Latest on Project Gold

The whale model is mostly done. All main character modeling tasks are almost completed.

I've been working some more on RnD, focusing on the tools that we would need specifically for shading. For this I looked at the shading of our main fish character and did some more experimentation with Geometry Nodes, Grease Pencil 3, Eevee Next and Python.

This week I discussed the lighting progression of the film with Jerrica and Vivien. In order to get a good grasp of the sun directions over the course of the story, I did a quick mockup with the rough previz models and some cameras. I also made a simple proof of concept add-on that enables object assets in the new asset shelf to be linked into the scene and optionally overridden. This is to support our new LOD asset types.

This week i spend most of my time doing previsualisation of scene 9 of the film. Mikassa lands on the bottom of the ocean, which seems to be a false bottom as she falls through into her subconcious reality. Next to that we've been busy recording the anniversary video that will be up soon.

This week I created turntables and modeling sheets for review next week. Some of the fish are retopologized in case the feedback is minimal. Hopefully we can wrap the seagull and fish up this week!

This week I was working on figuring out the tech that allows us to iterate on the fracturing pattern on Mikassa, since the shards need to allow her to move. Other than that I was mainly communicating with the Geometry Nodes developers to test patches, validate new nodes and make sure that we get the tools that we need.

The whale design is mostly finalized. The cracks and fracturing deformation of the Mikassa and the Whale was also tested.

This week I started planning the set building process. Currently the shots are planned to be split between roughly 6 - 8 different sets. For the purpose of populating scenes quickly, I created some asset utilities to help with level of detail (LOD) switching of linked assets. For Layer 2 I created an additional coral rock column as a background element.

This week I spend most of my time providing painted reference of the fishes

This week Jerrica (director) was at the studio, so we had the time to discuss the story and made some major changes in order to fit it within the scope of the project while maintaining the essence of the metaphore. Along with that we've been updating some previsualisation and did a quick animation test with Mikassa stumbling in the abyss to start the conversation.

I lost one whole week to being sick, but the week before that I explored the painterly water surface and Mikassa's light body in motion.

Spent time working on modeling and sculpting the seagull and fish

Th Mikassa retopology is wrapped up. More Whale sculpting and design finalization started.

This week I refined sec120 and also have a tons of meeting with the director and the story team trying to shape the story

Based on earlier work from Julien, I started detailing the gigantic rock columns which are going to be populating the background in layer 1 of the ocean. For that purpose I set up some sculpting brushes to make believable cracks in rocks and I also started detailing the larger boulders in our rock library.

Did a couple of passes for the previs of scene 140 and also a first pass of scene 160.

This week, I wrapped up modeling the boat so Demeter can start rigging. Also started modeling the seagull trying to add the shape language of the main character.

More retopology of Mikassa, with a focus on the hair. This time I included timelapses to demonstrate the relaxing workflow.

This week I did some previs on seq 120, trying to translate into 3d the storyboards I did in the previous week