Demo Reel [August-December 2012]

*Note: With the exception of the NURBS T-Rex, all the models were made with quads [not tris]. Unfortunately the effect I used to generate the wireframe only rendered the model in tris, not quads. 

This is a collaboration of my best and most successful work done from August-December 2012 in my 2nd year of animation here at MUBC, India. 

Software Used: 

Models made in Maya

Textures done in Photoshop

Footage composited in After Effects

Sequence edited in Premiere Pro

Final adjustments and tweaking done in iMovie

For some reason the video became a little "patchy" or "grainy" as soon as I imported it into iMovie...but it was either 150MB or 5GB!

Please don't hesitate to add helpful comments and feedback!

I Like To Move It, Move It!

So I did the male walk cycle, but I was very much eager to try the female walk cycle...as you can see, the average female walks quite differently from the average male. I have exaggerated some of the movement just to make it more feminine.

The Phynglut: Concept Creature

Wow, it's finally done! This was the very last assignment of the semester for Modelling class, and I just finished it a few hours ago... This is also my very first 3D concept creature, and it was a lot of fun creating this! I have included the entire Character Bible in this post as well, so feel free to feast your eyes upon my latest creation [and read all about it as well!].

Gangnam Style - 3D Animated Version!

Alright...I was actually going to post this on the occasion of receiving my 100th subscriber on YouTube, but I couldn't wait any longer! [Hopefully this video will get me those 3 more subscribers and more!]

You Can Run...But You Can't Hide!

So here's a basic [male] run cycle...

Game Art: Unlocking the Mystery...

This is my very first post from Game Art class, [so go easy on me!]

The key on the top was a mere exercise, nothing more than that...[if you're saying "That key looks familiar..." that's because it's from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest!...my favourite of the 4 movies]. The key on the bottom is the final assignment, with texturing and lighting as well. 

Walk Like A Man [ft. Norman]

I did this several weeks ago and never got the chance to upload it until now!

So here's my very first [ok, the "Kevin and the Video Game" walk cycle doesn't count!]
walk cycle animation...

Bon Appetit!

So here's the last of our lighting assignments for the semester...

It was a fun experience, and I can't wait to start lighting in Mental Ray next semester!

Dolphin Tail!

Yay! My first animation that doesn't involve bouncing balls! [Which reminds me, we did some animation exercises about a month ago; things like bouncing balls, bowling balls, balloons, pendulums, etc. I will post those soon].

The Good, The Bad and The Awesome!

Here's my latest texturing and lighting assignment...Glass Bottles [pretty self-explanatory].

I would have to say that out of all the texturing and lighting assignments I've done so far, this is the one which I spent the LEAST amount of time on, only because this week we had our 1st Midterms and we were bombarded with assignments!

Bugatti Veyron Model Update

Wow...It's been quite a while since I last opened this up in Maya and worked on it...I finished all my assignments early and had some "free time," so I decided to complete this bad boy! [well...almost]

Toy Story...4?

Alright...I made this one several weeks ago, but never got the chance to post it. 

Tribute to Captain Jack

["Yo Ho Yo Ho, A Pirate's Life for ME!"]

OK. Why Jack Sparrow you ask? Simple. I am OBSESSED with the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise! From the music to the characters to the visual effects and more, I am a HUGE fan and so I decided to make this scene based on a pirate theme.

"Haunted" Hallway

Just like the last texturing and lighting assignment, I spent WAY too much time on this one [actually, that's an understatement!]

I worked on this for more than 2 weeks and had to restart about 6 times in terms of the texturing AND lighting. 

Goodbye NURBS, Hello POLYS!

So we started modelling with Polys [finally!], and I just HAD to make a new pair of rims to go along with my Bugatti model [which is still under progress]. 

[I started with a cylinder for the centre of the rim, then added some edge loops, extruded and deformed the mesh to create the spokes. Simple approach, yet very time consuming.]

Took me less than 2 hours to complete, rendered in Mental Ray. 

There's nothing more to say here!

TyranNURBSaurus Rex!

[Caution: Don't stare at this guy for too long...there's a reason his mouth is open!]

It took me a couple days to finish modelling this with NURBS [hence the name of this dinosaur: Tyran"NURBS"aurus Rex].

Shark Attack!

Here's my 1st organic model created in NURBS. It was quite easy to create, and it took me around 90 minutes to complete. [I started with a sphere and just deformed the mesh for the main body, and the fins and head were made with deformed spheres as well]. 

I might make an animation of this one in the future [just a simple swim cycle].

Hope you like it!

Modern Bathroom Interior

Alright, here's a modern bathroom interior from Modelling class (I apologize for the delay). Everything is modelled in NURBS, and yes, reference was used. I completed this in a day (I'd say not more than 6 hours), and all the details are mentioned below:

[This bathroom comes with a fully functional showerhead with adjustable shower curtain, toilet with flush, a big round sink with interior water pipes for hot and cold water, storage vaults, a pair of exercise weights, towels, tissue paper and soap/shampoo for your convenience, and a tall, wide window to admire the view!]

Enjoy your stay! :p

Fruit Frenzy!

Alright, this was probably the most challenging yet exciting assignment so far in Texturing and Lighting class, and I think this turned out exceptionally well (considering I worked on this for about 2 weeks)...

