The first week I had reserved for The Synthetic Image research project sadly suffered from several unwelcome distractions and interruptions. Excessive rainfall had caused clogged drains in our new home that took two days to investigate and repair. Our car had a flat tire that needed to be fixed. I had to do some accounting work and there were the usual groceries and guitar lessons.
I did manage to look up the locations of paintings I want to study. I wrote an introductory text to the project, described my diorama creation plans and analyzed Crivelli’s painting of Saint Michael that I hope to see one day in person in London.
I started the tutorial series by Angela Guenette for Character Modeling in Blender. This taught me some handy modelling features that I wasn’t aware of. And I learned how to model an eye with a recessed iris and an extra layer for the cornea. The realist purpose of this method did make me wonder if it would be at all useful towards achieving the “Primitive” style I am after. But I need to learn basic skills.
On Friday I set up a rudimentary diorama prototype in the Unreal engine with the default mannequin and cursor key input. While simplistic, it does give me a lot to think about. I also briefly investigated Virtual Reality camera handling in Unreal.
Unfortunately I suffered from an inclination to procrastinate on Friday. Which is silly because as soon as I do actually start working, I enjoy it a lot. But then there’s too little time left. I’ll do better next month!
Tomorrow, Sunday, I plan to visit the Museum of Fine Arts in Ghent to hopefully take a closer look at some of the Mystic Lamb panels while the restoration crew is not at work. And maybe there will be other pieces that attract my attention.
— Michaël Samyn.