Look Development | Texture
Credited for Lighting Shot for Spring Show 2023
Caustics and Volume rays were done in Arnold via AiGobo with cell noise range and checkers; both of which were key framed for movement on shark.
Alphas of the lights and shark asset were exported to Nuke, where RGB channels were shuffled, color graded to mimic light refractions.
Awarded VFX Character Runner-Up, Spring Show 2023
Crafted two iterations of PBR shaders for a Cicada character, and researched hue variations, at different life cycles for references, focusing on the Nymph Cycle.
My texture workflow was executed using Substance Painter and Arnold. Lighting tests for the asset happened between UE5 and Arnold.
*The Cicada model was created by Markus Kleffmann in Studio X, for the short film, Chain. *
1965 Model of VW Beetle provided to me to use. Rust Procedural Material made in Substance Designer to stamp on specific places. Decals of certain rust patterns were also stamped on the doors or near crevices. Other texture work such as rust and dirt leaks, was done in Substance painter. AiLayerShader was created in Arnold for the windows for lichen moss to be show in specific places, but also show transparency of the glass.
Short wavy hairstyle done in Maya Xgen, with sculpting, and freezing interactive groom splines, and sectioning hair off via hair maps.
Utilized MultiplyDivide, AiLayerShader Nodes in Arnold for the shirt texturing, and revised the tiling of the twill and noise texture maps.
An alpha mask for the threads were created in Adobe Photoshop and plugged into the AiLayerShader for the fabric and thread shaders in Arnold
Texturing for everything in the scene (props, set, characters,) were done between Substance Painter and Arnold maya.
Eight lights were used in this scene, and separated into four AOV light groups for making individual changes to their hue and brightness in Nuke.
Xgen Interactive Groom splines and freezing them were used to create the woman's curly hair.
A little post editing was done in Nuke for color grading, blurring, and light adjustments.
A model of a mouth was provided that needed texturing.
Subsurface Scattering was utilized in the skin, gums, teeth, and the back of the throat to achieve the realistic look of how blood and veins look underneath the base color.
Dental scans were provided to me to get a look at how cavities and rot are formed, as well as how inflamed gums look up close.
This model was provided to us in our course. My stylistic preference was to create an amphibious-like skin texture, close to a salamander.
To achieve that, the AOVs for Specular were heavily isolated, to refine the height map enough to have bumps show up, but not overpower everything else.
References of hue variation on frog skin were used to transition the colors from his hands to torso, additional cracks and spotting were implemented to blend into his surroundings, (nature,) well.
Subsurface Scattering was added to bring out the translucency of the ears against the back light.
Model was provided for texturing:
I consulted with a professional who works on vehicles about how rust can occur and build on certain metal and surfaces- and where it would begin in different weather conditions.
Wanting the camper to have been parked at the beach, it meant that the rust on the tires and the bottom of the exterior body would have stemmed from salt-water/mist.
Changes to Roughness filters in Substance Painter were used to achieve a grimy/dirty look for the glass.
Just like the window glass, specular only showed up on the part of the tank without the rust. The rust on the tank differs than the rust on the camper metal because of the difference in base material. An accurate propane warning label was added using the projection tool in SP.
The rust on the camper exterior and rims of the tires was a combination of utilizing SP's brush templates and tweaking those individual settings; as well as projecting on high-res photos taken of rust.
A boot asset was provided for us to texture; with the objective that it had to be a used and already worn.
The specular AOV was isolated, as I wanted the most weight of the specular to show up on the upper half of the boot.
Being that this style of shoe is known for its durability, dust and dirt were painted on to cover a good majority of it, as well as subtle hints of rust around the spur part of the asset