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Blog

Retro Video Game Nostalgia

Work Table

Koichi Donovan Nakai (Don)

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Found this beautiful solid wood table on the curb side with a “free” sign on it. It’s tall so it makes it much more comfortable setup my light scenes. That light setup was also found at a garage sale last year for $5. We are moving up in this world! •

#garagesale #photography #thrifting #photographer #garage #studio #table

Zen Garden

Koichi Donovan Nakai (Don)

Zen Garden

#cg #redshift #redshift3d #zbrush #houdini #houdinifx #3dmodelling #lighting #rendering #art #render #vfx #zen #zengarden #aftereffects #adobe

Meet robo

Koichi Donovan Nakai (Don)

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Meet robo. Half robot half gremlin. He eats bitcoins.

Had another Creative Zbrush session... just play some music, make shapes, just go with it and you never know what will come out...

#zbrush #zbrush2018 #redshift3d #redshiftrender #redshift #vfx #houdini #houdinifx #pixologic #digitalart #digitalartist #creature #robot #gremlin #art #cg #cgi

Zbrush 2018 experimentation

Koichi Donovan Nakai (Don)

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We are in an age where we can photograph our imagination with tools like Zbrush 2018 and renderers like Redshift. Took the time tonight to play around with the new sculptris pro and “project primitives” features in zbrush. I love how you can use the swirl brush in all its glory thanks to dynamic tessellation. Very exciting stuff.

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#zbrush #zbrush2018 #redshift #redshift3d #nvidia #digitalart #3d #3drendering #vfx #3dsmax #lighting #cgi #sculpting #castle #cloud #pixologic

Stroopwafel United Airlines

Koichi Donovan Nakai (Don)

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Nothing like a good ole United Airlines Stroopwafel in the mornin’. Cool chewy caramel in the center, sweet crispy waffle on the outside... it’s like that warm Summer’s blanket left out in the sun after you’ve been in air conditioning all day. Comforting in every respectable way.

As soon as the Stroopwafel lands on my tray table, I rip open the packaging and take two savory bites. I then restrain myself from taking any more bites and wait patiently for the drink cart to inch it’s way to my row.

“Would you like something to drink?” Asks the flight attendant

“Yes please, I am very thirsty.”

Stroopwafel is an excellent companion to a cup of black United Airlines Coffee. I usually have enough waffle left for one quick dip and a gobble. I am sad when there is no more Stroopwafel and I often find myself eying half eaten waffles sitting on the tray tables of my neighboring passengers. I think they think I am trying to watch their movie on their phone... but no... I am actually just wishing to eat their Stroopwafel.

Some people are blinded by their screens these days. Endless scrolling, watching seasons and seasons of moving pictures. These people are looking for joy and fulfillment on their tablets and “smart” phones, yet they have no idea what is sitting right in front of them. I’m screaming inside “Would you put your phone down for just one second and finish eating that Stroopwafel!? It’s killing me!”

The flight attendant is now making her rounds with trash collection. Unlike the beverage cart, the trash cart moves down the aisle faster than a Nascar Racer who needs to use the restroom on the last lap of a Daytona 500.

“I’ll take that for you”

Says The flight attendant as she swiftly cleans up everyone’s mess and half eaten Stroopwafel. Noooooo...

End of Blog post.

Koopa Troopa Amiibo

Koichi Donovan Nakai (Don)

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Slow and steady wins the race my friends. Just keep at it like a Koopa Troopa.

#amiibo #nintendo #videogame #videogames #dontgiveup #keepgoing #anime #koopatroopa #mario #supermario #canon #longexposure #slowshutter #lightart #toyphotography #toy #motivation #turtle #shell #walk

Miphas Grace

Koichi Donovan Nakai (Don)

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Mipha’s Grace

#zelda #botw #nintendo #nintendoswitch #toy #mipha #videogames #fish #toyphotography #lightart #canon #adobe #vfx #longexposure #breathofthewild #anime #slowshutter #aftereffects #lightroom

Daruk Amiibo

Koichi Donovan Nakai (Don)

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Daruk the Gordon Champion. This guy is a fun guy.

#amiibo #nintendo #zelda #breathofthewild #zeldabreathofthewild #mario #nintendoswitch #nintendowiiu #videogames #anime #toy #toyphotography #longexposurephotography #longexposure #slowshutter #lightpainting #adobe #adobeaftereffects #adobelightroom #aftereffects #vfx #macro #macrophotography #voltexamiibo #daruk

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Bowser Mario Odyssey Amiibo

Koichi Donovan Nakai (Don)

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Bowser Odyssey Amiibo

#amiibo #marioodyssey #bowser #mario #nintendoswitch #nintendo #vfx #longexposure #longexposurephotography #videogames #gamer #macro #macrophotography #voltexamiibo #dustygamebox #adobe #lightroom #aftereffects #compositing #retrogaming #collector #toy #toyphotography #nin10do @nintendo #monster #halloween

Bowser Mario Odyssey Amiibo

Koichi Donovan Nakai (Don)

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Bowser Odyssey Amiibo

#amiibo #marioodyssey #bowser #mario #nintendoswitch #nintendo #vfx #longexposure #longexposurephotography #videogames #gamer #macro #macrophotography #voltexamiibo #dustygamebox #adobe #lightroom #aftereffects #compositing #retrogaming #collector #toy #toyphotography #nin10do @nintendo #monster #halloween

How to take a Depth Photo with the Iphone 7 Plus

Koichi Donovan Nakai (Don)

Did you know that you can capture depth data on your iPhone 7plus? Depth data is essentially a black and white image that reflects depth information. The lighter values mean the object is closer. The darker values mean the object is farther back.

Depth Map - The lighter values mean the object is closer. The darker values mean the object is farther back.

Depth Map - The lighter values mean the object is closer. The darker values mean the object is farther back.

This depth map is often used by CG artists and in the visual effects industry. We call this zdepth- data along the Z axis.

Zdepth - Data along the Z axis

Zdepth - Data along the Z axis

With depth data you can do things like change the focus, add a foggy background, and achieve parallax effects.

With Z-depth Data you can achieve blur, fog, and parallax effects

With Z-depth Data you can achieve blur, fog, and parallax effects


The iPhone 7 Plus has two cameras on the front. These two cameras essentially work like our two eyeballs. Simply by comparing two images and subtracting the difference in parallax, the processor can calculate depth.

In portrait mode, the iPhone knows how to blur out the background thanks to this depth data.
The cool thing is that now with iOS 11 you can actually capture raw depth data as an image using the iPhone 7 Plus. At the moment I couldn’t find apps in the store, however, you can get developer code from apple’s developer program.

Here is What You Will Need

  1. A Mac that has the latest OS
  2. Xcode 11
  3. An iPhone 7 plus with a USB lightning cable

Steps

  1. First we are going to install Xcode
  2. And download the three sample AVCam developer apps. Your going to get AVCam, wiggle me (Using Depth Data), and AV Cam Photo Filter
  3. load the project file in Xcode
  4. Plug in your phone
  5. Choose your user
  6. And push play

Do this for all three developer apps
 

Now the apps should be on your phone.

Let’s start with AV cam
Turn on depth data delivery
Turn on Live Photo mode
Now take a picture.

This looks like a normal photo. Don’t be fooled though. Embedded inside this pic is the depth data. With a depth data app like wiggle me we can make use of it.

Open the wiggle me app and Load the picture.

Woah 3d....
You can pinch to zoom and move your phone around to see what happens. That my friends is the power of depth data.

Now I am going to use AVCam photo filter to capture raw depth data.
And see what I can do with this image in After Effects and Zbrush

Load AVCam photo filter, Turn on depth,
Slide the bottom slider all the way up
Now at first It’s going to look all glitchy.

 

choose smooth, And voila, you have depth data
With a tripod  Snap a depth photo
Next slide the bottom slider all the way down

And snap a normal photo

Now we will use these two images to create a 3d version of this photo

In After effects I will be using Volumax Pro which can be found on videohive.net.

This is an awesome After Effects template made by Cream Motion
 

Essentially it takes a 2d image and turns it into 3d using this depth map


Just open the project, put your image in “your picture comp”

make sure to cover all the entire canvas
Copy the picture and paste it into “2 Your Displacement Map.”

 

And now you can move and animate this image in pseudo 3d.

 

Using depth data

 

Let’s take it one step further

 

and actually make a real 3d model with this depth data.




 

Alt click your depth file and drag it over your layer so that we have an exact scale and placement.

Open up main comp 4k and now you can move and animate this image in pseudo 3d using depth data!

Let’s take it one step further and actually make a real 3d model from this depth data

First let’s crop these photos into nice squares.

 

We are going to use 4096 x 4096 pixels
 

Render those guys out

 

Next we’re going to open Zbrush and make a plane

Hit T on the keyboard
And select “Make Polymesh 3d”
Under “Texture” load the color image and apply the texture to the plane

Next in the alpha selector, load your zdepth map image

Under masking choose mask by alpha

Now if we turn off our texture we can see that this geometry has been masked based off the Z-depth data

Let’s deform the geometry using the depth data as our stencil.

We will use the “offset” deformation along the z axis
 

There, now have this 3d image


But you’ll notice these artifacts

 

That’s because there is not enough bit depth in this image

Until this capturing technology improves to include more depth data, we will have to simply blur the mask.

 

So let’s blur the mask, lower our poly count, and deform again.

 

There, much smoother.

Now we have full 3d control over our image.

Although it is not perfect, there is definitely room for development

 

This depth map capturing technology is good enough to do some basic parallax and blur effects.

But once we can capture more depth information


we will be able to manipulate things like lighting, shadows, and even capture our real environments into 3d virtual space.

Think about it... what if we were able to capture depth over the course of time? We would be able to recreate space and time... then we can jump back to that space in time. Yes, That is correct... I am talking about time travel!

But until then... I hope you enjoyed this video, please like share and subscribe! I would love to see how deep people can take depth data! Thanks for watching the Dusty Gamebox

Alm Amiibo portrait

Koichi Donovan Nakai (Don)

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Alm Amiibo Portrait

#amiibo #alm #fireemblem #vfx #gaming #nintendoswitch #nintendo #nintendo3ds #anime #macrophotography #macro #toyphotography #toys #toy #fanart #longexposure #slowshutter #aftereffects #adobe #lightroom #canon #canon6d #lightpainting #lightart #voltexamiibo

Samus Amiibo Closeup

Koichi Donovan Nakai (Don)

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Samus Closeup using my new extender tubes. It’s a totally different world in macro land.

#amiibo #macro #macrophotography #extendertube #longexposure #toyphotography #slowshutter #lighting #metroid #samus #videogames #gamer #retrogames #instagamer #nintendo #nintendoswitch #samusreturns #lightart #anime #robot #vfx #scifi #aftereffects #adobe #canon #lightroom