Nira's VFX Blog
A journey through my master

Category: Advanced & Experimental

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Advanced & Experimental Group Showreels

Week 12: Group Project Showreel & Critical Review

In this final week, I put together my group project showreel to show the final outcome and my models breakdown, and I also wrote my critical review about this project.

Steampunk group project showreel

Critical review

This project was full of ups and downs. However, I feel like all of the components of this group have been professional, helpful, understanding, and a pleasure to work with. Communication is key in a group project and more when there is a time constrain that requires efficiency and accuracy. This team have definitely comply with their individual tasks and exceeded expectations. As a group, we managed to have all tasks finished on time, and we managed to discussed openly many issues we had throughout this project.

From my side, I have assumed the look dev artist role which I was very pleased with. I admit that look dev artists have the pressure of finishing the models as soon as possible so I did not really reach the point in my model where I was completely satisfied. For example, I had issues with my hologram model as it was way too heavy for the scene and I had to reduce the poly count of the model in order for it to work. I also had to remodel the base of the hologram as we were unsure how to make it work in the scene. While the hologram was a bit of a problem for me, the spaceship and the radio models were good and I just had to make small changes to them that would not vary their final look.

On another note, I have taken a lot of new knowledge from this: I have learnt to use Substance Painter to create my own textures which has opened another important door as a 3D artist; I have improved my modelling skills to have a polished finish in my topology to make it as much optimised as possible (and avoid future issues in crowded scenes such as this steampunk comp); I have also learnt how to create proper UV maps and the several techniques to do so; and lastly, I have also learnt how this industry pipeline works on general basis, which also is good to experience as it has given me an idea on what pathways I would like to go after I finish this master.

Categories
Advanced & Experimental Personal Showreels

Week 12: Personal Showreel & Critical Review

In my final week I finally put together my personal project showreel, detailing the project’s breakdown and final outcome

Personal Project Showreel – Mayan Environment

Critical Review

This project has been both enlightening and challenging. Thinking about my targets I set to myself before I started with this journey, I consider that I have fulfilled more than I expected. I was aware that I set a complex task to myself and that it would require to give up certain aspects in order to keep up with the deadline. I think that all that I was planning to achieve has been done with the exception of the final comp, where I was planning to show a change from day to night in the sky, playing with the lighting conditions. I also would have done many things differently such as UVs and texturing; this part could have been done better if I could have done the textures myself in Substance Painter how I was planning to do originally. However, due to obvious reasons (time constrains) I had to opt for downloaded textures that look overall good, but not at 100% how I would have wanted to. The river simulation is also another aspect that I would have wanted to expend more time with, as I consider I have not had the chance to practice simulations in depth in this course.

On the bright side, I also consider that I have improved my modelling and texturing skills by learning how to shape more organic models and how to use textures in my benefit to reduce the modelling time (e.g. using textured cards for the leaves instead of modelling them). I also learned a lot about water simulation and I had the chance to practice further my compositing skills with Nuke, programme that I have not had the time to use since end of term 2.

Categories
Advanced & Experimental Personal

Week 11: Motion Blur in Maya, Matte Painting in Photoshop, Nuke Comp, & Final Render

This week, I researched pictures that I would use for my matte paintings in Photoshop to then implement the m in Nuke for my final comp. I also rendered again my scene from Maya with motion blur added.

Motion blur added in Maya render

I was not convinced about the way the render of the scene was looking, so I asked Marianna for help and advice. I explained that the image look too sharp and neat, and it did not look realistic at all as it was missing depth of field and some blur. Then she explained to me that in Maya I could really easily apply motion blur in my render settings (literally just need to tick an option), and Maya would add the motion blur and depth of field for me.

Mayan environment with motion blur

Matte paintings in Photoshop

For the sky matte painting, I took a sunset sky picture and using the ‘offset’ and the ‘stamp’ tools in Photoshop, I made an ‘infinite’ picture so the edge of this is not visible if applied in a sphere or a cylinder to recreate the environment background. The background mountains were made like this too, however, in the rest of the matte paintings I only removed the the sky of the pictures.

