In the moonlight
Character Model
In the moonlight
Character Model
In the moonlight
Character Model
The Witch's home
Props/Environment
This is one of my most recent 3D models. The brief for this piece was to pick a topic/field from the 3D world and focus on researching everything about it.
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I decided to research box modelling, as it's commonly used in the game and animation world. Because of this I wanted to learn more about it so I can make box modelling part of my skillset.
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The Witch's Home was created in Maya and rendered out in Arnold Rendering with simple materials and focal point lighting.
design process
I immediately had a clear image that I thought would fit the brief. My goal was to create three separate props that had the same theme and showcase them in a turntable animation. I wanted to show the process of going from a simple object, like a cube, to a polished piece that could be seen in the background of a magic based game or animation. Overall I wanted to show off how great box modelling can be.​
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The end product was going to be a short video showcasing the turntable animation of both a cube following the finished piece; three times over for each prop.
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I began modelling my first prop as a simple cabinet with various books and knickknacks.
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It was textured using simple materials and initially rendered in Maya.
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At this point I realised that the lighting was too simple, because it didn't give the final product the 'feel' I was trying to achieve.
After discussing with my lecturer, I came to conclusion that my original idea wasn't going to be enough to show off the glory of box modelling. So I decided to create a small room featuring some main props to demonstrate how they can be used in a scene for a game or animation.
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I started off with simple topology and blocked out the main features of the room before getting into detailing.
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The walls were cubes with roughly 30 vertices placed on it. I then used the soft selection tool to mould the more organic curves.
After filling my room with all the detail, I got to work on the lighting. Despite using Maya often I never really appreciated the importance of lighting until this project.
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This was my first attempt of 'simple' lighting. I used a spotlight from the window to the table to give the effect of moonlight, and a purple filtered area light for the entire room.
After not being satisfied with the result, I did some research on how to achieve what I wanted with some basic lighting. This is where I found my love for point lights!
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I used point lights for the pieces around the room so the viewers eyes are drawn to them.
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I then rendered this out in Maya Arnold.
Still using point lights, I individually rendered out a few of the main props from my scene. I attempted the three point lighting method for each prop, which I found quite interesting while researching.
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Each prop had been rendered using Maya Arnold.
To showcase my props I rendered them out in three different forms, with colour, no colour and wireframes.
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I used Premier Pro to put together the frames and transition them from each display to another.