Demo Reel 2009!!

Joseph Cheu's Demo Reel from Joseph Cheu on Vimeo.

SO HOT!...like me? :P

The weather is SO HOT that I need to blog! I am never gonna buy a house that faces the west!

The End!

A Chance...

So, during my 1-week break, I applied a few jobs and hoped they'd need a part time employee. I only received one interview from LongShong Group, a local Asian Film Distributing/TV Broadcasting company. After 30mins of interviewing and showing me around the studio, they asked me to edit a 30-seconds teaser for a movie that I have recently watched. And I thought to myself, it's not a matter of hiring me or not anymore, it's a chance of showing my ability and get some critics. So, I spent the past Saturday and some time on Sunday working on it. And the first challenge was the movie format that I have was in .RMVB! As many people know, Adobe Premiere/Autodesk Combustion do not allow editing with .rmvb! So, I went around and found a converter, hurried and converted it to .avi. And while everything was going smoothly and SLOWLY, the stupid converter crashed! You must be kidding me! And my download of the movie is only at 50%. I was like OH WELL! I will edit this teaser with 40mins of what has already converted. And here it is! The movie is called "The Sniper", possibly the last Chinese movie of Edison Chen(but who knows). Hope you'd like it.

"The Sniper" Homemade Teaser from Joseph Cheu on Vimeo.

New Toy Part 1

So, my new toy is finally set up with all my programs and ready to create some polygons! :P
Here are some pictures of my new toy..





My brother just got back from Japan, and this is what he got me :). TETSUJIN 28!! HOT STUFF! OPEN BOX SOOOOON!!

Last blog for this class..on this little fella..hopefully

So yea, some of you might know that my computer caught on fire at one point last week!
After it was being all weird and smelly, I opened the case on the second day and replugged everything again. Once I turned it back on again, the video card was like a lighter. POOF! IT'S ON FIRE! whoa, me and my brother shutted it off right away. It's my first time seeing FIRE in my room, and it wasn't pleasant to smell. @_@ So, I tried putting in my old video card, and it works again. HURRAY! But I have to reformat it again since it shutted(burnt) off itself while formatting last time. Anyways, with the extra money that I got from the car accident last year, I have decided to purchase myself a new computer. After weeks of researching and waiting for a better deal, I have decided to get an assembled one from NCIX.

The followings are what I care about:
CPU: Intel i7 920 (the basic one)
Video Card: ATI HD 4870 1GB
RAM: 6GB DDR3 1600
Power Supply: 650W
Price: $1421.18
Detailed Spec.
Bigger Monitor, bigger harddisc and Blu-ray rom will come later when i have a job!
Yeaa, building a computer myself takes too much time shopping around, I would prefer someone else putting altogther for me!
I can't wait to have it! So I can be going less to school and doing more work at home! :D
AHHHHHHHHHHHHH...che-ching che-ching! $$$$$$$$$$ :(

Furthermore, after yearS of having the same setup in my room, I spent the weekend reformatting the computer and rearranging my tiny room. Now it's more rommy and clean. And I say, "IT IS SOO GOOD!"

Winners FAIL!

so, "Do not Enter"? or "Out" into the store??! Winners Exit FAIL!
Caught it at the Winners on Robson Street. I WIN! :P

Anyways, my computer is bugging the F*** outta me with constant lags and blank screens.
I have already replaced the power supply and switch different video cards. They don't seem to help much. With the anti-virus that's almost expired, I am planning to reformat my 4-5 years old grandpa once and for all, making it young again! ahhhh..start backing up my data now!

mannnn, I really got to start my demo reel, or at least have something completely done. I should list out what I need to model before thinking about ANimating them.
Title:
- My name (done)
- Duckie (done)

Scene1:
- a room (wip)
- a camera
- a lamp

Scene2:
- a high-poly portrait on ZBrush

Scene3: (NEED TO START ASAP)
- the main character (wip)
- the second character
- a neighborhood
- a car
- a helicopter (wip)

Scene 4: (only do it if enough time)
- a boat
- a fishing rod
- the main character with different suit
- a fish
- an ocean

OH crap! so much to do in the coming 6 months. I am so tensed, especially when I have just experienced the pain from rendering today and yesterday! I have been spending total of 14+ hours just to render 3 scenes. ARGH yet I am not satisfied with them. Only wish if I have a powerful computer at home, so I can finish all the modelling/texturing at home and just use school's computers as render farm. :P

This is how I spend my weekend, Part 2!

Above is my character concept for the demo reel. Yes, he is retarded. He walks around like that.
This is not the final version. I've been working on it over the weekend. It's soo much fun working with my new tablet using Sketchbook Pro. It's my first time having so much fun drawing on the computer without getting RSI (Repetitive Strain Injury). :P

The following is my weight lifter assignment for Adam's class.

Weight Lifter Assignment from Joseph Cheu on Vimeo.

wheeeeee....what a nice way to spend my weekend.
It's so sunny today!! I want to go cherry blossom photo shooting!!!!!!
Smelling sunshine feels gooooooooood.

This is how I spend my weekends...

What a NICE weekend with awesome weather!!
Look how Productive I was, staying at home all day homeworking using my old school video card.
These 3 videos are the first mock ups for the Texturing class.

House Texturing Assignment

Turtle Texturing Assignment

XBox360 Texturing Assignment

And I have started modeling the face for the Modeling class.





Yes, a person who is bald and Play-Doh-like looks pretty freaky.

Check out my Sh!t..

Poo Ship from Joseph Cheu on Vimeo.

Sleepy Week...Scripting Time!

