In addition to the professional work I do for various companies and studios I have a number of personal projects I'm working on. This page highlights some of those projects and their various states of progress. These projects are experimental and I expect many of the experiments will fail but that is kind of the point of experimentation
Entomology Animated
I started this project a few years ago as a way to combine my love of science, specifically evolutionary biology, with my love of computer graphics. The field of entomology has captured my imagination as I believe the study of insects offers a front row seat to the story of evolution. I want to contribute my voice to the growing body of high-quality science online science communication and in the process create a resource for teachers and students and other curious people. Below are some of the videos I've created so far ranging from informal lessons on the biochemistry of insect defenses to experiments in digital insect modeling and animation. I'm still tinkering with the format and I'm currently moving to a more game-based approach with an eye towards moving into virtual reality. I hope you enjoy the video and I'm currently working on additions to this small but growing library.
In 2020 I teamed up with Andrew Schauer and scientific illustrator Inna Marie-Stazhnick to create a website for Entomology Animated and an Instagram Page and Youtube Channel.
Our latest project is a series that explores how insect vision works:
Rainbow Scarab Beetle (Phanaeus vindex) Modelling Project in ZBrush
This series, available on YouTube, shows my process for creating an anatomically accurate Rainbow Scarab Beetle using ZBrush, Maya, Substance Painter an Octane. It is an ongoing series. The entire playlist is available on YouTube here.
Various Entomologically Themed CG Projects
The videos below are a number of early experiments I created in Cg exploring techniques and approaches for animating insects and arachnids. Some are more successful than others.