‘offset’ tool in Photoshop
Final sky matte painting
Final background mountains matte painting
Foreground mountain matte painting
Rainforest matte painting

Compositing in Nuke and SFX in After Effects

In Nuke I added those matte paintings previously made in Photoshop. I added the sky as a sphere texture so it looks more realistic and has more sense of depth. The background mountains were added to a cylinder was they were going to surround the whole scene (as the camera movement rotates through all the scene, this needs to be visible from all the angles). The foreground mountain and the extra rainforest bits were added as projections to simple cards since they constitute small sections only so do not need curved surface. To give more depth to the scene, I added some highlights and shadows to the mountains using rotoscoping. Lastly, I decided to search a clip of a waterfall to add it to the back of the scene so the river position has sense and continuity. Since the cards of the waterfall were giving me problems as they would get in the middle of the camera movement and they would show were the should not, I set their lifetime until only farm 400 so they disappear after. I also had to colour correct the water if the waterfall to match the colour of the river and I also gave the sky an orange/yellow tone so it matches the sunset sky’s colour.

Sky added to a sphere
Background mountains added to a cylinder and rest of the elements to a card
Adding highlights and shadows to mountains with roto
Adding highlights and shadows to mountain with roto
Waterfall’s water and sky grading with roto
Limiting waterfall vidio lifetime till frame 400 so it does not get in front of the camera
Final comp nodes graph
Final comp nodes graph
Final comp nodes graph
Final comp nodes graph

Mayan Environment Final Comp

Mayan environment final comp
Categories
Advanced & Experimental Group

Weeks 10 & 11: Final Models Render with Studio Lighting in Maya (Wireframes, UV Maps, & Textures)

I expended this week setting my final models with a studio lighting scene in Maya to show topology, UVs, and textures.

Studio lighting set up in Maya

I took me a bit to be able to set this scene as it was preset with different colour space, so the scene was giving me error from start. I followed a video that the author of this scene made to explain how to configure the colour space to make it work.

After, I set everything up, I could start setting my models but, unfortunately, some textures were looking way different and with the time limit I have I just could not do anything about it. Therefore, I tried to match the textures such as possible to the originals and proceeded to render. I also rendered the topology and UVs of the models for the showreel breakdown.

Colour space warning
Hologram light faded with this scene’s settings
I darkened the background and added the Lens Effect that I had in my previous scene
I darkened the blue colour of the hologram
I corrected the spreading of the glow too
Categories
Advanced & Experimental Personal

Week 10: River Simulation Fix, Lighting, Camera Movement, & Render in Maya

In this week, I decided to fix the river simulation (as I was having issues with the water speed and density of the flow), to then illuminate the scene, and prepare the camera movement following my initial story board.

River simulation fix

Since my previous river simulation was way too heavy and it was giving me problems to see the actual speed of the water (I needed to render the whole simulation if I wanted to see the effect as the playblast was not showing the effect), I decided to find another way to simulate water that was not that heavy on the scene. So I found in YouTube this tutorial that uses a noise shader instead, and then I could just use the glass texture and coloured it to make it look ‘wet’.

Water simulation tutorial (SYIA Studios, 2020)
Adding some subtle colours to base and specular and give some contrast
Render of water simulation to see the colours applied are appropriate
Render of water simulation to see the colours applied are appropriate
Render in darker lighting
Water simulation play blast in Maya

I then also considered in polishing my river water simulation effect, as the waves were looking a bit too big for a river. They seemed to be more for a lake or a pool, but a river has smaller waves as it is more like a flow of water that follows a unique direction. Then, in the noise shader, I reduced the scale of the waves and added a bit more noise.

Correcting water simulation noise shader in Maya

Lighting, camera movement, and render

For lighting conditions, I searched in Polyhaven for HDRIs that simulate the light we experience at sunset. It should be subtle, yellowish, and that projects soft and stretched shadows. I found an HDRI that was not giving me the exact light conditions I wanted so I also tweaked the amount of light the it was producing and make it slightly darker.

