Gothic City 06

The larger rocks and smaller pebbles were generated using the same Houdini system. Note that the larger rocks are higher resolution than the smaller pebbles. The table is the same one I used in my first map.

Gothic City 05

This is Jesse's tree.

Gothic City 04

This is my statue. :)

Incidentally, I also did some of the lighting on the statue.

Gothic City 03

Gothic City 02

Gothic City 01

This is a screenshot of a map I teamed up with Jesse Lemons and Lily Ounekeo to make for our final project for Virtual Environments. We were essentially given free reign to do whatever we wanted, including teaming up. We could do whatever concept we wanted, and use whatever software we wanted (as long as the result was a game level).

We used mostly Maya and Houdini, as well as some Doom brushes for the basic shapes of the buildings. I did the special effects--the rain and mist, as well as all of the character models (so, the gargoyle and the statue). I also did some of the more tedious placement of objects (such as the apples in the marketplace in one of the other screenshots). I was also pretty heavily involved in the design part of the map, figuring out things that would look good and the basic layout and structure.

Lily did most of the simpler models and almost all of the texturing. She also did all of the brushes in Doom, and placed most of the models. Jesse did scripting, sound, and a small amount of lighting. He also did some of the more basic models, like the watermelon and the apple in the market. He also did an L-system tree.

My First L-System

L-Systems are short for Lindenmayer Systems, named for their creator, Aristid Lindenmayer. L-Systems are a term for an algorithm that was originally intended to describe plant growth (Lindenmayer was a botonist).

This is an L-System copied to every junction in a more complex L-System.

Wizard's Study 2

Wizard's Study 1

This was my first assignment for Virtual Environments. A very powerful wizard made his last stand here in his study.

I figured I'd concentrate everything on one room, rather than building an entire map subpar.

More screenshots to follow...

Grapes Close-up

Table Final

Added some grapes, a tablecloth, and a pitcher. Took about three hours total (mostly the grapes, I don't know anything about rigging and dynamics in Maya, so I had to position each grape individually). This one rendered without global illumination.

Table Still Life WIP

The assignment was to create a table still life scene. This is mine for now; it is badly in need of shading (I rendered it with Radiosity, Caustics, and Final Gather, and it still does not look real). Each of the candlesticks is rotated differently and they are not in a perfect line. There are other minor variations in most of the rest of the items on the table. I got irritated towards the end; you can see if you look closely that there is no variation in the placemats (they are simply duplicated). I'm okay with this image as a first assignment for an introductory modelling class, I suppose.

I may come back later before the assignment is due and add shaders to it to enhance its realism.

Rock

This is effectively my first real render in Maya. I was playing with bump and displacement maps on a NURBS sphere. Rendered with Global Illumination, Caustics, and Final Gather. In retrospect, there should be more rays for the shadows, and the displacement map should be a larger image (it's 1024x1024 now).

I'm reasonably satisfied with it for now.

Yin/Yang

I was supposed to play with color. So, this is me playing with color. The good life and the evil life interconnected, struggling to be apart and yet held ruthlessly together. Yin and Yang in an eternal power struggle that ends with time at Armageddon.