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2K Character Reel

 Demo Reel 

NPC Maker

I developed this tool for Maya for creating a unique game ready NPC's in a matter of minutes.
UI coming soon!

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This tool derives from a single head shader network powered by masks, textures, blendshapes and set driven keys. 

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 Real Time Hair 

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Using the IMM brush tool I made a custom hair model in Maya segmented into three separate poly groups. This way Zbrush can determine the beginning middle and end section of the hair card for the curve stroke. 

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I created the Hair texture using "HairStrand_Designer_V1". I separated portions according to different hair lengths, thickness and color. 

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Getting the IMM brush to curve in different directions

helped break up the repetition of the beard. 

Stacking the hair cards from bottom to top was key in giving it a clean layered appearance.

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Real time Michael Jordan

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ESPN's "The Last Dance" documentary inspired me to create this model. Pushing realism for real time was my goal. 

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Below is a list of tricks that helped me push realism.

- Using separate geometry for tear build      up between the eye and eye lid. 

- Using individual fibers for fuzz and            facial hair.

- Texture XYZ for skin textures.

- Sub surface scattering.

- Having plenty of photos to reference. 

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This modeled was sculpted in Zbrush and rendered in real time in Marmoset Toolbag.

Frozen Body Pieces

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In episode 9 of Star Trek: Discovery Season 2 the crew encounters a group of frozen bodies that shatter on the ground. My goal was to model these frozen pieces that cover the floors around the bodies.

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These were sculpted in Zbrush and textured in Substance Painter. It was important to show the layers of clothing, tissue and ice. 

Advertisement characters

In Start trek: Picard, the crew encounters a series of characters in the form of interactive advertisements. 

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This character was sculpted in Zbrush and textured in Substance. His Wand emitter he holds was modeled in Maya and textured in Substance. He went through several designs as seen below.

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To the left is the original reference provided by the Star Trek Team for me to match aesthetically. At first this character was to take on a more Japanese anime appearance but went through several changes which led to the final design. 

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VERSION 1

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VERSION 2

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VERSION 3

In the end the team decided to go with a look that resembled a "Bolian" which is a race of characters from previous series of Star Trek.

They also made the last minute change to make the characters skin color red instead of blue as seen in the final version above. 

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For this next character we ended up with one that resembles a drug dealer. This too went through several iterations. 

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To the left is the reference provided by the team. He was originally to appear as a hawaiin poker dealer.

Below is the first version of his body which was sculpted and textured in Zbrush

In the end we decided on making him look more like a hippie drug dealer as seen in the final design.

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Lastly was this robot character that fights one of the crew members.

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Below are some concept sketches I created to better decide which look best suits this character. Ultimately I ended up going with something that resembled design "A".

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A majority of this model was kit bashed. My inspiration for this design comes from a combination of the film "Real Steel" and anime series Gundam Wing.

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3D Layout Environment

My task for this project was to concept and layout the CG scene to help the VFX team better understand the lay of the land. I created the environment using background stills, and Quixel Mega-scans for the rocks, cliffs and vegetation.  

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For this project I treated the environment almost as if it were a character. Giving it charm and style without sacrificing realism was what eventually brought me to my finished look and layout. 

Below is the final look developed by another VFX team as seen in episode 9 of Star trek: Picard

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Future Boston 3D model

For Episode 1 of Star Trek: Picard our team was given background plates that weren't suitable for the camera angles. Our solution was for me to roughly model a Futuristic Boston based on their background plate. This way we had more flexibility for achieving accurate backgrounds. Below are stills from the final cut.

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Below is my model as seen from Maya's viewport.

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Google Earth helped me pin point the real world location of their background plate. With this I took screenshots of Google model and ran them through "Photoscan" to generate an accurate 3D model of the real world location.

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Paper Mach'e material

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Made in Substance Designer, this material has several parameters artists can adjust to tweak the look for their Paper Mach'e model.

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Real time Leon from Resident Evil 4

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After recent rumors of a Resident Evil 4 remake being in development I got excited and made this model in hopes of seeing how a redesign of Leon may look. The base was designed in "Character Creator". The face and assets were designed in Zbrush and textured in Substance Painter. Rigged and ready for use in Unreal, Unity and Maya.

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Tom Selleck Likeness Sculpt

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Tom Selleck felt like the perfect choice for a likeness sculpt. His bold facial features and iconic mustache seemed like a great challenge.

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To start I use my base head mesh in Zbrush and push and pull the proportions to match a photo reference. I then carefully work my way up the subdivisions as it needs more detail. This project taught me to take my time and keep things simple until the final stages.

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The most difficult part of any likeness sculpt is finding solid reference. Luckily I found decent photos of Tom without his mustache and a buzzed head. This helped tremendously for figuring out whats going on under all fo that hair. For the hair I used fiber mesh separated into several sections.

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Custom VDM Brushes

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Creating Vector Displacement brushes in zbrush helped me speed up my sculpting workflow tremendously. this way I can reuse parts across different models. My anatomy Brush lets me block out a solid head mesh in very little time

The base head seen below was created in a matter of minutes.

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Hard Surface Alien Suit

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My goal with this project was creating a hard surface suit. I drew inspiration from Evangelion, Spider-man from Avengers: Infinity War and Master Chief. 

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The model was sculpted in Zbrush using primarily the ClayBuildup and DamStandard brush. The Clay Polish feature helped sharpen the edges, getting rid of any awkward shapes that make it look like a clay sculpture.

I used Zremesh to calculate clean topology and exported into Substance Painter. From there I finish it off with a nice coat of paint and emissive maps to make the eyes glow.   

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Real Time VFX Breakdowns

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