Alexandre Gauch - Environment generalist - Demoreel 2024

Here is my demoreel for 2024. Just below, you can find more breakdowns and information about all the projects you will see. I hope you will appreciate it !

The objective of this project was to create a dense alien sci-fi city, protected by a giant dome, where natural resources are preserved. However, an enemy ship intruded on the territory and attempted to attack. I was responsible for creating all aspects of the environment, from modeling to compositing. I was not responsible for the FX and the animation of the spaceship and the camera.

Software used : Houdini, Maya, Speedtree, Substance Painter, Nuke.

Rendering with Arnold.

Here's the breakdown of the set dressing and compositing. The scattering was done in Houdini, and to optimize the scene, different levels of detail were created for each building based on their distance from the camera. Lighting was also handled in Houdini, with final compositing completed in Nuke. I used a shot from "Lightyear" as a reference.

This is the turn of all the scattered assets that I modeled and textured. The modeling was done in Maya, and the texturing in Substance Painter.

Next, let's focus on the spaceship. It was also modeled in Maya. After creating the main shape, I added multiple smaller shapes to enhance the details. These were carefully laid out on the spaceship. Texturing was done using Substance Painter.

Continuing with the compositing, I handled all environment compositing except for the FX. To enhance the atmosphere, I combined my CG atmosphere and fog pass with 3D fog cards using position masks. This allowed for accurate positioning of the cards with the camera movement. Additionally, to ensure the sky followed the camera movement, I projected it onto a sphere.

For the spaceship's reactor, I animated distortion masks behind it. For the final touches, I applied defocus using the "Bokeh" node, along with lens distortion, lens flare, lens dirt, and camera shake.

As previously mentioned, I used a shot from "Lightyear" as a reference.

To conclude this project, here is the heightfield created in Houdini. To position the mountains where I wanted, I used curves on the grid and then employed the "width" attributes with a ramp to achieve interesting shapes. Subsequently, I utilized "heightfield project" to incorporate them into the heightfield. By using multiple heightfields nodes, I obtained the desired shapes. After converting to polygons, I applied displacement nodes for the final details. To optimize the terrain, I remeshed it using masks, allowing for areas with low topology density and greater detail where needed. The texturing was also procedural. I blended multiple textures from Megascans and utilized different masks created on the heightfield to apply various textures.

The goal of this project was to create a Mustang race at the "Bugatti Circuit". I was responsible for all aspects except for the crowd FX and the animation of the cars and the camera.

Software used: Maya, Substance Painter, Mari, Nuke.

Rendering with Arnold.

You can see here various passes from the grey render to the final compositing stage. The modeling was done in Maya. For texturing, I used Substance and Mari, depending on the requirements. I mainly used Mari for projecting different logos and advertisements onto the surfaces.

Continuing with the compositing, to decrease render time, the beauty pass was separated into two parts: the foreground and the background, which were then combined in Nuke. Using the "Position to Point" node, I positioned the sky at the appropriate distance from the camera. Lens flares on the car headlights were animated manually, and I also added some autoflares.

As with other projects, after compositing the different AOVs passes, for the finishing touches, I applied defocus using the "Bokeh" node, along with lens distortion, optical glow, a touch of chromatic aberration, camera shake, and final color grading.

Here you can see the modeling of the Mustang done in Maya. I used a detailed blueprint of a Mustang GT as reference and created the car's shape with curves. Then, I created polygons based on these curves to obtain the main body shape of the car.

I present to you now the third project of my demoreel. The idea was to create a dense Amazonian jungle with a Maya temple lost within it. I was responsible for all aspects except for the grass and the stones on the ground, which I sourced from the Megascans library.

Software used: Houdini, Maya, Speedtree, Substance Painter, Nuke.

Rendering with Redshift.

To provide more detail about this work, the trees and ivy on the temple were all created in SpeedTree. The temple itself was made in Maya and textured with Substance Painter. To optimize the scene, all the trees were used as instances for the set dressing. The heightfield and its procedural texturing were created in Houdini. I created a fog box using different volume nodes and placed it where I wanted. For the water, I used displacement on a grid and created a water shader with the color of an Amazonian lake as a reference.

To conclude with this project, for the compositing, I used the same techniques and nodes as in my other projects. One detail regarding the water: I added a bit of distortion to create a subtle movement.

To finish with my entry, here is my last project. I used the artwork of "Jean-Michel Bihorel" as inspiration for it. I really liked the idea of placing a giant human body in a natural landscape, so I chose this concept and tried to create my own version. My objective was to depict a giant statue sleeping on a snowy landscape. I was responsible for all aspects of this project except for the trees and the base mesh of the statue.

Software used: Houdini, Nuke.

Rendering with Arnold.

To begin with, here is the breakdown of the set dressing and different passes from CG to final compositing. I used references from the Alps for the landscape and lighting.

To continue, I will now present in more detail my workflow for creating the heightfield. Once I selected the statue scan from a library, my goal was to incorporate it into the landscape. To achieve this, I first created a terrain with mountains and left space in the center for the statue.

My workflow for heightfield conception involves creating the overall shape, adding large noise, and applying an initial erosion step for the large features. I then repeat this process for medium and small features. Simultaneously, I apply noise and erosion passes to the statue, ensuring it integrates well with the landscape. Once satisfied with the result, I use "heightfield project" to merge both heightfields.

After merging, I continue adding details to the scene, aiming to create a snowy appearance on the rocks. Following the conversion to polygons, I apply displacement nodes for final details (such as triplanar displace and VOP), similar to my sci-fi project. I also optimize the terrain by remeshing it using masks to ensure areas with low topology density and greater detail where needed, particularly in areas with displacement.

For procedural texturing, I utilize masks created during the heightfield conception to apply textures. I blend multiple rock and snow textures using noise to break tiling and add variation.

Finally, here are the before and after shots of the compositing. The workflow was similar to my other projects. I should specify that I used some snowfall overlays that I added during compositing.

Thank you for your attention, and I hope you enjoyed the presentation !