"Sk8Bit" is a live-action VFX short film by the 2024 UTS Animal Logic Academy.
The full film can be viewed here.
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ROBOT CHARACTER
Art reference by Jed Morrison
I hard surfaced modelled this character in Maya following references from the Art department.
We had a short deadline, so had to lock joint positions very early on for rigging to get started. This meant that I was left to figure out the mechanics of the pieces to move smoothly around each pivot.
UVs were manually unwrapped to allow for easy procedural surfacing.
All surfacing needed to be photo real. I used Substance painter for procedural materials and manipulated channels to allow for detail and believability. Textures were exported to Houdini for look dev.
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PROPS
Modelling Props for this project needed very realistic proportions to fit into the real world. SInce we filmed our live-action plates just downstairs from our studio, I would go and take reference photos of every angle I needed to accurately represent the asset.
Props I worked on included a big bin, beer bottles, spray cans and 'usb vapes'.
