New UV map for Raven

Clym asked me if I could help him out with adding some new edge loops for his Raven as he felt he needed better topology to get better deformation from his blendshapes. He then sent me the existing base mesh and I added some basic loops for him around the eyes and mouth, which I then gave back to him as he wanted to play around with the mesh some more. I then edited the UV map for the new mesh and re mapped the head.

Baby eel concepts

Here are the first concepts I have done for the baby eel. I looked at my adult eel very closely to try to maintain a resemblance and look like they are related. I thought about proportions alot because I know children/young animals tend to have larger heads and large eyes with smaller bodies; so I used that info and the research I gathered of elver (young eels) to help me. I personally prefer design1 and 5, although I will have to ask Andy what he thinks and whether I am heading in the right direction.

Some of my most intricate modelling ever.

Kofi was asking people for various toys that could populate the child's room and I gave him some suggestions. I then said I could make some basic toys for him and he said why not, so I made a wooden train, wooden dinosaur thing and a plastic sword. He said he would use the train and dinosaur which I'm glad about. I also told him if I have some more spare time I would make a stuffed dinosaur toy (EPIC) which would be awesome.

Feedback from grp - Eel

I spoke to Andy and the rest of the group about the Eel model and they all liked it, so its officially finished now. Andy mentioned to me he might want to change the colour of the glow from orange to a white ish blue I think, and I said that would not be a problem as its really simple to alter the colour. My next objective is to get the baby eel drawn up and then begin creating the model for that.

Some mock up renders

I thought it would be a cool idea to do some renders/paintovers of how the final film could look. These are purely for myself to see how it could look, although I will show the others and see what they think.

I did some basic renders in maya using 2 area lights and 1 directional light. I then took that render and an alpha into Photoshop where I just had some fun. I painted in the background, lights and blur to give it the underwater depth and feel. All the stuff I did could easily be done for the final film, just create the required effects as layers and import them in After Effects where they could be animated. This is something I wanted to make sure was possible, because I didnt wanna create an image that could not be replicated for the final film. All of what I did is very much doable for the end product.

Final model (Test Renders)

Here are some very rough test renders I have done of the eel to show the bioluminescence in effect. As stated earlier the intensity of the glow can be keyframed/adjusted as necessary. I spoke to Clym about another option of how to control the intensity and we discussed creating a MEL script which will link the cameras translate atts to the glow intensity so as the camera is moved further away the glow would change automatically, but this is merely an option that could be used if need be. I will show this to the grp and get Andy's opinion and hopefully I can call it finished.

Final model (Maya viewport)

Finished!

I have finished the textures for the eel. I used Zbrush for the main texture and Photoshop for the eyes. I may rework the teeth a little, but aside from that it is complete. I ended up having a little trouble trying to achieve the orange bioluminescence using the incandescence method so I settled for a much simpler method.

The method I used originally was to paint a texture map with black and white values for the glow (whatever was black would not glow and the whatever was white would), but I had trouble getting this to work so I started thinking of alternatives. I decided to either go for setting up a light rig or creating additional meshes and let the shaders do the work. The latter seemed more logical as it would remove the hassle of having to deal with numerous lights so I went with that approach first. For once I had things go my way and maya gave me no trouble, the shader method worked well so I decided it would be the solution.

The basic run down of what I did was to create a very simple shader, lambert/blinn, give it the colour I wanted it to glow, then scroll down to 'special effects' and activate the glow (whilst hiding the polygonal geometry). The only down side is the glow seems to get larger as the camera gets further away from the model, but I thought it through and it can be easily managed by keyframing/adjusting the intensity and just doing a bit of work in post. This is awesome because we could keyframe the glow intensity and use this to help add emotion to the character (it could get brighter the more aggresive it becomes).

I then UV mapped and textured the eyes in Photoshop, trying to keep things simple. I remember a conversation I had with Andy and we agreed the eye should have no real pupil but just a simple white area, I think this works well and adds to the menacing look of the character. Below are shots of the model in maya and I will next upload some test renders.

Oh before I forget, the maps I created are (I will post shots soon):

Diffuse 2048 x 2048

Specular 2048 x 2048

Normal 2048 x 2048

Eel texture wip

Some more shots of the texture for the eel. It is nearly done, I just need to work on the bioluminescence and paint a specular map.

Another paintover

I felt like doing a quick paintover in PS of the eel in its current state. I just wanted to see if I could capture a tense, eerie atmosphere. I feel I somewhat captured the mood and I sure wouldnt wanna bump into this eel while swimming, lol.

Texture In progress

I began the texture for the eel earlier today. I am texturing using Zbrush and I will use Photoshop for some tweaks after I am happy with what I have in Zbrush. I am keeping the texture quite simple to compliment the model and hopefully Andy will like it.