Eau de Locoroco

» Written on November 30, 2007 at 1:11 AM «

testrenderMy sister’s birthday arrives in a couple of days, and though I’m kind of partial when it comes to such events, I always ensure that I try to do a little something whenever my family members have such occasions for celebration so that I don’t feel like a complete bastard for being annoyed by them for the other three hundred and sixty-four days of the year.

So my sister recently picked up my PSP after a long week of work and inquired as to what fun she could perhaps find in its circuitry. Coincedence dictated that I had the Locoroco UMD inside, and I promptly advised her to give it a shot. Needless to say, I didn’t have my PSP for the next two days.

Anyway, what you see over, stage left, was done in about an hour, texturing, lighting and all in 3ds max. God knows why I bother to put up with it instead of switching over to Maya as quickly as possible; really, once you’ve touched XSI or Blender and had a chance to actually experience their UI, you never want to go back to the horror that is 3ds max.

I suppose the next question is why I chose to model these adorable little critters in full 3D instead of going into Illustrator and totally ripping Keigo Tsuchiya off. I could have, but such actions have certan implications that I’d rather not have to deal with.

Such as the fact that this was kind of a birthday present, and such presents shouldn’t be carbon copies of other products, unlike what I received for my own. (Another story) So anyway, I kind of figured it’d be appropriate to try turning the 2D vectorized world of Locoroco into a fullly realized world with 3 dimensions. Also, I was curious as to just how much of UV mapping I actually remembered from times past.

Suffice to say, I am pleased that my skills, though diminished, are still existent. It gives me hope for my continued work in this area.

Final result, after some doodad-ding in Photoshop. Also: Ink n’ paint shaders really, really give the renderer a hard time, even for simple blobs of yellow goo.

finalloco

I’m thinking about getting her a Nintendo DS to go with this little piece, though, but I haven’t decided yet. Phantom Hourglass and Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings are great titles and all, but the price tag kind of eats away both at my soul, and my wallet.

I’m thinking about it.

Also, if any of you tell my sister, I’ll burn down your internet. That’s after calling you nasty names and hurting your feelings.

   

Search

Extended Life

On the tubes

Archives

By date

By category

View all