Nick Muraki's Web Page

Welcome to my web page.  I am currently a junior at Chico State in the applied computer graphics major with a minor in communication design.  This site serves as a display board for the work I have created so far in the computer graphics classes I have taken so far.

First, some background of my art.  For as long as I can remember, I have been taking art classes on and off.  My parents noticed that I (as well as my siblings) had an interest in art.  I had art classes (in and outside of school) throughout my elementary school years.  In junior high school I signed up for art classes as they became available.  In junior high I also began taking summer sessions at the Academy of Art in San Francisco.  I took these summer classes for a few years and gained much experience with Adobe Photoshop, some Bryce 3D, and perhaps others.  In high school, I took an art class my sophomore year and then a computer graphic design class my senior year which taught Photoshop and Illustrator and possibly others too.  At Chico State, I took a basic drawing class my second semester (Spring '02).  My sophomore year, I became aware of the proposed applied computer graphics major (became official in Fall '03) and began taking the courses in the program.  The following is the software and functions I have become familiar with over these many years:

    - Photoshop: image manipulation, paint, making frames for animated GIFs

    - ImageReady: producing animated GIFs

    - Aura 2: painting/drawing, image manipulation, 2D animation

    - Lightwave 7: building 3D objects/scenes, creating stills (to be displayed outside Lightwave), creating brief 3D animations (to be played outside LW)

    - Maya 5: building 3D objects, creating brief 3D animations (yet to be played outside Maya)

    - 3D Studio Max: have just begun to learn it

Enough chit chat, now let's see what I have done so far.  Click the link to see the image closer.

Stills...

     First project in the 3D computer modeling class I took was to build a pencil and render and save it.  Made in Lightwave.

     Second project in the class mentioned above.  I consider it pretty decent work.  Made in Lightwave

    I drew this sketch after my group decided what our project (a Lightwave scene) was going to be of/about..

     The jail cells (not including second story cell walk way) I created in Lightwave for my portion of a group project.

     A close-up of an individual jail cell.

    Final project for the class.  Made in Lightwave.

     Different view of the project mentioned above.

    This bouquet was created using Lightwave.  Non-school related.  Text was added in Photoshop to make it a mother's day card.

     Made this in Lightwave and added the text using Photoshop.  A graduation card (duh) for my sister's college graduation.  Non-school related.

     Made this birthday card using, you guessed it, Lightwave.  Non-school related.

    Made this birthday card using Lightwave.  Non-school related.

  Nothing special here, just the story board I drew for the Salt Shaker animation available farther down this page.

One of the courses I took this semester (Spring '04) was an advanced animation production course.  My  group had a complex story and decided to use software none of us had ever used before, Maya 5.  When I learn how to render stills (haven't tried yet so I don't know how easy or difficult it is) , I will make them available on this site.

Animated GIFs....

This is my first animated GIF.  A friend wanted to create this for his website and asked my help with Photoshop which led to us learning ImageReady together for animated GIFs.

This is the second animated GIF I have made.  It is simple, but my mom appreciated it so that's all that matters.  Both of them as you can see are relatively simple.  The fact is, I have gotten the concept of compiling the frames together in ImageReady down well and I have much experience with Photoshop so the possibilities for future animated GIFs are endless.

Animated clips....

Salt Shaker             Made in Lightwave.  The table was provided by Lightwave.  The salt shaker I made and animated myself. 

Solar System           Made in Lightwave.  Objects were made by me, textures are Lightwave presets.  Animated by me as well.

More animated clips to come.  With a 56k connection at the moment, it is too time consuming to upload everything I have.

Graphic Design Stuff....

The following is not so much related to my major (computer graphics) as it is to my minor (communication design).  This is all work that I produced in a "Concepts of Visual Communications" course I took last semester (Fall '03).  Thought I would throw these up on this site.

This project was to produce a map from one given point on the Chico State campus to another point.  The goal was to keep it simple, effective, and accurate.  My (pencil and paper) art was scanned in and put together in Photoshop by me.

This project was to produce a directory of 5 public art pieces and their locations in downtown Chico.  Made in Photoshop.

This project was to learn the concept of grid design by selecting a two page spread layout to display an artist of our choice.  Made in Photoshop.

This was the final project for the course in which we had to write and ad for the Chico Museum.  Done in Photoshop.

Well, that's all for now.  Thanks for checking out what is on this site so far.  Check back in the future for more work from me.

This web page was created on 5/21/2004 and updated on 6/2/2004.  Thank you to Paul Smrz for your help creating and uploading this page as well as donating some web space to me. Paul's Web page here.