Roberto Dessalvi - Study Projects

Noisy Cricket

This is a personal project realized during the Skyup Academy masterclass. I made the iconic Noisy Cricket from Man in Black, modeled in Maya, textured in Substance Painter and rendered in Maya and Vray.

Here all the references used during the project. During the research phase I came across different iterations of the Noisy Cricket, which differ a bit depending on the source material (movie, videogame, figure). The one I made is based on the model found in the movie.

I started from the blocking, trying to replicate the basic shape.

Once I was satisfied with the blocking I started modeling in more detail.

Once i finished the model I built a simple exposition stand, I switched to the uv and then I started working on the textures.

After exporting the texture maps I went back to Maya, where I worked on the lighting and then rendered the project.

Group Project - Dune

Here the reference from the movie.

The first thing I did was to work on the diffuse map and when that was complete I started working on the other ones. I had to make an especially strong height map in the edges to make it so the imperfections could be seen in the final render, even through the blur.

In this phase I went back and forth through Maya and Zbrush to test different results until I achieved one I was satisfied with.

Once the model was done I imported it on Substance Painter to work on the texture.

Group Project - Environment

Team project of 4 realized during the Skyup Academy masterclass. The assignment was to remake the assigned concept.

Here the reference for the task.

In this project I was task with the modeling of the rooves of the buildings placed at the front, of the buildings in the back, and I was responsible for the lighting of the entire project.

Deep Sea Creature

My first work on Zbrush, made during the Skyup Academy Masterclass, based on a concept by Rafaelo Sales.

Here are the references used during the project. I mainly followed the original artist's work, but I also searched for detailed images of animals on which that work was based on.

I started by building the blocking using Z-spheres, then I began the sculpting. During the process i had the model in a T pose, and I worked on its pose after it was finished.

When I was satisfied with the result I deactivated the dynamesh and then z remeshed the entire model to achieve a better topology on which to sculpt the details.

Then I began with the posing but during this phase I realized that I wasn't completely satisfied with some parts, mainly the head, and went back to sculpting to make them more similar to the starting concept.