Clara DOLQUES | CG Generalist - Environment

1. Forest Trail

The main goal of this project was to create a small scale environment in Houdini using heightfield and scattering.

My idea was to make a forest trail during summer, with lots of vegetation and flowers. I like hiking, that's why I had the idea of ​​this rock with this marking well known to French/European hikers.

I briefly used Houdini before this project, it was my first time using it for environment creation.

I discovered the USD pipeline in Maya last summer during my internship so I decided to learn how to use it in Houdini on this project. That's why I chose to render my scene with Karma.

I started by creating the terrain using heightfield.

I downloaded assets from the megascans library which I then converted to USD using Component Builder. Assets containing several variants such as grass or flowers were a little more complicated to convert.

Using speedtree, I created a pine tree which I then exported to Houdini and converted to USD.

I textured my terrain using materialX and I converted it to USD.

I then configured all my instances for my different elements. For each instance, I referenced my USDs. For assets with several variants, I created collections so that they were all used by the instancer.

I put some elements by hand and played with the seeds of my scatters to have a composition that pleased me.

I lighted my scene using a HDRI and some additional lights. I rendered with Karma.

Finally, I used Nuke for compositing: adding atmosphere, depth of field and some colorimetric corrections.

Softwares used: Houdini, Megascans, Speedtree, Nuke

2. Roman temple

The main goal of this project was to practice on Unreal Engine, software that I had only used briefly until then.

I wanted to create an environment inspired by Roman temples and baths. My first task was to find references.

I spent a lot of time working on the image composition. I started with a simple blocking using 3dsmax.

Then I started to replace my blocking by assets from Megascans, the Market Place and Sketchfab.

I started the lighting in parallel of placing more assets.

Then, I added vegetation. I reworked the shaders to add translucency and wind animation.

To break the clean and repetitive aspect of the scene caused by multiple uses of the same assets, I used some decals. Then, I added some volumetric fog.

Next, I created some FX in Niagara in order to discover other aspects of Unreal. Thanks to the documentation and various tutorials, I was able to animate birds in the sky, leaves falling from trees as well as pollen in the air.

A little process view of this project :

Softwares used: Unreal Engine, 3dsmax, Megascans

3. Canon EOS 250D

The main goal of this project was to model, texture and render a hard surface asset. I chose a camera because it was a complex object compared to what I had already modeled before.

Having mainly used 3ds max, Substance Painter and Vray until then, I was able to practice on Maya, Arnold and to discover Mari.

Not having the object at home, I looked for references.

I modeled and made the UVs in Maya. It was my first time using UDIMs.

Texturing was done in Mari. I greatly appreciated the projection tool and the fact that Mari is nodal because it allows more procedural work.  

Then, I rendered my camera inside of Maya, using Arnold.

Softwares used: Maya, Mari, Arnold

4. Conclusion

I learned a lot this year whether it's about pipelines or softwares. I enjoyed working on all of these projects and I am eager to learn new amazing things next year.

Thank you for taking the time to read me and see you next year for my next entry to The Rookies 2025 :)