WORK

BAC Mono

The BAC Mono was a really amazing looking car I fell in love with whilst watching Top Gear. And knowing that I would never be able to afford a car like that I decided that 3D modelling it would be the nearest I would get to it. As usual when I look at some thing like the Mono I am fascinated on how to try & create it in 3D, the more awkward the model, the more I enjoy modelling it. The task of creating something as beautiful as the Mono whilst keeping a good quod flow through out, with good geometry is some thing I love to sink my teeth into.The project also allowed me to try and improve on my texturing & lighting. Using a 3-point lighting set up with a HDRI of a studio to add reflections through out the shot, as I hoped to create a studio environment for the car. The texturing was done inside of Mudbox & I was able to create specular maps so I could keep the dirt dull & the car paint shinny. Also using displacement maps I could raise the dirt from the car paint giving it more depth in the shot.Also using Vray passes I could further the detail of the shot within Nuke, adding aspects to the shot like a depth of field and film grain to name a couple of things that would add that little more to the model.

Thundertank

The Thundertank shot was part of a reimaging of the Thundertank from the cartoon series Thundercats. Immediately as I heard the brief I wanted to model the Thundertank. Straight away I had an idea of how to recreate the tank. Using a blend from the Tumbler from the Christopher Nolan’s Batman franchise, as well as the Thundertank from the cartoon & actual tanks. Also the front was based upon the drawing of Cimba from the Lion King. The great thing about the Tumbler was that it was actually built; so as well as looking amazing it actually functioned.This was a massive benefit, as the Thundertank would be animated. We had decided that the shot would be of the tank traveling down a tunnel again inspired from a shot in the Batman movie The Dark Knight with the Batpod. Three members did the shot; my role was designing, modelling, unwrapping & texturing the tank. Another member had experience in rigging, so she rigged the tank, whilst the other member wasa great compositor. Once the tank was rigged the three of us continued with the animation of the shot. As well as configuring the lighting setup, using blue & orange lights to create a good atmosphere for the shot within the tunnel, using vray light materials to give the impression of the lights in the tunnel.

What was really great about working as a team was being able to help each other out & gain a good momentum whilst working together. For instance working alongside the rigger with the tank model meant that I could readdress any elements that needed to be changed so that they would function realistically, like the earflaps at the front of the tank, as well as making sure the front wheels could move. And the importance of a tidy well named outliner.Also sitting in on the compositing stage with helped us figure out how to get the shot to work well. Unfortunately running out of time for the project meant that we still have some more work we would like to do to the shot when we get a spare moment.

BAP Spaceship

The BAP Spaceship was a second year multiyear project. Again I was able to work on something enjoyable, this time a spaceship, as the brief had a space theme. I knew straight away that a spaceship is what I wanted to do. The model design is based on the Bat from the Nolan Batman franchise; the Aliens drop ship from James Cameron’s Aliens movie, and the Prometheus ship from Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, & a touch of Thunderbirds 2, but not enough for me to include it as part of the name BAP (Batman, Aliens, Prometheus). This was only a 6-week project, with myself designing, modelling, unwrapping & texturing the ship. Also we were using Vray for the first time, which is why I felt the shot fell flat in the end. Which is why I thought I would just show the ambient occlusion of the ship.