Mathieu Bron - Environment and Lighting showreel

In the Caustic project, I used Solaris and USD to reproduce the pipeline of a 3D production.

This project was a complex but exciting challenge. I used Solaris to organize the production assets into a scene hierarchy, using L-systems to manage render passes, compositions and lighting. The goal was to create a solid and efficient production structure, while leveraging the advantages offered by USD.

I convert all the assets into USD format. Thanks to USD, I was able to efficiently manage different versions of the same asset, thus simplifying project management and iterations. In addition, USD allowed me to optimize the viewport by reducing load times and improving the overall performance of the scene.

Thanks to Solaris with USD assets, I was able to leverage advanced scattering tools to create an efficient set dressing and enrich the scene with USD high-poly assets.

I also explored the procedural lookdev using MaterialX, which gave me the flexibility to create complex and realistic materials, while maintaining a procedural approach.

I also do some basic procedural modeling to create some rocks for the ground.

To render this project, I used the Arnold renderer. However, due to the complexity of the scene, which was mostly composed of assets with subsurface scattering (SSS), the rendering times were excessively long. So I learned to use a renderfarm to optimize the render and ensure efficient production.

Once the project was successfully rendered, I used Nuke for the final compositing. I rebuilt the Beauty and merged the different rendering elements to achieve the final result. I also added additional adjustments and effects to enhance the visual impact and achieve the desired visual quality.

The Solaris workflow and the USD pipeline allowed me to imagine a new kind of production pipeline, offering non-destructive scene management, optimized asset organization, multiple versioning and increased flexibility.

BUT this project was the most challenging endeavor I have undertaken, And thanks to the assistance of Quentin Dorne for FX (vellum, particles, fish), Soizic Dion Le Querrec for photogrammetry cleanup, and the guidance of Paul Charpentier in understanding Solaris, I was able to overcome the complexities.

To conclude, This workflow is possible only with a good teamwork, and good teammates :)

Helmet concept by Shawnell Priester