Once the lighting was done, I started to do the camera movement is my scene. I did not want to show only that outer side of the environment from afar, so I made camera to pass through the rainforest to show the trees, palm trees, and foliage, to then jump over the river, going around the scenario in circles, to finish climbing up the pyramid up un til ending in a long shot of the environment.

Camera set up

In the following render of the scene, it is visible the camera movement I set in the scene, however, I noticed that I had some texture problems with the trees leaves, so I will need to revisit the textures paths, relink them properly to avoid this issue, and render again the scene.

References

SYIA Studios (2020). Maya Easy Animated Water Shader (online). Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVjc3vvvJfo&list=PLAlv9GvsMvnMCUwPx_gcXaCj_yHYdIPqD&index=1&t=62s [Accessed 16 June 2023]

Categories
Advanced & Experimental Group

Week 9: Hologram Base Textures in Substance Painter & Final Model Animation in Maya

This week I focused on finishing the textures of the hologram and refine its animation.

Hologram UVs correction and base texture

When I started to add the textures to the base of the hologram in Substance Painter, I noticed that my UVs were wrong as I sliced them in sections. Therefore, any time I tried to add a rust effect on edges, the programme was not detecting them and placed the textured in the middle. I then went back to Maya and redo the UV maps, but this time only cutting off the edge that was less visible, and unfolded the UV from that cut. Then, I updated the UVs in Substance Painter and added the rust effect in the edges.

Hologram UV maps corrected in Maya

Originally, I wanted to do the texture in bronze colour to follow the style of most of the objects in the master render. However, I then realised that this texture will not work as hit is too flat and yellowish so it does not really match with the blue hologram effect on top of it.

Initial bronze texture test in Substance Painter with some dirt and rust effect added on top
Rings with bronze texture and dirt effect
Overall look with bronze texture

After testing the bronze texture, I decided to swap to a more reflective and metallic texture such as the copper texture, and then add the dirt and scratches masks I made for the previous bronze texture on top of the new texture.

Base with copper texture for the overall surface and cobalt texture for the small rivets and the central star
Base texture made of copper preset mixed with some previous features from the bronze texture (dirt and damaged edges effects)
Outer ring texture is the same as the base but changed the position and the quantity of dirt effect shown
Outer ring rivets textured with cobalt preset and some surface scratches mask
Both inner rings have damaged cobalt as texture – I didn’t add many effects to these rings as they are inside the hologram so they are not too visible
After I finished with the textures, I baked them all and exported them in Arnold aiStandard (as bmp)

After exporting the textures from Substance Painter, I created the shaders in Maya using the Substance plug-in, and linked each shader the the correspondent part of the hologram. After relinking textures in Maya, I noticed that the metallic textures looked too flat and they did not shine as a metallic surface would do in reality. Therefore, I checked the roughness map of the copper texture and reduced the ‘alpha gain’ till 0.5 (it was 1 before) and then changed the ‘color gain’ to a darker gray so the shadows had some contrast from black to gray (before they were white so they were not visible, hence the flat look). Then, I went to the ‘Lens Effect’ I added for the hologram and reduced the ‘threshold’ from 1 to 0.65 so it did not look that white/burnt shine on the surface of the metallic base.

‘Lens Effect’ added in render settings for hologram effect
‘Threshold’ reduced from 1 to 0.65
In copper shader – ‘Roughness map’ – reduced ‘Alpha Gain’ and ‘Color Gain’ changed to darker gray

After the textures were finally completed, I redid the animation of the spinning of the rings and the little satellites rotation on them with manual key framing.

Final hologram model with textures and animation
Categories
Advanced & Experimental Personal

Week 9: Environment UV Maps & Textures in Maya

This week, I finished all UV maps and textures of the whole scene so I could start next week with the lighting and camera movement to get it ready for rendering.

Trees and palm trees UV maps and textures

I reshaped all UVs branch by branch, cutting in the edge of each branch and unfolding them. Then I oriented them straight and adjusted the texel so the textures show with consistency. Then, I searched palm trees and trees bark textures in Quixel and linked them in the models in Maya. I used ‘base colour’, ‘normal map’ and ‘displacement’, ‘roughness’ for the specular, and ‘AO’ so the texture does not look flat. Also, in the ‘hypershade’, I went to the placer node of the textures and scaled them down to fit the model shape.

