Crater Iterations
Environment Iterations
Ground Scatter Iterations
Concepts from very early in the process. I made several iterations exploring the shape language of the environment's horizon, color options, ground scatter, and the shape of the crater (though it would later get cut).
The above are a collection of iterations exploring the look of our planet, and by extention, our main establishing shot in the short. At first, we were leaning toward a Mars-like aesthetic and then decided to push in a very different direction with stark whites and blues. In the end, we married the idea of warm colored sand/ground with cooler atmospherics and grey rocks. We reincorperated the blues by adding crystaline structures within the rocks.
Blocking
Rendering
Greyscale
I first blocked out the rough shapes of the environment structures and developed the shadows to get a good sense of light direction. From there color and detail was added using the layers from the block out. At the end I tested the values to make sure important information wasn't getting lost in the background.
In the concept stage, we started discussing how we could contrast the environment and the eclipse. One way was through color: keeping the environment filled with cooler tones through the atmospherics and rock structures so that the eclipse could bathe it in intense warm light.
For our second to last shot, we really wanted to make Romeo feel small and insignificant compared to the meteor. This concept was used to find the mood of the scene and push the contrast of the daytime lighting with the dark and ominous eclipse.
Blocking
Rendered
Greyscale
Eclipsed is a 60 second animated short created in Autodesk Maya, with affects in Houdini, and rendered using Renderman 26.
A lone photography rover named Romeo finds himself in an inescapable situation as he discovers the eclipse he is witnessing is actually a rogue meteor heading straight for him.
As Environment Concept lead, I was responsible for creating concept art for the planet and developing the composition of the environment. I was also responsible for modeling and texturing the mountains, buttes, spires, and boulders in the 3D environment, as well as set dressing the scenes.
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