepted to do an internship at EA (Electronic Arts) in Vancouver, B.C.

In Order to apply for the position, it was requested that I make an online portfolio (rather than the usual DVD demo reel)

So I went ahead and made myself a template and launched it on blogger.
Here it is so far:

http://zanderereel.blogspot.com/

Once I work out the little bugs, then I will be transfering the template onto the blog as well.

Here is also the demo reel that I put up on the internet:

Modeling Reel from zander on Vimeo.

Demo Reel In Progress

2008-05-15T08:50:00.000-07:00

Here is the work i've done on my demo reel (as far as presentation goes)
the models aren't where they are at the moment, but they act as "place holders" where my new renders will go

AoC & The Secret World

2008-05-01T11:07:00.000-07:00

I've been hard at work this last week, getting caught up in all the work I need to finish and also getting caught up in some of my hobbies.

Here's another model that I started a couple of days ago:
Robotic Survivor

Rotation So Far:

AoC & The Secret World

Two things that I've spent way too much on, and not even playing...
I pre-ordered Age of Conan last week and have been religiously following the game as it comes closer and closer to the launch date in May.

The game looks awesome so far and my blood is rushing to start going!

The Secret World (a.k.a. Cry Gaia) is another MMO that the Funcom people are building based on today's world (first contemporary MMORPG) It was introduced as a letter sent to one of the Gaming websites, and if you figured out all the clues and riddles, it led you to the official forums/website for the game... Ingenious marketing in my opinion.

Some Progress

2008-04-24T11:06:00.000-07:00

I have been hard at work this past few weeks finishing some of my 3D Portfolio work earlier so I actually have time to post on the blog and prepare my models to be presented.

Here's some progress as of right now:

Dark Eater:

Demo Reel Intro:

Tomorrow I'll be posting some info and images of the game that our class has been working on for the last few weeks. Project Codename "CATO Racers" is going to be a Racing game set in Kelowna using the Source engine from valve. Currently we are just creating assets, but hopefully we will soon have a working Alpha of the game.

Update: Coming Back from the Break

2008-04-10T08:50:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

Took a small week long or two break just to finish up my semester's demo reel requirements and to relieve some stress that has been building up. During my week off I wrote up some of my articles that I planned before the demo reel rush and I'll be typing them up in the next week.

Here are some of the stuff I've been working on:

Dark Eater:

My rotations:

My Progress so far:

Outdoor Level:
Platform Model:

Fallen Monument

Demo Reel Updates

2008-03-15T22:49:00.000-07:00

ok, so I finished a whole bunch of stuff for my outdoor level and I'm going to share here with you guys some tidbits of what i've finished:

One of my destroyed buildings mostly completed... just need to polish more:

A capture of my in game waterfall that is mostly complete:

I'll post the full details of everything i've completed around wednesday (way too much to do to be talking about what i've finished XD)

Student iPhone Commercial

2008-03-13T16:17:00.001-07:00

Hey everyone,
This week was a pretty eventful one, me and a classmate Janel Jolly (that Is her real name) created an iPhone commercial as part of a greenscreen project. We spent most of yesterday making it and put a lot of hard work into this, so I hope you guys enjoy it. The song is Grace Kelly by Mika:

if the sound still doesn't work by tomorrow, I guess I have to re-upload it.
(edit) ok... reuploaded, maybe the sound will work this time XD

Redesign - Reader Stickyness

2008-03-11T00:11:00.000-07:00

Moving Away from the 'Blogger' Look

I will be doing a massive redesign of the blog in the next few weeks and was wondering if I could get some opinions on how it looks so far. Just click on the Image for the full size. It should be 1024 X 768, representing the average viewer resolution.

Only about 30-40% of the actual graphics are complete and the rest is just the 'colour scheme' of the website. I'll be moving on to the actual coding of the website shortly as I now have enough graphics to create a working website before doing the rest.

The main focus of this new design is to catch the eye of the new commer so they might actually read my articles which may help them. The concept is that the farther you go from the look of a template, the more eye catching it is, because users who surf blogs see the same template 2000 times.

