My 3D Showreel highlights my versatility and adaptability in creating a wide range of effects for all kinds of clients and media. All the work featured was completed at Alpha Studios. As I often handle all aspects of a visual effects shot from start to finish, I've broken down all my shots at length, in the order that they are shown.
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Where Myths Take Hold (2018)
Client: The Getty Villa
Director: Christopher Sprinkle
On-set Supervision: captured set HDRI, captured grey ball, recorded scene measurements.
Matchmoving: matchmoved talent's head and applied generic head geometry to the track to match talent's silhouette.
Texturing: randomized a single base snake shader using color correction and noise map overlays to create 10 unique shaders that were randomly applied to the snakes; created a procedural scalp shader and vertex map falloff for its hairline.
Animation: cloned a rigged snake model from a library 72 times along head geometry normals; styled 65 snakes manually and animated them with procedural noise modifiers and collision modifiers to avoid intersections; keyframe-animated 7 hero snakes.
FX: added an overall physics sim to the snakes for jiggle.
Lighting & Rendering: lit the scene using the set HDRI and additional lighting to generate additional specular reflections.
Compositing: used the GI pass to comp shadows onto talent’s face and assisted with rotoscoping in final comp to correct minor edge overlaps.
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Fellowship (2019)
Client: Independent
Director: Emma Kazarian
Modeling: Modeled proxy geometry of the dumpsters for both obscuration of the explosion as well as to cast light onto; projected the clean plate onto it.
FX: created two particle systems to serve as emitters for the fluid pyro sim; fluid simulated and shaded the explosion and subsequent slow flame-out per client’s timing.
Lighting & Rendering: lit the scene with a basic daylight system and sampled sky color from the plate
Compositing: comped explosion; added stock debris elements; added camera shake.
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Wyrm (2019)
Client: Independent
Director: Christopher Winterbottom
Modeling & Texturing: Modeled new sign and proxy geometry of storefront and parking lot; shaded each letter individually to match plate lighting.
Lighting & Rendering: lit the scene using IES profiles of set lights; manually eyeballed light positions and angles to match plate.
Compositing: painted out existing Toys-R-Us sign; comped new sign; graded out yellow lighting on left of frame per client's request.
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Miss 2059 Season 2 (2017)
Client: Verizon Go90
Director: Anna Akana, Maggie Levin.
Nibiru Fog Augmentation and Tentacle:
On-set Supervision: captured set HDRI; recorded scene measurements.
Matchmoving: matchmoved camera; matchmoved talent's arm.
Layout: created proxy geometry matching set dimensions; 2.5D projected various roto layers from the plate to allow realistic fog obscuration.
Modeling & Texturing: created tentacle using spline wrap; textured model using multilayered shader utilizing various subsurface scattering maps, reflectance maps, glossiness maps, displacement maps, and normal maps.
Animation: animated tentacle using a series of spline noise modifiers.
FX: fluid simulated and shaded a single fog cloud to match live action fog; cloned and re-timed fog simulation to surround set and actors.
Lighting & Rendering: lit all scenes using the set HDRI.
Space Battle Sequences:
Previz: worked with Neptune Post editorial team to previz all space battle sequences.
Environment Design: created rainbow galaxy environment by rendering a spherical HDRI of a fluid simulated fog shape; shaded 2D HDRI with various color overlays.
Animation: animated spaceship and camera to match previz; animated gun turrets' rotation and firing mechanism; created all ship LEDs and scripted their blinking animation; animated small ship components like satellite dishes.
FX: animated and shaded particle systems and their attacks on the ship; animated and shaded lightning arcs on the ship; animated a particle system to drive fluid simulation of massive black cloud.
Lighting & Rendering: lit the scene using the HDRI of the rainbow galaxy; scripting blinking lights inside black cloud when it's being fired upon.
Compositing: comped all space battle shots to simulate camera diffusion, blooming, chromatic aberration, and other camera artifacts; designed warp-appearance effect of second spaceship.
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Polaris Primetime (2017)
Client: Disney XD
Director: Greg Matthews
Matchmoving: manually matchmoved camera using proxy scene geometry as basic reference.
FX: designed and animated energy ball using particle system and various additional effects; designed and animated energy arcs using particle systems traveling along splines; 2.5D projected energy arcs to surround talent; designed and animated traveling energy blast using particle systems.
Compositing: directed rotoscoping team on correct obscuration and visibility of energy arcs traveling around talent; created explosion impact using stock footage elements; added lightning to victim talent's rotoscoped body; added glows and color correction.
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LA Macabre (2018)
Client: Half Ast Productions, D Studios Productions
Director: Dan Ast
Modeling: modeled tow-rig from reference photos; reshaped truck cab model from library to match live-action tow-truck cab.
Texturing: projected tow-truck reference plate onto geometry; UVW-unwrapped texture projection and painted extensions; added reflectance and glossiness maps for additional reflections.
Animation: added a series of random noise modifiers to create truck, car, and wheel shake and bounce.
FX: created low-res proxy sedan and truck for destruction simulation; created hardness and density maps for sedan; simulated sedan deformation; remapped deformation results to higher-res sedan geometry; created glass cracks using a fracture source localized to the left side of windshield; fluid simulated dust clouds from sedan and truck wheels.
Lighting & Rendering: lit the scene using a basic daylight system matching the hard shadows in the tow truck plate projection; added library elements like telephone wires offscreen for the cars/windshield to reflect and sell its motion.
Compositing: created tire skid marks in the dirt; composited dust and car shadows separately from geometry; added motion blur, diffusion, lens flare, blooming, chromatic aberration, and other camera artifacts.
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Body Worlds (2017)
Client: The Tech Museum of Innovation, San Jose, CA, Roann Films
Director: Darren H. Rae
Modeling: modeled proxy geometry of museum set to catch shadows and reflections.
Texturing: created glossiness, transparency, and subsurface scattering maps for all organs; shaded proxy set geometry using plate projection for non-reflective elements and traditional procedural shaders for glass cases.
Lighting & Rendering: lit scene using set HDRI as well as additional lights to match plate and generate specular reflections and ground shadows.
Compositing: composited all organs and adjusted reflectance of organs in glass cases.
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Miss 2059 Season 2 (2017)
Client: Verizon Go90
Director: Anna Akana, Maggie Levin.
Mindwarp Effect:
Previz: prevized shot timing during editorial phase with Neptune Post team.
Modeling & Texturing: created warp tube using a spline wrap and various displacement maps; shaded warp tube with a series of noise maps;
Animation & FX: created particle system for floating grey motes; animated warp tube directional changes using spline noise modifiers on internal spline; simulated forward movement by animating texture mapping coordinates to move towards camera; animated 3D camera.
Lighting & Rendering: lit particles using set HDRI.
Compositing: composited all elements; added various camera artifacts including depth of field, motion blur, glows, and chromatic aberration.
including DOF, motion blur, and chromatic aberration.
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Soul Song (2015)
Client: Phileon Productions
Director: Sarah Philips
Matchmoving: matchmoved plate camera move towards window.
Modeling: modeled geometry for plate projection; used library elements for additional 3D buildings.
Texturing: shaded the area surrounding hero building using a series of Google Earth captures; shaded earth orbit using various maps from NASA and atmospheric shaders; manually aligned google maps shaders with NASA shaders.
Animation: extended backwards camera move into space; transitioned between different shaders based on camera height from ground.
FX: created basic clouds flythrough using a 2D particle system,
Lighting & rendering: lit scene using a basic daylight system for ground-level models, whose properties were keyframed as camera moved into earth orbit.
Compositing: composited google earth and earth orbit elements to match live action plate; added camera artifacts like motion blur, diffusion, and lens flare.
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