Elven Shrine of Amon Lanc

Hi! I started studying Computer Graphic Arts at The Animation Workshop this summer 2020. I am here presenting my results from our very first exam project that lasted 8 weeks.  The assignment was to deliver a 3D environment of a setting from the new Lord of the Rings series, where I chose to create my idea for the Elven Shrine of Amon Lanc. This was my first big 3D project and I learned so much from this experience.

This was 100% due to the teachers we had for this project, so a very special thanks to Roberto F Castro for feedback during the concepting phase, Leigh Russell, Chris Antoniou and Kim Strandli for everything regarding modeling in MAYA, Jahirul Amani for introducing me to Substance Painter and Rune Maansson for making it all come together in compositing. 

Going into the concepting phase I knew I wanted to create a shrine where nature was a distinct part of the design - considering the shrine being elven. The idea to include a tree and water therefore quickly became a recurring theme in my thumbnails, and I explored multiple options until I found a way to incorporate my favorite parts, creating a composition I liked. 

Once I had settled on a design I made a rendered illustration of the environment.

With the illustration as a guide I went into the 3D modeling phase.

Everything in this phase was done in MAYA, beginning with the bigger assets such as the floors and walls to create a base. The props was modeled in their own MAYA scenes, referenced in later in the process. 

After having modeled the scene in MAYA, the props and some of the other assets were taken into Substance Painter. Working procedurally I tried to create the different materials for each of the props, such as carved wood and marble for the bench, different kinds of metals for the sword and a bark texture for the trunk of the tree. The walls and wooden beams was also done here. 

The leaves of the tree was placed using a MASH network. I made one branch with planes as leaves and distributed it all over the bigger branches at the top of the tree. They were textured in MAYA using maps, and their shape were created using alpha maps. 

Lastly I rendered out a 4 sec camera move and composited it in After Effects. Here I added and adjusted ambient occlusion, atmospheric volume and depth of field. Floating leaves and dust particles was rendered out from my MAYA scene and added in this phase.

In the end I had created the following:

During this project I learned so much, having only just tried out MAYA at the school, and never touched Substance Painter or After Effects before. I had a lot of fun creating it as well, as I enjoyed watching what I was learning come together to a final piece. What I learned from this project have already come in useful so many times for other projects since I made it, so I will surely be taking it with me into the next one as well!

Thank you so much for taking a look at my entry!

Best, 

Amalie