LEVEL DESIGN

Maya render archive

Below are various Maya renders of geometry and lighting tests, experiments in procedural modeling, depth of field, ambient occlusion, etc.

12 August 2010

This image is a Maya Software render created during the first part of the Escape Studios online training course entitled "Advanced Shading with Maya & Mental Ray". Escape Studios provides the geometry & textures and they work you through creating the shading networks for all the various materials. I'm quite enjoying working in the Hypershade and learning more about the utilitiy nodes, projections, and layered shaders.

28 May 2010

My head sculpted in Maya polygons to learn topology & edge flow techniques. Some details like the nostrils, lips, and ears could definately use more work.

20 May 2010

Maya NURBS & curves modelling based on the Escape Studios training tutorials. The surfaces were created using the wide range of tools in Maya including projecting curves on surfaces, intersecting & offsetting surfaces, filleting, trimming, and a whole host of techniques for a good NURBS workflow.

25 May 2010

Maya poly (sub-d proxy) headphones with a NURBS cord based on the Escape Studios training tutorials. The headband was first modelled flat then curved with a Nonlinear Bend deformer and the cord was created using an Animated Sweep along a spiral motion path.

26 March 2010

Maya mental ray render with reflections, refractions, and a fresnel effect controlled via a Sampler Info node.

29 January 2010

Saucer Noire

29 January 2010

An experimental Maya shot exploring depth of field rendering and digital film grain done in post.

I'm taking inspiration from grainy, low-light photos shot at ISO 1600 on a Canon IXUS 75.

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27 August 2009

Maya experiments in organic, procedural modeling

I'm trying to avoid too much UV work in favor of 3D textures on things that could be background objects.

The stone pillars and railings were started with low poly blockout geometry and I applied a Mesh Smooth to quickly increase the detail. A Displacement Shader was then used to add in the random organic detail. I converted the displacement to polys and then did a few passes with the Poly Reduction tool to get the poly count back down to something reasonable. The resulting "happy accidents" from the process give the geometry a nice organic feel.

25 August 2009

The stone staircase started with a very quick low poly blockout mesh and then every edge was beveled. I did a Mesh Smooth operation on the model and then went around using the Sculpt Geometry Tool to paint further softness and randomness into the mesh (view based setting).

25 August 2009

The chocolate pillars started as cube primitives and I applied a Layered Texture with a 3D Displacement shader (the bubbles are a bump map). I converted the displacement to polys and then did a 90% poly reduction on the outcome. Using Paint Reduce Weights tool I undid the reduction on the base of the pillars so there is more detail at the bottom.

18 August 2009

Environment test shots for a previs animation, "The Escape".

14 August 2009

Maya mental ray render with a mixture of spot lights, area lights, volume lights, and the ambient light in the scene has a ramp shader applied to its colour.

14 August 2009

Maya ambient occlusion test render using mental ray

This is my concept model of the Slipgate teleporter used in the Enemy Territory: Quake Wars video game. My idea was to base the design of the teleporter on the Quake symbol as a nod to the legacy of the Quake series. The model was later used by the artists as a guide for the final in-game asset.