Adeline Teoh
Growing Pains
Media: 3D Modelled Asset
Software: Autodesk Maya
Published on: Sketchfab
Concept and Iteration:
Asset Creation:
The concept was to create a
3D Environment that
depicted a metaphorical
space of what growing into
adulthood felt like to me, in
particular how a very specific
pair of earrings I own symbolise my stepping into adulthood.
My initial Concept Sketches featured the layout of my assets, including a pair of stud earrings, a wooden shrine, Japanese torii gates, and a willow tree. I wanted to evoke a sense of spirituality and enchantment within the assets through texturing, lighting and a bit of animation.
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After my initial concept was decided, I did a few more iterations for the design to round everything out. I swapped the silver antique mirror resting in the shrine to a bronze handheld mirror, which would have been more common in oriental countries, removing the slight uncanny valley that was present with the silver version. I also removed the cobwebs from my initial design as it didn't fit the idea of adulthood being a new experience at the end of the path.
I made the assets on Autodesk Maya, modelling them carefully and doing my best to finish all the assets before I move on to texturing. One of the most difficult assets to model was the shrine, as while there were many repeating patterns, if one aspect was off, I'd have to adjust the rest of it as well, and lining them all up was a test of my patience.
Rendering and Animation
All the textures are made in Photoshop using a variety of brushes. I wanted to make sure there was extra detail in each asset, such as the weathering on the red lacquer paint of the torii gates, and the moss on the stone all growing in a specific direction. I put a lot of thought into the distribution of moss on the stone platform especially, clustering them more in the underside where the environment would not dry out as easily. I then animated the Willow branches to sway slightly to give the impression of a light breeze.
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I added the water texture found in Maya, and then baked some coloured lighting into the environment which had the intention of creating a solemn, yet unworldly atmosphere, especially since the rest of the environment is shrouded in darkness. I messed around quite a bit with the lighting to highlight the shrine and its contents as the focal points, and the lights sandwiching the stone pathway lead the viewer's gaze towards it.