Updates!

Thesis character turnaround:

Snippets of work from my Summer internship at Pixar Animation Studios:

render party!

Modeling, Shading and Rigging Reel 2010-2011 from Shreyasi Das on Vimeo.

[2012 UPDATE: If you wish to view this older version of my 3D Generalist Reel, the password is "reel2010". Please note that this is not my current demo reel. Thank you!]

Quickly threw this together today. Well not so quickly, but finished it in one day, compared to my first reel that took me half my academic quarter to compile.

I want to refine it further, and re-render some things that our Renderfarm messed up. Also wish I knew better last year than to smooth my typewriter model. It's not the best reel, I admit. Either way, I at least have something right now, so I don't have to panic near deadlines. I want to focus more on working towards an animation reel in the coming months.

Ohkay, good night!

lighting tests, cntd.

[2012 UPDATE: The passwords for the following videos are "test"]

Shot001_LightTest_11.10.10 from Shreyasi Das on Vimeo.

Re-did some lighting tests, with the character textured correctly this time. It's not bad, but it still feels flat to me. Going to play around with the lights more before break starts and I don't have the privilege of rendering in the lab anymore.. Rim lights should help break out the flatness a little, and probably a little more contrast. Other than that, I don't want to get carried away with lighting and texturing. Animating the clocks from shot-to-shot is going to take some meticulous thought, and that's next on my list to tackle before I start animating next quarter.

I also plan on thumbnailing most of my shots over break.

Shot010_LightTest_11.10.10 from Shreyasi Das on Vimeo.

Also, working title has been changed to "Dissonance".

enter protagonist

Here's my bot for my upcoming student film, almost done!! These are two renders I did for my Advanced modeling class.

And here's proof that my rig actually works so far! The poses should be familiar from Richard William's book of awesomeness. I slapped in the extreme poses for the character for this quick test animation. At first, I was going to animate something for a shot in my film, but I decided to do something more "cartoony" with broader movements to really push the rig. In actuality, the acting in my film will be subtler, but I wanted to make sure my rig was capable.

I can't wait till I can start animating!! But for now, on to more lighting tests!!

Maya Update!

So here is all the other modeling work that I promised.

The bedroom project was our first "major project". We had a choice between a bedroom and a living room. I chose to make a little girl's stylized bedroom. And by stylized, I mean using less realistic proportions, to show that it's a little girl's world in a normal sized room. I'm really proud of this work. Of course, the light from the lamp could be perfected and made conical. Also, the lighting could have been better done to make a better circular composition- perhaps show less of the ceiling? Turn off the fan light and put in a night light on the the right so there's only the moonlight, the lamplight, and the nightlight?

Perhaps fix the curtain rings, and lessen the scale of the curtain rail?

One of the critiques I had was that the ceiling was too high. It was supposed to be like that, like in Britain? But I can see how it might look odd.

Here's a jpeg showing off my moonlight, which took a long time to reach his stage. Of course, it could always be perfected...


Again, here, the night light on the right would've made it look better, and drawn the eye around the composition.

Here are some random snapshots I took for myself-- not composed.



















AND HERE is my second project- the machine project!!



It's an ancient, wonky, sanskrit typewriter. This jpeg here is a little messed up. A lot actually. I spent a lot of time on the modeling and texturing, and then, for some reason, my Maya file got corrupted and the shadows were rendering awfully or not rendering at all. The highlights are speckly, and all sorts of things. Basically, my textures weren't rendering true.

It was my problem partly. I'm not too happy with my texturing. Yes, it gives the old ancient look to it. But firstly, it isn't accurately what I envisioned. Secondly, it's just too much texturing.
I'm pretty sure most people will not know without me telling them that the main body is made out of rusty bronze and not wood. The textures on the two sides, and the modeling of the lever on the top doesn't look too good to me either. All in all, I'm not happy with this particular rendering.

Here's another one... With the wonkiness more clear! I'm quite pleased with the keys and the sankrit script, and the typebars on top with the subtle wonkiness to them.


And THAT is my favoritest image! :D I like the way the paper fold along the paper feed, how you can see the scale on the platen, the wonky look of the typebars... The ribbon spools look a little out of place and "unrealistic" here though..

Anyhow, it was all well received in class and by the teacher. And I got an overall score of 99% in the class!!!

More to come!!

In India now, and extremely exhausted.

3D Update

It's been a while since I updated my 3D modeling stuff. So THAT up there is my final still life composition. 'Twas received well. But my exposure's too high. You can't see all the texture of the fruits I worked so hard on :S

The helicopter and pig were tutorials.. They'd probably be better if I didn't have to follow the tutorial. But I learnt processes, which was the main aim I think.




And THIS over here is the start of a major project we just started. We had to choose to model either a bedroom or living room. I'm doing a little girl's bedroom. You know, the kind with white wood detailed furniture and linen and all that lacey stuff. I'm excited about it- we have to put in walls and ceiling and windows and doors. I still have to model a dresser, a chest, a bed table and pillows, along with the walls and things. Then texturing and lighting! I don't know if I'm off to a good start or not- there's so much left to do!! It's due Tuesday after next. I think I may have focused on too much detail than I should've from the start. I had to work on the chair more than once. I've been having unlucky days. I'm just hoping when I go to texture everything the modeling doesn't go haywire. I feel like it'll happen anyway. wood wood wood.


I've started working on storyboards for Milo, the Firefighter. The teacher liked my first draft. I have to go over it and refine things now. I don't think it visually tells the story without me explaining it yet. The thought of making a scratch track for it is worrying me..

Anyway, apple picking time.