Pokémon VFX Project

For this project I wanted to create a Pokémon inspired model and implement it into a live action shot of a skatepark. I chose to create a model based on Poliwrath. Since this is a tadpole Pokémon, I decided to model it after a frog. This is my PureRef board full of references to anatomy of different frogs and inspiration from the original Poliwrath design, as well as other creative takes on Pokémon and frogs.

I created a very low poly version of the enviroment geometry in Maya using Meshroom data. This was used in the early stages of animation. For the more accurate geometry I created textures in Substance Painter. As this model is very reflective these  were useful to create reflections with accurate colours on the skin.

For the animation I referenced that Poliwrath is a fighting type Pokémon. I animated in Maya and built the rig using Mgear and weight painted with ngSkintools. For my facial animation I used blendshapes to create the blinking, smiling, snarling, as well as to animate the fists opening and closing.

I used NukeX for the compositing in this shot. I created a camera track for rotoscoping the fence and cup in the footage, to replace the graffiti in the background, and to import into Maya for the animation.