Maya Layered Shader

First experiment with a layered shader. Diffuse only.

Marmoset Toolbag v2

I've been really enjoying the new shader functionality of the Marmoset Toolbag v.2.  It's huge step up from the original.

Here's a simple crate I made in maya and textures in photoshop.

Next we have in the render engine with a couple of warm lights and one cool light.

New project: sci-fi environment

Low poly crane/probe part. Maya so far. Will put it in the whiteboxed world soon.

Videos!

Here's some turn around videos for the current batch of projects!  We have a turn around for the mortar, the final animation that I've been working on and a zbrush turn around sculpt.

Low Polygon maya asset turn around

Maya animated short!

Final Maya sculpt

Final Render of environment

Well, it all comes together in the end. Marmoset render of all Maya created assets.

All compositional elements point toward the center.  Dark object on left, light object on right with the most colorful in the center.  Everything else leans or slopes toward the mortar. 

Grunge metal texture

Many layers, but it finally paid off.

Figure- Reposing

After resculpting several parts, making edits and proportion changes, I reposed the figure using a zbrush rig and gave him a dynamic pose.  The pose should tell a story, and that will help be expressed with the environment that will be added in later.  Until then you'll have to trust me.  Next I created a few simple primitives in Maya and imported them in as .objs.  I could make them in zbrush but that work flow was faster. Here's progress so far.

The next piece of equipment of the scene: a scanner! I wanted a second model to create two points of visual interest. It also allows me to reuse some of the shaders on the mortar.

Just a reminder: Mortar and scanner were originally sculpted by Forgeworld. The make might-i-fine models.

Pictures in order, low poly, high poly, and the scenes.

Street Environment- first draft

Getting some basic textures in, and time of day light color.  Lighting... ahhh that's it's own special challenge. Mixture of orange and blue lights to get the feeling, with more orange on the side. Only one casts blueish (cold) shadows. No specular, ambient occlusion or bump maps yet.

Heavy Mortar: Low Poly Model

Here's a couple of shots of the low poly version.

Character: Everyday hero complete

My first low poly character reaches completion! 2500 polys. 1 2048 for skin and 1 2048 for clothing. Started the poly painting in zBrush followed up with photoshop. Modeled in 3d Max, rigged and lit in Maya.

Environment: Exterior

The second environmental project I worked on was an exterior shot, with a very low poly limit of 2500 (skydome was free). This added a lot of challenges since we had to model to the concept art.  Concept art is by Peter Moehrle ( The Happy Brush ).

We had some leeway here and there and we had to add more clutter to the center and show off a hero prop (500 polys tops for the prop).  We had a maximum of 2 2048x2048 sheets for textures (skydome free again). Here's the ambient occlusion pass and the final render. I chose mid morning for my piece so we have yellowish light with blueish shadows.

Critique: I think I  need to work more on my low poly rocks. They could blend in better to the scene and some of their profiles could be better. Many objects were repeated, but look a little too similar. Creating multiple shaders (referring to the same textures) and tweaking those could go a long way to solve those issues.

Environmental Modeling: Blacksmith Done

Hello! Project Blacksmith is finished! My first attempt at an interior using Maya for all the sculpting/lighting and some procedural texturing!  I'm beginning to see where various programs work better than others, and in this case Maya's lighting and shaders are coming out the winner!  This project allowed for 10000 polys (before hard surface modeling) which made it a bit challenging and I had to reuse props to create clutter. If I had a critique I would have created a tool/weapons rack instead of a 2nd table.

Environmental Modeling: Blacksmith

Something for a class- a my first Maya modeling.  Here's an ambient occlusion render.