Bon Voyage

Portfolio Content Creation 1 (PCC1) - October 2015

It is with great excitement that I share this. This is the first pass / presentation of my very first demo reel asset - a yacht interior located in Australia. While there is still some work to be done before its final presentation, I am happy with how far it has come. Please enjoy. Comments and critiques are always welcome. Learn more at www.riviera.au.com | Music provided by Shakeem “Sonny” Ramos

Honey

Visual Effects 2 - June 2015 - Project 04 - Houdini FLIP FX - Viscous Fluids

Another sweet and simple project. Although it looks pretty now, it took many hours of rendering (just under 24) and a ton of troubleshooting (believe it or not) to get to this point. Initially, the honey was intended to be drizzled over warm rolls, but the geometry at some point failed to load and bake into the scene. I lost days trying to fix this issue to no avail. Thus honey being drizzled over dark chocolate truffles came to be. Enjoy!

Breakfast Time!

Visual Effects 2 - June 2015 - Project 03 - Houdini FLIP FX

I really had a great time bringing this project together. In total, it took about 20hrs to render and 30mins to bring it all together in post using Final Cut Pro X. I thought it would be fun to do something a little more on the lighthearted side of things, and nothing gets lighter than a bowl of your favorite cereal accompanied by hours of great classic cartoons. That was my inspiration for this project. Enjoy!

Still Hot

Visual Effects 2 - June 2015 - Project 02 - Houdini Pyro FX

Here is a more simple project, as it was my first Houdini PyroFX project. It is a small bonfire with colored LED altering its appearance. It was more daunting than I anticipated. I incorporated the blue and purple into the actual color of the fluid, but instead of illuminating and shading from right to left, it shaded the fire vertically from inside out.

It's Getting Hot In Here

Visual Effects 2 - June 2015 - Project 01 - Maya Fluid Fire

Isn't this the coolest fire you ever did see?! Well okay, I'm sure you've seen other cool fire but just look at that aesthetic! This was my first go at creating fire using Maya fluid simulation, and I thoroughly enjoyed the process. The reference I used was a flamethrower, and you can sort of see the motion of that. However, I am missing that cusping motion and significant volume increase as the flame fans out. On the plus side, however, I've made some super pretty plasmic smokeless fire. Stay tuned for what I do with this particular effect.

Super Smash Juice

Visual Development - April 2015 - Lesson 3

This is probably my favorite asset in the project. I had a lot of fun getting to this point with the color of the drink and learning about caustics. I referenced Snapple Mango Madness for the color, and it took a little time but I got it to an acceptable point. I had to do a lot of touching up with the bump map for the beveled text on the top and bottom of the label: (top) "Smash Bottling Co" and (bottom) "Peach Mango Punch." This drink is inspired by my favorite Super Smash Bros character Peach. Yeeeeah, she's the bomb. Anywho, I had to really crank up the photons for the caustics to show up, and I used the refraction index of cranberry juice (1.320) to get the look of the caustics; I enjoy the way they kind of glow in the shadow. I believe it helps to sell the look and function of the Peach Mango Punch; it is supposed to grant you the power of the Smash Ball, hence the label.

The biggest issue I had was with creating photon and final gather maps. I am still learning how to use them properly. That aside, I had a ton of fun with this particular project. Don't you just want to try some? It's so tasty!

Scraping On By

Visual Development - April 2015 - Lesson 2

This was the first segment of a three-part project. I had a great time making this project come along. Although the box texture and bump files were provided, I utilized the internet to find and manipulate the textures for the box's sticker and some of the rust on the scraper. I decided to go with a Super Smash Bros theme for this project. I also employed the layered texture tool in Maya to create the attributes for the reflectivity, transparency, diffuse, and bump attributes. This project had its challenges due to it being a while since I used the layered texture tool, and I had never used the tool the way it was exploited for this project. Needless to say I got it all done, and I am happy with the result.