Polaroids - The Deep

I was asked by Andy to create and texture the ploaroid photographs that the child rummages through in one of the later scenes in the film. I made a quick model with enough res incase they were to be rigged with deformers for some kind of bend, etc. I then uv mapped and texture them really quickly, all that is left to do is get the individual pictures mocked up and applied to the different snaps. I used Photoshop for the texture creation.

HyperShade

I was asked by my director on 'The Deep' if it was possible to create a shader network within Maya and then be able to export and import it into a completely different scene. I thought about this for a moment, then realised it should work, as the nodes will be saved and stored for the shader even though the scene will be completely blank. I carried out a quick test to ensure it would work, and encountered no problems. This is going to save the group a lot of time because it means one scene is created with the final shaders and settings in place, then they can simply be exported into the other shots and just require the textures to be relinked. Fast, efficient and easy.

Shot_04_Finished

This is the finished animation for Shot 4. I slowed down the movement of the submarine and tweaked the submerging of the sub. The initial feedback I got was that it was too fast so this version should be better and hopefull Andy will think its ok.

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Shot 18 Finished

The finished animation for Shot 18, I added some movement of the jaw at the end to give a stunned feel and make it seem like the eel is dazed. I think this is one of my best shots so far and works well, down to the subtle movement from his breathing and then stunned movement once he gets flashed.

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Shot_18_tweaks

Here I have emphasised the breathing a little more, by making it more prominent. I also added some head movement after he gets stunned to show the eel becomes dazed and loses his sense of stability. Next up will be to add the mouth movement which should be the last piece of the puzzle, oh and I will tweak the eye to make it open slightly more.

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Shot_18 Started

This is my first pass of animation for shot 18. It is basically through the view of the camera as the kid is preparing to take a photo and then flashes the eel stunning it for a brief moment. I have animated the eel gently bobbing to give that underwater feel, I also added some breathing and when the eel is flashed his eyes open and brows raised. I think this is a good start and I will continue tweaking it.

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First animated shot underway

This is my first attempt at shot 04/5. It consists of the submarine taking off and submerging underwater. I think this is a little fast and I get a feeling Andy will give me that feedback too, so i will go in and tweak this making the submarine submerge slower.

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Frank UV Mapped

Chris Caldow from 'Patience' had asked me if I would be able to UV map their character for them, as they were in desperate need of the model being rigged so getting the UV maps sorted for texturing had to be done asap. The model came with a few props/mainly clothing so I started by unwrapping the body and the moving onto the clothing. I mainly used automatic mapping, and the selected specific sections of the meshes which I would then unwrap again for a cleaner shell and easier handling of the UVs. As mentioned previously this has become my standard workflow for unwrapping, and as sad as it is, I still thoroughly enjoy UV mapping.

Final Camera Textures

I was asked by Andy (director of 'The Deep') to texture the camera that the child would be using throughout the film. Once again, seeing as this is quite a small prop and looking through the storyboards, I decided to keep the textures relatively simple and stylised. I unwrapped the camera in maya, grouping together individual meshes, so that they could share the same UV space ( I also grouped together parts of the camera that shared the same material).

The top image is a picture I used a reference as I thought it would suit the model well, going for an overall brown tone with yellow/gold hinges/accessories. I used a metal/bronze texture for the main part of the camera, and then I went in and manually painted in the dirt/grime details. The hinges and smaller pieces were just coloured using a simple blinn shader with fractal node plugged into it. It achieved a good effect. Once this was done I passed the asset over to Andy who was happy with it.

New Uv map for heroes child

The head of the child had been changed, mainly due to aesthetic reasons so it had to be remapped in order for a texture to be created and applied. Kofi and Clym had gone through a few tweaks for the kids head, and as a result it needed unwrapping. I had a look at the map, and I did try to tweak what was left of the original, but decided it was taking too long and came to the conclusion I should just redo it. In all I think I spent maybe 20mins redoing it, which is good and promptly sent the file Kofi's way. I feel like I have defintely had a good amount of practice with UV mapping so far this year, and as result I think im getting much faster and more efficient.