Shooting diary of the short film I Like You, by Xuan Prada.
"Here is the story that Romeo would have given to Juliet, Charlie Brown would have given to Snoopy, and you can give to some very special friend."
I’ve been working on shaders and painting some textures for the prop Stove. In the end it was a bit difficult since is the first object I texturized using Vray.
I still haven’t decided wich render engine we will be using but Vray is one of the candidadtes, so I’ll have to prepare the shaders for this `prop with other render alternatives we have available.
As of now, I’ll leave you with a work in progress.
And here I show you a screenshot of the texture files structure.
Today I’ve been working on another important shader for this production; sand.
As the same way like the snow, must be simple, procedural, cartoony, fast to render and nice.
Well, show below some render test and the process to create this shader in Vray.
Note: I worked on this shader in Mental Ray, I’m using the same procedural maps. It means that you can use the shader in both render engines, just need to change the options of roughness and reflection.
Click images to enlarge.
UV mapping completed for this prop.
I think that having a good UV template is extremely important for the final look of the shaders and textures. Well, now it’s ready for texture painting.
I’ll post more advances soon.
With this little retake with just a couple of changes in the mesh I completed the model of the prop Stove.
Now is time for shading & texturing department.
Someone talked to me about this amazing and very inspirational short film.
Really well done and in the same style as “I Like You”.
I have been wasting my time creating a simple snow shader. Must be plain, fast to render, procedural, cartoony and nice of course.
It’s ok for now. Maybe the next day I’ll have another chance to improve it a little bit.
Click images to enlarge.
It snowed in the location.
Because of that this prop has a bit of snow over it.
Click images to enlarge.
click to enlarge.
01 - Concept art
The modeler gets the art or the main reference given from the Art Department or from the artists.
In this phase are already detailed the main volums of the prop to be modeled, the scale and the style.
02 - References
The modeler is in charge of searching different references related to the prop to be modeled. It could be photographies of real objects searched on the internet, photos taken by the modeler himself, references from other movies, etc.
The ideal scenario is having a good set of references, around ten would be a good number.
03 - Material properties
Evaluate a bit the materials of which the prop to be modelled is made: metal, plastic, paper, etc.
The model has to give the sensation of heaviness, lightness, emptyness or solidness. Obviously, this task will help a lot the shading and the textures, but should be considered from the very start when modelling.
04 - Visual detail
Focus on the small details that distinguish a prop from another. Details always make a difference. For example, when modelling a cable, it being peeled or cut.
05 - Plasticine
Model a plasticine in low resolution with the final volums of the prop. The responsible should approve this task before moving on tothe next step.
06 - Polygonal modelling
Model the prop using polys in a traditional way. Use the lowest resolution available and add two smooth subdivisions most.
07 - Sculpting
If the prop requires it, move on to Mudbox to add small details. Volums will never be created in this step.
08 - Clay renders
Using the appropiate set of lights, create various clay renders with the goal of showing the final model to the supervisor.
09 - Turn around
If necessary, create a turn around using the same lighting set worn for the clay renders.
10 - Director revision
The Director supervises the prop model to make decisions about possible changes or approval.
11 - Approval
The Director approves the modelling work.
12 - Retake
The Director suggests changes in the modelling job.
13 - Shading&Texturing department
Job finished and moved on to the next department.
14 - Back to step 06
If the Director suggests changes, go back to step 6 of the process.
Finally I solved some issues in the lighting set that we will use to test shaders and textures and of course to show the modeling of the props and characters -in a clay way-.
Now it seems to be working fine for us.
(click images to enlarge)
This is the lighting diagram of the neutral lighting set.
Today I have had the time to finish modelling the prop Stove. The backside of the model doesn’t appear to the camera and indeed is not to very detailed.
At the same time I also created a simple lighting set with clay material just to test and show the volume of the models.
Find below some pictures and turn around (click images to enlarge).
