Superman: Origins (Character Modeling)

 

I was invited to join this volunteer project around the time that I was graduating. The project aims to create a 3D animated fan film centered around the cast of Superman. Thanks to the open-ended nature, I've been able to explore and experiment with various aspects of the character creation pipeline.

Though I had been brought on to model a character from scratch, I quickly absorbed myself in the broader task of organizing and unifying the set of hastily prepared models left behind by a previous modeler to get the project rolling. It wasn't until recently that I had anyone else to work with on these models but in the mean time I've updated several characters, including the main hero and villain of the story, created a set of reusable body parts with correct geometry and reliable UVs, repaired old textures and painted new ones, created shaders for the main characters, worked closely with the riggers and animators to gather as much advice about their needs as possible, and studied numerous aspects of both my artistic style and the human forms I was trying to create. Through this long winded journey I've created a base that incoming modelers will hopefully be able to learn from and expand upon.

These renders, sketches, and wireframes are examples of the various directions I've explored through this project.