Giant Of The Steppe | VFX | Arnout Zeghari

INTRODUCTION

The short "Giant of the Steppe" was made over the course of half a year by a team of six students. It serves as a glimpse into a larger story, about a young girl travelling through the vast landscapes of the steppe on the back of a Great Yakram, looking for her lost family. She lives a completely nomadic lifestyle, with all supplies she needs located on the back of her animal friend.

Within these 80 seconds of film we follow the girl, Asel, through her morning routine on the back of this huge beast.

This film was made at Howest - Digital Arts and Enterainment under supervision of Dirk Lambrecht.

Music by Lea Keyaert, Sound Design by Liam Nagels.

This entry is for my VFX simulation work in this project.

Fur Simulation

The most challenging aspect of this project in terms of simulation was the Yakram, primarily due to its size and the fact that I hadn't yet mastered fur simulations. This creature boasts various types of fur, presenting a challenge in blending them seamlessly. The lengthy fur on its body and face required dynamic simulation, whereas the shorter fur on its face and the hair on its legs remained static.

It went trough many trial and error stages to get to the final output. It was hard to get the simulation scale to look right.

Water Simulation

Another part that was my responsibility was all the fluid simulations, like the first shot with the bucket and the shot where Asel washes her face.

Hair Simulation

Additionally, along with fur, hair simulation was also needed. Using the XGen's tube grooming workflow, I did the hair grooming and simulation on Asel.

Smoke Simulation

Lastly I had to make the smoke simulation for the last shot. I made multiple version ranging low to high.

I had an incredibly fun time to make this project with my talented team.