"Curiosity" commercial: on Discovery channel

Just finished up my first freelance gig as a CG artist...a commercial for Discovery's up coming show called Curiosity. I was involved in many aspects of the project, though I was mainly responsible for the lighting, rendering and compositing of a number of shots. There were a lot of stuff that unfortunately didn't make the final edit though...oh well, they were cool tho!

Piscis ex Machina

Piscis ex machina from Diana Zeng on Vimeo.
And the video is done!  

based on concept by Brian Despain
responsible for all other aspects

completion time: 2 weeks
software: Maya, Nuke, After Effects, Photoshop

Gnomon Portfolio Class: Project #2 Final

project #2 done!  This one is based on an oil painting by Justin "Coro" Kaufman, it was a challenge because there were a lot of things that were kind of vague (beautifully painted...but vague) that needed deciphering.   Really happy with how it turned out. As always there are things I'd like to tweak/work on (there's a list) but for now I'm putting it away...and on to the next one! 

Completion time: 2 weeks start to finish. Responsible for all aspects, except concept
Software used: Maya, Photoshop, ZBrush, Nuke

Gnomon Portfolio class: Project 1 final

It's finally here...project 1 of the portfolio class marathon is done (well for now)! after 2 weeks here's my final image (top).  This piece is based off of Brian Despain's painting, "Piscis ex Machina" (bottom).

Idea for this class (taught by Alex Alvarez) is that we are to take a 2D concept and realize it fully in 3D, doing everything from modeling, texturing, lighting and comp, in 2 weeks time. There are still areas in this piece I think can use more love and care, but overall very happy I was able to make it through the 1st project. yay!  I'd like to render out an animation of this piece just with a simple camera move...but that'll have to wait until after June unfortunately. 

software used: maya, photoshop

WEEEE! Part II

powerSlide Part II from Diana Zeng on Vimeo.
Made more progress on this piece! More work was put into finishing textures, animation, comp...
Some things still need work but I'm pretty happy with how this is turning out.

HDRI pano and car model provided. I am responsible for all other aspects

I used Maya, Nuke, Boujou and Photoshop for this project. 

WEEEE!

powerSlide from Diana Zeng on Vimeo.

work in progress--car powerslide! first ever!
HDRI pano and car model provided.

Responsible for all other aspects

Old Phone -- WIP

I decided to tackle the making of an old rotary phone for my 3D texture painting class.  Actually I really wanted to do a creepy, Matrix-y, broken/rundown hotel scene (1st Matrix)-- and thought a phone would make a nice focal point.  I plan on doing up the rest of the scene hopefully throughout the rest of this term.    I did model this phone along with the texture, and then just threw in some basic lighting for this test render, no comping yet so you're looking at the straight maya render.  Pretty happy overall with how the textures/model turned out. 

used Maya, Photoshop, Bodypaint

Some past things, Part 3

Just remembered I had these.... some more lighting studies from a class at Gnomon.

These were lit using all practical lights, no fg or GI.  Again just playing around with different looks, some probably more successful than others.  =)

Model was provided, I threw some basic textures down (I may or may not have paid attention to the UVs when I did--so please ignore that).

Lighting studies: Photoreal class

It's definitely not easy trying to light something to be this perfect!  for my first attempt at product lighting...got close-ish overall I think, but there are refection/spec stuff I still need to figure out. 

Some past things, Part 2

Some lighting studies from LTR2.  All models were provided. 

Some past things, Part 1

Untitled- Work in Progress from Diana Zeng on Vimeo.
This is a lighting and rendering final, still a work in progress. I keep meaning to come back to this project but unfortunately have yet to find the time. The idea of the project is a personal one, the scene is based on a little village on the outskirts of my hometown in China. I'd love to finish this, but there's still some modeling, texturing, lighting--well a lot of stuff lets just say, I'd like to revisit.

Software used: Maya, Nuke, After Effects, Photoshop




introVFX assignment from Diana Zeng on Vimeo.
This was a neat assignment, make creepy crawly things come out of the dark. This was a photo of a basement I found online, which I then camera matched to in Maya.

Software: Maya, After Effects