It's probably because of the weather. I have been craving for sleep all week long. I slept as much as possible from 10hrs to 12hrs+/day. I am well-prepared for later semesters where I won't get any of sleep! Nothing much happened last week, other than render, eat, and sleep. Gotta take a break after finishing the project below! On last Thursday, we had our first pizza dinner at Costco which was something new. This week, we are planning to have their cocktail shrimps and hot wings! MMMmmm :P

Anyways, I think I am going to set my demo reel script for the one last time. It's mostly going to be a model reel, with my main character (the fat man who I haven't named yet). And I am going to set up a few shots (at least 2), for example, a snapshot of an impending doom. In each shot, it will contain several models, including the background environment, vehicles, and some characters. Each model might have a little animation going along. Then, I will zoom into each model to show their details. It's like a 3D Polaroid photograph with camera movements. Right now, I have 2 ideas for the shots. I will start sketching them out on the coming week. I will post them out as soon as I have them done :).

I think I am going to purchase a tablet. Ahhh need blingX2!
Is this one okay?
http://www.compu2000.com/product/433/MTE450K1/Wacom/

Here it is..

So after rendering 3 times for over 15 hours, this is what I have at last.
No more banana leaves stabbing and retarded grass. :) I know it's not perfect, but oh well :P


Tree Scene from Joseph Cheu on Vimeo.

Combat Arms!

Recently, I noticed the time of staying at school has been increased, I figured maybe we should do something entertaining with the fellow classmates, other than just sitting there watching movies (since we have watched Final Destination series for a few times already, yet I still like 300 very much! anyways...). So, I was browsing for some multi-player online games yesterday. I found a free FPS (First Person Shooter) game called Combat Arms by Nexon. I downloaded it and hoped it's as fun as the original Counter Strike at least. I was surprised that it's actually BETTER than CS! Well, first of all, it's FREE! The only scenario where you need to pay is if you want more customizations on your character, such as unique guns and suits. The players, who are cheap (like me), can gain GP points by playing and purchase other items by those points (still awesome!:D). However, I found out that they will be expired in 24hours, but you will earn more points to get another one quickly. In graphic wise, I'd say it's between CS and CS Source, still not bad :). Furthermore, there are so many accessories and guns you can purchase using those GP points. You can actually modify them by adding scope on the gun and extending magazine for the ammo. They even have rocket launcher! haha! In my opinion, it's way better than the selection in CS. Since the respawn time of each death is only 3 seconds, the game speed is pretty fast and exciting! The only thing missing in the game is the "Buddy List". Overall, this free game satisfies me for burning time and "socializing" with the fellow classmates! Can't say no to killing classmates virtually! :P I would recommend this game to whoever can't afford/not willing to buy the overpriced Left 4 Dead! :P

Please visit here: http://combatarms.nexon.net
My ID is J03930. Say Hi! :D

God, since when I start becoming a gamer!? @_@

Get in Shape!

I have started swimming again! once per week for 2 weeks already! :D Why? because sometimes I ask myself, "why is it hard to breathe sometimes? I DON'T SMOKE!!", "what sport have I been doing regularly since high school?". Plus, after that car accident last year, swimming was recommended to prevent/heal any potential injury. Frankly, I am not used to swimming anymore. I remembered I used to swim alot from gr.2 to gr.5. It's been 10+ years! The position and technique are all forgotten. Since I am (trying to be) serious in swimming again, I've got to improve my gesture! Therefore, I checked out some videos on youtube.



I can pretty much checked all the faults on the list. :P
Now I have the solution, it's time to pay more money and get me fixed!
While searching for swimming technique, I also searched for swimming animation. And this is the most decent one out of the trillions results.



how lame....=_=..

Bright at Night! @ Illuminate Yaletown

DSC01466
Originally uploaded by jc930

So, I went to this event with my friend on saturday night. The event was okay. It's not something that makes me WOW. Throughout the "party", it's pretty much just having multiple colours of light shining on walls, not much interaction involved. Some of them were very similar to what I did at SFU 2 years ago, setting up interaction which communicates with the "audience" by using different sensors. My favourite would be drawing on a huge touch screen (God knows how much that's worth), and projecting whatever drawn on the wall. It's like a light Graffiti, which is legal. Even though the concept is not complicated, it's pretty~:P. Well, it was nice to see families having a great time on the street in Vancouver during night time, other than drunks and druggies. It's something that you'd rarely see. I hope this will become an annual event, because there is still plenty of room for improvements. :)

Lack of Brain Juice

This reminds me of why I don't like talking to not-so-smart, yet stubborn people.
$0.002 =/= 0.002 cents!!!!!!!

"I Love Thursdays!"

So..this is my first time staying for the entire 6.5 hours in between 2 classes, starting from 12pm - 6:30pm. I must say it was not as productive as I expected. After the first 2 hours of modelling my environment for the animation assignment plus some modelling during the early 3 hours class. I was completely stoned. I start jumping around and saying random crap. I guess I have not been working at one spot for a long time since last year when I worked full-time. No wonder digital arts companies are more laid back than most other companies. I guess they really need to stop themselves from concentrating at the monitor for too long. Anyways classmates, remember to STRETCH!!!


MacBreakZ Screencast Video from Hilo Media on Vimeo.

w00t! Procrastination for Marks!!

well, this is for marks in one of the classes.
This is going to be an online showcase on whatever I am working on.

So, what happened on the romantic Valentine's weekend?
My brother and I bought a game called Left 4 Dead on Steam Cilent! It's 50% off by the way on the past weekend. I got addicted to this game after playing it once in a net cafe the other day. Hopefully by the end of this year, I will have an opportunity to participate in a game production.
By the way, my SteamID is J-Ranger (under jamescheu). ADD ME!!!!!



mmm...yeaa....8-)...
I will post up my WIP as soon as I have decided to NOT procrastinate.
so....Stay tuned for more action! :P