This is getting on my NURBS!

Alright, so I've NEVER worked with NURBS modelling before...

Our first assignment for modelling class was to create a plane...pretty much any plane, using NURBS.

MUBC: YEAR II

Hey everyone,

I do apologize for the delay in my posts, as it has been an extremely busy summer!
[and after an entire year of stress, I figured the least I could do was relax a little!]

Well, here's something that I have been working on for a few weeks now, and I'd have to say it is getting to be quite addictive! And as I venture on into year two at MUBC, it's time to move onto something bigger and better...yes, you guessed it...

MAYA.
[In case you didn't know, Maya is a 3D software program released by Autodesk, used by many production companies to make feature animated and live action films.]

Now, you're probably asking, "Does this mean there won't be any more 2D work on this blog?"
And the answer is...NO! I will continue to post some of my 2D artworks as well as 3D and digital art, so no need to be disappointed!

Year II...here I come!

PICTURE PERFECT - AN ANIMATED SHORT FILM

(Incase the video is not playing, watch it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6rM08zL88o)


[CRANK UP THE VOLUME AND WATCH IN HD!]

This is it...After 4 months of blood, sweat and tears it has finally come to an end!
Allow me to present to you our very first 2d animation short film, "Picture Perfect."

We worked in a group of 9 people for 4 months with one "simple" task in mind: to create an animation short film. The software used to put our 2,000+ drawings together was Animo 5.0. Other software that was used to put this film together include: Photoshop, Premiere Pro, After Effects and iMovie.

Music, (as always) is composed by Hans Zimmer (the music used in the film is from "Rango" and various parts from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies).

If you have any more questions regarding how this film was made, or would like to leave some feedback or comment, feel free to comment below or message me.

And one last thing...Crank up the volume and watch in HD!

Please Like, Comment and Subscribe for more awesome videos :)

Thanks!
~Nathanael Xavier

Movie Compositions: THE AVENGERS

Title: Thor and Captain America

Medium: Mixed Media [graphite, colour pencils, soft pastels and pen]

Render Time: approximately 8 hours

Comments: 

So after watching the movie I was immediately obsessed and just HAD to draw a scene    from The Avengers! Here is Thor and Captain America in New York City half way through the final battle (this shot takes place towards the ending).

The same process mentioned below (for the Movie Compositions post) was followed when drawing this composition, and I think both the characters turned out exceptionally well, along with the small explosion on the right. A final colour correction was done as always, to adjust the lighting a little bit.

I had a lot of fun drawing this and I'm glad it turned out so well! (maybe there are a few glitches with the perspective but I think the shading hides it).

Enjoy :)

Thor and Captain America (original drawing)

Thor and Captain America (colour correction)

CARICATURES!

Ok, so maybe I went overboard and did a little too many caricatures...but they are so much fun to draw!

The caricatures below consist mainly of people in my family and people I'm studying with. The caricature that is common in every image is my caricature (I couldn't resist). 

For those of you that don't know what a "caricature" is, it's basically an exaggerated, "cartoony" type of drawing based on someone's profile. The difference between a portrait and a caricature is that a portrait is more realistic and proportions and details are maintained correctly throughout, whereas in a caricature the proportions are distorted and exaggerated, and some detail is reduced. 

Some of these were drawn from live reference and others were drawn from photographic reference. I think most of them turned out to be very good and accurate when compared to the actual person. 

MORE TO COME IN THE FUTURE!

(PS...can you recognize yourself?)

Let me know what you think!

Enjoy :D

Fairy Kingdom Flash Background

This was really fun to do (even though it was part of our 2nd internals in Digital Tools class). A brief description of the scene (text only) was given to us, and using that description we had to create our own background. 

Here is the description: 

     "Another beautiful sunrise bathed the forest in a warm summer's glow, chasing away the dark shadows of the night. 

     Beyond the tree line, hidden deep in the Scottish wilderness lived a secret world, lost in the history of the once great lands of the Sutherland Counties. Carefully nestled high in the trees, hidden in nature's greens and browns were the homes of the fairies of the Old Sutherland kingdom. 

     Duty, fear, and maybe even guilt had led to this secret kingdom's history being rewritten, the powerful rulers deciding what their fairy people should believe in."

I thought that curvy, twisted trees would fit this description perfectly, and the small "fairy pods" would be disguised as fruit hanging from the trees. This was done in 2 hours and a final colour correction was done to give it more of an early morning colour scheme.

Enjoy :)

Fairy Kingdom: Original

Fairy Kingdom: Colour Correction and Image Flip

Treehouse Digital Painting

This was actually done as part of our 1st internals and should have been posted a few months ago. 

It took me about 3 hours to do, done entirely in Photoshop (no customized brushes were used). 

I think everything turned out quite well (except the treehouse looks a little too much exposed...it would have been better if it was "hidden" deeper in the tree). The staircase leading up to the treehouse is not in perspective, and I only realized this after completing the painting...The rocky shore and water were done in less than 5 minutes (as we were all given only 3 hours to complete this) and those could have been a little more refined as well.

Feedback and questions are always appreciated and encouraged!

Enjoy :D