DISCOVERY

"Discovery" is based on a personal design, in which a very enthusiastic kid lives adventures with his more than loyal friend: a special and giant cat. This is a project full of dynamism and expressiveness that captures a charming moment. 

At first, this project was meant to be done for 3D printing but, thinking about the possibilities that X-Gen and lighting could give me, I decided to prepare it with the basis for animation or even videogames, making some great Arnold renders of the whole scene.

Before working on the final renders, I think it is important to consider that the best way to study lighting is by illuminating the scene without color textures.

By this means, I was able to decide what I wanted to express with light and shadows. In this case, I was searching for a global and warm illumination with low contrast, but a rim light that would remark the whole silhouette.

Regarding the kid, I wanted to present him with the help of the Macbeth chart and grey and chrome balls to compare color and exposure information of the scene. Very simple and cartoonish shapes, with some Disney vibes which I have always loved.

These are some different views renders from ZBrush, the whole version in high poly.

I used Substance Painter for textures, as well as I worked with the UDIMs method. Here I show you the Base Color channel. A pastel color palette for the whole scene, but saturated and bright colors for the hummingbird, reaching some contrast.

With the use of baked lights, I achieved extra volume and definition in each 3D object.

Some screenshots from Maya, showing the guides work with Xgen and the general set.

To finish with, a very rough sketch of what I had in mind at the beginning of the project. I have learnt a lot during the process, paying attention to the details and focusing on the main intention of the scene.

This final project has taught me that there are always new things to try and learn from this industry, so I am very glad that "Discovery" is part of my portfolio.