Medieval Fantasy Home
Render: Arnold (Solid Angle)
Tools: Maya 2017, Photoshop, Quixel Suite (nDo), textures.com
Duration: 3 Months
Date Completed: 09/04/2019
I wanted to build a scene that demonstrated both hard surface and organic modelling, since I had never built a scene that combined the two skill sets together before.
If there is anything I would change, it would probably be the caps of the wood planks and beams, the transition between the body and cap is too sudden and not very believable, some of them have their caps bevelled which did improve them, however, they could still be better. I also wanted to populate the dining area a little more, it looks a little empty. My initial plan was to have the ivy that’s growing on the side of the wall continue to grow and spread across the floor to make seem busier but I didn’t want to overdo it since I already felt like there was enough there. One thing I wished I looked into before generating the trees and grass was MASH, it avoids a lot of the hassle I was going through originally and offers the same outcome, it also gives me more tools to work with to improve the overall look.
I really enjoyed working on this piece, it was a lot of fun and I learnt a lot from it. I look forward to using what I learnt and applying them to my work in the future.
For more information on the development of this project, press the 'How It Was Made' caption above.
Italian Kitchen
This scene was about paying tribute to my Nan, when I was a young my father would take me to visit her, she lived out in the country and spent a lot of her time in the kitchen as she enjoyed preparing food and baking. I wanted to capture that sense of nostalgia from my childhood by recreating that section of her kitchen.
This scene was rendered using ‘mental ray’ with ‘Maya 2017’ as well as ‘Photoshop CS6‘and ‘Quixel Suite’ for texturing. The whole thing took a little over 4 months on and off to complete, as I also had University work to finish on top of it.
I consider modelling to be half the work and texturing the other, however, in this case, I’d say I spent about a third of my time modelling and the rest unwrapping UV’s, making diffuse, specular, gloss, normal and displacement maps for my materials and setting up the lights. It was a challenge getting the glass to behave correctly with the lighting, I spent a large portion of my time tweaking reflection, refraction and Ray Depth values, then re-rendering until I got a result I was comfortable with.
The lighting is what really brings the scene together in my opinion. I finished modelling the environment a few days before starting the final renders, which was to set up the lighting, the colour and the shading to how I wanted it. I used Image Based Lighting, as well as a Directional Light and an Area Light with a Portal Light attached to it that covered the windows, accompanied by a Light Fog.
Overall, I really enjoyed making this environment and all the challenges that came with it, I’m very happy with how it turned out. When making a scene that has a lot of detail packed into not only the models but also the materials, it always feels incredible to see it all come together in the end.
Render: Mental Ray
Tools: Maya 2017, Photoshop, Quixel Suite (nDo)
Duration: 4 Months
Date Completed: 29/04/2017
Forest
Engine: Unreal Engine 4
Tools: Maya 2018, ZBrush, UE4, Speedtree, Photoshop, Quixel Suite (nDo), xNormals
Duration: 9 Days
Date Completed: 14/05/2019
I wanted to quickly throw a scene together in engine to demonstrate my skills in the sculpting of the rocks, as well as my ability to create realistic and flexible materials.
This is primarily focused on the rocks and landscape materials. I created the trees using Speed Tree and the rest of the foliage in Maya.
For more information on the development of this project, press the 'How It Was Made' caption above.
Washing Machine
This project was for an Art Test. My task was to replicate a Washing Machine from the reference images provided within a 7-day time limit.
Some areas of the washing machine were definite challenging, such as creating the pockets for the screws on the inside of the door, as well as the locking mechanism. The back body was also tricky to replicate with having an oddly shaped smooth extruding surface on a flat rectangular mesh. The back of the tub that rotates on the inside of the machine was also a complex shape to create.
However, there was some part that I enjoyed making such as the tube and wire on the back, the glass window that is attached to the door and also the filter.
Despite some areas being fun or challenging, I was happy to have taken the task. I learned a lot from the experience and am grateful for that.
Overall, in the end, I feel that some areas could have been improved, some of the material attributes were just a touch off in terms of reflection and color values, the inside tub is a good example of this, I believe there was a little too much spec on the material. However, I think the final result was accurate and came out really well, and represented the object meticulously.
Render: Mental Ray
Tools: Maya 2017, Photoshop, Quixel Suite (nDo)
Duration: 7 Days
Date Completed: 17/05/2017
