Alica Klinger - Demo Reel

The Turtle

First of all, I would like to thank the awesome team behind this project! The fantastic lighting and a lot of pipeline work was done by Luise Rolle. The turtle was rigged by Dominik Haase, Lisa-Maria Zeuge created the cute and lifely animation, Lyon Rosenblatt simulated these wonderful stones, while Levin Wunder helped us to import them into Maya. A big thanks to all of these wonderful creators!

Modeling

To create a green sea turtle with realistic anatomical proportions, I’ve decided to model and texture a bones and muscle layer in addition to the model itself. It was surprisingly diffcult to find a profound depth of anatomical studies about green sea turtles. CT scans were a huge help to get a basic understanding of the bone structure.

Creating the Lowpoly Model

Additionally, I've created a simple skin mesh which i retopologized and unwrapped after completing the bone and muscle layer. 

I've paid close attention that the left side of the low poly turtle is unwrapped in the same way as the right side. Later on, this would enable me to mirror my textures in Mari and therefore it simplified the earlier stages of the texturing process.

Creating the Highpoly Model

Texturing

My Base Color went through 4 general stages:

1.  Color Blocking: I first blocked the colors to get an overall feeling for the look.

2. Baked Masks: Afterwards I baked some general Masks in Substance Painter and added them in Mari for some basic color variation.

3. Hand Painted Details: In this stage I hand-painted  some details to reduce the „procedural“ feeling and look of the texture. I mostly focused on the front part of the turtle since this part was the closest to the camera.

4. Weathering: Lastly I’ve painted the previously mentioned weathering effects like dirt and dried water marks to make the little turtle really feel alive.

At first, I've felt quite overwhelmed texturing such a big asset. Therefore, I’ve decided to split up my Mari Graph into different parts of the turtle (face, beak, flippers_front, shell, flippers_back etc.) and work on each part seperately. It was personally easier to obtain an overview using this method.

Based on the Base Color, I've created the Roughness, Coat and SSS_Weight.

The Viking

I’ve always been really fascinated by the nature of skin and how it could be recreated in CG. Therefore, to challenge myself, I’ve decided to work on a human character and show it as my second project in my demo reel.

Since the Viking was one of my first characters ever, it went through several reworks until I ended up with the current result. 

Modeling

For Modeling, I've created a lowpoly version, textured a displacement map in Mari, imported the texture into zbrush and sculpted underneath it. Although this approach is probably more often used with creatures, it can also help with additional details on the human face or clothing. 

Texturing/Shading

For the skin shader, I've used a VrayAISurface shader - a shader specifically designed to reproduce the appearance of skin. This shader uses one diffuse map, three different SSS Maps and two different specular maps.

The Witch

For my last project, I wanted to do something new which was still missing in my portfolio. Hereby, I set myself the challenge to translate a 2D Concept Art to a 3D model by using this amazing concept art by Igor Krstic.  Later on I've decided to make some minor changes for the close-up shot.  I've removed her hood to show off her hair simulation more in detail and added some crystal/chain simulation to achieve a more dynamic shot.

I was really fascinated by the dark fantasy “soulslike” appearance that could go very well with the other projects in my demo reel.

Moreover, my main goal was to work in a pipeline that would enable me to rig and animate or simulate every single piece of the 3d model.

The experience and process of this project consisted of many trials and errors, due to the fact that it involved a lot of different steps in the pipeline. Therefore, I would like to conclude this contest entry with a brief introduction of said pipeline.

Modeling / Texturing / Rigging

1. Modeling the Head and Body:

I’ve started with the modeling and texturing process of the highpoly head and body based on the concept art.

2. Zwrap:

In the second step of the process, I’ve imported a Metahuman from Quixel Bridge into Zbrush.

After that I wrapped the metahuman mesh onto my sculpted head and body mesh with ZWrap. The main idea was to combine my mesh with the topology of a metahuman.

3. Transfer:

By sharing the same topology it was now possible to transfer the Metahuman rig to my custom mesh with an awesome tool by Uzay Caliskan called Metapipe.

4. Adding Custom Blendshapes:

The step did not end after the transfer! I needed to add a few custom blendshapes to correct specific motions like the closing of an eye to guarantee a flawless facial animation.

Body Animation

1. Receive Motion Capturing:

Due to the amazing work by Veselin Krstovski, my model was provided with motion capturing data which can be seen in the video above.

2. Transfer:

I’ve decided to use HumanIK in Maya to transfer the mocap onto my rig, since the process seemed to be the most straightforward one.

3. Bake:

Afterwards I’ve baked the Mocap onto my rig in the HumanIK Editor.

Facial Animation

1. LiveLink

I’ve used the LiveLink app, provided by Epic Games to capture the animation data directly in Unreal.

2. Export:

By using a script from Swnolan called “metahuman_facial_transfer” I’ve exported the animation data from Unreal to Maya and transferred it onto my metahuman mesh

Clothing

1. Create Clothing in Marvelous Designer

At the beginning I created the clothing in Marvelous Designer. This step served to create an overall base which did not have to be very detailed. The finalised version of the clothing will be done in Zbrush later on.

2. Retopologize the created clothing

Afterwards, I exported it to Maya and retopologized the triangulated mesh.

3. Add Details in Zbrush

Then the retopologized mesh was exported to Zbrush to add the details. In some regard it was necessary to repose some of the clothes while making sure it still matches the concept.

Thank you!

At this point I want to say thank you all the people who supported me along the way!

A big thanks goes to Luise Rolle, Lyon Rosenblatt, Levin Wunder, Lisa-Maria Zeuge, Dominik Haase and Veselin Krstovski for the amazing collaboration on these projects!

I would also like to thank David Mehlen for supporting me with the rigid body simulations of the crystals!

I also want to thank Fabrizio Meli, who supported me during my time at PIXL VISN!

Lastly I wanted to thank Stefan Klosterkötter for being an amazing mentor!

Thank you for reading!