Introduction

Here we are, my first blog, so bare with me. I'd like to start out with a little more about myself. I'm currently a 4th year student, finishing my Bachelors in animation and visual effects. My area of study is 3D modeling with my focus, for now, being hard surface modeling. Eventually, I hope to get into more organic work but that will probably be down the road a bit.

From Rails to Computers is something I thought of that would allow me to share finished and current projects that are related to trains and train-sims. I also thought it would be a nice way to share a few of my experiences and thoughts of rail operations, for anyone that is interested.

Even though I left the railroad several years ago, I still enjoy trains. Probably even more so now than before. I guess my appreciation for them has grown as I definitely enjoy modeling them. I've worked around them, crawled on them, smelled them, rode them, and figured it would be a good area to hone my digital skills and apply them to a working game engine.

So a bit more about my former rail experience. I was a conductor for CSX, during the early 2000s, out of Manchester, GA. My territory included 201 miles to Birmingham, AL, 77 miles to Atlanta, GA, and 202 miles to Waycross, GA. I was lucky enough to work a multitude of jobs including the lowly extra board, all the way to dedicated freight pools and yard jobs. My favorite trips included the run to Birmingham because that was home to me and the most scenic. So most of the time I stayed on the F2 pool.

Fast forward several years, and here I am.

I've been lucky enough to train under instructors that have worked for prestigious companies such as Industrial Light and Magic, Electronic Arts, and Bioware. I've been modeling for four years, and I work with the following programs:

Maya 2010 - the main program I use for modeling
3DS Max 2010 - still in the process of learning this one
Photoshop CS6 - used for texture work and post production
After Effects CS6 - post production video
XNormal - used to bake ambient occlusion and normal maps
ZBrush - digital sculpting

As you can see it can be a huge investment of time and money but definitely very rewarding to see your work applied to film or games. So anyway I hope you enjoy and I look forward to sharing my work and thoughts with you!

Spur