Here are some resources for redesigning your blog or website which helped me emensely when figuring out my design and theory:

How I Redesigned My Blog by Ben Yoskovitz
Talking about Blog Design: Podcast [41 minutes long]
Top 5 Ways to Improve Your Blog’s Usability by Skellie
The Last Word on Minimalist Blogging by Blog Bloke
Anatomy of a Successful Blog by Blog Bloke
Who Says your Blog Design has to be Boring? by Blog Bloke
Blog Design Tips
How to design a sexy header for your site using CSS by Woork
Code Readibility 01 by Woork
Code Readibility 02 by Woork

I encourage anyone, not just designers, to critique it!

Put the Spotlight on Your Questions!

2008-03-08T19:40:00.000-08:00

Getting Answers

Heres a chance to get all your burning questions answered by some real industry proffesionals. If theres a question that has been bugging you about the Gaming or CG/3D industries then now is the time to ask!

Next Saturday(March 15th) a few industry proffesionals will be attending an Industry Spotlight Event and the students of the Centre for Arts and Technology will have the oppertunity to ask them any question.

Presenting:
- Peter Hogan: Senior FX Artist (simulation and particle guru) Peter was also a modeller on a few other projects. His advice will be invaluable to all modelling students with an interest in simulation FX!

- Peter Ricq: Art director. Peter will breakdown his process of designing an animated series, developing its atmosphere and characters. He will also show clips from his films.

A breakdown of the animation pipeline, from the original concept to the finished product that is ready to go gold will also be one of the main focuses of the discussion.

So post your questions in the comments. A list of the Ten best will be posted a few days before the Spotlight!

I impore everyone who wants to be in these Industries to post any and all questions they have about the industry. This is a rare chance that they are giving us and I personally can't wait to meet these guys. *two thumbs up*

Tips for 3D Students: Networking - Work

2008-03-07T14:17:00.000-08:00

Networking – Work Exposure

Getting Noticed by Thinking Small

Yes, that’s right, I just told you not to ‘THINK BIG’ but what I’m really trying to tell you is how ‘Thinking Small’ will help you more, down the road, than you know. I’m going to explain how to use your talents to get noticed through the internet, not through your Big portfolio pieces but by the much smaller unrelated pieces you can make.

When I say ‘Think Small’ I don’t mean by any stretch of the imagination that this will be the easier way, compared to making one big portfolio piece, so all the slackers giving a big sigh right now, I’m sorry. This path will boost your networking capabilities while giving you the practice to maximize that Big portfolio project that you will Have to do to get a job. This tool isn’t designed to get you a job in any direct way, though there is a chance that you might get a job offer through this, so that isn’t a guarantee. This is a Networking tool and will help you snag a lot more industry contacts than not doing it... so read on!

The principle of this idea is that instead of spending 30 hours and up on one big 3D or CG portfolio piece to put on your demo reel, you instead create three 10 hour projects that are smaller and more achievable than the behemoth that you might not even finish. This simple concept will vastly improve the speed of your work, which is a huge thing in the Gaming Industry especially, and expand the fold of people which know you and recognize your work. That is the most important part, that more people will know you and be able to recognize your art at a glance.

This works because while you’re working on that big 3D piece you get virtually no exposure till the very end, but if you work on multiple smaller projects that are still the same high quality (just scaled down) then you’ll get a boost to your exposure after every release. You will see that after 4-5 of these smaller projects that people will start visiting your blog/website (if you have one) more often; people will comment on your work more often; people will instantly recognize your work.

This is actually an age old trick that has been used mainly in marketing and has worked since the idea of marketing started. It’s breadth versus depth or as they like to call it, “Diversifying, but not too much”. The idea is that you want to balance the two; too much depth (too deep into one thing) and your company crashes the instant the market for that item decreases; too much breadth (too many things) and you make no profit because you appeal to no specific group. Think about it for a second. Isn’t trying to get a job in the Gaming industry pretty much like marketing to a customer? Although the roles are reversed, you have to market yourself as someone with something of value to give to their company in return for their hard earned cash. In that light, using marketing tactics to gain a meaningful job just makes sense.