Tree UV cuts of branches in sections
Unfolded UVs
Tree texture in UV map
Tree textures linked
Palm tree trunk UV map
Unfolded palm tree trunk UV map
Palm tree trunk textured
Palm tree texture in UV map
Tree bark textured
Close up of tree textured
Tree variant 1 textured
Tree variant 2 textured
Tree variant 3 textured
Tree variant 4 textured
Tree variant 5 textured
Coconuts textured
Coconuts look in place between leaves
Palm tree variation 1 textured
Palm tree variation 2 textured
Palm tree variation 3 textured
Palm tree variation 4 textured
Palm tree variation 5 textured
Palm tree variation 6 textured

Pyramid UV maps and textures

The pyramid UVs took me a bit more time as it needs to be perfectly straight so the textures of the bricks do not look warped. I took my time to figure out how to dissect it in sections to avoid texture stretching issues. Then I linked bricks and destroyed rocks textures that I found in Quixel.

Pyramid UVs unfolded
Pyramid with textures linked
Pyramid textured – Front view
Pyramid textured – 3/4 view
Pyramid textured – side view
Pyramid middle section textured – close up
Pyramid middle section textured – close up
Pyramid top section textured – close up

Ground and rocks UV maps and textures

The rocks were a little bit tricky as they were generated with the randomiser tool, so their topology is made by a lot of triangles and weird angles. The good thing about rocks is that their UV maps do not need to be straight or too perfect as they need to look organic. The ground was way easier as it is a plane so I did not have to retouch the UV. Again, the textures used for these, we’re dowloaded from Quixel.

Rock UV map
Ground textured
River rock textured with a darker tone and with more specular added so it looks wet
The rocks on the ground had a lighter texture and less specular so they do not look shinny
Environment fully textured
Environment fully textured
Categories
Advanced & Experimental Personal

Week 8: Palm Trees & Foliage Modelling in Maya

For this week, I modelled variations of palm trees and foliage to fill up the scene and make it look more like a rainforest.

Palm trees references & models

I needed a palm tree reference that was not too tall, with a thick trunk, and with some coconuts showing in between the leaves. I think this style will suit best my scene as the pyramid will need to stand out in the final long shot above the jungle, so it would be better to keep the palm trees at around the same high as the trees are. I found the below references with similar characteristics I had in mind:

Palm trees reference (Gerisima, 2020)
Palm trees reference (Lubilub, 2009)

The palm leaves were made using the same technique I used for the tree leaves previously. I created an alpha and a normal maps in Photoshop from a picture of a palm tree leaf I found online, and then linked them in Maya.

Palm tree leaf base colour
Palm tree leaf alpha map
Palm tree leaf normal map
Palm trees topology
Palm tree leaves render in Maya with textures
Coconuts between leaves
Palm tree variation 1
Palm tree variation 2
Palm tree variation 3
Palm tree variation 4
Palm tree variation 5
Palm tree variation 6
All palm trees variations

Foliage models

These are some references I took as inspiration to create the foliage to fill up the rainforest scene:

Big leaves reference (Jorge Castillo, Lucas Bustamante, Frank Pichardo, 2022)
Ferns reference (Dewi Nurjuwita, 2018)

I also made the alpha and normal maps in Photoshop for the foliage leaves, to then link them to plane shapes in Maya.

Big leaf base colour
Big leaf alpha map
Big leaf normal map
Fern leaf base colour
Fern leaf alpha map
Fern leaf normal map
Plane reshaped for a more organic look
Big leaf render
Big leaves gathered together to shape the plant
Big leaves plant render
Big leaves plant variations
Big leaves plant variations render
Plane reshaped for a more organic look
Fern leaf render
Ferns gathered together to shape the plant
Fern plant render
Fern plants variations
Fern plants variations render

Additions of new models to environment

Once I finished the models, I placed them in the main environment scene to see how would they look. I also used referencing in Maya, so when I add the textures to the original models, it would update in the main scene too so I do not need to place everything again.

