how an expert system works!

Click for full-sized decision-making engines!

This is a pretty basic overview, but y'know, sometimes that's what you need. I think this is the only thing from my job I've ever posted here, but it was fun. Yay design!


P.S. Happy Fourth of July!


[Adobe Illustrator]

website + year-old-assignment: updated!

My portfolio website at Josydoodle.com has been officially launched! Be sure to check out the Extras page for free desktop icons and wallpapers!

I'm pretty proud of it. It's not hugely different from the previous iteration, but I fixed a lot of the bugs (I think--please let me know if something isn't working for you!) (...well, mostly. Known issue: does not work well in IE6 and below). And with both Google and Wikipedia's recent UI adjustments (and seeing what a huge difference they both made), I'm okay with that.

Also: I updated/revised/tried to salvage my bone remodeling compartment project from last year:

 At the very least, I like that the colors are less Playskool-esque (or, as I described them at the time, "like a small child went nutso with his crayons").

And I fixed my spiky osteoclasts! They were supposed to look more like this or this, and while I didn't quite push them to that stage, I think they look slightly less terrible now. But--of course--you be the judge. :)

So those are some things I have been up to lately.


[website: Dreamweaver and Photoshop; 3ds Max project updated in Photoshop]

and now for something completely different

Hey look a self-portrait.


[Adobe Illustrator]

josy has a demo reel!

Look look I have a demo reel of the coolest bits of animation I've developed over the past nine months! (...'cos that's how long I've been animating!)

(The music is "Bounty," by Felix Miklik, and it's available from FreePlayMusic.com)

You may also note that I finally got around to buying a domain name at Josydoodle.com! However, for all this end-of-the-semester stress, you won't find anything exciting there yet, so STAY TUNED for total redesign in the next month or two! (I have an RSS feed you can subscribe to and EVERYTHING!)


[compiled in Adobe Premiere]

the making of phacoemulsification

(Can't see the video? Click here to watch it directly on Vimeo)

So now that you've seen our final product, check out the steps we went through to make our group animation, Phacoemulsification!

This is something I threw together with our existing assets--our professor suggested we do something like this, and I woke up one morning with a vision of how it was gonna look. :)

My team members let me take charge of this project 'cos I didn't do much for the post-production on the original animation, and I still wanted an opportunity to expose myself to all the cool After Effects stuff that we were learning in class.

...plus, as I mentioned, "I had a vision" and they probably didn't want to stand in my way. :D

[assets created in various programs by various people (see credits of original animation for details); compiled in Adobe After Effects]

bad mesh!

I've been revisiting some of my old 3ds Max projects, including this one, which I created back when I was still figuring out the program. What a mess!

In this animation, you may notice stuff that looks like gray/black flickering dirt. It's either a Mental Ray issue (i.e. a weird flicker that sometimes happens when you use a particular renderer) or a bad mesh issue. Or both!

Either way, DON'T PROBOOLEAN, PEOPLE!

...Or at least do it with discretion.



[3ds Max 2009]

phacoemulsification!

(Can't see the video? Click here to watch it directly on Vimeo)

We did it! It's done!

You might even want to full-screen it to experience the full cinematic beauty of cataract surgery!

(Also: be SURE to check out the "making of" video to see some of the steps we went through to create this animation!)

(And if that's not enough for you, click here and here to see full versions of some of our "in-progress" work!)

[so many programs used! let's just say we're all big fans of Autodesk and Adobe and leave it at that.]

the bee's knees: REVISITED

I'm trying to put together some portfolio stuff right now, so I started with my knees-in-a-jar from last year. For a long time know, I've gotten annoyed every time I look at the old piece. I know so much more about 3ds Max now than I did a year ago; there were a million problems with the old render, and they were so easily fixable! It's still not quite perfect, but I'm much much happier with this version.

I'm still learning a lot of the subtleties you need to emulate photorealism with 3d programs. There are all these tiny, tiny details you don't quite notice (and so I often skip them for the sake of reducing render times), but somewhere in your subconscious, something will register as "real" or "fake."

(Which reminds me: I discovered this fantastic blog yesterday: http://3dsmaxrendering.blogspot.com/ . It's architecture-based, but I love it! so much good info in one spot!)

Plus--for me, anyway--getting the lights to act the way they're supposed to always adds hours to my finagling attempts at photorealism.

[3ds Max 2009-2010]