UCAS ID: 109-979-3101

Iain Wilson 3D Animation Portfolio March 2013

The Wilsonator Non Organic submission for Advanced Character Modelling. Completed November 2012

I think The Wilsonator was my favourite character to create so far. The texturing of the model was done with Mudbox, which was also my first attempt at using that software. I used a green rust texture, with a light spray of yellow and brown to make it more rusty. In 3DSMax i then applied a very high bump map to the textures. The chestplate of the character has the name Wilsonator with a skull under it. I used photoshop to create this and imported it into Mudbox as a Projection Map to be used on the model. Front/Side drawing of Wilsonator

The Wilsonator Early development During the early stages of my characters development, i wanted to create a transformer style robot. A bipedal character whos lower body could transform into tank wheels. This was very simple to create with two IK constraints per leg. I Decided to scrap this project in the end and develop the character in the previous page.

Organic submission for Advanced Character Modelling. Completed February 2013

In the Advanced Character Modelling Class, we were given a number of briefs to choose from. I chose a steampunk brief to follow. The Robot and Human characters are to interact in a steampunk environment. My human character has the personality of G-man (HalfLife2) and the style of Mr Burke (Fallout3). I took the head model into mudbox and painted it atleast 10 times with different face textures until i settled with one i liked.

Front/Side drawing of Human

Morph Targets of Expressions and Phonemes

Submissions for 3D Animation Special Effects

For the special effects class we were to model victorian scenes with particle systems and lighting. I achieved the lighting using a Sky Light and Sky Portal. The light shining through the window was done using a Target Spot with the Volume Light added to it. The final image was brightened up in some areas using photoshop and an Ambient Occlusion pass was added.

With and without lighting

The Finished Image. Taken into Photoshop with spots of light added to certain areas, mostly around the window and beam of light. An Ambient Occlusion Pass was added as a layer.

Hugh McDonald Fountain

As part of the Special Effects Class we were asked to create the Hugh McDonald drinking fountain in Glasgow Green. We were given a number of images to use as reference and textures for the model. Most of the objects in the scene were painted onto the fountain using Mudbox, while the rest were a UVWMap. The Lion was done using a high poly box with Displacement and Bump added to the texture.

The lion head sprays water out of its mouth using a super spray particle system with Udeflector and 2 gravity systems. The waters texture was done with Autodesk Water. Ambient Occlusion was added to the scene.

The Adventures of Sandwich Man Graded Unit 1 Submission. May 2012

For last years Graded Unit i did an animated short about a superhero called Sandwich Man. At the time we werent taught how to do facial expressions/mouth movements, so I taught myself while playing around with the software. I did the voice for the character myself using recording equipment supplied by the college. The characters hair was done with Hair&Fur Modfier while i was still not all that familiar with using it, so i came across a few problems with that in particular during the development.

Sony PSVita, Modelled, textured, rigged and animated Group Project submission, early 2012

For our Group Project class, we were to research, plan and create an advert for a product. We chose to do the PSVita. There were 5 classmates in my group and i was nominated to do the modelling of the product, but due to classmates leaving the course, it wasnt until the very last day to submit that i was given the resources from my collegues to work from. In the end I had to model, texture, rig, animate and composite the entire animation myself in one night. A classmate supplied an audio file of his voice for the animation. I recieved a Pass for my work.

Personal Work

Cartoon style soldier. December 2011

Robot Dinosaur

Dr Who dalek Both modelled Summer 2011 before joining first year 3D Animation.

Dreadnaught, Pig, Gun and Cave modelled during the first few months of first year in my spare time.

German G36K, modelled during the first week of learning 3D Studio Max. The trigger and magazine were also animated and a bullet is fired at a target. Summer 2011

Standing Stones Grass achieved using Hair&Fur late 2011

Ruined City. Particle Effects are used for falling ash Late 2012

Cat Modelled + Hair&Fur + Rigged. Used as practice for my Graded Unit, Early 2012

Man in Cave Late 2011

Corridor animation early 2012

This is a short animation i created in my spare time. In the beginning, the room is completely dark and the lights flicker on one at a time and the hospital bed moves very quickly towards the door at the end of the corridor as the man is screaming and kicking. I used a cloth modifier for the bed cover. I intend to continue work on this animation in the future.

FaceShift Quite recently, my college has purchased Kinect software and a Faceshift license. Faceshift scans your head and facial expressions and with it you can export an exact model of your head into 3d software with a full set of mouth movements to work from. I tried this software in class and was so impressed I intend to purchase the software and Kinect for personal use.

Photoshop

For our Bitmap Graphics class we were assigned to create 3 different posters advertising a band of our choice at the Hydro Arena in Glasgow. The posters were achieved using a mixture of Overlay and Multiply effects on the layer. I have used photshop a lot recently for my final 3D renders using a mixture of different photo editing methods like Overlay/Multiply, Colour Correction and for adjusting the brightness/contrast. When i render an ambient occlusion pass of my 3d model, i use photoshop to combine it with the 3d image. I also use photoshop to combine frames as an Image Sequence for video, although i personally prefer to use Adobe Aftereffects for that tool.

In the middle of our first year, we had a Drawing Skills class. We were to do drawings that showed:
Primitive Shapes Bones (how it would look if it had 3dsmax bones) Shaded drawings

Other work

Basic bone rig

A design of a basic bone rig i created near the end of my first year.

INSPIRATION
What first inspired me to become interested in the 3D industry were animated shorts i discovered on the internet, especially student made ones. My top favourites have to be:

The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore

A 15 minute long animated short about a man who can communicate with books.

Azureus Rising A 5 minute Proof of Concept about a young man fighting through a city.

My Concept Art for a personal animation project (inspired by Azureus Rising) The animation Azureus Rising has been a big inspiration to me quite recently. It has encouraged me to start work on my own animated short over the next few years.

Another big inspiration to me since childhood are the Red Faction and Psychic Force video game series. The level design, soundtrack and story of Red Faction have had a big role in my interests in Computer Animation and Game Design. The Character Design and Anime Style of Psychic Force has stuck with me for years and is the kickstarter of my interests in the 3D Industry.