I also had some problems trying to see the textures of the trees leaves in the main scene when I switched from my personal computer to the university computers. Researching in forums online, I found out that when .ass extensions files were exported, these needed to be exported without ‘Absolute texture paths’ option ticked, as it would always take as reference the same path assigned originally, so when changing computers, these will not show. I reexported these as mentioned before, and relinked the assets with a ‘relative path’ so it does not have a fixed route.

Render settings to remove absolute paths from .ass files
Main scene with palm trees and foliage added
Close up of palm trees and foliage

References

Castillo, J., Bustamante, L., Pichardo, F. (2022). Why is Ecuador the best tropical country for nature photography? (online). Available at: https://www.tropicalherping.com/articles/why_ecuador_for_photography.html [Accessed 3 June 2023]

Gerisima (2020). Coconut Palm trees on white sandy beach in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. stock photo (online). Available at: https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/coconut-palm-trees-on-white-sandy-beach-in-punta-cana-dominican-republic-gm1270732523-373579722 [Accessed 3 June 2023]

Lubilub, 2009). Beautiful palm trees by River Dulce in Livingston, Guatemala. stock photo (online). Available at: https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/beautiful-palm-trees-by-river-dulce-in-livingston-guatemala-gm117952546-9032250 [Accessed 3 June 2023]

Nurjuwita, D. (2018). Where to travel in 2018: The best rainforest destinations (online). Available at: https://www.lifestyleasia.com/sg/travel/travel-2018-best-rainforest-destinations/ [Accessed 3 June 2023]

Categories
Advanced & Experimental Group

Week 8: Hologram Reduction of Model Subdivisions in Maya, & Radio Textures in Substance Painter

This week I had to remodel the base of my hologram and make the hologram effect to test in in final scene, along with finishing the radio textures.

Hologram remodelling

After Martyna and Roos tested the hologram in the master render, they were having some issues with the hologram as it was too heavy for the scene. Then they figured that the particles used for the particle effect had too many subdivision and asked me to redo this with simple cubes instead (it will not have that polished effect, but it will lower the poly count of he model considerably). Apart from the particle effect, Roos also recommended me to delete any unnecessary subdivisions, so I deleted most of them from the constellations cylinders, from rings, rivets, and base of the hologram. After reducing the poly count, I also had to redo the hologram’s UV maps.

Hologram’s new UV maps after amending subdivisions

Radio Textures

I also carried on with the radio textures this week so the CG lead could have most of the final objects with textures to test the illumination with them in the master render. In Substance Painter, I chose a wood texture for the base and main body of the radio and mixed it with some metallic textures to give that futuristic look to it. I also, found two pictures online about the channel dial of retro radios, so I created an alpha and a normal map version of these and added them to the radio. I made the normal map to add some texture to the typography in it and the alpha map to add some emission to the screen (focusing on the typography only) as if the radio was turned on.

Top channel screen base colour (Cobalt)
Top channel screen alpha
Top channel screen normal map
Middle channel screen base colour (Pilcher)
Middle channel screen alpha
Middle channel screen normal map
Top channel switchers with bronze texture in the centre – also added some scratches and damaged edges with some masks
Cobalt material added for the sides of the top channel switchers – also added stains and scratches with a mask
Bronze texture added for top shell decoration – added some rust effect with a mask coloured in dark red
Same bronze texture with rust effect added to middle channel switcher as for the top shell
Middle channel screen left blank in the middle to add channels texture later on in Maya – borders textured as damaged cobalt
Rusty edges added to middle channel screen with mask coloured in dark red
Copper texture was added for the decoration with a dirt mask that has high contrast and has been placed only in the parts were the decoration is joining the wood texture
I also added a rust mask in dark red/brown
Radio handle textured with damaged cobalt for the overall parts and then with bronze for the rings – it also has rust effect
Top speakers had a circular patterned texture that was coloured with a subtle ochre tone for the base and a cobalt texture for the circles edges and the speakers edges.
The top speakers also had a wood preset texture with the colour changed to a darker/reddish brown – I also added a scratched texture to the edges
Main body has also a wood preset texture with the colour changed to a darker/reddish brown
A scratched texture was also added in the edges and some bits of the main body.
On the sides of the main body, I added a damaged cobalt texture to give a futuristic look to it. I also softened the damaged level of the preset texture as it was looking too pronounced.
The bottom speakers have also a damaged cobalt texture with a red rust mask
Inside the bottom speakers I added the same texture I made for the top speakers
The base of the radio has also the same wood texture as the main body but with a higher level of scratches and dirt (base parts of furnitures are usually more wore off)
Once I finished with the textures I baked them and exported them for Arnold aiStandard

