1. Big Catch

I completed all aspects of this project, a 3 minute short animation, over the course of 14 weeks. The characters and set were modeled, rigged and animated in Maya. Painted textures created in Photoshop and ZBrush and procedural shaders created in SLIM and Maya's hypershade. The entire project, excluding the smoke was rendered in Renderman for Maya and PRman. The smoke creatures were animated in Maya, exported as obj sequences and brought into Houdini. Smoke effects were simulated using volumes in Houdini and rendered in Mantra. Crowd simulation for background characters created in Massive. Crowd variation included size, skin color, and clothing. Agents were assigned a brain with three levels of avoidance. Ground color controlled static object avoidance, sound controlled inter-agent avoidance and head animation, and vision controlled "run-in-terror" animation. All elements were brought into Nuke where final color correction and 2d effects were put together.

Full animation: vimeo.com/21579498

Software Used:
Maya
Houdini
Massive
NukeX
PRman and RfM
Photoshop
ZBrush
Headus UV Layout
After Effects

2. Carver

A 2 minute short animation with an emphasis on look development completed over the course of a 12 week period. I was responsible for all aspects of the project, except for some animation and a volume and particle effect not shown. I brought the piece from story boards and concept art to a finished project, directing two animators and an effects artist. I did all of the modeling, rigging, and animation in Maya. I painted the textures in Photoshop and ZBrush and shaded using the Maya hypershade and SLIM. Everything shown was rendered in Renderman for Maya and composited in Nuke.

Software Used:
Maya
NukeX
RfM and PRman
Photoshop
ZBrush
Headus UV Layout
After Effects

3. Arrival

Three person group short animation project completed in 5 weeks. I was responsible for the character design and character modeling, all surfacing, lighting, nCloth wing simulation, compositing, particles, and rendering. A vegetation pass was used to color correct in Nuke for the effect of plants bringing color into the grey world. Volume ray geometry was built into the scene and rendered out as a separate pass to use as a matte in Nuke for 2d volume rays to interact with the 3d elements. The alpha of the character pass was used in Nuke to create negative volume rays to simulate a shadow effect as the character moved through the volume rays. Rendered in Renderman for Maya.

Full animation: vimeo.com/19815203

Software Used:
Maya
NukeX
RfM
Photoshop
ZBrush
Headus UV Layout
After Effects

4. Windowsill

I modeled the phone in Maya and textured it in Photoshop, Illustrator, and ZBrush. I lit and rendered it in Mental Ray for Maya using an HDRI that I photographed myself. I matched the camera from the background still in Maya and projected it as a texture onto the geometry for use in the global illumination calculations and slight camera move. Render passes were composited in Nuke where final color correction was completed for the final shot.

Software Used:
Maya
ZBrush
NukeX
Mental Ray
Illustrator
After Effects
Photoshop

5. Flight

Independent project, two minute short animation, completed in 5 weeks. Everything modeled, rigged, and animated in Maya, rendered in Renderman for Maya, and composited in Nuke. All textures were painted in Photoshop.

Software Used:
Maya
NukeX
RfM
Photoshop
After Effects

6. Centaur

Independent project. Initially modeled in Maya, the displacement and bump maps were sculpted in ZBrush. Helmet and armor designs created in Illustrator. Rendered in Renderman for Maya.

Software Used:
Maya
ZBrush
NukeX
RfM
Illustrator
After Effects

7. Thyroplasty

Client: Drexel University
Short animated segment of a longer documentary entitled “ Voice Journey.” I was responsible for storyboards, shading, texturing and lighting. This segment won a Silver and Bronze 2011 Telly in two different categories.

Full animation: vimeo.com/19758823

Software:
Maya
Photoshop
Renderman for Maya