My first years at 3D animation school.

My first years at 3D animation school. 

Hi ! 

My name is Lucas and I learn 3D Animation in ESMA Nantes. This is my second year and this is some of my best project so far. 

In my first two years at school I made a lot of projects to learn the most around the world of the 3D. Here’s my 3 best projects. 

Microcosmos - The Insect. 

In this project we need to create an insect from beginning to finish. The final product must be a 5 seconds shot with an insect in his environment.

To start the project we need of course some references, so I started searching insect everywhere on internet and also around me outside ! 

Once I had gathered enough documentation I made some drawings to make my ideas alive and then I created a quick mock-up with Photoshop to get an idea of ​​the final result.

After having built my idea of ​​an insect I had to start modeling it. I used Maya and Zbrush for the shell and some details of the legs.

Scuplting was quite a difficult step as it was my first time using ZBrush. Using the software is quite pleasant but it was more complicated when exporting the displacement maps and adding them to Maya because this requires some precise adjustments.

I then textured the insect to give it life and a realistic look using Substance painter, Photoshop, Zbrush and Maya's Hypershade. 

I really enjoyed shading my insect because it was the first time I used Substance Painter and I was pleasantly surprised by how easy the software was to use.

However, I had some difficulty getting the correct iridescence on the shell.

So I went to find out about the different parameters to adjust on the Pixar's RenderMan website in order to deepen my knowledge, so I stayed in artistic mode in order to correctly adjust the Falloffspeed and the Fallofscale, I also chose that the iridescence remains between the blue color and the green color to remain faithful to my references.

Once the insect was created I had to rig it and then animate it. I had several courses on character rigging before rigging my insect but it was interesting to work on your own modeling and thus to see our mistakes and correct them to have an animable character in good conditions

In order to animate I had to create its natural habitat so that it could move around in it. I made some assets for the environment like Mushrooms, Pine cones, Pine Straws and Moss.

Then I layered the 2 shots to make it easier during the compositing stage and rendered it with Pixar Renderman.

The different layers allowed me to have the most accurate depth of field possible without having interference between them. This also allows you to adjust the sampling between the different layers to have rendering times that are less costly in terms of time and energy.

And here's the final result, my Dentispina Luciferum come alive ! 

And here's the breakdown of the project.

The Backshop - The shoemaker

For my last project of my first year, I had to create a back shop of my choice, so I chose a French shoemaker in 1930.

So I started the project by looking for different angles for the 2 different views.

Then I search differents lighting and atmosphere of my backshop. We also had to make an illustration of our environment. 

Then I start modeling and shading the different assets of the room.

I really like looking for references to past objects because it teaches us things about history and about objects that we no longer use now but which were previously used in everyday life.

Shading is my favorite part of projects because that's when the differences between 3D and reality can sometimes become blurred. It is at the shading stage that objects come to life and embody a story of their own.

I finally render the two views with Pixar Renderman. 

Timelapse - Gas Pump 

For my last project of my second year, I had to create a timelapse of an object.

The objective was to age the object of our choice over time by degrading its texture. I chose to make a gas pump from California.

So I started as usual by searching some references. 

Then start modeling the pump and the station on Maya.

After the modeling, I unfold the UV's in Maya and textured my assets with Substance Painter and Photoshop.

It was quite a long step because I wanted to have a realistic rendering and I had several different textures to study and shade but as usual it was my favorite part.

For the dirty pump I created 3 differents shaders with the Pixar Layersurface in Renderman. The base layer was clean, then I created a second layer of metal below the paint so that it would be visible when the paint peeled off and finally I created a final layer of rust for the damage at the end of the sequence. 

To make the texture evolve over time I created different masks using the curvature and occlusion maps that I obtained in substance.

Then, I combined them with a noise and a roll of contrast in Nuke to make them evolve over time

I was not satisfied with the first rendering because the rust layer spread too much on the pump, so I found a solution by constraining the evolution with to a mask that I created in Substance Painter with different layers for more realism and control in the final shading of the pump.

Once I was satisfied with the propagation and my different shots I was able to make the layers and the AOV's of my different shots and finally launch the renderings with RenderMan.

For this project I decided to light my shots with a neutral white light, so I had greater freedom in the temperatures and intensity of each light during compositing.

During the compositing stage I rebuilt my beauty and used the utilities to get the look I wanted. The biggest part of the compositing was adding the sky in the background and matching it to the colorimetry of the shots.

To add the sky I created a 10k scale sphere where I projected my HDRI, I also previously exported my cameras in alembic to have a coherent parallax.

Here's my raw sequence

And here's the final result ! (to imagine with "Hotel California - The Eagles" because I can't put the music on YT) 

Here's a breakdown of my workflow ! 

Thank you for taking the time to read my article, I hope you enjoyed it, if you have any questions do not hesitate to contact me!