As a final note, just to make sure, I’m not suggesting you sacrifice quality. Do Not Sacrifice Quality! Merely scale down the project so it’s more manageable.

Last Networking Article: Linked In
Next Networking Article: Elance
List of 3D Student: Networking advice topics so far

Tips for 3D Students: Networking - Linked In

2008-03-05T15:04:00.000-08:00

Linked In - The Network Multiplier

Linked In is an awesome resource website I dscovered from one of my instructors at the Center for Arts and Technology. It basicly ats as an advanced interactive address book that lets you see up to 3 levels of contacts and promotes you on the internet at the same time. This is one website that I highly advize anyone interested in the Gaming industry or Computer Graphic industry to take a look at and create an account.

When you create an account on Linked In, one of the first things you can do is take all your email/address book contacts and either find their related Linked In account or invite them to create one. This is especially powerful when you've finished the Email Interviews from the last article, because you'll have all those industry proffesionals' contact information; most of the ones I emailed had a corresponding Linked In account.

As you add contacts, you will also get "2nd level" and "3rd level" contacts. This boils down to your contacts' friends and then their contacts, sort of a friend of a friend idea. This system is especially cool because you can use your existing contacts to have yourself "introduced" to their contacts and grow your network through the website (without annonymously emailing the person).

The benefit of this system becomes apparant once you have 8 or more contacts, as you'll find that you have thousands of people in the industry just a simple click and introduction away.

Apart from the network expanding capabilities of Linked In, it also has some really nice features that comes with it and if you're serious about building your network effectively, join me and many others at Linked In:
Here's my profile on Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/zandererasmus

Last Networking Article: Email Interviews
Next Networking Article: Completed Work
List of 3D Student: Networking advice topics so far

Tips for 3D Students: Networking - Interviews

2008-03-03T00:13:00.000-08:00

Interviews - Email
This was something of a trick I learned early in my studies and its a great device to get relationships in the industry while still in college or building your portfolio.

First, write down a few questions related to the industry or its hiring process; I find that 4-5 questions suffice. Try to make the questions as litirate as possible and sound proffessional. They should be about topics that you are genuinely wondering about, but it also helps to choose questions that can't be answered with one or two words because otherwise the conversation will be stale and dismissive. When writing out your questions, you should avoid philisophical questions though, because if it requires 3 paragraphs to answer, chances are, that the person you are emailing won't spend the effort (they are busy after all)

Next, search for some emails of people working in your industry (be it game, animation, etc.) and try to find as many as possible. I found that surfing the company's website(s) is the easiest way of finding the emails of their employees and with an hour's worth of work, you should have 20-30 emails.

One thing you can do is to Categorize the email recipients into their job descriptions and have a set of questions for each "job-type". The is handy for a few reasons, for example: Would you want a recruiter to get a bunch of questions about how to render a 3D model a certain way, or Management to get questions about dealing with Management? The fact is, that the person reading your email will just delete it as spam without a second thought. You should always try to make your questions as relative as possible to avoid awkward situations like this.

Another good idea is to have some response questions, although it's better to read through each email sent back and make new questions that are more customized, it can become extremely tedious when you recieve 20 replies and you'd like to ask similar response questions. If you respond with custom questions or cookie cutter ones, the important part is to ALLWAYS respond. Even if your response is a simple thank you, you must allways let that person know that you have paid attention to them; this should be common sense!

This tool works wonders for spreading your network because people in the industry, at least to the best of my knowledge, enjoy helping students and answering questions students may have. Don't be afraid to make the first move and do so repeatedly! Take this knowledge and bring it out every month or two, it works more than once!
Next Networking Article: Linked In - Social Networking
List of 3D Student: Networking advice topics so far

Help for 3D Students / Enthusiasts

2008-03-01T13:59:00.000-08:00

In the next week or so, I'm planning on posting a "Tips for the 3D Student" article and I'm going to be concentrating on Networking specifically first, and if that does well, I'm planning on moving on to other topics as well.

