A:M Nostalgia/old projects

[Michael Brennan]

Lately, I've been seeing some posts on here and on other forums showing vintage CG stuff,
it got me looking through some of my old projects, reminiscing about my first experiences
with 3D and starting my career in 3D graphics.

I figured maybe this is a good space to share some old works that I never posted on the forum before
maybe some of you will recognize some of the stuff.

I got into 3D in the early to mid-'90s in high school and college. I didn't quite understand how 3D graphics
were made in high school and used programs like DeluxePaint Animation to try and create my own.
I even did a few projects for teachers, animating the high school logo. Then, I eventually learned about POV-Ray
and tried every free 3D modeler available at the time that worked with it but it was never satisfying.

I eventually started using 3ds for DOS and was able to get somewhere. I used it to create a 3D gallery for
my uncle’s website, showcasing his paintings, drawings, and sculptures. I switched to Ray Dream Designer
but it wasn't until college that I found out about Martin Hash's 3D Animation Pro, or A:M 4.0.
With A:M, I was able to model organic shapes that I had been struggling to make in other programs.

I used A:M for my computer class projects while taking Illustration at Sheridan College and because of what I
was able to do with it got hired by my computer teacher at his design studio in Toronto.

Below is one of the first projects I did for my computer class using A:M 4.0
I'll be posting more as I sort through my files 

[Michael Brennan]

Initially, I wanted to pursue illustration to become a book illustrator. Some of my favorite artists at the time were fantasy illustrators like Frank Frazetta, Boris Vallejo, the Hildebrandt Brothers, and Keith Parkinson. I thought studying interpretive illustration would set me on the right path, but I found that many illustration teachers in the ’90s were jaded about the industry’s direction. With Photoshop taking over many traditional illustration jobs, photographers could now do work that had once been the domain of illustrators.

Maybe that’s why computer class was one of my favorites, the teachers were excited and enthusiastic about this new field. Many of the skills I learned in those classes, like Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, are tools I still use today.

This was one of my projects for computer class. I believe the assignment was to create something using Photoshop, and of course, I used it as an excuse to do something in A:M, using Photoshop mainly for creating textures and final touch-ups. I was also experimenting with achieving soft shadows in ray tracing by creating a small cluster of bulb lights.
 

[Michael Brennan]

I was nearing the end of my third and final year in Illustration when my teacher approached me
with a volunteer assignment outside the usual class projects.

In Oakville, there was a summer festival that took place in the 1990s and early 2000s called the Oakville
Waterfront Festival. It was a major event at the time, featuring live music, games, food, and craft shows.
The previous year, my teacher’s studio had illustrated the festival poster, which featured a 3D rendering
of an ice cream cone. Having seen what I was capable of modeling in A:M, he asked for my help in
creating a 3D version of the festival’s beloved mascot, "Jake from the Lake."

Over the next few weeks, I modeled Jake and his buddy, Fishy, and the rest is history.

Below, you can see a screenshot of the final poster, along with the Photoshop revisions my teacher made,
including the addition of the ice cream cone from the previous year. It was such an exciting time
I had never seen my work in print like that before. The poster was displayed all over the city,
featured in newspaper articles, and even printed large scale for bus shelter ads.

[Fuchur]

Just amazing Mike, just amazing.

1998 is even before I started with A:M (first verison was 8.0 / 2000 for me) when I was a teenager.
You already created amazing stuff :).

Really great to see that.

Best regards
*Fuchur*

[Roger]

Thanks for sharing your work with us, it is always nice to see what other people are working on.  

[Michael Brennan]

16 hours ago, Fuchur said:

Just amazing Mike, just amazing.

1998 is even before I started with A:M (first verison was 8.0 / 2000 for me) when I was a teenager.
You already created amazing stuff :).

Really great to see that.

Best regards
*Fuchur*

 

Thank you Fuchur!!
Did you start with A:M when you got into 3d or use other 3d programs?

[Michael Brennan]

14 hours ago, Roger said:

Thanks for sharing your work with us, it is always nice to see what other people are working on.  

Thanks Roger!!
I probably should of shared these things earlier... like 27 years earlier
guess better late than never

 

[Michael Brennan]

Back when I was finishing college, a friend from high school started his own web design company.
He pitched the idea of creating an online poker game and came to me to create some graphics for it.
The game was going to have a top-down view of the poker table, but I still wanted to create everything
in 3D. I had just started modeling some of the players before the project got canceled
but I was still able to reuse some assets for later projects.

 

[Fuchur]

5 hours ago, Michael Brennan said:

 

Thank you Fuchur!!
Did you start with A:M when you got into 3d or use other 3d programs?

I actually started with a software called "Monzoom 3d / Pro" from Oberland Computer. That was a small company which I found a software package in a department store from when I was 14 or something like that. (roundabout 1998)
A couple of years later they went bankrupt and gave out a small broschure for reasonable priced 3d software alternatives to their customers with some smaller deals in there.
(it still is available here for free download nowadays, but of cause very old today: https://www.geoxis.de/monzoom/downloads.htm)

There was a deal for Maxon's Cinema4d "light" and a couple of other software... one was Martin Hash's Animation:Master which I especially liked because most other software back then was not aimed at character animation which Monzoom lagged too, while A:M was pretty much focused on that. And that is how I came to A:M.
Later I used 3ds and XSI (at work) too, but nothing came close to the ease of use of A:M and so I stayed.

I created a couple of animations for work (because they saw how fast I could create stuff with it ;)), in my studies and my diplom thesis and of cause a lot of different smaller and bigger work for fun.

Best regards
*Fuchur*