Finaler

Updated! Made some big changes to the Madonna scene (new buildings & lighting) Thinking about enhancing the textures some and/or try a new method with all of the hair. (Also want to take some close-ups).

(close to) Final Scenes

Here are the two complete images that I am turning in for this class. I put the sets and lights together as fast as I could to get this project to a complete stage for today, but I definitely want to continue working on this. The Madonna scene, especially. The room doesn't have the "holy" quality that I was going for and the buildings in the background are pretty rough.

There are also a few things I had planned on incorporating into the Smoking Room image (such as reliefs on the wood objects) and a couple textures that could be refined (like the glass/crystal) that I didn't get to.

To take a look at the original sketches click here.

Test Render

Here's a little taste of one of the scenes I'm creating. The poses are still rough and the background isn't in place, but it gives a sense of what this is going to look like.

Mother (semi render)

I spent the weekend creating the costume & textures for "Mother." Also posed her up and began lighting, but realized that I don't know anything about lighting, and need to watch some tutorials. This is an approximation of what I want, just better!

Here dress is inspired by Prada's Fall 2010 collection. Her hair was going to be a big curly mass but then I saw this amazing picture of Catherine Denevue and immediately wanted her to look like that.

Rigging

Started watching some rigging tutorials the other day and began the rig for "Anna." It's so exciting to see this character "alive" after spending so much time modeling! Here's a little taste.

Dress up!

This has been a lot of fun - began modeling the clothes for the female figure, Anna. She'll have a couple different outfits. I also have to do a gigantic billowy skirt which I presume will be no fun at all for me to model! Spent some additional time experimenting with "sheer" materials (not shown) that I think will turn out pretty cool.
It's funny how long it takes to make the little details, like placing every single diamond and jump ring for her necklace, when it's doubtful that the camera will ever get close enough to see. I'll probably take a bunch of close up glamour shots once the scene is set up to get that extra bit of satisfaction. (Also need to spend more time figuring out how to render diamonds - didn't get the kind of sparkle that I want!)

Gaston

I've been slowly chipping away at this model for a couple weeks and finally finished him, did UV layouts (what a learning process that is), and custom maps. I'm regretting my decision to make his poodle puff a separate piece of geometry. Would be nice to see it smoothly flow from his head, but I think changing that will completely ruin my UVs and I don't want to take a step back at this point.
I played with a couple ideas for how to do his hair, actually. Was considering making it out of transparent layers of polygons like in a video game. Also played with "Fur", but didn't think the results would mesh well with the rest of the scene. I ended up sculpting it in Mudbox and hand-painting finer strands in Photoshop. Looks a little plastic-y, need to play with that when I get it into the correct lighting situation.
Added in a lot of little details like his belt buckle and shoe laces that were fun to put in, but probably are too small to be seen in the final render. I blew the bump maps out a little bit more than they probably should be just so that when he's rendered from a distance you can see the texture better. Next time I design characters I'll put more thought into scale!

He still needs a shirt or jacket or something. I also need to make it look like he's bloodied up...

Anna and her gun.

I think I'm finished modeling the female character's head and body. Also started building her robot-form. Pretty happy with the results, although I'm regretting designing such a long, thin character because she ends up looking like a stick in the HD format.

Also modeled her pistol--having fun with this "Apple" white plastic material! Proud of myself for figuring out some fairly complex issues with the gun. The most challenging part had to be the interlocking circular forms on the front of it. I don't remember exactly, but I think I made everything out cubes, which seems to be working well for me. I've been spending a little too much time getting my geometry to flow perfect and put together in quads. But it's good practice all the same.

Props

Here are some props that I'm still working on for the scene that takes place in the study. I'm still working on the couch, but I think the glass is finished. I just through the textures/materials onto these to see what the models look like--they will change completely! I still need to learn how to do a couple things with refractions and making it appear that these are REALLY made of wood, glass, fabric, etc.

Human Face

Started putting together the model for the female character's face. I was guided by a tutorial on Digital Tutors to create a "stylized female", but this is the first time I've built something to my own specs. The tutorial got me off to a nice start because I learned about creating good geometry around the eyes & mouth for animation, however I've had to deviate quite a bit because the demo model never gets as complex as mine. Still need to smooth some areas out and want to make the eyes more realistic with proper skin folds. (plus the ears!)

Thumbs & Color Studies

Here are some sketches that I did in preparation for the project I'll be building. I also did color studies of my 3 favorite scenes. I really want to do an image of the dog & females characters on the top of a building as well, but don't want to make an impossible amount of work for myself. I'm trying to incorporate a wide variety of materials (glass, fabric, metal, etc) into each image.

The characters that I'm working with are:

The Inventor: the father figure, inventor, and spy handler
The Android: a robot femme fatale designed in the image of the Inventor's mother
The Puppy: the Inventor's adopted son

Moodboard

I've been thinking about the illustration project that I'm going to complete with this independent study since Winter Break started. I can't wait until I know how to put my vision together in Maya!

The following images are collectively my moodboard for this project...