Here is what I will be talking about in a nutshell, if youguys have anything more to add to the list, let me know. I plan on elaborating heavily on every point, as well as giving my experiences on it with the experiences of some people I know in the industry.
Tips for the 3D Student: Networking

Interviews
LinkedIn
CompletedWork
ELance
See My Elance Profile and Join
Forums

Competitions

Mini vs. Main

Expos / Conferences
Blog / Website
Close Contacts

Let me know what you all think, if i should add or remove any.

Dominance War III

2008-02-26T16:28:00.000-08:00

It's been a crazy few months over here at the Centre for Arts and Technology - Kelowna, so crazy that I've had no time to work on this little blog of mine. I did so much that I have no idea where to start... so much so that I will start with something completely unrelated to my school.

During this semester, I joined a mini compatition over at gameartisans.org
It was in preperation for the next Dominance War as well as a way for me to keep busy during an unexpected week long break.

My entry was an Assassin type character who was captured and tortured to become what he is. The body is 650 Tris and the weapon/armour are 150 triangles:

My Entry: Cruciatus

The compatition is now over, and although I didn't really win, a lot of people seemed to like it *shrugs*
Next up:

Yes, I'll be throwing in my bit in this year's 3D war.

My entry post

Feel free to visit my post and comment on my work, I usually take critique well and I appreciate any help I can get. My character is called a Dark Eater, he uses the Dark/Void energy around him to power his artifact the Wings of Atra. Since the character is blind, I plan on giving him a wicked full face helmet.

Story:
"Deone Cyph was an average child, growing up with an average childhood, completely unaware of his heritage and the destiny he was to fufill. His father, the only one whome he ever knew, loved him dearly, telling Deone heartfelt stories of his mother and the tragedy of her loss even before Deone's memory.

One day, while enjoying a walk in the woods near his home, Deone noticed a circle of jagged stones reaching skyward. Inexplicably drawn to the aged monument, Deone crept closer and closer, noticing strange scratches on their surface. Deone was so captivated by the stones that he failed to notice the one that caught his foot and sent him spralling on the ground, hitting his head against one of the ancient stones.

After a few hours of unconsiousness, Deone woke up in a daze and crawled to the stone that had braught him misfortune. As he wiped the lichen and dirt off the words written there Deone blanched at the sight. It was his mother's grave. Dulled by the shock of finding his mother's final resting place, Deone read on. "This is my gift to you, my son." Deone couldn't comprehend the words, as if they were written in a foreign tongue and by someone who couldn't spell for their life. Stumbling from the grave, Deone was once again drawn, like a thousand strings tied to his body, to the circle of stones. Carefully walking around the grave, Deone crept into the circle to stand in the middle. "hmmm, gift? i don't get..." his words cut short by a lighting strike... seemingly out of a clear blue sky.

Deone, still somehow alive and concious, groped the ground in an attempt to catch his balance. The lighting had plunged him into a world of darkness, and no matter how much he strained his eyes, Deone could not see. All of a sudden, his world turned a dark blue of different shades as the hairs on the back of his neck stood straight. He knew someone was behind him and as he turned, he heard his father's voice, "I see you've enherited it, the Wings of Atra, and I must teach you now, how to use it, but it doesn't seem like you'll be much trouble." The dark blue and green figure in his vision pointed an i'll defined hand at his. Thats when Deone noticed he was holding a sword, as tall and a half as him, as light as air, crackling with sickly black sparks."

Kontair - Improved form and concept

2007-10-19T03:21:00.000-07:00

The design and the subsequent model packs of my character, Kontair, who I will be modelling for my demo real, were a bit bland, lacking in detail, and had some bad structure. Overall, I didn't really like it all that much.

So, I redid his form and planned out his accessories and clothing from scratch; posted below is an image of some "old person" muscle studies which I'll be using during the modelling process, with the front view of Kontair, completely redesigned. To the left of the main form, is the old character, just so that you can see the idea that I was going for, the improvements I've made, and the tattoos I'll be creating separate model packs for. To the right of the main form, is the new form, with the planned clothing. Anything extra on That form will be modelled separately and attached to the character. This is mainly because I would like to do some cloth effects and some shifting during my demo reel. Comments, Critiques, and Suggestions are very welcomed.

Some Updates - Work and Life

2007-10-17T23:56:00.001-07:00

Wow, a lot has happened since only two days ago.

ICBC and the Mounties

First I want to just say how annoyed I am with the quality of the police force here in Kelowna. When I went for my appointment to meet with the people at ICBC ht person who was handling my case, told me that the police officer who had taken the statements had said that the accident was completely my fault, which was absolute rubbish, since the police officer never even took my statement properly, and didn't even note that the accident happened on the wrong side of the road, where the other driver wasn't supposed to be driving in the first place.

Luckily, being the smart chap that I was, I had taken some photos and had gone to Google Maps and gotten the satellite photo of the road. I showed these to her, and you could see the "oh!" on her face as plain as day. So hopefully I won't be liable at all, because that wouldn't be very fun.

My girlfriend is finally home

My girlfriend, who had visited her parents in Quebec and had ironically left the day after the accident, came home on Tuesday. It was a joyous occasion and filled with celebration... between the two of us at least. There were lots of snuggles to be had and I enjoyed every moment of it. :)

Now onto the work

For the last part of this post, I want to post the work that I've done on my Salamander in Zbrush. I believe it is coming along very nicely and I expect great things from me in the weeks to come. So far I've just been doing the head, refining my idea and getting out my urge to work on him the whole night. Comments, critiques, and suggestions would be appreciated, because it's always good to try to improve thy self.

Salamander WIP for ZBRUSH

2007-10-15T00:00:00.000-07:00

Well, yet again we must create something new for our ZBRUSH classes, i've chosen something I feel would be really fun for me to Zbrush, albeit difficult.

This character is a Fire Salamander, but unlike the real live ones, this one will be molten lava. Although this Zbrush will be a still image, if animated, the pieces of solid lava will be moving around, shifting with the Salamander's every move.

Here I drew a quick concept of the Fire Salamander without its tail and without the armour I plan on putting on him. Any comments would be appreciated, and a more detailed drawing (maybe a rotation if neccesary) with the armour and tail will come shortly.

Some things i've finished and WIPs

2007-10-11T14:10:00.001-07:00

Here are some things that I've finished for my demo reel:

Floor plan for my interior level: (click to zoom)

My mini level: no pictures yet, need to test some stuff

And some WIPs of interest:

My wall texture for my indoor level:

And here's an old one I've started working on again, the "final drawing" for my outdoor level.

More stuff coming soon :o

Production Schedule

2007-10-04T14:18:00.000-07:00

This is what my next three months look like. I'll be working hard on my demo reel and hopefully put out an awesome product by the end.

Woopsies - Body Drill 10 Hours

2007-09-19T14:07:00.000-07:00

For some reason, my post last night wasn't registered or something, or maybe i just forgot to press the post button...

Heres my body drill, after 10 hours of work:

Body Drill: 6-7 Hours in

2007-09-18T18:09:00.000-07:00

Here is my body after approximately 6 hours.
I worked almost entirely on the hand and arm sections and i'm pretty satisfied about what i did
Although, i think i did spend a bit too much time on it

Body Drill - 3-4 Hours in

2007-09-18T14:24:00.000-07:00

Here is my body drill so far...
I know it's between 3 and 4 hours into it, but i wasn't keeping exact time, so that is all I know.
I think that right now it looks pretty decent and I'm pretty sure that i'll be able to pass by the end of tonight.

Head Model After another 2 Hours

2007-09-04T20:56:00.001-07:00

Here is my head model after another 2 hours, I really like how it turned out, and it has a very nice african appeal to it. The lips need work and I might decide to spend my last hour on a little bit of detailing, at home... but, for now I'm happy how it turned out, and I'm too tired to keep working on it at the moment anyways.

Head Model After 3 Hours

2007-09-04T17:58:00.000-07:00

Here is what I have after 3 hours of modelling.. it is kind of simple, but I feel like it will be a good base for the next three hours of modelling.

Hand Drill Finished

2007-08-14T21:54:00.001-07:00

Here's the hand I finished in 3 hours. I think it looks decent, could use with a lot more detail, but other than that, it's all correct.