...Unique Creative Styles and Content For Animation
May 2015

My First Production CGI Project... Back in 2001!

So back in 2001, I worked on a Pilot for Nickelodeon called “Constant Payne.” It was n “experience,” with the most interesting crew I’ve ever worked with.

The Pilot never made it into a series, which was sad because all of us poured our hearts into the production. But the reason why I want to show you this is so that you could have options when it comes to using a 3-D program like Maya as a “tool,” just like Photoshop or a blue-pencil, for any 2-D productions out there!

Constant_Payne_CG_2D_Test_2001_BANNER

(Click on image to enlarge!)

Maya has a Toon tab built in and its quite amazing, simple and fast. Give it a try to see what you can get out of it! ITS FREE!

Here’s the final version:

Constant_Payne_CG_2D_Test_2001_FINAL_BANNER

(Click on image to enlarge!)

Some of the distress was hand-drawned to keep with the style of the Pilot.

Cheers

Purple Platapus: FDM Materials And Their Uses Seminar

Just finished a seminar over at Purple Platypus called “FDM Material Selection.” The seminar covered all the FDM materials that their Stratasys machines handle. Great information and samples!

00_Purple_Platypus_FDM_Semionar_BANNER

(Click on image for link)


Cheers!

Hand-Painted Specular Maps Vs. "Attribute" Generated

In a previous post (5/17/15,) I showed what the specularity of the Lil Fee looked like when generated by an “attribute” - having the specularity’s Color attribute control a “general” amount across the texture…

Here’s a comparison between a custom, hand-painted map and the one generated by an attribute. The first image is the hand-painted Specular Map:

Skin_Hand_Painted_Specular_Map_BANNER

Notice how the specular is more intense on certain areas: the nose, cheeks and chin in comparison to the rest of the head, plus, I can make the freckles dull in specularity and I can avoid any “blooming” as in the top of the head…

Skin_Attribute_Specularity_BANNER

And the image above is the one where the specular is generated by the Specular’s Color swatch. This creates a “constant” specular across the head, so when you get a good result, say, for the nose, the specular gets “blown” on the top of the head…



Cheers!

Specular Tests Using RenderMan

Here’s a test I did using the PxrLMSubsurface base material’s Specular Attribute. This was done without a texture-map, to see what the attribute could do in as a default, and I have to say that the out-of-the-box results are AMAZING! Check out the differences I got by just tweaking the Color and the the Refractive Index (image 2,) which I found on the Internet:

Skin_Specular_TESTS_BANNER

Here are the settings I used for the Color and Refractive Index:

Skin_Specular_Settings_BANNER

Why use the Refraction Index of water? Well, babies are made of 78% water and as we get older we loose that percentage - 60% for a full-grown male!

Refractive_Index_Water

This has to do with the Specularity of the skin, not the water-content. And because some parts are more “oily” than others, the next step is to create a custom texture map for the specular and input it in the color Attribute.

Hope this helps someone!

Cheer!

Another Round Of RenderMan Testing: PxrDisney Material

More testing using Pixar’s RenderMan’s PxrDisney Material, PxrFlakes and other fun attributes:

Lil_Fee_Skin_Test_004_BANNER

And another mask where I experimented with the PxrDisney Material.

Lil_Fee_Skin_Test_003_BANNER

Cheers!

More RenderMan's Testing: Car Paint

More testing using Pixar’s RenderMan’s Car Paint and PxrFlakes plugin:

Lil_Fee_Skin_Test_007_NEW_COLORS_BANNER

I played with the flake-size and the density to take the car paint to a pleather-level: fake, plastic-leather-like material used in 50s dinner-furniture, wrestling masks and stilettos!

Lil_Fee_Skin_Test_009_BANNER

For this one, I reduced all of the attributes of the PxrFlakes to make it different that the previous mask.

Cheers!

Testing Skin Texture With Pixar's RenderMan

Yes, I just jumped on Pixar’s RenderMan’s bandwagon. It is AMAZING! Talk about an Artist’s friendly render-engine!

Here’s a test I did using the PxrLMSubsurface base material. I did the painting in Brush (Polypaint,) and then transferred it as a texture-file and applied it in Maya to a PxrLMDiffuse material. The sclera has a PxrLMGlass material. Check it out:

Lil_Fee_Skin_Test_BANNER

And here’s some tests using the Car Paint and the Rubber Presets:

Lil_Fee_Skin_Test_002_BANNER

I’ll post more tests as I figure-out the fine-tuning!

Cheers!