Busy Weekend
AllFourDisplays
Originally uploaded by mdpaustin. So last Thursday night, between episodes of Ewan McGregor's Long Way Round, I found a craigslist posting wanting four computer illustrations by Monday afternoon. Craigslist limits the size of a reply so I could only send one example picture of previous work. I sent a picture I had done showing walls rising out of a blueprint and I guess it must have been good enough as I got a call the next morning for a meeting the same day.
Met with the project manager, graphic designer and the head of advertising for half an hour Friday afternoon and left with a fairly good idea of what they wanted: four images of their prospective products rendered at a resolution high enough to print adequately. The modeling, setup and texturing wasn't going to be a problem, the only thing I was worried about was the rendering time for print output. Normally I render at a resolution suitable for video (72dpi) but these images would need to be at least 250dpi, so I was expecting each one to take several hours at least.
Each display had been assigned in order of importance of completion, so once I got back to the apartment I started setting up the first display and modeling the various sections. While the modeling on the first display was fairly straightforward, it was also the one for which I had to find all the textures I would be using throughout the other displays. Most of the first evening was spent on display number one, the floor and the backdrop. Achieved a nice (small) render of display one and sent it off for approval late friday night and set to work on display two, a larger model with five different frame types and light units attached to the top, worked through tedious alignment problems and finished the second setup around 4am Saturday morning.
Started working on the third display around 9am saturday. Definitely the trickiest display of the four as the company had only given me a top down sketch. Carried elements of the previous displays over, but utilized the sweeping indentations of the base to construct a top capable of displaying signage as well. I was most pleased with this unit in the end. About an hour into working on the third display I got a call from the project manager, she approved the first image but requested some changes for the second. It took about forty five minutes to make the changes, render and send off the new image for approval, then set down to finishing the third setup.
Saturday evening I took the first two displays over to render on Lach's faster machine so I could keep working at home while getting some of the time consuming print renders done. Display one took around four and half hours to finish, after which we set up display two to render overnight. Display two took six and a half hours to finish. Sunday morning I was able to start in on display four and had it set up and awaiting approval that afternoon. Got the go-ahead sunday evening and set one image to render on Lach's Apple and the other on mine (plenty of time right? right?). Went up to school after setting up the render to take care of everything the students would need filled/cleaned/ready for school. Saw more people printing between 1 and 4 am than I ever see on a Friday afternoon.
Monday morning rolls around and I get everything ready to take over to the company when the project manager calls and asks how long it would take to make changes on display two. Point blank and without hesitation I say "ten hours". Shocked silence for a second or two and she says "ten hours?"
No matter how clear you try to be about the length of time rendering takes it is something that just falls too far outside most people's experience. I mean really, when was the last time you did anything on a computer that took eight to ten hours? That's like a leisurely drive to El Paso from SA. Anyway, she relented on making any changes (that's what the small proofs were for right?) and I delivered the final images before noon on Monday. Not bad for my part, although it was pretty non stop all weekend.