Boucault_Erwan

Hello there,

I'm Erwan Boucault, i'm 21 years old and i'm captivate by 3D animation and cinema in general. Currently in my 2nd year at ESMA school in France, here's some of by best project I made :) 

Hope you like it :)

THE INSECT

Drawing / Research / References

The first step was to develop and creat the shape and the look of the insect. So for this I made some research and collect references. Here, some of them. Then I choose one insect for main reference and start to add some new attribute on it, and also deform shapes. I was inspired by those insect which can make noise or have bizarre shape on there back. So I wanted to add a particularity to my insect in order to make it unique. So it have a outgrowth on the back that can clap to make noise.

Here's the final drawing :

Modelisation / Surfacing

For the modeling step, I choose to make the bigest shape in Maya and then deform them in Zbrush. After that, I add some surfacing which was very important for this subject.

Shading

Now for my favorite part : The SHADING. I choose one reference. And I paint it in Substance Painter. It was my first time using substance Painter and it was a great discover !! I added some amendment in Renderman and there is the result !!

Rigging

Next, I needed to rigg my insect because it move during the shot. It was very fun to rigg as I added a lot of expression to automate the animation. Like a automate breathing to keep alive the insect while is not moving. Same for the mandible there where automated to move randomly.

Here's the little gymnastic !!

Animation

Afterward I animate my insect. For that I take the layout of my environment and make my insect walk on it. Before that I study how insect walk. Because they have 6 legs and don't walk like any other human or animal. I choose to make my insect slow and lazy because is big for an insect so it's complicate for him to move. But don't worry he have is claping outgrowth to frighten away the predators.

Enviroment / MASH

After that I did the enviroment. So for that I take a main reference. I added some elements in the for groundto creat more depth in the shot. I used the MASH instancer to duplicate my element easily and with lower weight. As well as I changethe size and rotation of all my elements thanks to that. 

Layering / Sampling / Render

To have a lot of controle on my shots in compositing I render it in multiple Layers. But also in multiple AOV. So I divide my light in 3 categories : KEY, FILL and BACK, but also my direct and indirect lights.

For the denoise I render the normal and the albedo (denoise it with FINE).

Compositing

The final step !! This is one of my favorit part : the compositing (in Nuke) !! So I rebuild all my beauties. Then I creat depth of filed thanks to a Zdefocus thanks to the Zdefocus and the z pass. Another thing that important was the : MotionBlur, witch add a lot of realizem. Then I do the amendment for the lighting and shading. I also creat particules to make move the back ground and make it more enchanting, it make the foresst alive.

At the end, for the post production I make some colorimetry calibration and added lens dirt on camera. 

Here's my node editor and the result :)

Here's the final result !!

TIMELAPSE : BUMBLEBEE

This is my last big school project. The goal was to take an object and make it grow older in 20 seconds. So we have to do two different shading and a spread map.

I choose to make BUMBLEBEE because I love the Transfomers in general and it was one of my favorite film when I was a kid. So I enjoy a lot making this project.

Preproduction

At first I creat a folder of preproduction. In it I collect all my references for the modelisation, the shading, the set and the atmosphere. Then I put all that stuff in PureRef to always have that with me when I work.

Layout

In order to make a good and well done modelisation a did a layout fisrt. It help me to understand all the shapes and main pieces i need to do but espacially for the proportion.

Modelisation

Then I started the modelisation of all my pieces with precaution to do a good topology. I did all the right side at first, did the UVs and then, thanks to the duplicate special in maya I duplicat it on the other side.

Shading 

For the shading I needed to make two different shading, one clean and one dirty in order to make it growing older in the render. I did both on subtance painter, I used a lot the anchor point to export all my MASK and rebuild my texture in renderman. Thank to this technic I had more power on each layers of the shading (Rust, Paint, Burn mark...)

Spread map

At this step when I have my 2 textures I needed the spread maps. I choose to make one map for each layer I have. So I created 8 spread map. To do that I created a map in substance designer then I export it. And in Nuke with a Rollof Contrast and some noise that I blend I can make my texture appear when I want. 

Set

Then for the set I choose to make a workbench in a garage. I imagine that someone wanted to repaire BUMBLEBEE but abandonned it after few years. I make the texture of the set in subtance designer and subtance painter. 

Lighting

This lighting was specific because lights needed to move and chance to creat this feeling of a timelapse. So I lighted my 4 shot differently and make the light move, appear and disappear after. 

Layer / AOV / Render

I split my light in 4 categories : KEY, FILL, DOM and BACK in my LPE. And split my indirect an direct light in the AOV. 

Compositing 

After rebuilding my EXR in Nuke I played with my layers and AOV to add some details. Such as, with the Relight and the normal map I add some RIM light in some object. Thanks to the  __depth  I creat an atmosthere in the shots. And I use opticalflare for the lens flare. And here's what it look like :) 

Here's the final result ! Hope you enjoy :)