3D Generalist Reel

THE DWELLING

Tools used: Autodesk Maya, Photoshop, Arnold

I created this project during my second semester at Ringling College of Art and Design. I am responsible for all aspects. The design for The Dwelling was inspired by local shophouses back home in Singapore where the first floor of shophouses would often be shops or cafes and the second floor would be housing for residents. I thought the idea of having an owner run his quaint café and bakery on the first floor and live on the floors above was really interesting. Through this project, I wanted to create a sense of story for the house through the organic and whimsical design as well as have it feel lived in through the set design and textures. The dwelling also gives insight about the character who dwells here. 

I used Maya to model the set and props. For the wood planks on the café floor, I created a few variations of wood planks and duplicated them to create variety. For the textures, I used photoshop which gave me a lot of control in creating the wear and tear of the building and props.

Creating a material board and various reference mood boards helped with the design process. I referenced shophouses in Singapore with European architecture as well as cottage style houses in Europe. 

Below are close up renders of different areas of The Dwelling as well as the wireframe renders: 

EMMA

Tools used: Autodesk Maya, Zbrush, Substance Painter, Photoshop, Arnold 

A Happy Bean is a short animation project I created as I wrapped up my sophomore year. It follows Emma on her recess break as she attempts to conquer the unexpected greens in her lunch. 

I am responsible for all aspects. For Emma's design, I used simple shapes to create a really stylized and appealing character. The idea of her dislike for the greens stemmed from my own childhood experience of disliking veggies. By setting up her personality as prim and proper at the beginning, I was able to create a contrast with how she became at the end. Acting out the scene as I filmed reference helped me get into character and I was able to also incorporate little nuances, like the way she moves her skirt, into the final animation. 

I used Zbrush to sculpt the character base model before using the retopology tool in Maya. Textures were created in both Substance Painter and Photoshop. Set was fully modeled in Maya. It was a challenge trying to figure out the way parts of the playground connected realistically. 

This is a short A to B pose animation of my character, Emma. I created this short animation to experiment and figure out the personality of Emma before working on the final short animation, A Happy Bean.  

These are some concept art and lighting paintovers for Emma and the environment. 

Below are some renders for the final Emma model as well as the wireframe render:

PAC-MAN JUNIOR

Tools used: Autodesk Maya, Zbrush, Substance Painter, Photoshop, Arnold

This is a short animation about a little Pac-man machine named Pac as he discovers a shiny gold coin on a day he feels blue. 

I am responsible for all aspects. I wanted to tell a story despite the simplicity of the character. Even though Pac does not have arms, I compensated his lack of arms with his feet to show how he was feeling. When he gets excited having found a shiny gold coin on the ground, he does a happy feet dance before he picks it up. 

Pac's eyes and mouth are plane meshes which I edited to create a set of blend shapes for his various expressions. I added an emissive texture to the material to create the look of lights on a digital screen.

To develop the personality of Pac, I did a lot of initial sketches and storyboarded a sequence before working on the final animation. For his design, I referenced retro Pac-man machines and put my own spin on it. As for the stickers on the side, I created little Easter eggs using photoshop which related to eaJ's song Pacman which it was initially inspired by. The base mesh was modeled in Maya and imported into Zbrush to add details of wear and tear. 

My interest in Japanese culture inspired the set design. It is set in an alleyway in Japan where vending machines are common everywhere.  

Below are renders of Pac's model and wireframe: 

ROBO BOB

Tools used: Autodesk Maya, Photoshop, Arnold

The idea of Robo Bob came from me wanting to create a robot who had the duality of being really strong and cool but also being really cute and appealing. His design is inspired by a grizzly bear who encompasses the elements that I wanted to have in the robot. I enjoyed the process of figuring out how the different parts and joints connected. Below is my original sketch idea: