Week Four

Feb 3

“Serpenti. A symbol of wisdom, power and rebirth, the snake appears again and again throughout Bulgari’s collections.” -Bvlgari

This week was visualization! Yay, lighting! My newfound Houdini knowledge was put to the test in HtoA.

This coming week, I have some objectives. Mentors Hailey and Kyle reminded many teams to not reveal everything. Shot 1-1 would benefit is the entire dragon wasn’t exposed equally. On the flip side, the ring needs outdoor exposure in Shot3. Professor Gaynor’s proverb brings me peace: “lighters are patient.”

When the team’s shader troubleshooting is solved, the lighting will convey the Bvlgari brand identity.

This is a placeholder pass for the Shot 3 matte painting. It is important to the team that the ‘abstract space’ visualizes the Serpenti values with a surreal twist. This coming week, I will deliver the matte painting plates separately so that Veronica’s 2.5D can shine. Also, Team Carat needs to update and implement the color script.

For the matte paintings, the photorealism of the terrain and lighting are my top priorities. The terrain is created from height maps of Wadi Rum (rendered in Maya) and photo-bashing (Photoshop). The render of the HDRI will inform how the light hits the photo-bashed terrain. Sidenote: The father of image based lighting, Paul Debevik, spoke at SCAD this past weekend. Witnessing his humbleness and curiosity for life was spectacular.

Shot 2-1 is my first opportunity to matte paint for a camera movement (pan). Optimizing file sizes whilst preserving quality is a continuous troubleshooting opportunity. For efficiency in compositing, we decided to project the painting on a sphere.

For my next steps, I’ll complete positioning the texture overlays, grade/color correct, and paint the light, and add slight atmosphere.