In Maya, I linked all the textures as I did with my spaceship, by using the Substance plug-in to automatically link and group the different layers and maps into shaders. Then these shaders were connected to the correspondent parts of the radio. I also linked the channels screens to the radio and added a bit of emission (as previously mentioned) to give the feeling that the radio is turned on. However, after I uploaded this textured model to FTrack, Gonzalo mentioned that this emission was too bright and should be turned down slightly. Therefore, I corrected this and uploaded the final version to FTrack.

Radio model with emission levels too high in the middle channel screen
Final radio model with textures

References

Cobalt. Vintage radio dial (online). Available at: https://stock.adobe.com/gr_en/search?k=radio+dial&asset_id=55983088 [Accessed 3 June 2023]

Pilcher, G. Vintage radio dial face (online). Available at: https://id.pinterest.com/pin/740279257483290061/ [Accessed 3 June 2023]

Categories
Advanced & Experimental Personal

Week 7: Pyramid Modelling in Maya

This week I focused on figuring out the style of the pyramid on my scene and finishing the model in Maya.

Reference pictures and planning

I researched several pyramids in Mexico and Guatemala, and found one that looks a bit more simple but also tall enough to fit the scene that I want to make, which would show the pyramid slightly above the trees of the rainforest. This is the pyramid of the magician in Uxmal, Mexico and it has 3 levels and only one staircase on the front that leads to two different entrances. As my camera movement is going to go from the bottom of the pyramid until the top, I think it could look good to go all the way up the stairs until the top entrances and then open up the scene in a long shot. Regarding the details in the walls, since these would be time consuming and it would take a lot of time to render, I decided to model a simplified version of these instead.

Pyramid of the magician general view (Zwegers, 2013)
Pyramid of the magician top view (O’Brien, 2012)
Pyramid of the magician details (Popp)
Pyramid of the magician main entrance (Schooley Jr)

Pyramid model

Using a pyramid preset geometry from Maya I started to shape the 3 levels of my Mayan pyramid. Then, adding some more subdivisions, I added the steps that surround the whole shape. Then, in a separate model, I shaped the main entrance in the middle section. The reason why I modelled it separately is because, it needs way more subdivisions than the main body so it would be easier to model it separate from the main body. I added the entrance and the windows along with all the different patterns that would shape the decoration of this section. Lastly, I modelled the top section and added as decoration the same pattern I used for the middle section. I tried to keep the number of subdivisions at the minimum so this model would not be too heavy for the main scene, as it is going to be quite heavy once I add the rest of the foliage.

Final pyramid model – front view
Final pyramid model – 3/4 view
Final pyramid model – side view
Final pyramid model – 3/4 top view
Pattern details added as decoration

References

O’Brien, S. (2012). Pyramid of the Magician at Uxmal Mexico (online). Available at: https://pixels.com/featured/pyramid-of-the-magician-at-uxmal-mexico-shawn-obrien.html [Accessed 25 May 2023]

Popp, T. Day Trip to Uxmal and the Pyramid of the Magician (online). Available at: https://lillagreen.com/visiting-uxmal-and-the-pyramid-of-the-magician-yucatan-mexico/ [Accessed 25 May 2023]

Schooley Jr, J.P. Pyramid of the Magician, Uxmal, Yucatan, Mexico (online). Available at: https://knowltondl.osu.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/8275 [Accessed 25 May 2023]

Zwegers, A. (2013). Uxmal, Pyramid of the Magician (online). Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/azwegers/14179854288 [Accessed 25 May 2023]