Fur (Maya) pipeline - XGen and nCloth for stylised characters

Based on Zootopia`s fur pipeline using Maya and  XGen I created similar looking character as
mascot for StrITwise® Amazing Race event. It was combination of guided curves for long hair (Lion`s mane) and groomable splines for short fur totalling to around 2,5 million hairs. Long hair is

Creature lighting and rendering

Trying to match feature film cgi creature work quality. This 3D render title is "Arrival". (Click on image for full size view) I used Maya and ZBrush and here are some 3D renders I used as reference (trolls, goblins, giants etc):

Renderman RIS skin shading

Pixar Renderman for Maya (RIS) skin shading process - Full composited render, Specular, SSS and diffuse pass.

This is skin shader development for my characters. Specular, SSS and diffuse pass for composting. Here is Nuke comp screen grab used to plus above mentioned passes

Forest Troll - Digital Creatures / Fantasy characters (ZBrush / Maya)

Yep, beside effects animation, I`m also 3D modeller  / digital sculptor. From now on, beside effects, lighting and shading, I`ll publish some of my 3D models as a lot of my colleagues and students suggested…

Character likeness exercise

Character likeness exercise using just two images. Base poly mesh - Maya. Also here is hand painted diffuse texture and comparison with original image:

Master Classes - Maya Effects Animation

On your request, first set of classes covering Effects Animation in Maya. Course also introduces procedural effects approach trough Houdini and 3DS Max, commonly used in films for effects work.

Detailed lessons and timing plans are out. Please check Master Classes / Events page . In short, course will cover Maya effects Animation including: Particles types and emitters, Forces, Fluids (Dynamic containers - smoke

Cloverfield VFX

Credits: Paramount Pictures

Cloverfield, New York, Statue of Liberty scene, one of my favorite VFX scene. I tried to reconstruct scene when big Statue of Liberty head hits the street.

Car Transformer

Credits: BDA Singapore

I know, I know, it`s transformer effect again :) Reason why I`m commenting is that I saw millions of different Transformer looking effects all over web.. but that was client wish and client is always right :)

Tornado - Maya fluids

Maya fluids, tornado test using 6 emitters. Top part is purposely colored red which indicates sky level (another fluid container) developed with my vfx student Boon Siong.

Ground Blast

One of older projects I did with my students Henry Heng and Francis Leong back in 2009. Originally everything was done in maya. This time I redesigned ground cracking elements using TP for max.

Fiat Punto Render - Breakdown

Maya and Mental Ray used for lighting/shading and rendering. Nuke for compositing. Video shows
rendered passes and some color correction used to develop look. Here is a breakdown:

Avatar Last Airbender - Fire bending - Case Study

 ..."Firebending, one of the four elemental bending arts, is the pyrokinetic ability to create and control fire. The people of the Fire Nation, as well as the lesser known Sun Warriors, practise this type of bending..."Similar, if

Making Of Hope

Here are some renders that I liked and that I wanted to achieve:

Credits: Pixar "Wall-e" / Disney

Credits: Pixar "Toy Story 3" / Disney

All those renders required insane amount of geometry. My approach was to combine Rigid Body sims and particle instancing. After resolving technical part I had another issue - image composition and amount of details. Details were overpowering character, in my case that was a tree

This was first render. Red box was just a place holder and it will be replaced with a tree

Effects Animation - Hope

Inspired by 2012, Inception, Wall-e and Toy Story 3, movies with a massive poly count scenes I tried to create something similar. At the same time piece should have a meaning or message. Basically, scene shows a moment of massive