2022-2023 3D Animation Works

The first project is the most recent: Salsifis, the Dobermann. Done in February-March 2023, I had just learned how to groom fur on Houdini. I used this opportunity to do a personal project that would include sculpting an animal's head, texturing, rigging, and fur.

Next up, I'm pleased to share this short film I made, working from January to June 2022. Except for the music, everything was made by me. Most of it is 3D, but some backgrounds are a mix of camera mapping and matte painting.

Honor's Red Price is my love letter to the medieval fantasy media I grew up with. It's also loosely inspired by one of the first stories I wrote, and the themes I wanted to explore.

This is the story of a knight who, upon returning to his castle, finds it in ruins. With his family and home gone, all he can do is one last gesture of honor. Even as he finds peace in a stained-glass sanctuary, returning his father's sword to its rightful place, the red cannot be erased from the bloody sky. On an on goes the cycle of war and vengeance, of loss and tragedy, of blood and nature, of red and green.

The production was done with 3dsmax and rendered with Vray. I made most of the models in Zbrush, but some smaller props were done directly in 3dsmax. For the cloth simulation, I used a mix of Tyflow and 3dsmax's integrated Cloth modifier.

For this assignment, I had to pick a complex 2D design made by someone else (a contest entry for one of Artstation's challenges, link here: https://www.artstation.com/challenges/untamed-when-animals-ruled-the-world/categories/119/submissions/62949) and do it in 3D. I made the model in Zbrush, rigged it in Maya, and textured it with Substance Painter. The cloth and fur were simulated using Houdini.

This project was a class assignment with the theme of turning fairy tale characters into darker versions. I chose Jiminy Cricket and, inspired by his role as "conscience," I wanted to add a terrifying angelic side to him. This was first opportunity to do fur on a character, although here I did it with Yeti and Maya.

This was also my first time rigging in Maya entirely by hand. I very much enjoyed it, and have kept working on my rigging skills since.

Eris is a 10 seconds very short film made as a re-imagining of the classic Dreamworks movie Sinbad in 3D. I worked in a team of 4 people to bring this idea to life and experiment with 3D techniques we hadn't previously used in school projects. Obviously, we referenced the original movie, so the credits for the sound, composition, story, and character go to the original creators.

I was in charge of the sculpt, the rig, and the FX. I made the sculpt in Zbrush and did the rig in Maya. As for the FX, I used Houdini for all three simulations (Hair, Smoke, and the "melting" effect on the lower part of the dress). The hair especially was a challenge. It was my first time simulating groom in an animated scene. Unfortunately, in the time constraints we had (two and a half weeks), I didn't have time to make it look like I wanted it to. It's still too stiff compared to the fluidity of the original 2D animation. If I had to redo this project, I'd use a rig and a proxy before generating hair so that it could be manipulated more precisely.

Lastly, I'm leaving you with my 2022-2023 showreel showcasing some of the work I've shared above and more.

Thank you!