Montage Studio

I’m pleased to announce Montage Studio’s third training DVD has hit the (digital) shelves! Meant as a crash course in modeling with Blender for newer users, this training DVD takes the viewer through the basics of the interface, navigation, modeling, etc. Then puts all of it to the test with a step-by-step modeling exercise in creating your first character!

This is part 1 in what will eventually be a three-part DVD series:

Part 1: modeling
Part 2: texturing/rendering
Part 3: animation

With our constant aim to provide quality resources for fellow 3D Artists we have added a new page for models. Through this we will be offering a variety of premade models that can be downloaded and used according to their accompanying license.

To get things started I’ve added one of my base-meshes I like to use for a lot of projects, a low-poly male body. The model consists of 1462 quads, 0 triangles and is unwrapped via three UV maps (head, body, head and body). This model is ideal for game characters, base-meshes, sculpting, etc. All it needs is to be rigged and textured! 

Head on over to the Models page to download!

In our spare time JS and I have sat down and recorded two new timelapses. Timelapse (sped-up) videos are one of our ways of demonstrating our workflow to others.

Most of my timelapses up-to this point have been fictional creatures modeled from my head, or sometimes a references. This time around I chose to go for a more realistic take on things and model a full male human head, start to finish.

Just as heads are my specialty, Vehicles are JS’s, and thus appropriately chose to model a futuristic jet-car in his video. JS’s model really shows how a lot of simple geometry can go a long way in providing lots of detail and a great look!

Enjoy!

-Jonathan

Jonathan Williamson: Male Head Timelapse

Timelapse- Male Head from Jonathan Williamson on Vimeo.

Jean-Sébastien: Jet-car Timelapse

Jet Car Timelapse 3d modelling session from Js Guillemette on Vimeo.

Note: ignore the “Real-time” and “3x” indicators on my video. The speed is messed up and so those are incorrect; I don’t actually model that fast

Hey guys!

This is my first post in our blog, and I’ll do it with a bang!

First of, let me inform you that our gallery system is now fully fonctionnal. Make sure to check it out using the Gallery button at the top of the page. You’ll find two sections, one for still images, and another for our Animations. We’ll make sure to fill it up with more projects as time goes by.

Secondly, and I believe it’s quite important, I’d like to let you know what I plan to do under the banner of MontageStudio. As Jonathan explained it, our goal is push our own skills, but also to share our knowledge with the community. Since MontageStudio now lives as a studio, or an entity if we might say, it is therefore a member of the Blender Community. Jonathan and myself will work, and produce quality learning ressrources to give back the community what it gave us in the past. Jonathan already did alot with his now famous video tutorials and dvds, and here is what I’m planning to do in the next weeks/months.

• As soon as next week, I’ll start recording Timelapses (or visual tutorial as I like to call them) related to mechanical/architectural modelling. These timelapses won’t only benefit the viewer, but also myself.
• As a matter of fact, these timelapses will put the basis in my personnal training to achieve better teaching. I will use the knowledge I gain from these small “visual tutorials” to produce bigger learning ressources such as a complete video tutorial.
• This then lead me to the production of a full training DVD. I expect delivering a first DVD which would cover mechanical Modelling, Texturing, Lighting, Compositing and Rendering by the end of the summer. Keep your eyes open, some more info about my progress will appear on this Blog.

Again, make sure to check out our new Gallery !

Have a nice day,
Jean-Sébastien Guillemette

Hello everyone! As you can see we’re still getting all the stuff worked out and updated from the merge, I just wanted to let everyone know that three of the video tutorials from the previous site are back up. They are: 

1. Modeling a Lowpoly Character
2. Modeling the Female Face
3. Modeling a Human Ear

Modeling a lowpoly character from Jonathan Williamson on Vimeo.

I’ve been looking forward to announcing this for some time now… Montage Studio is no longer a one-man show. Over the last year another artist and I have been in the midst of discussing a merge, per say. Our plan has been to combine our efforts into an online, collaborative studio; allowing us to tackle more diverse, bigger projects. In many ways these plans were nothing more than a dream, the idea originally came up around two years ago. Now it’s a reality.

But who is the other artist? Many of you may know him from the Blender community as Ecks (previously X-Warrior), every one else can call him Jean-Sébastien Guillemette : ) He is a very talented 3D artist with a great eye for design. His city-scapes and incredible vehicle designs have caught a lot of people’s attention over the years. Not to mention several awards. You can see samples of his work over in the new gallery

What does this instill for the future? We have several goals with this merge:

• First and foremost, to continue to produce quality work and push our own skills.
• Secondly, to provide the best service we can to our clients.
• And third, to produce a range of training DVDs to help the growth and continuation of professional training materials within the Blender community.

This is a really exciting time for us, we’re really looking forward to working together and seeing where it takes us! We’ll keep you all updated, expect some new work and announcements soon.

Thanks!

P.S. Oh in case you didn’t notice, the whole site has also been overhauled with a brand new design, new gallery system, and more up-to-date info.

With only a few hours since the last post, this is just a quick update. As I’m sure you’ve noticed I’ve switched my Wordpress theme, but as the previous theme was designed with the content in mind rather than the other way around, things have become rather messy and such. No worries though! Within the next few days I’ll be updating the entire site to match the new theme.

But that’s not all, there’s some other MUCH bigger, exciting news coming as well! That’s all I’ll say for now, though ; )

Hello everyone, I’m deep in the middle of upgrading my Wordpress installation, and as you may have noticed somethings aren’t working right. Lightbox is no longer functioning for images and the whole gallery system is done. Bear with me while I get these things worked out.

Hello everyone, I’m pleased to say that the upcoming Character Creation Training DVD is half way through the recording stage! I’ve recorded the whole introduction bit, where I introduce the new user to Blender’s interface and modeling tools, next is to do the actual character! For those you that have no idea what I’m talking about jump on over to the announcement thread on the BlenderArtists forums: http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=116567&highlight=training+dvd