Author: Ben Wagner

I had a bit of an issue trying to get a reliable leather texture for the shoe.  The Maya renderer also likes to add in noise once it’s finished, which distorted a lot of the textures.

This is my first past at the model for Storhund, the dog that escaped the illegal dog lab.  I wanted to take some extra time to work on his fur, but clearly still need to improve it a bit.  This is the rough zbrush file, since it wouldn’t export to Maya for a better render.

After rereading the sign next to the busted cage, Detective Speurder realizes that this Storhund that escaped is a Tibetan Mastiff.  He realized these dogs can grow to be bigger than men and look more lion than dog, and that’s without genetic mutation.  He couldn’t imagine what it would look like now.  Between whatever was in the syringe and the panicked state he assumed it would be in, Speurder knew that this not so “wittle doggo” would be highly aggressive upon seeing anyone, including himself.

Here’s my first pass at creating the dog pound breakout scene I described in my last post.  It’s definitely not perfect and going forward, I look to smooth out the paper on the clipboard, refine the shoe, and redefine the bite taken out of the bowl in the cage.  Additionally, I’m looking to put more appropriate textures on the objects, instead of just basic colors.

Detective Speurder didn’t want to be going to the pound.  Yeah, he had always seen it and promised Millie he would take her to see the “wittle doggos” at least a hundred times, but he never meant it.  But now here he was, on a Saturday night, his one day off, walking into the pound for some mysterious call his boss wouldn’t outright explain.

No one was at the front desk, which he found odd, but he rang their little bell anyways.  Ten minutes went by, and still, no one showed up.  He rang the bell again.  After no one came to help him, he decided to help himself and go into the back, where they kept all the dogs.

The first thing he noticed when he opened the door was the smell. Don’t pounds have to follow some sort of health code?  It smelled of wet dog, piss, and something far fouler, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

As Speurder took a step into the hallway, he felt a crunch under his feet.  Fearing the worst, he made himself look down, but it was simply dog food.  It formed a thin layer over the floor, spilling from a nearby bag that was looked like it was bitten into by a dog.

And that ‘s when he noticed the noise…or rather, the lack thereof.

The hallway stretched for 20 meters or so, with cages lining the entire length, but every single one was empty.  Stains showed where dogs had left their marks, with more than one looking like dried blood.  Beside each cage was a temporary plaque that described the dog that once inhabited it.  Among them, there was Max, a seven-year-old golden retriever who was blind in one eye and Bo Peep who was an eleven-month-old dachshund with only three legs…that died two months ago?  Why would they keep her plague up if she had passed on?

That’s when Detective Speurder noticed the scratches on the floor leading to one particular cage that belonged to…Storhund?  This cage was clearly the reason he was here, given the gaping hole in the fence and the large scratches both inside and out.  He concluded the hound must have broken out, but how?  All of the fences were very thick, even for humans.  So how did this dog manage to bust one nearly in half?

Speurder looked inside the cage and saw the same as every other cell: the piss stains, matted down hair, and a dried blood.  What really caught his eye was the giant bite taken out of the bowl.  This dog was definitely not all bark.  Looking outside of the cell, he noticed a lone leather shoe, tipped on its side.  It was black and seemed to be the type worn by those who wanted to seem more professional than they actually were.  Next to the shoe, he spotted what looked like an empty syringe.

That’s when it hit him.  This wasn’t a pound.  It was an illegal research facility masquerading as a pound.  Somewhere here they developed chemical substances to test on these dogs.  Most seemed to be fatal, but one…one seemed to have been successful.  As successful as you can call a hyperaggressive abnormally strong dog that can break through steel like bamboo.  The “researcher” that was monitoring this Storhund must have gotten in his way and been dragged off, his shoe getting left behind as he frantically kicked either the dog or to gain purchase.

This was turning out to be a rather interesting Saturday night after all.

For my robot, I drew inspiration from the Lockheed Martin robot mule, which can autonomously follow a patrolling platoon while carrying their combined gear.  The biggest challenge I faced was trying to bend the cylinders so that they looked like they provided the same structural support the real pipes provide.

For my self-portrait, I tried to include the multiple facets of my WPI career.  Currently, I am a mechanical and robotics engineering dual major.  One of my primary reasons for this came when I was about ten years old and saw Iron Man for the first time.  After finishing the movie, I knew I wanted to make my own suit, like most children who watched it, however, that is not a realistic career path.  Instead, I’ve chosen to pursue a career in the development of defense technologies- essentially working for the military from the civilian side.

In order to portray that goal in my collage, I inserted the iconic Iron Man mask under my face to represent the desire that is always with me as well as speaks to my analytical mindset. In addition to this, I placed the Empire symbol from the Star Wars franchise and the symbol for Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity on opposing shoulders in a mimicry of the patches and tattoos that soldiers wear in order to identify themselves to others.  Finally, the cavity in the center of my chest is supposed to be a comparison between the power station of some building or large robot and what I use in order to stay awake and functioning every day.

Below, you can find the pictures and links to all of the reference images I used.

http://www.tke.org/

https://www.intersil.com/en/applications/led-lighting/small-lcd-panel.html

https://sanjanicia.deviantart.com/art/San-Janicia-Room-Metal-508427988

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fc1.staticflickr.com%2F9%2F8248%2F8650741214_2f99b34311_b.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.flickr.com%2Fphotos%2F8050182%40N06%2F8650741214&docid=Ecau533T1rcVRM&tbnid=EJZKNH6IvuibwM%3A&vet=10ahUKEwjQnYXosITZAhWGrVkKHRixAr8QMwiKASgCMAI..i&w=768&h=1024&bih=735&biw=1517&q=iron%20man%20helmet%20front&ved=0ahUKEwjQnYXosITZAhWGrVkKHRixAr8QMwiKASgCMAI&iact=mrc&uact=8

 

https://californiahandyman.com/hot-water-heater-installation/

Here is the original photo I used (I’m not entirely sure why it’s upside down):

Additionally, I took inspiration for my face from this picture:

https://mobile.digitalartsonline.co.uk/tutorials/photoshop/cyborg-revealed/

 

 

This is my nephew.  His name is Tuna and he’s a seven-month-old Australian Shepherd puppy.  He’s become an integral part of our family, bringing our family even closer together, despite living in North Carolina.  I used this picture my sister sent me while I was away on IQP for my reference.  Being an Australian Shepherd, Tuna has a long fur.  This proved quite the challenge when it came to deciding which colours to use for which sections, as more than one could be applied.

Here’s the final vector tracing: