CGI Bunny

Welcome to my CGI project featuring a cute little bunny. I developed it during my time at PIXL VISN, and it has been one of my best pieces ever since.

Join me as I break down the project and share my workflow with you.

Planning the shot

Planning out the shot is very important. It helps in determining what needs to be done and what doesn't. It also clarifies what should get more attention and what is not in focus.

I was mostly inspired by this shot. It's a close-up of animal photography with beautiful lighting and composition. I wanted my shot to be more vibrant and cinematic, and in a 21:9 aspect ratio.

Creating the Bunny

After planning out the shot, I knew what I had to focus on in asset creation. This included:

Creating the upper body of the bunny:
- Modeling in Blender
- Texturing in Mari
- Rigging in Maya
- Grooming in Houdini
- Animating in Maya

Creating the animation and placing the bunny into the scenery was the next step in bringing the shot to life. This also included rigging the bunny, which I've done in Maya.

After completing this step, I spent more time working on the lighting and adding mood to the scene. The goal was to create a morning atmosphere, with strong sunlight shining on the bunny and creating a beautiful subsurface-scattering effect.

Choosing between Lumen and Path-Tracing in Unreal Engine was a significant decision. Here you can see a comparison of both. The left image was rendered with Lumen, and the right with the built-in Path-Tracer in Unreal. In the end, I decided to mostly use the Path-Tracer, but also mixed in parts of the Lumen-rendered image to get the best of both renderers.

                              Lumen             |            Path Tracer

Finalizing the shot in compositing

By using compositing, I was able to elevate my project to the next level and truly bring it to life. Using the software Nuke, I added depth, contrast, and enhanced the mood, boosting the overall visual impact of my work. Check out the short breakdown below to see how much of a difference compositing can make, taking my project from good to awesome.

Additional References

Here are some additional references that helped me a lot in creating the bunny as realistically as possible.

Thoughts and things I learned

Reflecting on my project and comparing it to its earlier stages, I'm thrilled with the transformation that has taken place. There were some aspects of the project I would have approached differently or elements I would like to incorporate. For example, vegetation moving in the wind or using Unreal Engine for simulation in the first place, instead of trying to simulate in Houdini. Additionally, integrating the bunny with all its rigging and animations into Unreal Engine posed a significant challenge.
Currently, I'm creating a simple guide to help other artists smoothly integrate animations featuring rigged characters into Unreal Engine, inspired by the challenges I've faced.

But other than that I wouldn't change the workflow that I used. I know, I would be able to do something similar way faster now. I still have a lot to learn but I loved every bit of diving into new workflows and technology.

Thank you for taking your time and checking out my project! I hope you liked it and feedback is always appreciated!